Crop beater method and apparatus - Patent Review 5027593

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for harvesting produce from a row of crops, said apparatus comprising:

a. a chassis adapted to travel along said row;

b. a vertically aligned hub means which is carried by said chassis and which is positioned to be adjacent to said row as said chassis travels along said row;

c. a beater rod assembly comprising a plurality of substantially horizontally arranged beater rod means which are attached to said hub means at vertically spaced locations and which extend radially outwardly from said hub means, with each of said beater rod means having a lengthwise axis and at least an upwardly slanted portion which slants radially outwardly and upwardly and a downwardly slanted portion which is spaced from said upwardly slanted portion along said lengthwise axis and which slants radially outwardly and downwardly to form upper and lower portions of said rod means, with said hub means being mounted about a vertical axis in a manner that as said chassis moves along said row each of said rod means moves in a rotational path about the vertical axis, the rotational path having at least a first path portion where each of the rod means rotates from a forwardly extending position rearwardly and laterally into said row to a laterally extending position, and a second path portion where the rod means rotates from said laterally extending position further rearwardly to a rearwardly extending position, with said upper and lower portions of said rod means having lateral components of motion into and out of said row of plants as said rod means moves on said rotational path so that various crop portions of said plants are raised and depressed as each of said crop portions are engaged successively by said upper and lower portions of the rod means;

d. a secondary oscillating means operatively connected to said rod assembly to move said rod assembly upwardly and downwardly to impart secondary up and down components of movement to each of said crop portions as said crop portions are raised and depressed;

e. said apparatus being characterized in that a pair of upper and lower related rod means are in vertical alignment and in that said upper and lower portions, respectively, of said upper rod means are vertically aligned with said upper and lower portions, respectively, of said lower rod means, so that said upper and lower rod means cooperate in said raising and depressing of said crop portions.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein a structural depth of said beater rod means, which is a vertical distance from an upper side of said upper portion of said beater rod means to a lower side of said lower portion, is greater than three times an amplitude of said secondary up and down components of movement which are imparted by said secondary oscillating means.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein:

a. a sum of said structural depth of said beater rod means plus twice said amplitude of said secondary up and down components of motion equals at least a vertical spacing distance by which said beater rod means are vertically spaced from one another in said rod assembly

b. said beater rod means has at least one of said upper portions and one of said lower portions which is spaced along said lengthwise axis from said upper portion, with said upper portion comprising one of said upwardly slanted portions and one of said downwardly slanted portions and with said lower portion comprising one of said downwardly slanted portions and one of said upwardly slanted portions.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein said structural depth of said beater rod means is at least four times said amplitude of said secondary up and down components of motion.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein a sum of said structural depth of said beater rod means plus twice said amplitude of said secondary up and down components of motion equals at least a vertical spacing distance by which said beater rod means are vertically spaced from one another in said rod assembly.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein said beater rod means ends outwardly with one of said downwardly slanted portions.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein said structural depth of said beater rod means is at least four times said amplitude of said secondary up and down components of motion.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein:

a. said beater rod means has at least one of said upper portions and one of said lower portions which is spaced along said lengthwise axis from said upper portion, with said upper portion comprising one of said upwardly slanted portions and one of said downwardly slanted portions and with said lower portion comprising one of said downwardly slanted portions and one of said upwardly slanted portions;

b. said upper portions and said lower portions are spaced along said lengthwise axis of said beater rod means by an axial distance which is 0.5 to 5 times a travel distance which said chassis travels in one second.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein said upper and lower beater rod means, respectively, which are in vertical alignment, are arranged on said hub means in, respectively, an upper tier of said beater rod means and a vertically adjacent lower tier of said beater rod means, where each tier contains a plurality of said beater rod means.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said upper and lower rod means, respectively, which are in vertical alignment, are in, respectively, an upper tier of said beater rod means and a lower tier of said beater rod means, with said upper and lower tiers being separated by a middle tier of said beater rod means, and with said rod means of said middle tier being positioned in a manner that said rod means of said middle tier are angularly displaced from vertical alignment positions, which are positions which are vertically aligned with said rod means of said upper tier, by an angular displacement which is half of an angular displacement between said vertical alignment positions.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein:

a. a structural depth of said beater rod means, which is a vertical distance from an upper side of said upper portion of said beater rod means to a lower side of said lower portion, is greater than three times an amplitude of said secondary up and down components of movement which are imparted by said secondary oscillating means;

b. a sum of said structural depth of said beater rod means plus twice said amplitude of said secondary up and down components of motion equals at least a vertical spacing distance by which said beater rod means in said upper tier and in said lower tier are vertically spaced from one another in said rod assembly;

c. said beater rod means has at least one of said upper portions and one of said lower portions which is spaced along said lengthwise axis from said upper portion, with said upper portion comprising one of said upwardly slanted portions and one of said downwardly slanted portions and with said lower portion comprising one of said downwardly slanted portions and one of said upwardly slanted portions.

