Air seeder/fertilizer apparatus having metering means and distribution manifold with selectively openable ports

• US 7,555,990 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2008
• Issued: 07/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: One Pass Implements Inc.
• Original Assignee: One Pass Implements Inc.
• Inventors: Beaujot, Patrick M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Novosad; Christopher J.
• Application Number:
  US12/143,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20090078178A1
• Time in Patent Office: 381 Days
• Field of Search: 111/922, 111/921, 111/903, 111/900, 111/200, 111186-188, 111/175, 111/174, 111/170, 111118-129, 701/50
• US Class Current: 111/123
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 21/005 Following a specific plan, e.g. pattern
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/081 Seeders depositing seeds in rows using pneumatic means
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/084 Pneumatic distribution heads for seeders
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/088 Sectional seeding
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 60/00 Technologies relating to agriculture, livestock or agroalimentary industries
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 111/903 Monitor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 111/921 Unique motor drive
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 111/922 Variable drive mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 172/90 Plant thinners

Abstract

A seeding apparatus having a distribution manifold with selectively openable outlet ports thereon, to permit or stop delivery of seed or fertilizer to soil A meter device, responsive to both the number of selected open ports and the speed of the apparatus over the ground, is provided to regulate supply of seed/fertilizer to a distribution manifold. The distribution manifold has a plurality of outlet ports spaced about a periphery of such manifold, each outlet port having a valve to allow opening and closing of individual outlet ports. Soil engaging members on such apparatus are individually raisable from an lowered operative position to a raised inoperative position, and when moved to such inoperative position, valve associated with an outlet port for providing seed and/or fertilizer to such soil engaging member is closed to prevent supply to the associated soil engaging member.

Claims

1. An agricultural implement for injecting at least one type of particulate material namely seed, fertilizer, or inoculant into soil, adapted to travel over an area of ground having both seeded portions which have had said particulate material injected therein and unseeded portions of ground which have not had said particulate material injected therein, and to inject said particulate material only into said unseeded portions of ground, comprising;

a plurality of soil-engaging members and associated raising means, each raising means when actuated adapted to raise an associated soil-engaging member from a lowered operating position where said soil-engaging member engages soil to a raised inoperative position;

a plurality of material-dispensing means for receiving said particulate material and dispensing said particulate material into furrows created by said soil-engaging members;

a metering means for dispensing said particulate material at a metered rate;

a distribution manifold, having;

(i) an inlet port for receiving metered particulate material from said metering means;

(ii) a plurality of outlet ports, and

(iii) valve means on each of said plurality of outlet ports to permit selected opening and closing of said plurality of outlet ports;

said metering means dispensing said particulate material to said distribution manifold at said metered rate proportional to a rate of travel of said implement over the ground.

2. An agricultural implement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said metering means dispenses said particulate material to said distribution manifold at said metered rate both proportional to a rate of travel of said implement over the ground and inversely proportional to a number of outlet ports on said distribution manifold which have been selectively closed by said valve means.

3. An agricultural implement as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

navigation means for providing precise geographic position of said agricultural implement at given points in time

memory means for keeping a record of said precise geographic position over time as said agricultural implement travels over the ground; and

determination and actuation means for determining whether portions of said agricultural apparatus have previously travelled over ground over which said agricultural implement may then be travelling, and if determining such to be the case, further adapted to actuate selected of said raising means and associated soil-engaging means which otherwise would engage soil in ground over which said agricultural implement had previously travelled so as to cause said selected soil-engaging members to become raised from said ground, thereby preventing areas of ground in which particulate material has already been injected from being further re-injected with particulate material.

4. An agricultural implement as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

navigation means for providing precise geographic position of said agricultural implement at a given point in time;

memory means for keeping a record of said precise geographic position over time as said agricultural implement travels over the ground; and

determination and actuation means for determining whether portions of said agricultural apparatus have previously travelled over ground over which said agricultural implement may then be travelling, and if determining such to be the case, further adapted to actuate selected of said valve means on said distribution manifold to cause said selected valve means to close to thereby prevent delivery of said particulate material from said metering means to said selected material-dispensing means, thereby preventing areas of ground in which particulate material has already been injected from being further re-injected with particulate material.

