Improved hop picking machine

937,800. Hop-picking machines. AGROSTROJ PROSTEJOV, NARODNI PODNIK. April 13, 1962, No. 14456/62. Class 6(3). A hop-picking machine comprises two vertically-spaced endless conveyers 3, 7, the upper conveyer being equipped with hooks anc the lower conveyer being equipped with transversely-extending abutments 9 over which the bines 5 are gradually drawn, as they are stripped, by the upper conveyer, which travels in the same direction but more rapidly, there being a picking mechanism disposed below the two conveyers and comprising two sets oj picking members 12, 13, the lower set being offset relatively to the upper. The bines are attached to the hooks so that they dangle through the picking members, being gradually drawn into a horizontal position by the differential speed of the two conveyers. The upper conveyer travels through a closed path and is provided with pendant guiding members 10 which assist in maintaining the bines horizontal during the later portions of their path. The stripped bines are discharged at 17, Fig. 3, and the hops fall on to an inclined conveyer 2. The abutments 9 comprise rodlike members projecting horizontally from the conveyer 7, the outer ends of the abutments being supported along the straight portions of their paths. The spacing of the hooks on the upper conveyer is in the same relation to that of the abutments on the lower conveyer as the ratio of their relative speeds.