12. A pair of beater rod means for use in an apparatus for harvesting produce from a row of crops, said pair of beater rod means extending from a substantially vertically aligned hub means which is carried by a chassis, said beater rod means comprising an upper beater rod means and a lower beater rod means, with each of said beater rod means having a lengthwise axis and at least an upwardly slanted portion, which slants radially outwardly and upwardly with respect to said axis, and a downwardly slanted portion at an end of said beater rod means distal from said hub means, which downwardly slanted portion is spaced from said upwardly slanted portion along said axis and which slants radially outwardly and downwardly with respect to said axis, to form upward and lower portions of said beater rod means, with said beater rod means being adapted to be mounted at vertically spaced locations upon said hub means and to extend radially outwardly from said hub means and to be in vertical alignment with one another so that said upper and lower portions, respectively, of said upper beater rod portions, respectively, of said lower beater rod means to form a crop receiving area between said upper and lower beater rod means, with said pair of beater rod means, along with other beater rod means and said hub means, making a harvesting unit which is positioned adjacent to said row as said chassis travels along said row.

13. The pair of beater rod means as recited in claim 12, wherein said beater rod means has at least one of said upper portions and one of said lower portions which is spaced along said lengthwise axis from said upper portion, with said upper portion comprising one of said upwardly slanted portions and one of said downwardly slanted portions and with said lower portion comprising one of said downwardly slanted portion and one of said upwardly slanting portions.

14. The pair of beater rod means as recited in claim 13, wherein said upper portions and said lower portions are spaced along said lengthwise axis of said beater rod means by an axial distance which is 0.5 to 5 times a travel distance which said chassis travels in one second.

15. A method for harvesting produce from upstanding plants, comprising:

a. providing a harvesting unit comprising:

i. a hub means which is rotatable about a vertical axis;

ii. a rod assembly comprising a plurality of substantially horizontally arranged beater rod means, which are attached to said hub means at vertically spaced locations and which extend radially outwardly from said hub means, with each of said beater rod means having a lengthwise axis and at least an upwardly slanted portion which slants radially outwardly and upwardly and a downwardly slanted portion which is spaced from said upwardly slanted portion along said lengthwise axis and which slants radially outwardly and downwardly to form upper and lower portions of said beater rod means;

b. moving said harvesting unit along a row of said plants in a manner that each of said rod means moves on a rotational path about said vertical axis, said rotational path having a first path portions where each of the rod means rotates from a forwardly extending position rearwardly and laterally into the row to a laterally extending position, and a second path portion where the rod means rotates from said laterally extending position further rearwardly top a rearwardly extending position, with said upper and lower portions of said rod means having lateral components of motion into and out of said row of plants as said rod means moves on said rotational path, so that various crop portions of said plants are raised and depressed as each of said crop portions are engaged successively by said upper and lower portions of said rod means;

c. moving said rod assembly up and down to impart secondary up and down components of movement to each of said crop portions as said crop portions as raised and lowered.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein:

a. said method is characterized in that a set of upper and lower related rod means are in vertical alignment, and in that said upper and lower portions, respectively, of said upper rod means are vertically aligned with said upper and lower portions, respectively, of said lower related rod means, so that said upper and lower related rod means cooperate in said raising and depressing of said crop portions;

b. said upper and lower rod means define a crop receiving area which is adapted to receive said crop portions in a manner that, as said upper and lower rod means move laterally into and out of said row during said rotational-lateral movement of said rod means, said crop portions ride upwardly upon said downwardly slanted portions of said lower rod means whereby said crop portions are raised and said corp portions ride downwardly upon said upwardly slanted portions of said upper rod means whereby said crop portions are depressed.

17. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein said beater rod means spring load said crop portions, with said spring loading having vertical spring loading components which spring load said crop portion upwardly and downwardly during said upward and downward movement of said beater rod means.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein said beater rod means has at least one of said upper portions and one of said lower portions which is spaced along said lengthwise axis from said upper portion, with said upper portion comprising one of said upwardly slanted portions and one of said downwardly slanted portions and with said lower portion comprising one of said downwardly slanted portion and one of said upwardly slanting portions.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein:

a. an amplitude of said raising and depressing of said crop portions (discounting said secondary up and down components of motion of said rod assembly) is 0.5 to 4 times an amplitude of said secondary up and down components of motion of said rod assembly;

b. a frequency of said secondary up and down components of motion of said rod assembly is twenty to eighty times a frequency of said raising and depressing of said crop portions discounting said secondary up and down components of motion of said rod assembly.

20. A method for harvesting produce from upstanding plants, comprising:

a. providing a harvesting unit comprising:

i. a hub means which is rotatable about a vertical axis;

ii. a rod assembly comprising a plurality of beater rod means, which are attached to said hub means at vertically spaced locations and which extend radially outwardly from said hub means, each of said beater rod means having a lengthwise axis and at least an upwardly slanted portion which slants radially outwardly and upwardly and a downwardly slanted portion which is spaced from said upwardly slanted portion along said lengthwise axis and which slants radially outwardly and downwardly;

b. moving said harvesting unit along a row of said plants in a manner that each of said rod means moves on a rotational path having a first path portion where each of said rod means rotates from a forwardly extending position rearwardly and laterally into said row to a laterally extending position, and a second path portion where said rod means rotates from said laterally extending position further rearwardly to a rearwardly extending position;

c. moving each of said beater rod means up and down to impart secondary up and down components of movement to various crop portions of said plants;

d. said method being characterized in that a combination of an amplitude of said secondary up and down components of movement, and a structural depth, which is a vertical distance between an upper side of upper portions of said beater rod means and a lower side of lower portions of said beater rod means, enables said rod means to cover an entire vertical spacing dimension which is a distance by which said rod means in said rod assembly are vertically spaced from one another.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein said combination of said upwardly slanted portion and said downwardly slated portion facilitates touching of said rod means with individual branches of said plants at multiple locations on said branches.

22. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein said rod means ends outwardly with one of said downwardly slanted portions.

23. An apparatus for harvesting produce from a row of crops, said apparatus comprising:

a. a chassis adapted to travel along the row;

b. a harvesting unit which is carried by the chassis comprising:

i. upper engaging means for engaging an upper side of a given portion of the crops,

ii. lower engaging means for engaging a lower side of the given portion,

iii. first oscillating means for driving the upper and lower engaging means to depress and raise respectively, the given portion to cause the given portion to oscillate with a first component of oscillation; and

iv. second oscillating means for driving the upper and lower engaging means to depress and raise, respectively, the given portion to cause the given portion to oscillate with a second component of oscillation, where the second component is divided into an upper zone, a central zone, and a lower zone;

c. whereby the combined depressing and raising of the given portion causes:

i. the given portion to oscillate vertically such that the central zone is entirely above a horizontal plane at a point in time while the lower engaging means engages the given portion, and

ii. the given portion to oscillate such that the central zone is entirely below the horizontal plane at a point in time while the upper engaging means engages the given portion.

24. A method for harvesting produce from upstanding plants, comprising the steps of:

a. engaging an upper side and a lower side of a given portion of the plants;

b. imparting to the given portion first and second components of vertical oscillation, where the second component is divided into an upper zone, a central zone, and a lower zone;

c. whereby

i. the given portion oscillates such that the central zone is entirely above a horizontal plane at a point in time while the lower side of the given portion is engaged; and

ii. the given portion oscillates such that the central zone is entirely below the horizontal plane at a point in time while the upper side of the given portion is engaged.

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus used in harvesters to dislodge produce from upstanding plants, and more particularly to oscillating beaters used in the harvesters.

2. Background Art

There are harvesters, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,908 (Rust), [FIG. 2], which have harvesting units comprising a vertical hub mounted for free rotation about a vertical axis and a plurality of beater rods attached to the hub and extending radially outwardly therefrom. The harvester typically moves along a row of upstanding plants so that the beater rods engage the plants so as to strike or vibrate the plants, thereby dislodging the produce from the plant for collection. Because the hub is free wheeling, the rods, in effect, walk through the plant as the harvesting unit moves along the row. In the Rust device, the beater rods oscillate simply up and down.

