Triclaw Apple Picker

Description

It'S That Time Of Year Again, And Now That My Apple Tree Is Finally Producing Decent Fruit, I'D Like To Be Able To Get It Apple-By-Apple Without Having To Go Get A Stepladder Or Dropping An Entire Branch Of Apples On The Ground. They Sell Two-Claw Grippers At The Local Home Despot, But Grabbing A Sphere With Two Fingers Requires More Dexterity Than I'M Willing To Invest. Also, Those Grippers Are Only Three Feet Long At Best, And I Want The Apples Dangling Six Or Seven Feet From The Reach Of My Hand. This Four-Bar-Linkage Claw Is Driven Closed By A Sliding Collar Attached By Another Four-Bar To Each Of The Three Fingers. The Collar Is Sprung To Return The Fingers Open, So It Can Be Operated By Pulling A Cord. For Simplicity, The Cord Has Been Knotted Onto A Sliding Collar Further Down The Pole To Manage It Better. At Some Point I May Redesign This Collar To A Squeeze-Grip Lever, But For Now, I Just Want My Apples. The Best Part? This Threads Onto A Standard Broom Handle, Which Means You Don'T Have To Store A Six-Foot Pole Outside Of Apple Season... Or At All, If You Already Have A Broom. And If You Want A Sixteen-Foot Pole, Just Duct-Tape Your Broomstick Onto Another Pole (Or Two?) And Use A Longer Cord. Also, A Word To The Wise- Apples Are Best Picked With A Twist, Not A Pull. If You Stretch Some Silicone Surgical Tubing Over The Fingers, Or Wrap Them With The Professional-Grade Uncured Rubber Electrical Tape (Not The Cheap Vinyl Crap), You Should Be Able To Get A Good Enough Grip To Twist Loose The Apple Without Breaking The Spur And Hurting The Tree. So A Few Comments After Using This Thing... It Does Work, But It'S Not Quite As Plug-And-Play As You'D Hope: -The Jaws Do Not Close Completely Because The First Level Linkages Go Vertical At About 1" Apart... But That'S Fine For Picking Apples. -It Takes A Good Bit Of Force On The Line To Get The Jaws To Close, And The Return Spring That I Used Could Do With A Bit More Punch. The Apples Pick Best If You Trap The Stem Between Two Fingers So You Can Give It A Good Twist. -I'M Looking For Some Of That Good Rubber Electrical Tape At My Local Hardware So I Can Better Cushion The Fingers, Get A Better Grip And Avoid Bruising The Apples.

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