Transplanting apparatus
AssigneesThe Morning Star Company, Faulring Mechanical Devices, Inc
InventorsFrank W. Faulring, Robert Chope Gill, II, Jonathan C. Gobel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A transplanting apparatus which can plant virtually 100% of the seedlings from a nursery tray, while avoid skips when planting which may happen when seeds in a tray row fail to grow into seedlings. This is accomplished by picking up an entire row of seedlings from a tray, transferring the seedlings to a mechanism which eliminates gaps between seedlings, and then discharging the seedlings one at a time to the ground with a desired spacing between the seedlings while having full physical control of the seedlings. A root ball compressor is provided to provide better control of the seedlings as the compressed root balls are less likely to tip over, and the compressed root balls are easier to be grabbed by the pinch disks.
Claims12
A transplanting method for transplanting seedlings grown in trays having a plurality of side-by side rows of seedling cells, which method plants even though each row in the tray may have gaps between the seedlings, the method being characterized by the following steps:
- picking up an entire row of seedlings simultaneously from a tray by engaging the stems of the seedlings, which row in the tray may have gaps between seedlings;
- transferring the seedlings to a mechanism which eliminates gaps between seedlings;
- and
- maintaining full control of each seedling as the seedling is moved from the mechanism which eliminates gaps to the ground one at time with a desired spacing between the seedlings;
- whereby the seedlings are planted uniformly spaced apart in the ground.
A transplanting apparatus for transplanting seedlings grown in trays having a plurality of side-by side rows of seedling cells, which transplanting apparatus plants the seedlings uniformly apart even though each row in the tray may have gaps between the seedlings, the transplanting apparatus being characterized by the following:
- means (300) for picking up an entire row of seedlings simultaneously from a tray by engaging the stems of the seedlings;
- means (500) for eliminating gaps between seedlings;
- and
- means for discharging and planting the seedlings while maintaining full physical control of the seedling as the seedlings are moved from the means for eliminating gaps until the seedlings are planted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.