Abstract: A fruit slicing apparatus and process severs cherries or small fruits into two hemispherical sections without slicing the interior pit. A rotatably-driven transport wheel receives the fruit into a valley produced by a pair of resiliently deflectable gripping members. As the wheel is rotated, a pair of pincher plates press against the gripping members to engage the fruit in a secured position with respect to the gripping members. While the fruit is held securely in place, a fluid jet emits a fruit slicing fluid which slices the piece of fruit into two hemispherical sections while leaving the pit intact.

Abstract: A seedling grading machine for sorting and collecting seedling trees according to size comprises a conveyor including a longitudinal grate and carrier rods that extend through the grate for moving the seedlings sideways along the grate; an electronic photocell control for measuring the height of each seedling at a front portion of the grate; a series of longitudinally separated gates positioned downstream of the photocell control, each gate corresponding to a given size classification of seedling and opening downwardly to drop the seedling through the gate in accordance with the measured height of the seedling; a dumpable bin in position below each gate to collect the seedlings; an electronic counting means for counting the number of seedlings deposited in each collector bin; a dumping mechanism for dumping each collector bin after a predetermined number of seedlings have been deposited therein; and a conveyor for conveying the seedlings dumped from the collector bin to a packaging station.