Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE OF THE INVENTION-
A BERRY PICKING CART
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
Field of the invention:
The present invention relates to a cart adapted to pick
berries and the like growing on low plants and in particular to a
hand operated wheeled cart provided w;th a mechanism for transferring
repetively the picked berries to a container customorily used for
shipping.
Prior Art:
Berries are frequently picked by hand with the help of
a bucket such as illustrated in U.S. patent No 4,187,665. The pickers
must bent their backs continually. It is a painful and slow pro-
cess.
A wheeled cart for picking berries is described in Cana-
dian patent No 102,113. This cart i8 provided with a forward recepta-
cle which is actuated by the handle for tilting it backwards. The
tilting mechanism is different than in the present invention.
Complex berry picking machines for larg scale operation
20 are described in United States patent No 2,355,276 and Canadian
patents Nos 189,690 and 948,858.
SUMMAKY OF THE INVENTION:
The wheeled cart according to the invention comprises a
chute hingely mounted at ;ts rear end with a linkage mechanism for pi-
vot ing the chute backward into a container~. The chute has a comb like
sLructure at it forward end which is supported by a roller for main-
taining the comb like structure distant from the ground. The chute
and~ the container is suspended from a frame between two wheels oE the
cart which is pushed by a rearward projecting handle.
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The linkage mechanism includes a rod pivotally connected at both
ends. At the rear end, the rod is connected to a lever articulated on
the handle and at the front end, it is connected to an arched member
fixed to the chute. By pulling the lever, the chute and the comb-like
structure which has gathered berries pivot baclcward and the berries
slide into the container. The lever is preferably resiliently connec-
; ted to provide a minimal traction on the chute and accordingly to re-
duce the weight to be pivoted.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the berry picking
cart according to the invention, with the chute down,
Figure 2 is a side view of the cart shown in figure 1
with the chute pulled up,
Figure 3 is a top view oE the cart shown in figure 1,
and
Figure 4 is a side v~iew of the mechanism for tilting
the chute.
D~TAI~ED DESCRIPTION 0~ THE INVENTION:
, .
The berry picking cart as shown in the drawings is made
of a pair of wheels 10 and 12 axially mounted on an axle 14. The
wheels used for the present cart may be bicycle wheels but for the sa-
ke of the clarity of the drawings, ~the spokes have been eliminated. A
U-shaped reinforcing frame 16 is mounted on the axle l4 above the
`~ wheels and helps to ma;intain the wheels in eheir parallel space rela-
- tionship. A plate 18 is mounted to the frame and to the axle 14 and
is adapted to rotate around the latter. The handle 20 which has a U-
shaped, is secured at both free ends of the U-shape to the plate 18
by rivet 22. The plates 18 which are hingely hooked on the axle 14
are located substantially in line with the two sides of the handle
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The ~-shape frame 16 is also supported on the axle 14 and is intended
to reinforce the latter. The frame 16 includes a pair of U-shape
guards 24 for guarding the wheels along tbe handle 20 and another
pair of U-shape guards 26 located over the wheels 10 and 12. The
U-shape guards 26 also help solidify the axle 14 with the handle 20~
A chute member 28 is pivotally mounted on the axle 14
between the plates 18 and extends from the level of the axle 14 down-
wardly and forwardly to a level adjacent the ground. The front edge
of the chute 28 is provided with a comb member 30 intended to grip
the berries out of the low growing plants when moving forwardly. The
comb member 30 is made of a series of adjacent steel rods rigidly con-
nected to the chute member 28 so that they can maintain their forward
and lateral orientation relative to the chute member 28. The chute
member 28 as lateral walls 32 for preventing the berries from fa]ling
sideways the lateral walls 32 follows the tapered shape of the chute
member 28 which is wide in front to exceed the distance between of
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the wheels 10 and 12 and tapers inwardly to reach a width correspond-
ing to the inner distance between the wheels lO and~12. The bottom
shape of the chute member 28 has a double curve so that it is substan-
; tially flat adjacent the axle 14 and becomes substantially horizontaladjacent the comb member 30.
The chute member 28 and the lateral sides 32 are rein-
forced by an arched perforated cover 34. The perforated cover 34 as a
double fonction, that is, to allow the operator to see the quantity
of be~rries accumulated in the chute and to form a connecting point 36
with a rod member 38 adapted to actuate the chute member 28. The co-
:
ver 34 at point 36 extends over the surface of the chute member 28 at
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such;a distance ~o~allow an easy pivoting action of the chute member
28 when the rod member 38 is pulled.
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The rod member 38 is connected to the perforated cover 34 by a brac-
ket 40 and a hinge 42. Rod member 38 is pulled by a lever 44 pivotal-
ly connected to the handle 20 about the axle 46 and to the rod member
38 about the axle 48. The lever 44 is actuated by pulling or pushing
the handle 50 which in turns lower or raises the chute member 28. The
distance of the connecting point 36 with the surface of the chute
member 28 and the lenght of the lever 44 are chosen so as to make the
lifting of the chute member 28 easy to operate even when the chute
member is full of berries. This operation must be easy and quick so
that a relatively short throw of the lever 44 produces the desired
movement of the chute member 28.
In order to facilitate the lifting of the chute member
28, a coil spring 52 i8 connected at one end 54 to the handle 20 and
at the other end 56 to an extention of the lever 44 projecting below
the axle 46. The spring 52 is set at such an extention so as to ini-
tiate the pulling of the lever 44 corresponding to the weight of the
chute member 28 including with the lateral walls 32 and the perfora-
ted cover 34. Under the desired conditions, the sprlng 52 under exten-
tion should maintain the comb-member 30 slightly above the ground
which may required the operator to push on the handle 50 to maintain
the comb member 30 adjacent the ground. This pushing operation of the
handle 50 does not require any additional energy considering that the
operator must push on the handle 20 to drive the cart over the berry
~plants. With this cart, one hand~ is placed on the handle 20 and the
second hand is place on the handle 50 to go forward and every time
the chute member 28 is sufficiently fulled, the operator pulls the
handle 50 to tilt upwardly the chute 28 as shown in full lines in fi-
gure 2.
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In order to maintain the comb member 30 at the desired
distance from the ground, a spacer is fixed below the root of the
comb member 28 adjacent the lower edge of the chute member 28. The
spacer is preferably a roller 58 extending across the comb member 30
and fixed to the lateral sides 32 by rivets 60. In the preferred ernbo-
diment, the comb member 30 is slightly tilted forwardly and supported
at their rear end by the roller 58. With such a roller it is possi.ble
to push on the handle 50 when operating the cart while maintaining
the roller in contact with the ground and the comb member at a
predetermined distance from the ground.
When the chute member 28 is tilted as shown in full li-
ne in figure 2, the berries are intended to slide backwards into a
box located i.n a box holder 62. The box holder 62 is formed by a
structure suspended from the handle 20 and the plate 18. It is formed
by a pair of U-shaped beams 64 and 66 secured at both end of its free
ends to the handle 20 and to the plate 18. The base portion of the
U-shape beams 64 and 66 are connected by cross-beams such as shown by
beam 68 in figure 3 and by supporting beams 70 and 72 extending
between the cross-beams 68. The box holder 62 is preferably
dimensionned to support a box of some standard size adapted in the
trade to contain and ship the berries. Furthermore, the box holder 62
is located in such a position so that when the chute member 2~ is
tilted backward as shown in figure 2 in full lines~ the berries will
drop in the box intended for that purpose. A pair of deflector plates
74 are preferably secured at the rear end of the chute member 28 to
guide the berries towards the central portion of the box receiving
the berries.
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Although, the cart has been described with a frame for
reinforcing the axle 14, it should be within the embodiment of this
invention to provide a strong axle and to eliminate the reinforcing
structure such as 16, 24 and 26. Such reinforcing structure becomes
more important when the wheels are large, that is, when they have a
diameter of 20 inches or over. Wheels having a diameter of 18 inches
are preferred and allows the axle of the wheels to extend across the
cart and be used as a supporting means for pivoting the chute back-
wards, It is also within the embodiment of this invention to provide
a handle member which could be constituted of a single shaft on which
the rod member 18 would be connected through the lever 44. The comb
member 30 is made of resilient steel rods having a diameter of about
1/8 to 3/16 inch and 6 inches long. The rods have a pointed end in
front to easily slide through the branches of the plants containing
berries.
A cart such as the present invention considerably in-
creases the speed for picking berries compared to hand picking or pic-
; king by a device such as described in United States patent No
4,187,665. Another particular advantage of the cart according to the
present invention is that the operator does not have to bent his backall day long compare to the hand-picking methods. The picking is made
with a comb member over a width of about 2 to 3 feets and such a
width cannot be contemplated by a hand picking device. The wheels run
over a territory which has been cleared of berries and accordingly
the wheels do not destroy any unpicked berries.
It should be obvious that other resilient means could
be contemplated instead of the coil spring 52 without reparting from
the spirit of the invention.
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