Importance

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Abstract

A tomato harvester of the type having a main frame and acting to sever the tomato plants below ground and to pick up and elevate them to a tomato separator for separating the tomatoes from the vines. A low elevator segment is separated from an upper elevator segment to provide a gap between them through which dirt clods and some loose tomatoes can fall. The length of the gap is adjustable by moving the upper segment relative to the lower one. The separator includes a walking bar type of shaker with vine retarding tines above the walking bars, and the tines are rotatable and ganged for movement up and down, to adjust dwell time in the separator. The crankshaft for the walking bars has crank pins alternating at 180.degree. and has at each end a pair of timing journals extending at 90.degree. to the crank pins to which the walking bars are secured. The outside journals are located 180.degree. out of phase with the two journals mounted inwardly thereof, to provide two force couples in balance. Balance is completed by a counterweight secured to the crankshaft at each end to provide a force couple equal to and opposite from the force couple resulting from the crank pins.

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First Claim