The present invention relates to an apparatus for dividing horticultural products.

The demand for horticultural products is met increasingly often by large companies, which are capable of responding to the constantly increasing (and exacting) demand of the market, ensuring at the same time the cost containment that is now an unavoidable requirement.

In order to be able to fulfill this task, companies in the field equip themselves with large facilities that are at least partially automated and are capable of transporting, checking and/or packaging a large number of products of interest in the unit time, limiting the role of the operator to a simple supervision of the process.

In this context, moreover, it should be noted that even when they are intended for the treatment of a specific fruit (or of another specific horticultural product), apparatuses of the type indicated above are usually fed with large masses of the product to be treated, which arrive directly from the harvesting fields and for this reason are very heterogeneous.

This situation occurs for example in apparatuses for the transport, checking and treatment of cherries.

These apparatuses are in fact usually fed with crates of cherries of various sizes, which are poured indiscriminately into a loading station, where they are struck by a stream of water that entrains them toward the stations assigned to the subsequent processes.

For example, one of the first stations that this stream of water (mixed indeed with cherries) encounters has the task of separating the cherries which, in groups of two or three, are still joined by means of their respective stems, since if this separation were not performed the groups might cause jamming or clogging in the subsequent stations designed for the handling and/or treatment of one cherry at a time.

In any case, it should be noted that indeed in order to be able to perform processes, checks or other treatments on individual cherries, it is necessary to provide downstream of the loading station at least one apparatus capable of dividing uniformly the indiscriminate mass of cherries entrained by the stream of water.

More precisely, in order to allow the execution of the subsequent processes, these apparatuses must direct the cherries toward a plurality of channels arranged downstream, in which said cherries must arrive aligned one behind the other in tidy and uniform rows.

This poses problems that are not easy to solve to the manufacturing companies, since often division is entrusted to systems which are inefficient, expensive and/or require the fruits to follow paths defined by means of barriers and partitions. These elements affect the flow and allow to divert the cherries toward a plurality of channels, obtaining the desired result, but only at the price of subjecting the cherries to impacts that are sometimes violent and damage irreparably an often unacceptable percentage of said fruits.

The aim of the present invention is to solve the problems described above, by providing an apparatus that allows to divide effectively an indiscriminate mass of horticultural products, of the type for example of cherries.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide an apparatus that allows to divide an indiscriminate mass of horticultural products, of the type for example of cherries, without subjecting them to impacts or damage.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus that allows to direct cherries or other horticultural products toward the downstream stations, aligning them one behind the other in ordered and uniform rows.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus that allows to divide horticultural products with low costs.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus that ensures high reliability in operation, can be obtained easily starting from commonly commercially available elements and materials and is safe in application.

This aim, as well as these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by an apparatus for dividing horticultural products, propelled by a fluid for transport from an intake region, which can be connected to an upstream station, to an evacuation region, which can be connected to a downstream station, characterized in that it comprises a supporting frame for a contoured floor, which is arranged so that a first edge is at said intake region and is arranged so that a second edge, which is arranged opposite said first edge, is at said evacuation region, said contoured floor comprising a plurality of lanes which are interposed in a parallel arrangement between said regions and have a substantially V- shaped transverse cross-section for the progressive conveyance and alignment of the horticultural products in transit along the bottom of each one of said lanes.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, illustrated by way of nonlimiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a top view of the apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of Figure 2, taken along the line III-III; Figure 4 is a sectional view of Figure 2, taken along the line IV-IV; Figure 5 is a sectional view of Figure 2, taken along the line V-V. With particular reference to the cited figures, the reference numeral 1 generally designates an apparatus intended to divide horticultural products while they are propelled by a transport fluid from an intake region 2, which can be connected to an upstream station, to an evacuation region 3, which can be connected to a downstream station.

It should be noted, therefore, that the apparatus 1 can find application in any point of lines for the treatment and transport of horticultural products where the requirement indeed arises to divide uniformly an indiscriminate mass of horticultural products entrained by a transport fluid, in order to align them in ordered rows and make them available to the subsequent stations in this configuration.