With harvesting, an underlying problem is that harvesting desirably is done quickly and this involves vigorous shaking or acceleration of the beater rods. However, the acceleration which is used to shake the produce from the plants must not be excessive so as to injure the plants and the produce. Furthermore, in order to maximize the harvesting yield, an important consideration is being sure to reach all the portions of the plants which contain ripe produce, i.e., to cover the entire vertical length of the plant with the beaters.

As the Rust device illustrates, when the beater rods are oscillated in an up and down motion which is substantially harmonic motion the rods oscillate about an equilibrium position in an oscillation region (which extends from one amplitude above the equilibrium position to one amplitude below the equilibrium position). While this oscillation region may cover an entire vertical spacing distance, which is a vertical distance between the rods, thereby seeming to cover the entire vertical length of the plant, the action of the rods is uneven. In as much as the up and down motion approximates simple harmonic motion, which is characterized by maximum velocity of the rods as they cross the equilibrium position and minimum velocity of the rods at the outer edges of the oscillation region, the rods impart a relatively high velocity to branches which are contacted near the equilibrium position and a relatively low velocity to branches which are contacted by the rods near the edges of the oscillation region. This leads to uneven harvesting and uneven coverage of the plant.

Furthermore, in the case of the Rust device, so that in moving up and down the rods are able to traverse the entire vertical length of the plant, the oscillation of the beater rods must necessarily have a relatively large amplitude. In order to avoid giving the rods too high an acceleration which may damage the plants, with the acceleration of the rods being a function of both a frequency and the amplitude of the motion, the frequency must be reduced to compensate for the large amplitude. Accordingly, the amplitude imposes a limit on how high the frequency may be, and vice versa. Sometimes this results in slower harvesting.

In some settings, an external wire may be used. U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,473 (Burton) shows a horizontal tensioned wire 10, upon which are supported the plants to be harvested and which moves up and down with the plants. A shaking mechanism, which is a hub mounted for free rotation about a tilted axis x--x and which has a single tier of evenly spaced radially projecting arms, engages and shakes the wire 10 and the plants. The arms are shaken back and forth along another tilted axis y--y, so that as the mechanism moves along the wire, the arms walk through the plants and the hub rotates with the arms, thereby enabling the arms to engage the wire 10 from underneath. Each arm is made of a slightly longitudinally undulating shape which provides a longitudinally extending recess 25 along the center of the arm. The effectiveness of each arm depends upon the time that the arm is able to maintain operative contact with the underside of the wire 10. The undulating shape of the arm is directed at restraining the movement of the wire 10 and drawing the wire 10 toward the axis of the hub. (An outwardly and upwardly turned horn 28 at the end of the arm also helps to engage and draw the wire 10 toward the hub.)

In many harvesting applications such wires are not visible. This may be for a number of reasons including the labor costs of stringing and tying the wire. Thus, often the beater rods must shake the plants directly.

Rather than using an up and down motion, there are harvesters which impart an orbital motion of one kind or another to the beater rods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,117 (Weygandt et al) shows a drum or a head 13 which, in all embodiments of the patent, is mounted for free rotation about a vertical axis and which has a plurality of vertically spaced and radially projecting tines 16 attached thereto. Within the head 13 are various arrangements of counterweights which swing in various ways on levers to impart a desired movement to the tines. In a first embodiment (FIGS. 2 and 3), the counterweights cause the head 13 to orbit about an axis which is transverse to the path of the harvesting machine, i.e., orbit about the transverse axis within a vertical plane. Consequently, the tines 16 that at any time are disposed transversely of the vehicle and that engage the plant, (the "active tines") orbit in a plane normal to the length of the active tines 16. The motion of the beater rod is circular, rather than up and down as in the earlier described prior art. The motion approximates uniform circular motion, which has a constant linear velocity. However, when a vertical component of the circular motion is considered, and in many settings this vertical component is the important component for purposes of shaking the branches, the vertical component again has its maximum velocity when it crosses a central location, i.e., the equilibrium position, and has its minimum velocity at the extreme upper and lower edges of its region of oscillation. In other words, while the rod is moving with constant linear velocity in a circle, a branch which contacts the rod at the extreme upper and lower edges of the circle may merely graze the rod, and a branch which contacts the rod near the central zone of the circle will be accelerated sharply at right angles to the length of the branch. The latter branch receives a much stronger shake than the former branch. Thus the orbital motion may in many settings provide an uneven shaking to the bush.

