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A roller system for sorting a produce or fruit, with a conveyor having an upper run and a lower run, a roller truck with two spindles and a roller wheel between. The roller truck is attached to side-by-side conveyors each with a string of the roller trucks operating in parallel and a roller drive belt contacting the roller wheel of the roller truck on the upper run, to spin the roller wheel and the roller pair. The side-by-side roller pairs of spindles have a spindle gap between each pair and a pocket is formed between each of roller pairs for receiving ...
A roller system for sorting a produce or fruit, with a conveyor having an upper run and a lower run, a roller truck with two spindles and a roller wheel between. The roller truck is attached to side-by-side conveyors each with a string of the roller trucks operating in parallel and a roller drive belt contacting the roller wheel of the roller truck on the upper run, to spin the roller wheel and the roller pair. The side-by-side roller pairs of spindles have a spindle gap between each pair and a pocket is formed between each of roller pairs for receiving the produce, such as cherries, nuts or blueberries. As the roller drive belt rotates the roller wheel, the produce is rolled and repositioned in the pocket, exposing and presenting all surfaces of the produce to an optical scanner.
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1. A roller system for sorting a produce, the roller system including: a conveyor, the conveyor having an upper run and a lower run;a roller truck attached to the conveyor, the roller truck having a minimum of a roller pair, the roller pair including a first roller spindle connected to a second roller spindle with a roller drive wheel between, and the first roller spindle, the second roller spindle and the roller drive wheel rotate about a roller axle in common;a processing lane formed between a side-by-side pair of conveyors, the side-by-side pair of co...
1. A roller system for sorting a produce, the roller system including: a conveyor, the conveyor having an upper run and a lower run;a roller truck attached to the conveyor, the roller truck having a minimum of a roller pair, the roller pair including a first roller spindle connected to a second roller spindle with a roller drive wheel between, and the first roller spindle, the second roller spindle and the roller drive wheel rotate about a roller axle in common;a processing lane formed between a side-by-side pair of conveyors, the side-by-side pair of conveyors including a first paired conveyor and a second paired conveyor, the first paired conveyor having a first string of the roller trucks, and a second paired conveyor having a second string of roller trucks, the first string of the roller trucks and the second string of the roller trucks operating in parallel;a roller drive belt contacts the roller drive wheel of the roller truck along the upper run of the conveyor, the roller drive belt spins the roller drive wheel, and which spins the roller pair about the roller axle;the first roller spindle attached to the first paired conveyor of the side-by-side pair of conveyors mirrors the second roller spindle attached to the second paired conveyor of the side-by-side pair of conveyor chains, to form a lane roller pair of a paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair, the lane roller pair having a spindle gap between each of the paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair; anda produce pocket formed between each of the lane roller pairs, the produce pocket for receiving the produce. 2. The roller system of claim 1, wherein: the pocket formed between each of the lane roller pairs is bounded by the first roller spindle the first roller pair and the first roller spindle of the second roller pair of the roller truck on the first of the side-by-side pair of conveyors and the second roller spindle of first roller pair and the second roller spindle of second roller pair of the roller truck on the second of the side-by-side pair of conveyors; andthe pocket receives the produce. 3. The roller system of claim 1, wherein: the produce includes a stem and the stem travels through the spindle gap between each of the paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair, as the produce rotates by the spinning action of the paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair. 4. The roller system of claim 1, wherein: the spinning of the roller pair by the contact of the roller drive belt on the roller drive wheel spins the roller drive wheel, and the spinning of the roller drive wheel rotates the roller axle to rotate the attached first roller spindle and the second roller spindle, which results in rotation of the produce within the produce pocket. 5. The roller system of claim 1, wherein the produce is selected from the group consisting of: a blueberry, a berry, a cherry, a tomato, a stone fruit, a kiwi fruit, a citrus fruit, a potato, an apple, a kumquat, and a nut. 6. The roller system of claim 3, wherein: a single produce item fed onto the processing lane rests within the produce pocket formed between each of the lane roller pairs, and as the string of roller trucks attached to the multiple of conveyors advances, each single produce item remains in its produce pocket but rotates in place due to the rotation of each roller spindle in each roller truck, by action of the roller drive belt on the roller drive wheel;the stem of the produce finds its way into the spindle gap as single produce item rotates This rotational motion of the single produce item presents much of the single produce item to a scanner. 7. The roller system of claim 1, wherein: the roller drive belt moves substantially horizontally and in parallel to the upper chain run and contacts each roller drive wheel attached to the conveyor between the primary roller pulley and a roller belt return pulley, along the upper run;the roller belt has a lower belt run that contacts the roller drive wheels of string of roller trucks along the upper run between the roller belt drive pulley and the roller belt return;after moving about the rotating roller belt return pulley, the roller belt includes an upper belt run that returns to the roller belt drive pulley. 