AU2005100924A4 - Grapevine Shoot Stripper - Google Patents

Description

Our Ref: 3330 P/00/009 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 INNOVATION SPECIFICATION FOR AN INVENTION ENTITLED Invention title: Name of Applicant: Address for Service GRAPEVINE SHOOT STRIPPER U R MACHINERY PTY LTD A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys PO Box 222 Mitcham, S.A. 5062 The invention is described in the following statement: D 2

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This invention relates to an apparatus for removal of shoots from the stem of grape vines.

0 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cultivation of grape vines requires considerable pruning and maintenance to achieve an optimal yield and health of the plants. In the past this has entailed considerable manual N labour.

Viticulture has increasingly become mechanised so that only very rarely is harvesting Sperformed manually. Pruning of vines during dormant period from the trellis is also 10 predominantly performed using mechanical pruning apparatuses, using cutters to effect a relatively clean cut of the canes that extend from the principal lateral, or cordon. Cutters are positioned some way from the cordon and upright stem, and thus the risk of damage to these is minimised.

There remains however the task of removing unwanted shoots extending from the stem of the grape vines, these shoots are commonly referred to as suckers. These shoot during the growing season, and if left in place tend to use up significant energy from the plant, reducing yields. Furthermore the foliage that they carry can pose additional risk of fungal or other microbial attack by enhancing moisture retention and the positioning of leaves close to the soil. It has been Australian practice to remove the shoots manually, which entail breaking these off by hand or by foot. The principal reason for continuing with manual removal is that it is desirable that the shoots be removed totally and thus requires contact at or close to the stem. Use of mechanical cutting tools risks damage to the stem.

An apparatus available in France has addressed the issue by providing a rotary stripper that straddles a vine and provides a plurality of belt that rotate about a vertical axis to beat shoots from the stem. The belts are relatively soft and rotate at high speed to exhibit sufficient force to remove the shoots. One problem with this device is that the belts are quite unstructured and are urged into a horizontal pattern only on rotation. This flexibility and structure results in them having a tendency to wrap onto and grip objects that are contacted by a portion of the strap somewhat inward of their free ends.

3 Additionally should fragile vineyard equipment be positioned for contact by the straps, 0 these can be damaged. In particular in Australia this property can cause considerable z damage to the watering fixtures that are present in a predominance of vineyards.

For the purposes of this specification the word "comprising" means "including but not CI limited to", and the word "comprises" has a corresponding meaning. Also a reference within this specification to a document is not to be taken as an admission that the disclosure therein constitutes common general knowledge in Australia.

N, 10 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a broad form the invention might be said to reside in an apparatus for stripping shoots from stems of a grape trellis, the apparatus comprising a support frame supporting a stripper, the stripper comprising a stripper support arm supported by and extending laterally away from the support frame, an upright shaft is supported by the stripper support arm for rotation, said shaft is driven by drive means, at least one strap laterally connect to the shaft by a connections means for rotation thereby to contact a stem of the grape trellis, the strap being flexible through a horizontal plane but substantially self supporting vertically.

Preferably a plurality of vertically spaced straps are connected to the shaft by respective connection means. The plurality of vertically spaced straps extend vertically to a height of an exposed portion of the stem of the vine, which in Australian vineyards may be from about 0.5m to 1.5 metres.

Preferably the straps are paired to extend outwardly from the shaft at each level approximately 1800 relative to the other of the pair. This provides a relatively simple means of balancing the shaft. Alternatively a construction might be contemplated where a single strap extends on either side of the shaft being connected therewith at a central portion of the strap. The strap thus has two working free ends.

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The vertically spaced straps are preferably offset circumferentially relative to others 0 z vertically spaced therefrom, so that on rotation a vertical progression of contact is made with the stem. The progression is preferably downwardly, thus an uppermost strap contacts first followed by the next vertically adjacent strap and so on. This gives a slapping down effect on shoots of some length, and tends to progressively angle the shoot toward a lateral attitude relative to the stem which assists in breaking off of the shoot together with the base of the shoot taken out of the stem. This full removal of the shoots reducing the number of shoots that might otherwise return the following season were the shoot be broken away from the stem with a residual being left.

