US699754A - Corn-planter. - Google Patents

Description

Patented May l3. I902.

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

No. 699,754. Patented May l3, I902. L. P. GRAHAM.

CORN PLANTER.

(Application filed Jan. 23, 1902.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

- der side of the feeder-disk.

Urrnn 'rarns PATENT @unrcn.

LEVI P. GRAHAM, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

CORN-PLANTER.

SEE-6L NATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 699,754, dated May 13, 1902. Application filed January 23, 1902. Serial No. 90.946. (No model.)

To (aZl 'whmlt it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEVI P. GRAHAM, of the city of Decatur, county of Macon, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn-Planters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the dropping mechanism of seedhoxes, commonly called first drops, and its general object is to insure proper filling of the seed-cells of the droppingwheel. a

The invention concerns dropping'mechanism in which flat grains are received edgewise each in a single cell. One of its functions is to force the grains into the path of the seed-cells and another function is to tilt fiat grains from a horizontal position toward a vertical position, so that they will drop edgewise into the seed-cells preparatory to being carried to the discharge-opening therefor. The seed is fed into line with the path of the seed-cells by a feeder-plate above the seedwheel moving horizontally to and from the seed-cells while the wheel rotates, and the tilting effect is produced by combined inclined plane action and the horizontal motion of the feeder-plate to and from the cells. The tilting mechanism comprises a wall or barrier alongside one side of the path of motion of the cells and a feeder-plate above the seed Wheel having horizontal motion to and from the cells on the side thereof opposite the barrier. Either the barrier or the movable plate is beveled upward and away from the cells to form a tilting incline, and the operation consists in bringing the feeder-plate so close to the barrier that the grains between are forced by the incline out of a horizontal position and so nearly vertical that they will readily fall edgewise into the cells and then separating the feeder-platefrom the barrier to receive other grains.

The invention is exemplified in the structure hereinafter described, and it is defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings forming part of thisspecification, Figure 1 is a plan of seed-dropping mechanism embodying the preferred form of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line X in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan of the un- Fig. 4. is a crosssectional diagram illustrating the operation of theseed-tilting mechanism and showing the mechanical principleinvolved. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional diagram illustrative of a modification of the invention. Fig. (3 isaplan diagram showing how the feeder-disk moves to and from the seed-cells as the seed-wheel rotates.

A seedbox is shown at 1.

At 2 is shown the outer rim of the bottom plate of the seedbox. The central partofthe bottom of the seedbox is shown at 10, and it is connected with the annular rim 2 by bridges 11. The inner surface of the lower part of rim 2 is vertical, as shown at 3 in Figs. 2 and 4. A seed-wheel 6 has cells 7 in its outer edge, and its perimeter conforms to the vertical wall 3 of rim 2. A plate 4 is secured beneath the seed-wheel audits outer edge 4 forms a bottom for the seed-cells, except at 5, where it is cut away to form a discharge-opening. A bolt 12 connects plate 1 with a boss on the under side of the central plate 10 of the seedboxbottom. A circular disk 13 journals on the downward-extending boss of plate 10, which is eccentric with the seed-wheel, and the perimeter of the disk is smooth and beveled upward and inward to form a grain-tilting incline. The under surface of the disk is re* cessed, and a radial rib 14: is formed in the recess. A stud 8 rises from the seed-wheel and bears slidably against the rib 14. The seed-wheel may be rotated by force applied through teeth 9 or otherwise, and the stud 8 imparts rotary motion from the wheel to the disk by bearing against the rib and sliding lengthwise thereof as the wheel travels around. A cut-off 15 has bearings in a vertical housing 16, located over the dischargeopening 5, and it is held to its Work by means of a spring 18. A bolt- 17 secures the 110115 ing 16 to an upward extension of rim 2. The disk 13 has its closest approach to the seedcells at a point opposite the cut-off, andthere is space around the cut-off between rim 2 and the disk to permit free passage of corn.

The vertical surface 3 of rim 2 is coincident with the outer walls of the seed-cells, or approximately so, and it constitutes a barrier that prevents seed on the seed-wheel from passing outward beyond the path of the,

cells. The perimeter of the lower surface of the disk runs close to the inner edges of the would force the sector of disk 13 around with the wheel and the wheel would carry the grain a. The eccentricity of the pivot of the disksector would cause the swinging end of the sector to travel outward on the seed-wheel as the rotation progressed, first engaging the grain and then moving it outward on the seedwheel, and by the time seed-cell reached the position shown by closely-dotted lines the grain would be pressed against the barrier 8. Further rotation of the seed wheel would cause the lower outer edge of the disk-sector to force its way under an edge of the grain, raising it gradually by inclined-plane action and causing it to drop into the cell before it reached the position shown in broken lines. In Fig. 4 the grain a and the nose of the disk are shown at their greatest distance from the cells and the barrier by means of dotted lines, and in solid lines the grain is shown tilted into position to fall into the cell 7. In Fig. 4 the radial or reciprocating action of the disk is illustrated, and in Fig. 6 the radial action is shown combined with retary motion. As soon as the cell travels past the position shown in broken lines in Fig. 6 the disk-sector, then at its nearest approach to the barrier, begins to recede from the barrier and continues to do so until it reaches the position shown in solid lines and begins another approach movement.

The eccentrically-pivoted sector (shown in Fig. 6) constitutes an operative feed for the single cell of the seed-wheel; but there are several cells in an operative or practical seedwheel, each of which needs a feeder and tilter, and the different tilters for the several cells combine in practice to form a complete disk.