5. An agricultural implement as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

satellite navigation means for providing precise geographic position of said agricultural implement at a given point in time;

memory means for keeping a record of said precise geographic position over time as said agricultural implement travels over the ground; and

determination and actuation means for determining whether portions of said agricultural apparatus have previously travelled over ground over which said agricultural implement may then be travelling, and if determining such to be the case, further adapted to actuate selected of said raising means and associated material-dispensing means and soil-engaging means which otherwise would engage soil in ground over which said agricultural implement had previously travelled so as to cause said selected soil-engaging members to become raised from said ground, and to simultaneously actuate selected of said valve means on said distribution manifold to cause said selected valve means to close to thereby prevent delivery of said particulate material from said metering means to said selected material-dispensing means, thereby preventing areas of ground in which particulate material has already been injected from being further re-injected with particulate material.

6. The agricultural implement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said metering means is in communication with a speed-sensing means so that said metering means dispenses said particulate material at said metered rate proportional to a speed at which said implement travels over the ground.

7. The agricultural implement as claimed in claim 6, wherein said metering means comprises a metering roller, a helical auger, or a distribution wheel, which roller, helical auger, or distribution wheel is operatively turned by an electric motor, hydraulic motor, or direct drive from a wheel of such implement when such implement travels over ground, wherein a rotational speed of said metering roller, helical auger, or distribution wheel is proportional to the speed of travel of the agricultural implement over the ground.

8. The implement as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said distribution manifold , at each of such outlet ports, having a return port;

and

said valve means, when actuated to close a selected outlet port simultaneously opens an associated return port, to permit return of particulate material to a supply bin via said return port.

9. An agricultural implement for injecting particulate material namely seed, fertilizer, or inoculant into soil, towable behind a vehicle such as a tractor, comprising:

a wheeled cart having at least one containment bin mounted thereon for containing said particulate material;

a tool bar adapted to be operatively coupled to said wheeled cart, comprising a plurality of elongate mounting arms mounted thereto, each mounting arm 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 lowered operating position;

material-dispensing means on each of said mounting arms, proximate said soil engaging means, for dispensing said particulate material into the soil;

a distribution manifold, having;

(i) an inlet port for centrally receiving therein metered particulate material;

(ii) a plurality of outlet ports, arranged about a circular periphery of said manifold., each in fluid communication with a corresponding one or more of said material-dispensing means; and

(iii) valve means on each of said plurality of outlet ports to permit selected opening and closing of said plurality of outlet ports;

metering means adapted to distribute said particulate material to said inlet port of said distribution manifold at a metered rate, said metered rate proportional to both a rate of travel of said implement over the ground and a number of outlet ports on said distribution manifold which have been selectively opened.

10. An agricultural implement as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

navigation means for providing precise geographic position of said agricultural implement at given points in time;

memory means for keeping a record of said precise geographic position over time as said agricultural implement travels over the ground; and

determination and actuation means for determining whether portions of said agricultural apparatus have previously travelled over ground over which said agricultural implement may then be travelling, and if determining such to be the case, further adapted to actuate selected of said raising means and associated soil-engaging means which otherwise would engage soil in ground over which said agricultural implement had previously travelled so as to cause said selected soil-engaging members to become raised from said ground, thereby preventing areas of ground in which particulate material has already been injected from being further re-injected with particulate material.

11. An agricultural implement as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

navigation means for providing precise geographic position of said agricultural implement at a given point in time;

memory means for keeping a record of said precise geographic position over time as said agricultural implement travels over the ground; and

determination and actuation means for determining whether portions of said agricultural apparatus have previously travelled over ground over which said agricultural implement may then be travelling, and if determining such to be the case, further adapted to actuate selected of said valve means on said distribution manifold to cause said selected valve means to close to thereby prevent delivery of said particulate material from said metering means to said selected material-dispensing means, thereby preventing areas of ground in which particulate material has already been injected from being further re-injected with particulate material.