S The offset of vertically adjacent straps may be less than 600 preferably less than 50' and may be less than 400, most preferably the offset is between 30' and 60. Thus on full rotation of the shaft it is desired that at least two and more preferably three, four or five progressively downward slaps are effected, on a single rotation. Depending on the height of the stem, it might be desired that two full turns are required for the progression of contact to traverse from the top of the stem to the bottom, thus providing for a sufficient slap down effect for shoots whether they originate from the base of some way up the stem. A beneficial effect may be achieved if three quarters or more of a turn is provided.

An optimum will depend on the height of the stem.

The straps do become worn, after a period of use, and thus it is preferred that they are removable from the connection means.

The stripper support arm is preferably pivotable with respect to the support frame, between a maximum extension and a minimum extension, the stripper support arm being biased to the maximum extension by biasing means. Conveniently the biasing means may be a torsion spring.

Preferably a bumper is fixed relative to the stripper support arm for contact with the stem of a vine, the bumper positioned radially inwardly relative to the free ends of the straps to an extent that determines a contact length of the straps that contact the stem. This ensures that there is adequate contact on the one hand and on the other hand that the D

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length of the strap extending past the element is not excessive to a degree encouraging 0 O snapping off of the free end of the strap. Advantageously the bumper is laterally adjustable so that as the strap becomes worn and the contact length decreases, the bumper can be moved inwardly to provide a greater contact length, and thus strap contact with the stem.

OAdvantageously the bumper has some flexibility, whereby there is some deformation on contact with the stem of the vine or other element being contacted to reduce damage that might otherwise be occasioned. Preferably also the bumper is tapered away from the direction of travel of the machine to allow a gradual inward traverse of the stripper support arm on contact with a stem. In one form the bumper is bowed so that the arm can be returned gradually without an abrupt springing back to position once it passes the stem.

The length of the strap may vary depending on the specific construction of the trellis construction but typically will be between 0.25 to 1 m long, more typically between 0.3 and 0.7m long and preferably about 0.4 to 0.6 m long. The length, if excessive, may lead to a greater degree of flexibility at the free end thereof than is desirable.

The strap is substantially self supporting in a vertical plane. Principally this is a characteristic of the material used and the vertical depth of the material. The material is at least semi rigid so that it does not tend to droop along its length, that does not means that no twist develops along its length. The end in a resting position might thus droop downwardly somewhat, but preferably not more than one connection position, or width of strap or at least not more than about 2. The lack of significant droop is a characteristics desirable in the strap preferably even after the strap has been used. Straps do heat up on use and some polymers at the temperatures generated do become more pliable. The material used is to that extent preferably resistant drooping on the increase in temperature of the strap generated by use.

The strap is additionally horizontally flexible so that on impact with a vine stem it can deform to allow the strap to pass the stem on further rotation without unduly damaging D 6

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the stem. The strap also desirably is wear resistant. The strap may exhibit a hardness of O between 85 and 95 shore.

The straps of the present invention provide a slapping action against the shoots, and provides individual contact with each strap on the stem with an impact that can be defined, and furthermore in a preferred form can progressively position a shoot for more Seffective removal. This is in contrast with a brush where the cumulative action of a number of fibres can contact a shoot, with no clear individual impact. The very flexible strap of prior shoot removers tend to act as flails and on impact tend to bounce up or down, with some of the energy dissipating and having a higher risk of entanglement with the trellis.

For the sake of costs and easy of construction to impart the horizontal flexibility whilst maintaining the vertical self supporting character, the strap will conveniently be flat with the wider surfaces being aligned generally upright, at least in use. The straps are conveniently of unitary construction, because layered structures, whilst being able to fulfil the task, have a tendency to delaminate. The strap might conveniently be formed of a plastics material and have a generally rectangular cross section. The strap might have a horizontal dimension of between 2 and 10 mm, preferably between 5 and 7mm and a ratio vertical to horizontal dimension of between 1:2 to 1: 30, preferably between 1:4 to 1:15 and more preferably between 1:6 to 1:10. The vertical dimension is preferably between about 2 cm and 8 cm. More preferably between about 3 and 7 and most preferably between about 4 and 6cm. A broader strap provides for an increased surface area and thus is less likely to cut the vine than a shallower strap, however if too wide the strap may be unable to accommodate unevennesses of the stem.

