Mechanism for discharging granular material
First Claim
1. In a mechanism for discharging granular material, especially seed and fertilizer, and having a bin and seed-flow regulators through which variable amounts of material are supplied to the ground by gravity and a sensor for producing a signal for detecting the amount of material discharged through the regulators, the improvement comprising means for positively enhancing the signal quality of the sensor by acceleration of material contacting same including the sensor being positioned downstream of the at least one regulator and further comprising material flow accelerating means disposed between the flow regulator and the sensor for accelerating the grains of material to a speed greater than that obtained by gravity and toward the sensor and into contact therewith and means for directing the material from the sensor to the ground solely under the force of gravity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Mechanism for discharging granular material, especially seed and fertilizer, and having a bin and seed-flow regulators that variable amounts of material can be supplied to the ground through, whereby a sensor that detects the amount of material or number of grains of material discharged through that device is positioned in the vicinity of at least one flow regulator. To improve the sensor'"'"'s detection of the amount or number of grains of material, a flow accelerator (8) accelerates the grains (22) of material toward the sensor (15) between the flow regulator and the sensor (FIG. 1).
57 Citations
16 Claims
- 1. In a mechanism for discharging granular material, especially seed and fertilizer, and having a bin and seed-flow regulators through which variable amounts of material are supplied to the ground by gravity and a sensor for producing a signal for detecting the amount of material discharged through the regulators, the improvement comprising means for positively enhancing the signal quality of the sensor by acceleration of material contacting same including the sensor being positioned downstream of the at least one regulator and further comprising material flow accelerating means disposed between the flow regulator and the sensor for accelerating the grains of material to a speed greater than that obtained by gravity and toward the sensor and into contact therewith and means for directing the material from the sensor to the ground solely under the force of gravity.
Specification