Method and device for feeding plant cells in a planting machine

Abstract

A method for feeding plant cells in a planting machine, whereby a unified line of cells consisting of plant cells connected to each other is detached from a unified cell sheet comprising plant cells, the unified line of cells is shifted downwards on upwards through cutting apparatus which direct a cutting effect at the joints between the individual plant cells in the unified line of cells either from the same direction or from the opposite direction as compared with the direction from which the plant cells are supported during the shifting, in order to cut the cells in the line of cells loose from each other, and the detached plant cells are passed to a distributor in order to feed the plant cells as separated from each other to the planting device. The cutting loose of the plant cells takes place totally automatically when the plant cells are shifted from the cell sheet to the distributor, and does not require any extra movements for cutting loose. The device for putting the method into effect is provided with cutting devices which are arranged in line one after the other at relative distances so that the cutting devices are positioned on the paths of movement of the joints between the individual plant cells in the line of cells. The cutting devices are arranged underneath or above the plane of the cell sheet. For cutting the plant cells loose, no mechanisms need to be provided in order to produce particular movements for cutting loose.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.