As indicated above the strap does build up heat during use and that can effect the performance of the strap. One principal source of heat is the bending of the strap at the connection with the shaft. This bending can be inhibited by providing a reinforcement at the connection, which in a convenient form may be manifest as a greater thickness of strap where it is attached to the shaft than at the free end thereof. Rather than have a specifically formed strap, the increase in thickness can be achieved by having two or tt7 O more pieces are connected, one being longer for contact with the stem so that bending is 0 O inhibited at a horizontal axis where the strap extends from the connection means. More elaborate means may be used to inhibit this bending for example by extending a flexible reinforcing member over the junction.

NI The height of the shaft can vary to reflect the height of the clear portion of the stem Swherein the height of the shaft is between 500 mm to 1.5 m, and preferably about 1 m.

Preferably a protective cover means is positioned over the uppermost strap so that canes and leaves of the canopy of the trellis are not caught by the straps at least in a shaft proximal portion. these might otherwise be caught up with a risk that canes can be wound around the shaft.

Preferably the stripper support arms are supported on a laterally telescoping member of the support frame. The pivot position of the stripper support arms are thus extendable and retractable laterally of the direction of travel. This then permits adjustment for vineyards with a variety of spacings between vines.

Conveniently the apparatus provides two strippers, and the support frame being adapted to support both strippers to act on opposing sides of adjacent trellises. The stripper support frame does not straddle a trellis and is thus is advantageously below uppermost the level of the vine and a lowermost portion being less than about 1 metre above ground preferably about 0.5 metre above ground. The invention will be understood however to also encompass an overhead support frame whereby the support frame is adapted to straddle a trellis exhibiting a generally n shape, the stripper being supported at a lower end of the two opposed downwardly extending members of the n shape.

The support frame may be adapted to be mounted to the front of a tractor or other agricultural vehicle, such as a harvester but might be a self motive vehicle.

8 SThe apparatus may further comprise a base frame which may be able to be connected to z the front of a tractor, the support frame being carried by the base frame and being vertically adjustable relative to the base frame.

The invention in a second form might be said to reside in a method of stripping shoots C, and or bud from the stems of a vineyard trellis, the method comprising the step of carrying the apparatus of any one or more of the embodiment of the invention described above single or in combination along the trellis of a vineyard, contacting the stems of the Strellis with straps of the apparatus. The rotation speed of the shaft may be between about S 10 100 to 500 rpm, preferably 150 to 300 and most preferably about 170 to 230. Preferably each stem of the trellis is slapped between 5 and 20 times, more preferably 8 and 7 and most preferably between 11 and 14 times.

For a better understanding one embodiment of the invention will now be shown and particularly described, wherein: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 A schematic plan view of the illustrated embodiment having two stripper units, being mounted to the front of a tractor, Figure 2 is a similar view as for figure 1 where one of the strippers as been urged inwardly by the stem of a vine, Figure 3 is a schematic side plan view of the illustrated embodiment, and Figure 4 is a perspective view showing a closer view of the manner in which the straps of a stripper are mounted to the vertical shaft of a stripper unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED AND EXEMPLIED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The illustrated embodiment comprises an apparatus for stripping shoots from the stems of a grape trellis the apparatus comprises a support frame supporting two shoot strippers The strippers each comprise a stripper support arm (10) extending 9 laterally away from the support frame. An upright shaft (11) is supported by the stripper z arm for rotation, the shaft is driven by drive means A plurality of straps (13) are Cc laterally connected to the shaft by connection means (14) for rotation thereby to contact a O stem of the grape trellis.

N, The support frame comprises two parts, a base frame is (15) is directly connected to the front of a tractor A front part (17) of the support frame is connected to the base frame. The base frame comprises horizontal member (18) and two upright front members S(19) and cross members (20) to form a rigid upright frame. Stay (21) connects the top of S 10 the rigid upright frame back down to the back of horizontal members to stiffen the base frame. The front portion of the support frame comprises two upright members (25) with cross members connected therebetween (26) and two forwardly extending horizontal members (27) with stays (28) extending between the two horizontal members. A laterally telescoping front member (29) extends between and beyond the front of the two forwardly extending members. The upright members of the front portion and the base frame are held abutting one another and aligned vertically. A ram (not shown) is connected therebetween so that the front portion can be raised or lowered relative to the base frame and thus the tractor, so that the apparatus thereby can be adjusted vertically.

The frame members are generally made of RHS of 75 b 75 by 6 mm.

