Planter with high speed seed delivery apparatus

An agricultural planting implement, comprising:

• a plurality of row units, wherein each row unit of the plurality includes:
• a seed meter with a seed exit, said seed meter including a seed disc having a seed side that includes a plurality of seed apertures radially spaced to form a seed path and a curved portion radially external the seed path;
• a seed carrier in communication with the seed exit for receiving seed from the seed meter one seed a time;
• and
• a seed conveyor in communication with the seed carrier to receive seeds from the seed carrier one at a time at a transfer location remote from the seed meter, wherein the seed conveyor is adapted to move the seed from the transfer location to an ejection location proximate to the bottom of a furrow and is adapted to eject the seed with substantially no horizontal velocity relative to the bottom of the furrow.

A row unit for use with an agricultural implement, comprising:

• a seed meter comprising a seed disc that rotates about a seed disc axis, the seed meter having an opening, the seed disc having a front face and a rear face, the front face including a substantially flat inner portion and a curved outer portion that extends frontwardly from an outer edge of the flat inner portion;
• an array of apertures in the flat inner portion of the seed disc in a circular pattern spaced radially inwardly from the curved outer portion, each of the apertures in the array being adapted to retain a single seed;
• a rotating wheel that rotates about a wheel axis, the rotating wheel located such that an outer portion of the wheel matches and is in engagement with the curved outer portion of the front face of the seed disc such that as the seed disc rotates the disc brings a seed retained on one of the apertures into engagement with the outer portion of the wheel whereby the rotating wheel moves the seed outwardly along the curved outer portion to the opening in the seed meter;
• and
• a conveyor in communication with the opening in the seed meter to receive seeds from the rotating wheel, the conveyor ejecting the seeds proximate to the ground with a horizontal velocity component being approximately zero relative to the ground.