Abstract: A system for controlling a pitting system is disclosed. The system comprises a processor configured to: receive a first sensor data; receive a second sensor data; and determine a prune processing parameter based at least in part on the first sensor data and the second sensor data. The system further comprises a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing pits from prunes or other soft fruit, including holders defining pockets for holding soft fruit, an excess fruit removal assembly (e.g., comprising one or more paddle wheels), a pitting knife assembly, and a holder drive assembly for translating the holders along a closed loop. Each pocket defined by each holder is movable between open and closed configurations as the holder is translated around the loop. Each holder includes a top chuck plate shaped to guide an article of fruit into each pocket with reduced risk that excess fruit (fruit not properly seated in a pocket) will remain lodged on the chuck plate after the holder has translated past the excess fruit removal assembly. Other aspects are a chuck plate configured for use as a top chuck plate of a fruit holder of a pitting apparatus, and a fruit holder including such a chuck plate.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing pits from prunes or other soft fruit, including holders defining pockets for holding soft fruit, an excess fruit removal assembly (e.g., comprising one or more paddle wheels), a pitting knife assembly, and a holder drive assembly for translating the holders along a closed loop. Each pocket defined by each holder is movable between open and closed configurations as the holder is translated around the loop. Each holder includes a top chuck plate shaped to guide an article of fruit into each pocket with reduced risk that excess fruit (fruit not properly seated in a pocket) will remain lodged on the chuck plate after the holder has translated past the excess fruit removal assembly. Other aspects are a chuck plate configured for use as a top chuck plate of a fruit holder of a pitting apparatus, and a fruit holder including such a chuck plate.

Abstract: A pitting machine comprises a punching head that performs a curvilinear oscillatory movement in synchronization with the translation movement of fruits to be pitted, in particular for use in industries that process food such as pitted dried or dehydrated plums and which are currently performing manual operations or using rudimentary equipment.

Abstract: A drupe which is infested with a larva of a moth or larvae of other insects, and is contaminated with related excretions, referred to as a “frass”, in a central zone within the drupe, is cleansed with a longitudinally bored pitting knife mounted in the pitting head of a conventional pitting machine. A source of cleansing fluid is connected to the bore within the knife and fluid is discharged through radial passages in the knife, which radial passages communicate with the longitudinal bore. In operation, while the knife pits the drupe, fluid discharged from within the knife contacts the walls of the passage left by the ejected pit, and removes the frass. If desired, the drupe may be first pitted, then decontaminated or washed, and/or dried sequentially, in separate stages. The invention is particularly effective with dates, prunes, olives, cherries, nectarines, peaches and avocados.

Abstract: A drupe which is infested with a larva of a moth or larvae of other insects, and is contaminated with related excretions, referred to as a "frass", in a central zone within the drupe, is cleansed with a longitudinally bored pitting knife mounted in the pitting head of a conventional pitting machine. A source of cleansing fluid is connected to the bore within the knife and fluid is discharged through radial passages in the knife, which radial passages communicate with the longitudinal bore. In operation, while the knife pits the drupe, fluid discharged from within the knife contacts the walls of the passage left by the ejected pit, and removes the frass. If desired, the drupe may be first pitted, then decontaminated or washed, and/or dried sequentially, in separate stages. The invention is particularly effective with dates, prunes, olives, cherries, nectarines, peaches and avocados.

Abstract: Such are designed to optionally allow the stoning machine to work as an olive stoner-slicer and lie in establishing at quite some distance from a disc (14') bearing cups (14) serving as dollies during the olive stoning stage, a disc (17') bearing a plurality of cradles (17) toward which the stoned olives (31) are conveyed when the stoning punch (13) retracts, which punch is to this end provided with olive retaining spears (13') and it is thus at these cradles (17), i.e. outside the stoning area, where the olive is cut into slices with the assistance of a set of parallel, disc-shaped and turning blades (23) or fixed blades with an arcuate and concave cutting-edge (38), each such blades (23-38) being capable of taking up two near- and far-end positions with respect to the cradles (17) in order for the stoning machine to act also as a slicer or only as a slicer.

Abstract: An apparatus for pitting articles such as prunes or dates. Each article is loaded between jaws of a chuck assembly which translates between stations along a process path. At a pitting turret, a pitting rubber moves below the chuck assembly, and the chuck assembly and rubber translate together until a pitting knife engages the article and ejects a pit therefrom. The chuck assembly then translates the pitted article to a station where the pitted article is discharged. Preferably, a relatively large number of chuck assemblies are provided, each having a fixed jaw fixedly attached to a chain and a sliding jaw slidably mounted to the fixed portion. A relatively small number of pitting rubbers and one pitting knife for each rubber are mounted to the pitting turret.

Abstract: A peeling and coring apparatus (20) for use with perishable produce (24) having a tapered neck portion (32) of reduced transverse dimension. Upon placement of the produce (24) into a tapered coring cup (30) formed to receive the produce (24), a detecting mechanism (36) detects the extension of the tapered neck portion (32) into the coring cup (30) by a distance sufficient to indicate proper orientation of the produce (24) relative to the coring cup (30). If the detecting mechanism (36) determines that the produce (24) is improperly oriented relative the coring cup (30), the peeling and coring apparatus (20) removes the produce (24) from the coring cup (30) prior to further processing of the produce (24). If the detecting mechanism (36) determines that the produce (24) is properly oriented, a gripping mechanism (34) grips the produce (24) to secure it against the coring cup (30) in preparation for further processing such as peeling and coring.