The motion of the tilter to and from the barrier-wall is the essential one; but the rotary movement of the disk is useful apart from its convenience, as it helps to carry the grains along on the seed-wheel against the retard ing action of the barrier and draw them into the narrow space between the disk and the barrier, where their edgewise tilt into the cells is assured.

The feeding action of the disk may be increased by increasing the eccentricity of the pivot of the disk, and the tilting action may be extended around a larger part of the circumference of the seed-wheel by making the disk larger and running it more nearly concentric with the seed-wheel.

The cut-off 15 is opposite the nearest approach of the disk to the barrier-wall, and this is the preferred arrangement, although the relative location of the cut-off may be varied somewhat without making the device inoperative.

In Fig. 5 the barrier is shown beveled instead of the disk, and this modification is suggestive of variations that may be made in the construction without departing from the principles on which the invention is based.

The means employed to drive the feederplate from the wheel is placed under the plate to protect it from the corn.

The part of the perimeter of the disk that opposes the barrier is preferably made smooth to avoid grinding the grains.

All of the vertical surface 3 of rim 2 that is within the width of a grain of corn of the perimeter of the feeder-disk constitutes the barrier that coacts with the feeder in bringing the grains in line with the seed-cells and uptilting them. The remainder of the vertical wall is inoperative so far as this invention is concerned.

Each seed-cell has its own feeder. The disk constitutes as many feeders as there are cells, and while the disk as a whole maintains an invariable relation to the seed-wheel and the barrier the different feeders are continually approaching and receding from the barllel.

In a generic sense the invention is disclosed in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, and its embodiment comprises a dropping-plate having a cell adapted to receive a grain of corn, a barrier on one side of the cell,and a feeder on the opposite side of the cell movable toward and from the barrier and the intervening cell. Either the feeder or the barrier is beveled to form an uptilting incline for the grain of corn, and the operation consists in moving the feeder away from the barrier to permit the grain of corn to lie on the dropping-plate and then moving the feeder toward the cell and the barrier to uptilt the grain into the cell. In Fig. 6 of the drawings the back-andforth movement of the feeder is combined with rotary motion in the cell and the feeder. The barrier is relatively stationary, and the compound motion of the feeder causes the feeder to approach the barrier obliquely.

I claim 1. In dropping mechanism for seedboxes, the combination of a dropping-plate having a seed-receiving cell, a barrier on one side of the cell, and a feeder-plate on the opposite side of the cell movable toward and from the barrier and the intervening cell.

2. In dropping mechanism for seedboxes, the combination of a dropping-plate having a seed-receiving cell, a barrier on one side of the cell, and a bevel-edge feeder-plate on the op posite side of the cell, movable toward and from the barrier and the intervening cell.

3. In dropping mechanism for seedboxes, the combination of a seed-wheel having a seed-receiving cell, a barrier on one side of the cell, and a feeder on the opposite side of the cell movable radially of the wheel toward and from the barrier and the intervening cell.

4. In dropping mechanism for seedboxes, the combination of a rotatable seed'wheel having-a seed-receiving cell, a stationary barrier alongside one side of the path of motion of the cell, and a feeder on the opposite side of the cell movable toward and from the cell and rotating with the Wheel; the movement of the feeder being so timed that the nearest approach of the feeder to the cell occurs when the cell is adjacent to the barrier.

5. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes, comprising a seed-Wheel having cells, a feederdisk journaled above the seed-wheel eccentric with the path of motion of the cells, and a barrier alongside the cells, opposite the nearest approach of the feeder-disk to the cells.

6. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes, comprising a seed-wheel having cells, a beveledge tilt-disk pivoted above the seed-wheel inside the path of motion of the cells and eccentric With such path, and a barrierontside the cells, opposite the nearest approach of the tilt-disk to the cells.

7. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes, comprising a seed-wheel having cells, a tiltdisk jonrnaled above the seed-wheel inside the path of motion of the cells and eccentric therewith, means for rotating the disk in the same direction as the rotation of the wheel, and a barrier outside the cells opposite the nearest approach of the disk to the cells.

8. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes, comprising aseed-wheel having cells, a beveledge disk with an unbroken perimeter pivoted above the seed-wheel eccentric therewith, and means, covered by the disk, for transmitting motion from the seed-wheel to the disk.

9. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes, comprising a seed-wheel having cells, a feederdisk pivoted above the seed-wheel eccentric therewith, and a radially-slidable connection between the under side of the disk and the upper side of the wheel, such connection being entirely covered by the disk.

10. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes, comprising a seed-Wheel having cells, a tiltdisk jonrnaled above the seed-wheel eccentric therewith, a radial rib on the under side of the disk and a stud projecting upward from the wheel into engagement with the rib.

l1. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes comprising a box-bottom having a discharge opening, a seed wheel having cells adapted to discharge through the opening in the bottom of the box, and a feeder-plate approaching the cells and receding therefromat a point non-coincident with the discharge-opening of the seedbox.

12. Dropping mechanism for seedboxes comprising a seed-wheel having cells, a feederdisk smaller than the circle described by the cells and pivoted eccentric with such circle, and a cut-ofi in the wide space formed by the eccentricity of the disk.

In testimony whereof I sign my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEVI P. GRAHAM.

Witnesses:

INA GRAHAM, NORA GRAHAM.

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