In a second embodiment (FIGS. 4 and 5), the counterweights act to cause a torsional oscillation of the head 13a, which is combined with a vertical up and down shaking, so as to cause all of the tines 16a on the head 13a to move in cylindrical paths about a stationary lengthwise axis of the tines 16a. The cylindrical paths of the second embodiment are like the cylindrical paths of the first embodiment. In other words, under certain conditions, the tines 16a will unevenly cover the plant. Again, the frequency and amplitude of the orbital motion may have to be carefully balanced in order to avoid injuring the plant. Again, to obtain the desired full vertical coverage of the plant, the amplitude of the orbit must be relatively large and therefore the frequency must be correspondingly reduced. In a third embodiment (FIGS. 6 and 7) the counterweights act to make the head 13b, which is again vertically disposed, to oscillate through a simple arc, back and forth about an axis 121 which is vertical and which is external to the head 13b. Thus, the tines 16b, in effect, wiggle horizontally as the head 13b rotates in a freely rotating fashion through the plants.

Another device which imparts an orbital motion is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,792 (Burton). The patent shows a vertical shaft 25 (FIG. 7) which supports a plurality of vertically spaced, radially projecting beater rods and which is mounted for free rotation on a smaller, concentric shaft 81. As the beater rods extend radially the beater rods are tilted. The assembly, including the rods, the shaft 25, and the shaft 81, moves atout another vertical shaft means 63 (a lower part of which is numbered 64), thereby moving, as is shown in the top view of FIG. 8, in a circular, horizontal orbit 68. Accordingly, the beater assembly orbits horizontally into and out of the plants, with the beater rods being held in the tilted orientation.

While the prior art harvesters approach the problem of covering the plants evenly, and offer various forms of orbital motion of the beater rods to do this, the prior art still has not found a satisfactory way to bring the entire plant into contact with the rods with the rods moving at a velocity which is neither too high or too low. Additionally, a means is needed to improve the contact between the beater rods and the branches so that the rods contact the branches at more locations.

A search of U.S. Patent literature, in addition to disclosing the four patents mentioned, shows the following patents:

U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,219 (Lasswell) shows a fruit picking machine with looped spindles that rotate about a horizontal axis projecting horizontally into the fruit tree.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,608 (Wilcox Jr.) shows in FIG. 2 downwardly concave horizontal fruit picking fingers for grasping fruit from trees.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,631 (Haines) shows curved fruit picking fingers which come into contact with the fruit.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,222 (Toti) shows picking arms which individually rotate about a horizontal axis, which include an offset nose portion which moves eccentrically relative to the axis of the arm.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,457 (Van Tine) shows a shaft, with spoked rods arranged in spaced tiers emanating from the shaft, rotating about a longitudinal axis and reciprocating back and forth on its support.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes an apparatus for harvesting produce from a row of crops, said apparatus comprising a chassis, which is adapted to travel along the row, and a harvesting unit which is carried by the chassis. The harvesting unit has a means for engaging and depressing an upper side and engaging and raising a lower side of various portions of the crops, with the upper side engaging means and the lower side engaging means defining a crop receiving area in which the crop portions are received, whereby the depressing and raising oscillates the crop portions. The harvesting unit also has means operatively connected to the depressing and raising means for giving to the depressing and raising first and second vertical components of oscillation. The apparatus is characterized in that a central zone of the second component of oscillation (with the second component of oscillation comprising a lower zone, the central zone, and an upper zone) is oscillated up and down about a fixed horizontal axis.

The present invention also includes an apparatus comprising the chassis, a vertically aligned hub means, which is carried by the chassis and which is positioned to be adjacent to the row of crops as the chassis travels along the row, a beater rod assembly attached to the hub means, and a secondary oscillating means operatively connected to the beater rod assembly to move the assembly upwardly and downwardly.