Each stripper 3) comprises a vertical member (30) which is rigidly connected to a respective outer end of the telescoping front member An upper portion of the vertical member comprises a platform (31) on which stripper support arm (10) is pivotably supported. Arm shaft (32) extends upwardly of the platform and isjournalled for rotation about an inward end of the stripper support arm. The stripper support arm comprises RHS steel and extends outwardly from the support frame. The dimensions of the RHS forming the arm are 125 by 75 by 4 mm. The arms shaft (32) extends upwardly of the stripper support arm and a torsion spring (33) is fitted to an upper part thereof. The torsion spring biases the stripper support arm to its outermost extent. A tab of steel extends upwardly from platform (31) which tab of steel thus act as a stop (34) and defines the outermost extent to which the stripper support arm can pivot. It can be seen that in their maximum outward extension both stripper arm supports are angled backwardly from the line of travel This attitude assists with the inward movement to avoid 0 z obstacles or for positioning of the stripper for best effect.

O The stripper shaft (11) is journalled through the stripper support arm (10) adjacent a free end thereof. Roller bearings (36, 37) are positioned both on top of and beneath the RHS forming the arm The shaft comprises two portions, an upper portion (1 la) being of a solid construction and extending through the support arm. A lower portion (1 lb) of the shaft is of tubular construction and is connected to the upper portion by sliding it over the upper portion and fastening it thereto by way of a bolt (38) passing through an aperture (39) in the lower portion and securing into a threaded bore (40) in the upper portion of the shaft.

Stripper shaft pulley (41) is secured to an uppermost part of the shaft. An hydraulic motor (42) is mounted on top of the stripper support arm (10) at an inward portion thereof, and has a pulley (not shown) aligned with the stripper pulley A belt (43) extends between the two pulleys to couple the hydraulic motor with the shaft. Belt tensioning means are also provided, but not shown. The pulley and belt are protected by a pressed sheet metal housing which is screwed onto the RHS forming the arm.

The lower portion of the shaft has connected thereto nine pairs of straps The connection means comprise pairs of steel tabs welded to the tubular structure of the lower portion of the shaft (1 lb). The pairs of tabs are positioned at 1800 to each other on opposite sides of the shaft, so that pairs of straps (13) each extend 1800 therefrom. The fastening is achieved by providing for holes in the tabs with which holes through the straps can be aligned and passing a bolt through both and fastening a nut thereto.

Vertically adjacent tabs are offset by 360 relative to each other so that the pairs of straps assume four different circumferential positions, and the nine pairs of straps each at different levels could be said to describe two turns of a double helix. Rotation of the shaft as shown in figure 4 in a clockwise manner provides for a progressively downward slapping against the stem of a grape trellis.

11 The illustrated straps are 500mm long by 50mm deep and 6 mm thick and made of a 0 z ERAPOL E90A which is a polyether based urethane elastomer having a shore A hardness CC of 90 and having a cured specific gravity of 1.10. Erapol E90A is available from Era O Polymers Pty Ltd of East Botany Australia. These exhibit some droop after use to the extent of a single strap position which ensures that their positioning is controllable.

N' During use minimal damage is exhibited.

The rotational speed of the motor may be varied however the shaft will typically be Sdriven at 200rpm, although higher speeds may be desirable.

N A bumper (45) is supported on the stripper support arm The bumper comprises a bowed nylon rod (46) having a straight front portion held forwardly of the stripper support arm by a bumper support member The tubular nylon rod fits into a bore defined within a tubular collar (48) welded to a forward portion of the bumper support member, and a securing screw is passed through an aperture in the tubular collar and into the nylon rod to secure it in place. The nylon rod further comprises a curved portion (49) and a backwardly extending leg The curved portion of the rod represents the most outwardly extending portion of the bumper. The backwardly extending leg passes through a second bumper collar and is held in a number of defined positions by a bolt passing through aligned apertures through the bumper collar and four spaced apart adjustment apertures passing through the nylon rod giving a total adjustment of 200mm.

The length of the nylon rod and thus the degree to which the curved portion extends from the stripper support arm can be varied depending on which adjustment aperture is secured to bumper collar. The nylon rod of this embodiment is round in cross section with a diameter of It can be seen that the straps (13) extend beyond the curved portion of the bumper The bumper acts to define a contact length of the strap, that is the length of strap that extends radially beyond the bumper and can contact the stem. As can be seen in figure 2, the bumper makes contact with the stem of the grape trellis and in doing so will force the stripper support arm to pivot inwardly toward the support frame and tractor. The curved portion rests against the stem so that only the contact portion of the strap can 12 made contact with the stem. The partially retracted position shown in figure 2 can be 0 contrasted with the fully extended position shown in figure 1. This contact portion can be Z adjusted by adjusting for a given length of strap or by adjusting the bumper as indicated O above.

