Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/418083
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER DECEMBER 2014 57 DBR were picking a bin of apples about every 10 minutes. Each machine gains its effi ciencies in slightly different ways. Huron Fruit Huron Fruit Systems in the name chosen by Paul Wafl er, who designed the sys- tem, and his brother, Walter, who will sell it. Walter said his brother had so far built about 12 machines. "No two are alike," he said, noting that design features have rapidly evolved since the concept fi rst appeared about fi ve years ago. But this last version is more than a prototype. The machine is relatively simple. Platforms at three levels along both sides of the machine hold three workers on a side, picking from one side of two rows of trees, with one worker controlling the speed and direction as the self-propelled platform creeps along, powered by a 13 horsepower Honda engine. The fi rst platform is one step up, and the two others are at 3.5 and 5 feet. The idea is to have "harvest zones" with workers on the ground or the bottom step picking fruit they can easily reach up to 5 to 7 feet. Workers on the second level pick from 5 to 10 feet, and those on the top platform pick from 7 to 12.5 feet. The location of the platforms can be adjusted to fi t alley widths from 11 to 15 feet, but once fi xed in position, they don't move in or out or up or down. The machine carries fi ve bins in the center between the platforms. The bottom two bins sit fl at and the higher three are tilted on a slanting platform. The top bins are directly behind the workers on the top platform. Workers pick into picking sacks and dump their apples into the bins. For workers on platforms, that means merely turning around and dumping. Workers on the ground carry their sacks, step up one step, and dump into the bins. A key feature is the way the bins change. All fi ve fi lled bins slide together to the ground and fi ve new bins load automatically from the bin hauler, which can later pick up and move the fi ve bins together. The clamp-style trailer straddles the boxes, and retractable forks allow the bins to be hoisted off the ground for transport. DBR system "Both are good concepts," said Mike Rasch, speaking charitably about the rival Wafl er machine as he talks about his own. "The difference, they bring the boxes to the apples, and we bring the apples to the box." Workers on the DBR machine—developed by Chuck Dietrich (D), Phil Brown (B), and Mike Rasch (R)—don't pick into sacks. They pick into funnel-shaped receptacles attached to vacuum hoses that look like drain tile but are lined with smooth, soft polystyrene. Four hoses serve four workers, two on each side, and apples move by vacuum to a special foam-wheel decelerator, from which they drop onto of two HARVESTERS A key part of the Huron system is the bin handler that HIPMZIVWERHVIXVMIZIWFMRWMRKVSYTWSJ½ZI "Somebody had to be the guinea pig." —Dave Rennhack