It should also be noted that in the preferred application the transport fluid is water, which, by gravity and/or because it is pressurized, entrains the horticultural products along the line; however, use of the apparatus 1 to divide horticultural products propelled by other liquids (or for example water mixed with appropriate additives) or also by air or other gases is not excluded, without thereby abandoning the protective scope claimed herein.

It is deemed appropriate, further, to specify that in the preferred application of the invention, to which reference shall be made often in the continuation of the present description, the horticultural products are cherries.

For example, these products can arrive from an upstream station, assigned to the separation of the cherries that, in groups of two or three, are still joined by means of their respective stems.

Again, it should be specified once again in any case that the protection claimed herein is to be understood as being extended to the division of any type of horticultural product, and therefore to other types of fruit, or also vegetable, where needed by the specific requirements (and allowed by the shape of the product).

According to the invention, the apparatus 1 comprises a supporting frame 4 for a contoured floor 5, which is arranged with a first edge 5a at the intake region 2 and is arranged with a second edge 5b, arranged opposite the first edge 5 a, at the evacuation region 3.

The contoured floor 5 comprises a plurality of lanes 6, which are interposed in a parallel arrangement between the regions 2, 3 (and are therefore oriented along the cherry transport direction). It should be noted that the frame 4 may be any according to the specific requirements and can keep the lanes 6 substantially horizontal (entrusting the advancement of the cherries exclusively to the thrust of the water) or inclined (preferably downward in order to cause the advancement of the cherries also by gravity).

The lanes 6 have a substantially V-shaped transverse cross-section (see for example Figure 5) so as to facilitate the progressive conveyance and alignment of the horticultural products in transit along the bottom 6a of each lane 6.

It should be noted, therefore, that the shape that has been usefully chosen allows from the outset to achieve the intended aim: the complementarily inclined walls of the lanes 6 cause the cherries entrained by the water to fall toward the bottom 6a, where they are forced to align themselves one by one in ordered rows. In the resulting configuration, the cherries continue their travel until they are delivered, thus divided, to the downstream processes.

The number of lanes 6 shaped by the floor 5 may obviously be any and is chosen preferably as a function of the requirements of the downstream stations.

Conveniently, the apparatus 1 comprises at least one auxiliary redirection element 7, which is interposed between a pair of adjacent lanes 6, substantially at the second edge 5b.

The redirection element 7 facilitates the conveyance of the movement for the handling fluid (and of the horticultural products entrained by it) toward such bottom 6a of the lanes 6.

Preferably, the apparatus 1 comprises a plurality of auxiliary redirection elements 7, interposed between respective pairs of adjacent lanes 6, substantially at the second edge 5b. Even more particularly, as in the solution proposed in the accompanying figures merely by way of illustration, each pair of adjacent lanes 6 is affected by a respective auxiliary redirection element 7.

With further reference to the accompanying figures, in a constructive solution of considerable practical interest, which is mentioned by way of example and does not limit the application of the invention, each auxiliary redirection element 7 comprises a pillar 8 that protrudes from the respective adjacent lanes 6, substantially at the second edge 5b of the floor 5.

Furthermore, the face 9 of the pillar 8 that is directed toward the lanes 6 has a curvilinear surface, which is conveniently contoured indeed to facilitate the conveyance of the transport fluid toward the bottom 6a of the lanes 6, thus avoiding any impact of the horticultural products with rigid elements of such apparatus 1.

Preferably (but not necessarily or in a limiting way), in the embodiment proposed in the accompanying figures the face 9 has a substantially semicylindrical shape (although the possibility to provide redirection elements 7 provided with pillars 8 that have a different shape and are in any case within the protective scope claimed herein, is indeed not excluded).

In practice, therefore, the curvilinear (for example semicylindrical) surface of the face 9 facilitates the correct channeling of the fluid without it making contact with the horticultural products entrained by such fluid (since they indeed remain along the center of the lane 6), thus avoiding impacts or damage.

Usefully, the apparatus 1 comprises at least one discharge channel 10, which is connected to a respective lane 6 at the second edge 5b.

