AU720673B2

AU720673B2 - A coconut de-husking apparatus

Info

Publication number: AU720673B2
Application number: AU52793/98A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Lawrence John Fletcher
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1997-02-10
Filing date: 1998-01-30
Publication date: 2000-06-08
Anticipated expiration: 2018-01-30
Also published as: AU5279398A

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT r u Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: LAWRENCE JOHN FLETCHER LAWRENCE JOHN FLETCHER CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

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Invention Title: A COCONUT DE-HUSKING APPARATUS Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Nos. P05061 10.02.97 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:

TITLE

A COCONUT DE-HUSKING APPARATUS FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a coconut de-husking apparatus.

BACKGROUND ART As far as the applicant is aware, there is presently no known efficient mechanised way of de-husking coconuts. Manual de-husking is performed and requires a willing and cheap source of labour. Manual de-husking is not viable where labour is relatively expensive or not available.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a de-husking apparatus as an alternative to manual de-husking of coconuts.

:s According to one aspect, the invention provides a coconut dehusking apparatus having a de-husking head, a support provided with a plurality of projecting receiving blades extending in a radial fashion and defining a 0. 0coconut receiving zone, the head being relatively movable towards and away from the support and having a plurality of control arms mounted to the head for combined pivotal movement and movement towards the projecting receiving blades, the arms having splitter blades at their distal ends which follow the contour of an upper part of the nut within the husk and then move downwardly over a lower part of the nut as the arms progress through the combined movement.

The support may be provided as a table. The table may be raised above a floor on which the apparatus may rest in use. One or more legs may be used to achieve this.

The projecting receiving blades are below the head and these lower blades are supported by the table. Preferably the lower blades have outermost ends secured to part of the table. That part of the table to which the ends of the blades are attached may be substantially annular in shape. As mentioned the lower blades extend in a radial pattern and define a central inner zone for receiving a coconut. Inner ends of the blades may terminate short of each other to define the zones. Preferably, the inner ends have a concave profile and the coconut is received by these profiles.

The de-husking head, as mentioned is movable towards and away from the lower blades. A slide may be provided for this purpose and the head may be mounted to the slide for movement along it. The slide may be secured to a support member. Preferably, the support member is an upright which also supports the table at its location above the floor on which the apparatus may rest.

A drive may be used for moving the head towards and away from the lower blades. The drive is preferably a hydraulic cylinder assembly extending between the head and a mount. The mount may be fixed to the upright.

*The head has a plurality of control arms. Preferably, at least three control arms are present. Each arm may consist of two parallel arm members.

Where there are three arms, it is preferred that the control arms are spaced at 120o intervals around the head.

Each of the arms has a splitter blade at its distal end. Where the arms comprise two arm members, a splitter blade portion may be present at the distal end of each arm member. Two splitter blade portions together make up a splitter blade.

Preferably, at least three lower blades are present and when the control arms are arranged at 1200 spacings so are the lower blades. More preferable six lower blades are present and these blades are arranged at 600 spacings.

The head includes a drive for causing the control arms to move such that the splitter blades may follow a path along an upper periphery of the nut within the coconut and then downwardly over a lower part of the nut. The drive may include a hydraulic cylinder assembly coupled to the arms. Preferably, the head includes guides to which are attached a part of each control arm. The part of the control arm that is attached to the guide is spaced from the end of the control arm which carries the splitter blade. Preferably the guides comprise a respective guide plate for each arm. The guide plates each have a guide slot 4 along which the part of the control arm is guided for movement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A particular preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a coconut de-husking apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of Figure 1 but with some parts omitted for the sake of clarity; Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the apparatus show in a further position assumed during operation of the apparatus; Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the apparatus shown in a further position in its operation to that of Figure 3; :°oo.o Figure 5 is a front elevational view of the apparatus of Figure 2; and Figure 6 is a plan view of the apparatus of Figure BEST MODE SFigure 1 shows a coconut de-husking apparatus 10. The apparatus has a frame 11 having a support in the form of a table 12 and an upright 13. The upright may be hollow and act as a reservoir for hydraulic fluid.

A filling tube 14 with a closure cap 15 is shown at an uppermost end of upright The table 12 is supported by the upright 13 and a leg 16.

"A de-husking head 20 is mounted to the upright by means of a slide 21. The head 20 is vertically movable along the slide 21 and may be moved relative towards and away from the table 12. Double acting hydraulic cylinder assembly 22 moves the head towards and away from the table. The cylinder assembly 22 has a cylinder 23 fixed at one end 24 to the upright 13 and a ram 25 fixed at location 26 to the head The head 20 has a hydraulic cylinder assembly 30 consisting of a cylinder 31 and a ram 32. The cylinder 31 carries three guide plates 33 (only two of which are visible in this view). Guide plates 33 are secured to cylinder 31 and extend outwardly from it at radial spacings of 1200. One of the plates is mounted to the slide 21 and is able to move along the slide under the influence of the cylinder assembly 22.

Each of the plates has a guide slot 34 formed in it. The slots 34 have an upper arcuate portion and a lower straight portion.

Three control arms 35 are secured relative to respective ones of the guide plates 33 by a guide cam 36 at one end of the arms and to spider 37 mounted to the ram 32. The arms are pivotally secured to the spider 37.

Each of the arms 35 consists of two spaced parallel arm members which receive the guide cam 36 between them. The arm members have outer longitudinal edges 38 which act as a cutting edge and the free end spaced from *o*the cams 36 have an angled inner edge 39 to which outwardly directed splitter blades 40 secured to them.

