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US 4,278,183 AGranted
Dispensing apparatus and method
AssigneeNational Research Development Corporation
InventorWilliam P. Billington
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNational Research Development Corporation
InventorWilliam P. Billington
Estimating the term…
In a seeder for singulating wet seeds, a seed capture nozzle dips into a reservoir of seeds suspended in water, and captures a seed on the nozzle by means of suction applied to a suction tube. The nozzle then moves from the seed reservoir to a release location, and releases the seed by application of a pulse of water to a pressure tube. The suction tube and pressure tube meet at a junction in a conduit in the movable capture head. The suction is applied continuously to the pressure tube, and release of the seed is achieved by applying at the pressure tube a pulse of water under pressure sufficient to overcome the applied suction. In a preferred form a seed reservoir may include an inlet bore in the base of a well for supplying an upwardly directed jet of water in the seed suspension for carrying a stream of seeds upwardly toward the surface of the water. This produces a fountain of seeds at the surface and the nozzle captures a seed from a concentration of seeds at the tip of the fountain.
A method of dispensing seeds from a liquid comprising the steps of placing discrete seeds in suspension in a liquid having a free upper surface, capturing a seed against a capture orifice by means of a pressure difference across the orifice, producing relative movement between the capture orifice and the said seeds in suspension and positioning the capture orifice with the captured seed at a release location for dispensing the seed, and releasing the captured seed from the capture orifice, the first mentioned step including the step of supplying an upwardly directed flow of liquid in the said suspension of the said discrete objects such as to produce recirculatory movement of seeds in which a stream of discrete seeds is carried upwardly towards the surface of the liquid to produce a fountain of seeds rising slightly above the surface of the liquid, the capture orifice being brought to the fountain for capture of a seed.
Apparatus for dispensing seeds from a liquid comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.