to the floor. The feeding unit was

to the floor. The feeding unit was driven by a 0.19 kW 220 V
50 Hz electric motor, a 1: 20 gear reducer, a chain and a pulley.
A U-shape rubber cushion was attached to the surface of
conveyor belt with 80 mm spacing of the partial containers of
the fruit for uniform semi-automatic fruit feeding. The sizing
machine, made of steel and 390 mm wide, 1510 mm long and
765 mm high, featured a galvanised steel receiving tray
600 mm wide 1100 mm long, and 80 mm deep. The receiving
tray was cushioned with 20 mm rubber foam with two
adjustable partitions for the desired fruit size separation. The
sizing belts diverged and were inclined to the horizontal plane
at a degree. Each of the two sizing belts, Ammeraal type Nonex
EM 8/2 Blue FG were 100 mm wide and 2500 mm long. The
outer surface of the belts was lined with 4 mm latex foam.
Each belt was driven at the same velocity by a 220 V 50 Hz
electric motor operating at 1450 rpm with reducing gear and
a universal joint to facilitate the adjustment of belt angle.
A cloth conical tube was placed between the end of the
feeding belt and the beginning of the sizing belt to control the
vertical descent of the java apple fruits, to decelerate fruit
drop onto the sizing belt thereby reducing damage to the fruit.
The movement of the fruit on the sizing belt was below
horizontal thereby minimising vertical sliding. The conical
cloth tube was 120 mm long and made of yarn. It had
a 100 mm aperture diameter at the top and 60 mm aperture
diameter at the bottom. The feeding machine and the sizing
machine were placed in proximity to the cloth conical tube
and were well aligned