Vacuum Harvests Apples Fast

Vacuum Harvests Apples Fast MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 34-5-16 Phil Brown, Mike Rasch and Chuck Dietrich are nearing completion of their apple vacuum. It speeds picking, reduces labor fatigue, and results in less bruising of picked apples. "Apple picking isn't an easy job," says Brown. "You have to know what you're doing, plus it's strenuous carrying a bag up and down a ladder. With our apple vacuum, we feel a picker can work 25 percent faster and get 30 to 50 percent less bruising than with hand picked." The partners are in their final year of testing prototypes. They have one at the Penn State University Research Center and another one being evaluated by Michigan Sate University. Researchers will be gathering data on speed and bruising with different varieties. The Penn State unit will be tested on different self-propelled, orchard work platforms. Meanwhile, the Michigan State unit will be tested on a Brownie, a self-propelled work platform manufactured and marketed by Brown's company, Phil Brown Welding. The picking unit consists of a self-contained vacuum running off a 20-hp Honda engine. A picker standing in a bucket on the boom of a work platform picks an apple and drops it into a tube that carries it to bins below. Slippery neoprene lined tubes speed flow, yet protect apple quality. A device called a "singulator" keeps apples from bumping into each other as they approach the end of the hose. However, it's the decelerator at the bottom of the hose that is key to preventing bruising. The rotating foam rubber wheel catches fast moving apples and rolls them onto a distribution disk with canvas blades. From there they roll gently into the bin. The decelerator unit has an electric eye that gauges the level of apples in the bin and constantly adjusts its own height accordingly. The picking unit mounts on the popular Brownie workstations. There are more than 800 in use around the country. The Brownie uses planetary drives for its three-wheel, swing boom bucket workstation. Pedals provide hands-free control of the workstation while the operator swings the bucket 12 ft. side to side and up to 12 ft. in the air. However, Brown says the unit will work with a wide variety of workstations in use around the world. In its Brownie configuration, one worker walks ahead with a tube and picks low hanging fruit. A second worker in a basket picks higher fruit. Brown and his fellow inventors are confident the unit will work well with any type of round fruit or vegetable. While the Brownie by itself sells for about $15,000, a price has not been established for the picking unit. Phil Brown Welding will be manufacturing and marketing the unit along with about 35 other machines for orchards. "We are not yet selling to growers," says Brown. "We have had interest from growers around the world, but we're making sure we have the best materials for longevity." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Phil Brown Welding Corp., 4689 - 8 Mile Road N.W., Conklin, Mich. 49403 (ph 616 784-3046; Russ@philbrownwelding.com; www.philbrownwelding.com).

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