Sectional meter shut-off and agricultural implement having sectional meter shut-off

An agricultural implement for injecting material, wherein the material is seed, fertilizer, or seed and fertilizer, into soil, comprising:

• a central frame;
• a plurality of elongate mounting arms, mounted to said central frame, each adapted to be moved from a raised transport position to a lowered operating position;
• soil engaging means mounted on each of said mounting arms, adapted to engage soil when each of said mounting arms is in said operating position and not to engage soil when in said raised position;
• material dispensing means on each of said mounting arms proximate said soil engaging means for dispensing said material into the soil;
• further comprising:
• material metering means adapted to regulate and meter said material to said material dispensing means on each of said mounting arms;
• a plurality of metering gates for preventing or permitting flow of said material to material dispensing means on each of said mounting arms;
• means for closing each of said metering gates so as to prevent flow of said material to selected of said material dispensing means during operation of said implement, wherein said means for closing relies on input from a GPS or GNSS satellite navigation system which provides input upon detection of regions of soil which have been previously traversed by said agricultural implement and injected with said material;
• and
• means for automated raising to said raised position selected of said mounting arms for which said flow of material to said material dispensing means thereon has been prevented due to input from said GPS or GNSS satellite navigation system as a result of having determine regions of soil which have been previously traversed by said agricultural implement and injected with said material.

An agricultural implement for injecting material into soil, wherein the material is seed, fertilizer, or seed and fertilizer, comprising:

• a central frame;
• a plurality of elongate mounting arms, mounted to said central frame, each adapted to be moved from a raised transport position to a lowered operating position;
• soil engaging means mounted on each of said mounting arms, adapted to engage soil when each of said mounting arms is in said operating position;
• a sectional meter shut-off apparatus comprising:
• (i) metering means for metering said material for subsequent delivery to said soil;
• (ii) a plurality of metering gates each individually moveable from an open to a closed position and vice versa to control flow of said material from said metering means;
• (iii) a plurality of outlets which may be individually opened or closed by said metering gates so as to permit or prevent metered flow of said material;
• material dispensing means on each of said mounting arms proximate said soil engaging means for dispensing said material into the soil;
• a GPS or GPNS satellite navigation system for mapping areas of soil which have been injected with material by said implement;
• automated means for opening and closing said metering gates in said sectional meter shut-off apparatus in accordance with input received from said GPS or GPNS satellite navigation system;
• and
• means for automated raising to said raised position selected of said mounting arms for which said flow of material to said material dispensing means thereon has been prevented due to input from said GPS or GNSS satellite navigation system as a result of having determined regions of soil which have been previously traversed by said agricultural implement and injected with said material.

A method of operating a seeder or fertilizer implement for automatically avoiding over-seeding or over-fertilizing of previously seeded or fertilized areas and further avoiding disturbing already seeded or fertilized areas, comprising the steps of:

• (i) providing:
• a central frame;
• a plurality of elongate mounting arms, mounted to said central frame, having raising means operatively coupled to each to permit said mounting arms to be moved from a lowered operating position to a raised transport position;
• soil-engaging means mounted on each of said mounting arms, adapted to engage soil when each of said mounting arms is in said operating position;
• material dispensing means on each of said mounting arms proximate said soil engaging means for dispensing said seed or fertilizer to said soil-engaging means and thereafter into said soil;
• material metering means in communication with said material dispensing means, adapted to regulate and meter said material to said material dispensing means;
• a GPS or GNSS satellite navigation system which provides an indication upon detection of regions of soil which have been previously traversed by said agricultural implement and injected with said seed or fertilizer;
• (ii) obtaining input from said GSP or GNSS satellite navigation system upon detection by said GSP or GNSS satellite navigation system of regions of soil about to be or being traversed by said implement which have been previously traversed by said implement and injected with said seed or fertilizer;
• (iii) preventing, upon said detection by said GPS or GNSS system, flow of seed or fertilizer to selected material dispensing means which would otherwise dispense said seed or fertilizer into regions of soil which have previously been traversed and injected with said seed or fertilizer by said agricultural implement;
• and
• (iv) raising, via said raising means, selected mounting arms to which flow of said seed or fertilizer to material dispensing means thereon has been prevented, so as to prevent said soil-engaging means thereon from engaging said regions of soil which have been previously traversed by said agricultural implement and injected with said seed or fertilizer.