AMENDED CLAIMS

received by the International Bureau on 30 January 2020 (30.01.2020)

[Claim 1] A fruit cutting method, comprising feeding, orientation and traveling along multi-lanes of fruits (A), a pre-cutting stage to create an incision in the upper and lower portions of each fruit (A) while the fruit (A) is held with its axis peduncle- style vertically oriented, and a cutting stage in which a central vertical cut of each fruit (A) is carried out laterally to the pit (N) in order to divide the fruit (A) into two halves, characterized in that the fruit cutting method is an avocado cutting method and comprises, during the cutting stage, a hit of the pit (N), in which the pit (N) is struck to be slightly displaced inside the avocado (A) and detached from the pulp (P).

[Claim 2] The method according to claim 1, in which the fruit orientation

comprises

- a first step in which each avocado (A) falls in a conduit with a downwardly tapered cross-section, and is arranged with its big part upwards,

- a second step in which each avocado (A) is pushed along the conduit, and

- a third step in which each avocado (A) is caused to fall into a recess inverted on a lane in order to rest with its big part downwards.

[Claim 3] A multi-lane machine, comprising:

- a shuffle feeder (1),

- a longitudinal frame (3),

- a conveyor (4) having fruit holding flights (30) that advance along the longitudinal frame (3) and are shaped with a number of recesses (34) spaced transversely and sized according to the size of the fruits (A) to be transported, each recess (34) being provided at the bottom with an opening (35),

- upper (43) and lower (44) transversal heads, movable vertically with respect to the fruit holding flights (30), on vertical guides (47, 48) per pendicular to the longitudinal frame (3) above the conveyor (4) in one end thereof opposite to the shuffle feeder (1);

- a pre-cutting and cutting station (5), including:

- a pre-cutting section (40) having a plurality of upper pre-cutting blades (41) and lower pre-cutting blades (42) being fastened mutually facing on the upper and lower transversal heads (43, 44) respectively, and a plurality of hollow retaining elements (51), to hold the fruits (A) 11 in position, and

- a cutting section (54) having a plurality of pairs of separate cutting blades (55) for each fruit holding flight (30), fixed on the upper transversal head (43) above the respective recess (34) for laterally cutting the fruits (A),

characterized in that the machine is designed for processing avocados, and the cutting section (54) has a plurality of plungers (56) in the form of rods, each plunger (56) being movable between the separate cutting blades (55) with respect to the upper head (43) to strike the pit (N) and move it inside the avocado (A) in order to detach it from the pulp (P).

[Claim 4] The machine according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of plungers

(56) are mounted to a movable crosspiece (57) moving on vertical guides (59) perpendicular to a fixed crosspiece (60) of the longitudinal frame (3) by means of a connecting rod-crank mechanism (61) driven by a brushless motor (62) mounted on said fixed crosspiece (60).

[Claim 5] The machine according to claim 4, wherein the connecting rod-crank mechanism (61) has a swinging operation with a maximum crank angle dependent on the size of the avocados (A) being processed.

[Claim 6] The machine according to claim 3, wherein provided between the

shuffle feeder (1) and the conveyor (4) is a scraper conveyor (2) having a number of conduits (20) equal to the number of advancing lines of the avocados (A) in the machine, the conduits (20) being aligned with them.

[Claim 7] The machine according to claim 6, wherein the scraper conveyor (2) is overhung by a thrust device (21) comprising a plurality of cross members (22) having ends hinged in a pair of chains (23) movable on idle pulleys (24) and driving pulleys (25) by means of a geared motor (26), pushing elements (27) that hang on the conduits (20) being fixed to the cross members (22).

[Claim 8] The machine according to claim 7, wherein each conduit (20) has a cross-section in a shape similar to an isosceles triangle with vertex facing downwards, and each pushing element (27) comprises a transverse wing (28) shaped like an isosceles triangle, whose base is fixed to the cross member (22), and a fin (29) that is tapered to its end and fixed orthogonally to the transverse wing (28).

[Claim 9] The machine according to claim 3, wherein each hollow retaining

element (51) has a spherical segment shape with open bases, is spring loaded on a pair of vertical rods (52, 52) movable through the upper 12 head (43) and is designed to rest, stressed by springs (53), on respective avocados (A) vertically oriented in the recesses (34) of the fruit holding flights (30).

[Claim 10] The machine according to claim 3, wherein provided under the pre cutting section (40) and the cutting section (54) is a hopper (7) having an auger (70) in its bottom, the hopper (7) with auger being suitable to receive avocado cut residues and remove them from the pre-cutting and cutting station (5) for its recovery.