N1 A protective cover (52) in the form of a metal disc is positioned over the shaft and strap by welding to the bottom of the pivot support arm This extends outwardly some Sway, and assists with preventing fouling up of the shaft and straps by foliage and canes of 0the canopy of the vine trellis. It can be seen that the second bumper collar (51) is fastened to the protective disc (52).

It will be appreciated that the illustrated apparatus is intended for travel between rows, and the telescoping member (29) of the support frame assist with accommodation of wider or narrower rows. The telescoping member is formed by three RHS sections, a central portion (29a) and a first and second side portions (29b, 29c) which are of smaller cross section and slide snugly into the central portion. The central potion has dimension of 90 by 90 by 6mm and the side portions have dimensions of 75 by 75 by 5 mm. The uprights (30) of the strippers are supported on the side portions of the telescoping member and as these are slid in or out of the central member are positioned narrower or wider. A telescoping hydraulic ram (55) is positioned between the central portion (29a) and the first side portion (29b) to slide the first side portion outwardly of the central portion. Link means connects the first side portion with the second side portion (29c) to drive the two side portions apart evenly. The link means comprised a central link member (56) pivoted to the central portion (29a) and two coupling portions (57, 58) connecting between free ends of the central portion and the first and second side portions of the telescoping member. It can thus be seen as the ram is extended as shown in figure 2, both side portions of the telescoping member are extended, whereas when the ram is retracted both side portions of the telescoping member are retracted (as shown in figure 1).

In operation thus the apparatus can be adjusted in a number of ways. The height of the stripper can be adjusted by altering the relative height of the front portion of the support 13 frame. The maximum lateral width can be adjusted via the telescoping member of the z support frame. The degree of penetration can be adjusted by altering the position of the Cc bumper, which may be adjusted either to provide more contact or to accommodate the O wearing down of the straps. In addition one, two or more pairs of straps can be removed, for example, as illustrated in figure 3 to accommodate an irrigation hose (60) preventing damage thereto.

The shafts rotate at a speed of 200 rpm and can be driven between two rows at a selected 8speed. Earlier on in the season, before the shoots have wooded this may be faster, for N, 10 example at 3.5 km/hr speed whereas later on in the season the speed might be reduced to perhaps 2.5 km/h, so that a greater number of slaps can be imparted on each shoot to have more impact. The speed of the shaft could be increased for harder shoots, however, this also has an adverse impact of increasing the impact on the stems and or other parts of the trellis. Ideally each stem receive between about 11 and 14 slaps.

Claims (4)

1. An apparatus for stripping shoots from stems of a grape trellis, the apparatus comprising a support frame supporting a stripper, the stripper comprising a stripper support arm supported by and extending laterally away from the support Sframe, an upright shaft is supported by the stripper support arm for rotation, said shaft is Sdriven by drive means, at least one strap laterally connect to the shaft by a connections means for rotation thereby to contact a stem of the grape trellis, the strap being flexible through a horizontal plane but substantially self supporting vertically.

2. The apparatus for stripping shoots from stems of a grape trellis as in claim 1 wherein the straps are paired to extend outwardly from the shaft at approximately 1800 relative to the other of the pair.

3. The apparatus for stripping shoots from stems of a grape trellis as in either claim 1 or 2 having a plurality of vertically spaced straps laterally connected to the shaft, said vertically spaced straps offset circumferentially relative to others vertically spaced therefrom, so that on rotation a vertical progression of contact is made with the stem.

4. The apparatus for stripping shoots from stems of a grape trellis as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the stripper support arm is pivotal relative to the support frame and is biased to an extended position, a bumper being fixed relative to the stripper support arm for contact with the stem of a vine, the bumper positioned radially inwardly relative to the free ends of the straps to an extent that determines a contact length of the straps that contact the stem, the bumper being laterally adjustable. A method of stripping shoots and/or bud from the stems of a vineyard trellis, the method comprising the step of carrying the apparatus of any one of the preceding claims along the trellis of a vineyard and contacting the stems of the trellis with straps of the z apparatus to thereby strip the shoots and/or buds from the stems. Dated this 3rd day of November 2005 U R MACHINERY PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys