Importance

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Abstract

A rotary powered crankshaft affixed transversely underneath a plurality of endless spaced apart conveyor belts on a tomato harvester. The crankshaft having a plurality of offset journals covered with rotatable bearing sleeves equal in number to the belts is positioned to have each journal bearing sleeve strike a belt when the journal reaches a raised position. The striking of the belts causes shaking of tomato vines riding atop of the conveyor belting to dislodge tomatoes which then fall through the spacings between the belts. The bearing sleeves covering each journal are freely rotatable, being sized with an internal diameter larger than the external diameter of the journal to allow both eccentric movement and rotation about the journal. The bearing sleeves are split lengthwise and include snap locks to allow initial installation thereof, and replacement when worn. The bearing sleeves are structured relative to the crank journals to be resistant to jamming so that the sleeves remain freely rotatable during operation, and thereby when a sleeve impacts the underside of a belt, the sleeve rolls as opposed to sliding. Preferably variable speed controls are applied to the motor utilized to rotate the crankshaft to allow the sleeved journals to move against the belting at either a slower or faster rate of travel compared to the belting, and thereby allow adjustability in the vibrational pattern applied to the tomato vines.

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First Claim