Even more particularly, the apparatus 1 comprises a plurality of channels 10 (which preferably but not exclusively have a V-shaped cross- section), connected to respective lanes 6 and arranged downstream of corresponding redirection elements 7. For example, as in the accompanying figures, a channel 10 is arranged downstream of each lane 6.

Advantageously, the apparatus 1 according to the invention comprises at least one chute 1 1 , which is arranged at the inlet of a respective lane 6, in order to offer an aid to the conveyance of the horticultural products in transit, toward the bottom 6a of each lane 6.

More particularly, the apparatus 1 comprises a plurality of chutes 1 1 , arranged at the respective inlets of corresponding lanes 6 (therefore, for example, each lane 6 can be associated with a respective chute 1 1 , as in the constructive solution shown in the accompanying figures).

Favorably, the floor 5 is constituted substantially by a metal plate that is folded so as to form the lanes 6; it should be noted that the pillars 8 and/or the chutes 1 1 also can be provided by means of appropriately folded metal plates.

However, it is useful to specify that the use of different materials for the floor 5 (and the other components of the apparatus 1 according to the invention) is not excluded.

Operation of the apparatus according to the invention is therefore evident from what has been described so far (and from the accompanying figures).

As already shown, in fact, while they are propelled by the water from the intake region 2 to the evacuation region 3, the cherries (or other horticultural product) are automatically made to fall toward the bottom 6a of the lanes 6 by way of the V-shaped configuration of such lanes (and therefore by the complementarily inclined walls that form them and merge indeed at the bottom 6a).

Even if some cherries approach the evacuation region 3 while remaining far from the bottom 6a (for example due to an excessive thrust of the water or by bouncing off underlying cherries), the redirection elements 7 avoid the danger that they might leave the apparatus 1 in a different manner than desired (i.e., not correctly aligned in ordered rows along the bottom 6a of the lanes 6).

As shown, the redirection elements 7 in fact re-channel the fluid toward the bottom 6a of the lanes 6 and therefore, without any impact or degradation (the redirection elements 7 in fact are never struck by the conveyed horticultural products), the cherries are in any case conveyed toward the bottom 6a as desired.

Furthermore, proximate to the intake region 2 the presence of the chutes 1 1 , also directed toward the bottom 6a of the lanes 6, further facilitates the desired conveyance of the cherries indeed toward the bottom 6a.

By way of the V-shaped configuration, the bottom 6a has a reduced passage section, and therefore in each lane 6, at least proximate to the evacuation region 3, the cherries are aligned automatically in ordered rows, in which the cherries advance one at a time or at the most in small side-by- side groups.

In this configuration, therefore, the cherries reach the respective channel 10 (or in any case the respective portion of the second edge 5b), from where they can be delivered to the downstream processes, where indeed this ordered distribution is required.

The apparatus 1 therefore allows to divide an indiscriminate mass of cherries (or other horticultural products) on a plurality of uniform rows; this result is also achieved without subjecting the products to impacts or damage, since conveyance is obtained simply by gravity and by way of the inclination of the walls of the lanes 6 (with the optional aid of the chutes 1 1 and of the redirection elements 7).

Furthermore, it should be noted that division and conveyance are obtained with a solution that is unquestionably simple, has a small number of components and can be obtained easily with simple manufacturing processes: this ensures the low cost of the apparatus 1 and the possibility to achieve the desired goal with low costs.

In practice it has been found that the apparatus according to the invention achieves fully the intended aim, since resorting to a supporting frame for a contoured floor that comprises a plurality of lanes that have a substantially V-shaped transverse cross-section for the progressive conveyance and alignment of the horticultural products in transit along the bottom of such lanes allows to divide effectively an indiscriminate mass of horticultural products of the type for example of cherries.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; all the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In the examples of embodiment shown, individual characteristics, given in relation to specific examples, may actually be interchanged with other different characteristics that exist in other exemplary embodiments.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application no. 102015000018556

(UB2015A001290), from which this application claims priority, are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.