A motor and hydraulic pump 50 is coupled to the fluid reservoir by feed line 51. Control valve 52 supplies hydraulic fluid to ram assembly 22 via lines 53, 54 while ram assembly 30 is supported with fluid via lines 55, 56. A control line 57 extends between pump 50 and valve 52. Fluid is returned to the reservoir via line 58.

Figure 2 shows the apparatus of Figure 1 with the valve 52 motor/pump 50 and fluid lines of Figure 1 omitted. Greater detail of the table 12 can be seen. The table carries a plurality of upstanding lower blades 60. Blades extend at radially spaced locations relative to one another and finish short of X 'each other to define a central coconut receiving zone 61. A coconut placed in that zone 61 rests against edges 62 of the blades ready to have its husk removed. As shown in Figure 6 there are six blades As shown in Figure 6, the lower blades 60 are secured to circular mount 65 by mounting brackets 66. Leg 16 which extends from the table 12 terminates in a foot 67. Likewise, a foot 68 is secured to a lower end of upright 13.

The operation of the apparatus 10 will be described with reference to Figures 3 to 6 of the drawings. With the head 20 in the elevated position shown in Figure 5 a coconut to be de-husked is placed in zone 61 and rests against edges 62 of the lower blades 60. When the head 20 is in this position, the ram of cylinder assembly 22 is fully extended and the ram of cylinder assembly 30 is fully retracted. The ram of cylinder assembly 22 is retracted until splitter blades 40 penetrate a small distance into the top of the husk. Once this occurs, cylinder assembly 30 is operated to extend its ram. This causes cams 36 to move through the arcuate portion of the guide slots 34. The splitter blades as a consequence follow the contour of the nut as the control arms 35 pivot relative to the spider 37 and peel the upper half of the husk from the coconut.

The ends of the arms 35 which carry the blades 40 are caused to move away from one another by this action. The head 20 then reaches the position shown in Figure 3. From this stage onward the arms 35 and hence the splitter blades begin to move vertically downwardly and peel away the lower half of the husk S: from the nut. Until this position is reached, the splitter blades 40 would have moved along a curved path along the top half of the nut, stripping away that part of the husk. The ram of cylinder assembly 30 is partially extended at that stage.

To complete the de-husking of the nut the ram of cylinder assembly 30 is fully extended. Each of the control arms is made up of two parallel spaced arm members and each of them carries a splitter blade 40 at its S•end. The arm members straddle a lower blade 60 allowing the blade 60 to pass between the arm members as shown in Figure 4 and the free ends of the control arms extend through the table 12. If the husk is still attached to the nut, then the Sram of cylinder assembly 22 may be fully retracted from the Figure 3 position to that shown in Figure 4. This provides any extra travel needed to completely dehusk the nut.

The ram of cylinder assembly 30 is then fully retracted and the ram of cylinder assembly 22 is fully extended to move the head 20 to the position shown in Figures 2 and 5. Maximum clearance is made available for removing the previously de-husked nut and its husk from the table 12 and for placing the next coconut on the lower blades.

Claims

1. A coconut de-husking apparatus having a de-husking head, a support provided with a plurality of projecting receiving blades extending in a radial fashion and defining a coconut receiving zone, the head being relatively movable towards and away from the support and having a plurality of control arms mounted to the head for combined pivotal movement towards the projecting receiving blades, the arms having splitter blades at their distal ends which follow the contour of an upper part of the nut within the husk and then move downwardly over a lower part of the nut as the arms progress through the combined movement.

2. The coconut de-husking apparatus of claim 1 wherein the projecting receiving blades are located below the head.

3. The coconut de-husking apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein o. the projecting receiving blades each have an inner end which terminates short of each of the blades.

4. The coconut de-husking apparatus of claim 3 wherein the inner ends of the projecting receiving blades have a concave profile.

5. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding ,oeoeo claims wherein there are at least three said projecting receiving blades.

6. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims wherein the projecting receiving blades are equally radially spaced from S°one another.

7. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims wherein there are at least three said control arms.

8. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims wherein the control arms are equally radially spaced from each other.

9. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims wherein each said control arm consists of two parallel arm members secured to each other.

10. The coconut de-husking apparatus of claim 9 wherein each said splitter blade is formed from two splitter blade portions, a respective said splitter 8 blade portion is located at a distal end of each said arm member.

11. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims including a drive for moving the head towards and away from the projecting receiving blades.

12. The coconut de-husking apparatus of claim 11 wherein the drive includes a head hydraulic cylinder assembly extending between the head and a mount.

13. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims including a control arm hydraulic cylinder assembly coupled to the control arms to move the arms.

14. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims wherein the head includes guides and the control arms are attached to the guides at a location spaced from the splitter blades.

The coconut de-husking apparatus of claim 14 wherein the guides include a plurality of guide plates such that there is a respective guide plate associated with each said control arm. o

16. The coconut de-husking apparatus of claim 15 wherein each said guide plate has a guide slot along which the control arm is guided for movement.

17. The coconut de-husking apparatus of any one of the preceding claims wherein the head is mounted to a slide for guiding the head during its S, movement towards and away from the support. S18. A coconut de-husking apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 3 0th dayof January 1998 LAWRENCE JOHN FLETCHER By his Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.