Hill-compensating planter and method
AssigneeSpudnik Equipment Company LLC
InventorsRainer Borgmann, Tyson Jensen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A seed planting device operable on ground includes a main frame, having wheels, configured to be moved in a planting direction on the ground, a seed hopper, attached to the frame, having a discharge, and a cup-type seed dispenser, having a dispenser axis, disposed adjacent to the discharge of the hopper. The seed dispenser is configured to controllably receive and dispense individual seeds from the hopper and drop the seeds from a seed discharge below the frame. The seed hopper and seed dispenser are pivotally attached to the main frame and configured to rotate about a generally horizontal axis to maintain the dispenser axis in a substantially upright orientation relative to an uphill or downhill planting direction.
Claims20
A seed planting device operable on ground, comprising:
- a main frame, having wheels, configured to be moved in a planting direction on the ground;
- a seed hopper, attached to the main frame, having a discharge;
- and
- a seed dispenser, having an upright dispenser axis, disposed adjacent to the discharge of the hopper, having a plurality of cups disposed upon an endless belt, each cup configured to controllably receive and dispense seeds from the hopper, and drop the seeds from a seed discharge below the main frame;
- wherein the seed hopper and seed dispenser are pivotally attached to the main frame and configured to rotate about a generally horizontal axis to maintain the dispenser axis in a substantially upright orientation relative to an uphill or downhill planting direction.
A planting device, comprising:
- a wheeled frame, configured to move in an uphill or downhill planting direction;
- a seed hopper, attached to the frame;
- a seed dispenser, disposed adjacent to the seed hopper, having an upright dispenser axis and a plurality of cups disposed upon an endless belt, each cup configured to move upwardly upon the belt to receive a seed from the hopper, and move downwardly on the belt to drop the seed below the frame;
- and
- a self-leveling mechanism, coupled to the seed hopper and seed dispenser, configured to pivot the seed hopper and seed dispenser upon the frame as a unit to automatically maintain the dispenser axis substantially upright when moving in the uphill or downhill planting direction.
A hill-compensating planter, comprising:
- a wheeled frame;
- a sub frame, pivotally attached to the wheeled frame;
- a seed hopper, attached to the sub frame;
- a seed dispenser, attached to the seed hopper, having an upright dispenser axis and a plurality of cups disposed upon an endless belt, each cup configured to move upwardly upon the belt to receive a seed from the seed hopper, and to move downwardly on the belt to drop the seed into a furrow below the wheeled frame;
- and
- a self-leveling mechanism, coupled to the sub frame, configured to pivot the sub frame to automatically maintain the substantially upright orientation of the dispenser axis during uphill or downhill planting.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.