Abstract: In a machine for stuffing olives automatically with meat paste, olives are transferred from a serial infeed station to a runout station, at which the stuffed end product emerges, by way of a transfer station that comprises an indexing conveyor with peripheral contoured pockets interconnected by a profiled channel; the channel freely accommodates a fixed knife by which the top part of each olive is cut at a station between the infeed and runout stations, and a divaricator serving to spread the sides of the cut olive and thus create an opening into which the meat paste can be forced by an injector supplied from a relative feeder station. Advantageously, the infeed and runout stations, the conveyor and the feeder station are mechanically interconnected and driven synchronously by a single power transmission system.

Abstract: The prunes are each supported by an annular trough (21A) of the tank (20A), on which trough abuts a sleeve (50A) mounted slidingly counter to an elastic return (52A) along a pitting rod (46A). The sleeves (50A) are juxtaposed one next to the other, while the rods (46A) are operated simultaneously by a jack (43A). The fall of the pits is checked by detection means (90A). These detection means (90A) are connected to a programmable automatic mechanism (95A), which controls the actuation of the means for removing the pitted prunes, and the unpitted prunes, if necessary, as a function of the values sensed by the detection means.

Abstract: A citrus fruit segmenter which uses a slicing lever mounted with a blade which is attached to the sidewalls of a frame by another pair of levers. The slicing lever with the blade nudges a resiliently biased crank lever which intermittently rotates a ratchet wheel upon which a cup is mounted to carry a half of grapefruit or large orange. The crank lever has a tooth element designed to engage the toothed ratchet wheel and to retract when working against a locking pawl. The tooth element is also resiliently biased. The resilient biasing of the crank lever and the toothed element are accomplished by corrosion-resistant "O" rings. All of the elements of the device are made of corrosion-resistant material. The blade is made of stainless steel, the frame and levers are made of synthetic resinous material.

Abstract: A device for pitting and pitting-and-stuffing olives includes two axially aligned punches for simultaneously cutting through an olive and of the end faces of which is fittingly supported in a seat formed in a cap positioned between the punches. One of the punches is hollow to provide access for a stuffing paste to be inserted into a pitted olive. Each punch has the same number of cutting fins of the same configuration. The cap has radial grooves coinciding in position with the cutting fins of each punch.

Abstract: A fruit pitting machine includes a feeder tray for feeding fruit singly to a fruit conveyor chain which travels around a rotatable support to convey the fruit along a feed path. The rotatable support carries a plurality of pitting plungers and coring knives which are axially aligned and movable by cams toward each other such that a plunger pierces one end of the fruit and a coring knife cuts out a core cap at the other end of the fruit. Thereafter, the pitting plunger pushes the core cap and pit into the coring knife and the pitting plunger and coring knife are retracted away from the feed path. The plunger is retracted with the pitted fruit thereon past a guide member which strips the pitted fruit from the plunger while the coring knife is retracted until a free end thereof is positioned between another guide member and a pitting chain which is rotated around the rotatable support.

Abstract: The machine for pitting olives and for stuffing the pitted olives with an edible paste, such as anchovy paste, a plurality of axially opening bonnets are arranged in a circle for rotation about an axis through a succession of stations. At a first station, a pit-containing olive is placed in each bonnet and held there by a fastening bush. Subsequently, the pit with an adhered tapin is punched from the olive; the pit is severed from the tapin and only the tapin is retained. As the pitted olive is rotated to a further station, a succession of orifices of a nozzle connected to an injector for stuffing paste is temporarily opened to the olive cavity. Then a gelification agent is applied to the paste contained in the olive, the saved tapin is restored to the olive as a cavity closure, and the fastening bush is withdrawn, freeing the stuffed olive from the machine.

Abstract: A machine for the pitting of drupaceous fruits, e.g. prunes, has an endless chain of articulated conveyor plates each provided with several vertical cylindrical bores whose flared mouths face upward on the upper run of the chain where each plate passes successively, in steps, through a loading station, a pitting station and an ejection station. The loading station comprises a hopper filling each bore of an underlying conveyor plate with a fruit to be pitted; in the pitting and ejecting stations, the conveyor plates are overhung by a vertically reciprocable carrier supporting a series of pushers and an adjoining series of plungers. In the pitting station the conveyor plates are underlain by a base plate having perforations aligned with their bores, each perforation being provided with an elastic insert which closes around a pit being dislodged by a pusher in order to strip adhering pulp therefrom.

Abstract: First and second rotary turrets are connected by a drive belt or chain which carries cups to carry and support the olives while they are being pitted and stuffed. Pitting takes place as the belt passes around one of the turrets and stuffing takes place while the belt passes around the other turret.A folded stuffing strip is fed radially of the stuffing turret and knives carried by the stuffing turret move transversely of the strip to cut off stuffing pieces and carry them away in vertical, stuffing alignment with the cups.

