Seed singulator adjuster for a seed meter
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsMichael Eric Friestad, Nathan Albert Mariman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An adjustment mechanism for setting the position of a singulator in a seed meter. The singulator comprises an arm pivotally mounted about a pivot adjacent a seed disk. A shaft with an eccentric connection to a radially outward portion of the arm has a lever pivotally connected on it. The lever has a cam mechanism to displace an actuating sleeve into a resilient sleeve to lock the shaft in a given position when the lever is extending in the direction of the axis of rotation of the shaft. When the lever is moved to a right angle orientation the shaft is free to pivot and thus set the position of the arm.
Claims39
Apparatus for setting the position of an arm pivotally mounted about a pivot for knocking off extra seeds from a seed metering disk, said apparatus comprising:
- an arm pivotally mounted for pivotal movement;
- a shaft having an eccentric connection to a location on said arm radially spaced from said pivot point so that rotational displacement of said shaft causes said arm to pivot about said pivot point;
- a lever pivotally mounted to said shaft about an axis approximately at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of said shaft;
- and
- an element contacting said shaft and connected to said lever, said lever being pivotal between first and second positions, the first acting on said element to permit rotational displacement of said shaft and the second acting on said element to prevent rotational displacement.
A seeding machine comprising:
- at least one seed metering system, each said seed metering system including:
- a housing;
- a seed disk disposed within said housing, said seed disk including a rotational axis and a plurality of seed cells defining a generally circular path;
- an arm pivotally mounted on said housing about an axis generally parallel to the rotational axis of said seed disk and being positioned closely adjacent said seed cells;
- a shaft journaled about an axis generally parallel to the rotational axis of said seed disk, said shaft having an eccentric connection to said arm at a location spaced from the pivotal axis of said arm;
- a lever pivotally mounted to said shaft about an axis approximately at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of said shaft;
- and
- an element contacting said shaft and connected to said lever, said lever being pivoted between first and second positions, the first acting on said element to permit rotational displacement of said shaft and the second acting on said element to prevent rotational displacement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.