8. The roller system of claim 1, wherein: a return end belt tensioning roller positioned proximate to the roller belt return pulley, to redirect the returning upper belt run of the roller drive belt as it rotates off of the roller belt return pulley; anda drive end belt tensioning roller positioned proximate to the roller belt drive pulley, to redirect the returning upper belt run of the roller drive belt, as a it moves onto the roller belt drive pulley. 9. The roller system of claim 1, wherein the conveyor is a chain and each roller truck attaches to the conveyor with a truck clip. 10. The roller system of claim 1, wherein: the roller truck has a roller belt slot, and the roller drive belt moves linearly within the roller belt slot, with the roller drive belt contacting and the roller drive wheel to spin the roller drive wheel. 11. A roller system for sorting a produce, the roller system including: a conveyor chain, the conveyor chain having an upper run and a lower run;a roller truck attached to the conveyor chain, the roller truck having a minimum of a roller pair, the roller pair including a first roller spindle connected to a second roller spindle with a roller drive wheel between, and the first roller spindle, the second roller spindle and the roller drive wheel rotate about a roller axle in common;a side-by-side pair of conveyor chains including a first paired conveyor chain and a second paired conveyor chain, the first paired conveyor chain having a first string of the roller trucks, and a second paired conveyor having a second string of roller trucks, the first string of roller trucks and the second string of roller trucks operating in parallel with a processing lane between the roller trucks of the side-by-side pair of conveyor chains;a roller drive belt contacting the roller drive wheel of the roller truck along the upper run of the conveyor chain, and the roller drive belt spins the roller drive wheel, which spins the roller pair about the roller axle;the first roller spindle attached to the first paired conveyor chain of the side-by-side pair of conveyors and the second roller spindle attached to the second paired conveyor chain of the side-by-side pair of conveyor chains, includes a lane roller pair of a paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair, the lane roller pair having a spindle gap between each of the paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair; anda produce pocket bounded by the lane roller pairs, the produce pocket for receiving the produce. 12. The roller system of claim 11, wherein: the pocket formed between each of the lane roller pairs is bounded by the first roller spindle the first roller pair and the first roller spindle of the second roller pair of the roller truck on the first of the side-by-side pair of conveyor chains and the second roller spindle of first roller pair and the second roller spindle of second roller pair of the roller truck on the second of the side-by-side pair of conveyor chains; andthe pocket receives the produce. 13. The roller system of claim 11, wherein: the produce includes a stem and the stem travels through the spindle gap between each of the paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair, as the produce rotates by the spinning action of the paired first roller spindle and second roller spindle of each lane roller pair. 14. The roller system of claim 11, wherein: the spinning of the roller pair by the contact of the roller drive belt on the roller drive wheel spins the roller drive wheel, and the spinning of the roller drive wheel rotates the roller axle to rotate the attached first roller spindle and the second roller spindle, which results in rotation of the produce within the produce pocket. 15. The roller system of claim 11, wherein the produce is selected from the group consisting of: a blueberry, a berry, a cherry, a tomato, a stone fruit, a kiwi fruit, a citrus fruit, a potato, an apple, a kumquat, and a nut. 16. The roller system of claim 13, wherein: a single produce item fed onto the processing lane rests within the produce pocket formed between each of the lane roller pairs, and as the string of roller trucks attached to the multiple of conveyor chains advances, each single produce item remains in its produce pocket but rotates in place due to the rotation of each roller spindle in each roller truck, by action of the roller drive belt on the roller drive wheel;the stem of the produce finds its way into the spindle gap as single produce item rotates This rotational motion of the single produce item presents much of the single produce item to a scanner. 17. The roller system of claim 11, wherein: the roller drive belt moves substantially horizontally and in parallel to the upper chain run and contacts each roller drive wheel attached to the conveyor chain between the primary roller pulley and a roller belt return pulley, along the upper chain run;the roller belt has a lower belt run that contacts the roller drive wheels of string of roller trucks along the upper chain run between the roller belt drive pulley and the roller belt return;after moving about the rotating roller belt return pulley, the roller belt includes an upper belt run that returns to the roller belt drive pulley. 18. The roller system of claim 11, wherein: a return end belt tensioning roller positioned proximate to the roller belt return pulley, to redirect the returning upper belt run of the roller drive belt as it rotates off of the roller belt return pulley; anda drive end belt tensioning roller positioned proximate to the roller belt drive pulley, to redirect the returning upper belt run of the roller drive belt, as a it moves onto the roller belt drive pulley. 19. The roller system of claim 11, wherein the conveyor is a chain and each roller truck attaches to the conveyor with a truck clip. 20. The roller system of claim 11, wherein: the roller truck has a roller belt slot, and the roller drive belt moves linearly within the roller belt slot, with the roller drive belt contacting and the roller drive wheel to spin the roller drive wheel.
