Development of Hand-Operated Fruit Harvesting Devices

Abstract

A hand-held and operated ‘single’ fruit harvesting device and a mangos teen picker were developed. The ‘single’ fruit harvester is circular in shape and equipped with a cutter bar which is actuated by a hand grip bicycle brake cable. The handle bar is made of a three meter length of 2.84 cm (1⅛ inch) diameter aluminum pipe. The device weighs 1.6 kg and at any one time is capable of harvesting a single pomelo, 5-6 king oranges or 5-7 mangoes. The fruit harvested using the devices are free of scratches or other marks that often result from the harvesting process. In test runs the hourly harvests for avocado, king orange and mango were 300, 276, and 452 fruit, respectively.
The mangosteen picker consists of a 13 cm diameter circular wire frame. A round the edges of the frame are ten wire teeth in the form of an inverted ‘U’. The wire frame also supports a cloth pouch. The device is attached to 2-4 meter long bamboo pole with an unloading mechanism. The device is capable of harvesting 5-6 fruit at a time or about 486 fruit an hour, without damage or bruising of the fruit.