Peach pitter blade assembly

A blade assembly for a selective peach pitter using simplified construction and a low-maintenance geometry to provide for extended operational efficiency and compensation for play due to wear in the components. The blade assembly includes an upper blade (4) and a lower blade (6) for bisecting a drupe along a suture plane and holding the pit during pitting, the upper blade (4) and lower blade (6) both being pivoted about a common blade pivot shaft (12) and driven by a single main shaft (10) from the larger pitter assembly. The lower blade pivot linkage includes an extendable crank arm (88) drivingly coupled to an idler arm (92), drive arm support shaft (94) and lower blade drive arm (98), the lower blade drive arm (98) including a rocker face (104) and a drive roller (106) which respectively engage a rolling rocker face follower (78) and a roller drive track (76) located on a carriage coupled to the lower blade and pivotally mounted on the blade pivot shaft (12). As the drive roller (106) enters and traverses the roller drive track (76), rotational force of the lower blade drive arm (98) in one direction is translated to pivotable motion of the lower blade (6) between closed and open positions. As the drive arm (98) rotates in the opposite direction, the lower blade (6) is pivoted to the closed position and the rocker face (104) engagement with the rocker face follower (78) maintains the lower blade (6) in that position during pitting. The upper blade (4) also alternates between an open and closed position as a cam roller follower (40) coupled to the upper blade (4) follows a cam (56) mounted on the main shaft (10) of the pitter apparatus.