Abstract: In an improved machine for pitting olives and then filling them with a paste, such as an anchovy paste, the olives are supplied from a hopper to a drum rotating on a fixed shaft. As the drum rotates, the pits are displaced out of the olives into orifices in nozzles mounted on the drum. The nozzles are radially displaceable. In addition to the pit containing orifices the nozzles also contain other orifices through which the paste is fed into the olives. The paste feeding orifices are spaced radially from the pit containing orifices in the nozzles. Paste is supplied from cartridges to radial slots in a feed disc and then into the nozzles mounted on the drum. The feed disc is mounted on a shaft spaced laterally from and parallel to the shaft for the drum.

Abstract: First and second rotary turrets are connected by a drive belt or chain which carries cups to carry and support the olives while they are being pitted and stuffed. Pitting takes place as the belt passes around one of the turrets and stuffing takes place while the belt passes around the other turret.A folded stuffing strip is fed radially of the stuffing turret and knives carried by the stuffing turret move transversely of the strip to cut off stuffing pieces and carry them away in vertical, stuffing alignment with the cups.

Abstract: A tubular rotating blade assembly which can reciprocatorily cycle along the blade assembly axis. The assembly is incorporated into apparatus which sequentially functions to core a fruit member such as a grapefruit or the like after which the core member is removed from the fruit member before the blade assembly is withdrawn from such fruit member. A control means is also provided for synchronizing cycling and core removal operations of a blade assembly (or a gang of blade assemblies) relative to each of a successive plurality of fruit members to be cored.

Abstract: A stuffing apparatus for a machine having a stuffing station and adapted successively to deliver objects, having cavities to be stuffed, to the stuffing station, the apparatus having a magazine housing individual segments of stuffing material; a plunger assembly borne by the machine for movement along a path of travel through the magazine to drive one of the segments from the magazine and into the cavity of an object in the stuffing station; and a mechanism for synchronously indexing the magazine transversely of the path of travel of the plunger assembly to position one of the segments in the path prior to each movement of the plunger assembly.

Abstract: An inner portion of a conveyor comprising a plurality of pivotably joined crossbars having an open bottom receiving cup to hold a piece of drupaceous fruit is driven at a synchronized speed below a fruit feeder device. After the feeder device deposits a piece of fruit in each cup, the inner conveyor portion travels a short distance where it is joined by an outer portion of the conveyor comprising a like plurality of pivotably joined crossbars having an inverted covering cup with a perforated diaphragm top. The conveyor portions mate to partially enclose the piece of fruit within the cups. The fruit is conveyed through a pitting station where a star-shaped pitting tool is driven at high speed through the opening in the bottom of the receiving cup, into the piece of fruit to contact a pit of the fruit and push the pit upward through the perforation of the diaphragm in the covering cup. As the tool is withdrawn from the fruit, the fruit and its now separated pit are conveyed separately for further processing.

Abstract: An olive pitting and stuffing machine has a drum rotatable about an axis and provided with opposing pairs of clamping members angularly equispaced about the axis and respectively engageable with opposite ends of olives fed in succession generally tangentially to the drum. The drum also comprises respective tubular cutters axially aligned with each pair of clamping members and displaceable to cut an end out of the olive, a plunger axially aligned with each pair of clamping members on the opposite side of the drum adapted to pierce the olive through the other end and push out the olive pit, and a pimento inserter also aligned with the clamping members and effective to insert a folded piece of pimento as the stuffing in the interior of the olive.

Abstract: A turntable with olive cups is advanced stepwise by a suitable Geneva movement. At a feed station unpitted olives are delivered into the cups. Between the feed station and the pitting station the cups are vibrated to properly orient the olives for pitting. After pitting, the olives are stuffed with pimento, the pimento feed system including toothed drive means for a continuous pimento strip, a feed chute which serves to fold the strip in half along its lengthwise centerline, and cut-off knives to sever the strip into sections for stuffing.

Abstract: A fruit pitting machine apparatus for separating unpitted fruit from pitted fruit having pitting needles which force fruit pits through a pair of springloaded jaws. As a pit is forced through the jaws a pneumatic valve actuates a pneumatic pressure switch which generates electric signals in an electrical memory. If the jaws are not actuated by a pit being forced therethrough an air ejector will eject the unpitted fruit into a separate container following a predetermined positional relay for aligning the unpitted fruit with the ejector.

Abstract: This invention relates to a pitting needle and malfunction detector for use in automatic fruit pitting machinery. The needle has a bottom portion which is releasably fixed with respect to a holder. Movement of the bottom portion with respect to the holder as, for example, when a foreign object is struck, is sensed and, as a result thereof, an alarm is sensed and/or the machinery is stopped. In one embodiment, the needles are made in two parts and movement of one part with respect to the other is detected by a pressure sensor which is electrically connected to a power supply for the machinery to render it inoperative. In another embodiment, the needle is made in one part and the shank of the needle is releasably mounted in a holder bar which contains electrical, electro-mechanical, or pneumatic sensing means to detect movement of the needle with respect to the holder bar.