12. An agricultural implement as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

satellite navigation means for providing precise geographic position of said agricultural implement at a given point in time;

memory means for keeping a record of said precise geographic position over time as said agricultural implement travels over the ground; and

determination and actuation means for determining whether portions of said agricultural apparatus have previously travelled over ground over which said agricultural implement may then be travelling, and if determining such to be the case, further adapted to actuate selected of said raising means and associated material-dispensing means and soil-engaging means which otherwise would engage soil in ground over which said agricultural implement had previously travelled so as to cause said selected soil-engaging members to become raised from said ground, and to simultaneously actuate selected of said valve means on said distribution manifold to cause said selected valve means to close to thereby prevent delivery of said particulate material from said metering means to said selected material-dispensing means, thereby preventing areas of ground in which particulate material has already been injected from being further re-injected with particulate material.

13. The agricultural implement as claimed in claim 9, wherein said metering means is in communication with a speed-sensing means so that said metering means dispenses said particulate material at said metered rate proportional to a speed at which said implement travels over the ground.

14. The agricultural implement as claimed in claim 13, wherein said metering means comprises a metering roller, a helical auger, or a distribution wheel, which roller, helical auger, or distribution wheel is operatively turned by an electric motor, hydraulic motor, or direct drive from a wheel of such implement when such implement travels over ground, wherein a rotational speed of said metering roller, helical auger, or distribution wheel is proportional to the speed of travel of the agricultural implement over the ground.

15. The agricultural implement as claimed in claim 9, wherein each of said valve means is selected from the group of valve means comprising an electrically-actuated valve means, a hydraulically-actuated valve means, or an electric-over-hydraulic valve means.

16. The agricultural implement as claimed in claim 9, wherein all or some of said valve means are controlled by an operator in a cab of said vehicle.

17. An agricultural implement for injecting particulate material namely seed, fertilizer, or inoculant into soil, towable behind a vehicle such as a tractor, comprising:

a central frame;

at least one containment bin mounted on such central frame, for containing said particulate material;

a plurality of elongate mounting arms mounted to said central frame, each mounting arm 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 lowered operating position;

material-dispensing means on each of said mounting arms, proximate said soil engaging means, for dispensing said particulate material into the soil;

a distribution manifold, having;

(i) an inlet port for receiving metered particulate material;

(ii) a plurality of outlet ports, each in fluid communication with at least one material-dispensing means on said soil-engaging members; and

(iii) valve means on each of said plurality of outlet ports to permit selected opening and closing of said plurality of outlet ports;

metering means adapted to distribute said particulate material to said inlet port of said distribution manifold at a metered rate, said metered rate proportional to both a rate of travel of said implement over the ground and a number of outlet ports on said distribution manifold which have been selectively opened.

18. The agricultural implement as claimed in claim 17, further comprising:

navigation means for providing precise geographic position of said agricultural implement at a given point in time;

memory means for keeping a record of said precise geographic position over time as said agricultural implement travels over the ground; and

determination and actuation means for determining whether portions of said agricultural apparatus have previously travelled over ground over which said agricultural implement may then be travelling, and if determining such to be the case, further adapted to actuate selected of said raising means and associated material-dispensing means and soil-engaging means which otherwise would engage soil in ground over which said agricultural implement had previously travelled so as to cause said selected soil-engaging members to become raised from said ground, and to simultaneously actuate selected of said valve means on said distribution manifold to cause said selected valve means to close to thereby prevent delivery of said particulate material from said metering means to said selected material-dispensing means, thereby preventing areas of ground in which particulate material has already been injected from being further re-injected with particulate material.

19. The implement as claimed in claim 18, wherein said metering means comprises a metering roller, a helical auger, or a distribution wheel, which roller, helical auger, or distribution wheel is operatively turned by an electric motor, hydraulic motor, or direct drive from a wheel of such implement when such implement travels over ground, wherein a rotational speed of said metering roller, helical auger, or distribution wheel is proportional to the speed of travel of the agricultural implement over the ground.