The beater rod assembly comprises a plurality of beater rods which are attached to the hub means at vertically spaced locations and which extend radially outwardly from the hub means. Each of the beater rod means has a lengthwise axis and at least an upwardly slanted portion which slants radially outwardly and upwardly and a downwardly slanted portion which is spaced from the upwardly slanted portion along the lengthwise axis and which slants radially outwardly and downwardly to form upper and lower portions of the beater rod means. Each of the beater rod means is rotatably mounted about a respective vertical axis in a manner that as the chassis moves along the row, each of the beater rods means moves on a rotational path having a first path portion where each of the rod means rotates from a forwardly extending position rearwardly and laterally into the row to a laterally extending position, and a second path portion where the rod means rotates from the laterally extending position further rearwardly to a rearwardly extending position. The upper and lower portions of the rod means have lateral components of motion into and out of the row of plants as the rods means moves on the rotational path, so that various crop portions of the plants are raised and depressed as each of the crop portions are engaged successively by the upper and lower portions of the rod means.

The secondary oscillating means imparts secondary up and down components of movement to each of the crop portions as the crop portions are raised and depressed. The apparatus is characterized in that a pair of upper and lower related rod means is in vertical alignment. In other words, the upper and lower portions, respectively, of the upper rod means are vertically aligned with the upper and lower portions, respectively, of the lower rod means, so that the upper and lower rod means cooperate in the raising and depressing of the crop portions.

The beater rod means has at least one of the upper portions and one of the lower portions which is spaced along the lengthwise axis from the upper portion, with the upper portion comprising one of the upwardly slanted portions and one of the downwardly slanted portions. The lower portion comprises one of the downwardly slanted portions and one of the upwardly slanted portions. A structural depth of the beater rod means, which is a vertical distance from an upper side of the upper portion of the beater rod means to a lower side of the lower portion, is greater than three times an amplitude of the secondary up and down components of movement which are imparted by the secondary oscillating means. A sum of the structural depth plus twice the amplitude of the secondary up and down components of motion equals at least a vertical spacing distance by which the beater rod means are vertically spaced from one another in the rod assembly. The beater rod means ends outwardly with one of the downwardly slanted portions. The upper portions and the lower portions of the beater rods are spaced along the lengthwise axis of the beater rod means by an axial distance which is 0.5 to 5 times a travel distance which said chassis travels in one second.

The upper and lower beater rod means, respectively, which are in vertical alignment may be in, respectively, an upper tier of said beater rod means and a vertically adjacent lower tier of the beater rod means. Alternatively, the upper and lower rod means, respectively, which are in vertical alignment, may be in, respectively, an upper tier of the beater rod means and a lower tier of the beater rod means with said upper and lower tiers being separated by a middle tier of the beater rod means and with the beater rod means of the middle tier being angularly displaced from vertical alignment positions of vertical alignment with the beater rod means of the upper and lower tiers by an angular displacement which is half of an angular displacement between the beater rod means of the upper and lower tiers.

The present invention also includes a pair of the beater rod means for use in the apparatus for harvesting produce from a row of crops. The pair of beater rod means comprises the upper beater rod means and the lower beater rod means, with each of the beater rod means having the lengthwise axis and at least the upwardly slanted portion and the downwardly slanted portion which is spaced from the upwardly slanted portion along the axis, to form the upper and lower portions of the beater rod means. The beater rod means are adapted to be mounted at vertically spaced locations upon the substantially vertically aligned hub means which is carried by the chassis. Also, the beater rod means are adapted to extend radially outwardly from the hub means and to be in vertical alignment with one another.

The present invention also includes a method for harvesting produce from upstanding plants comprising engaging the side engaging means with the upper side and the lower side of the various portions of the crops; and imparting to the upper and lower sides of the crop portions the first and second vertical components of oscillation. The method is characterized in that the central zone of the second component of oscillation is oscillated up and down about the neutral position.

The invention also includes a method for harvesting produce from upstanding plants comprising providing the harvesting unit; moving the harvesting unit along the row of the plants in the manner that each of the rod means moves on the rotational path having the first path portion and the second path portion; and moving the rod assembly up and down to impart the secondary up and down components of movement to each of the crop portions as the crop portions are raised and lowered. The method is characterized in that the set of the upper and lower related rod means are in the vertical alignment. The method is further characterized in that the upper and lower rod means define the crop receiving area which is adapted to receive the crop portions in the manner that as the upper and lower rod means move laterally into and out of the row during the rotational-lateral movement of the rod means, the crop portions ride upwardly upon the downwardly slanted portion of the lower rod means whereby the crop portions are raised, and the crop portions ride downwardly upon