AU2010200555A1 - Transplanting apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT (ORIGINAL) Name of Applicant: Transplant Systems Pty Limited Actual Inventor: Steven LEONIE Address for Service: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE, Patent Attorneys, I Nicholson Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000. Invention Title: "Transplanting apparatus" Details of Associated Provisional Application No.: 2009900690 18 February 2009 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: C:\NRPorbr\DCC\PLB\2723795-l.DOC - 15/2/10 C:\NRPonbl\DCC\PLBl657669_1 DOC-I5U2/2010 TRANSPLANTING APPARATUS The present invention relates to apparatus for transplanting seedlings into the ground. 5 Apparatus for the automated transplanting of seedlings, vegetable or salad seedlings for example, into prepared ground normally operates by forming one or more furrows in the ground as the apparatus advances, automatically feeding seedlings at spaced intervals into the furrow, and then returning the displaced soil back into the furrow around the root zone of the seedling. While there are many types of transplanting apparatus which operate 10 effectively on this principle with some of these being configured to plant at high density in closely spaced rows with a small plant spacing in each row, however some situations require seedlings to be transplanted into ground covered by plastic sheeting; the need for this may be determined by a variety of factors including climatic conditions, soil type and plant type. Transplanting into ground covered by plastic sheeting cannot be undertaken by 15 conventional types of transplanting apparatus which operate on the basis discussed above. While apparatus has been developed to transplant through plastic sheeting, existing apparatus for this purpose is not capable of planting at high density and when this is required the normal approach is to adopt manual transplanting methods which are very time consuming and labour intensive. 20 The present invention in its preferred embodiment relates to transplanting apparatus for the automated transplanting of seedlings into prepared ground beneath plastic sheeting and which is capable of being configured to provide high density planting. 25 According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for the transplanting of seedlings comprising a planter assembly having a group of planter tubes each open at its upper end to receive a seedling and having at its lower end a tapered jaw assembly actuable to open a hole in the ground and to discharge the seedling root zone lowermost into the hole, the planter assembly being mounted for movement between an upper 30 position spaced from the ground and a lower position adjacent the ground to effect penetration of the ground, and a transfer mechanism for feeding seedlings from a seedling C:NRPoftbDCC\PLB\i657669_I.DOC-152/201 -2 tray and for depositing the seedlings root zone lowermost into the planter tubes via their upper ends. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the planter assembly is in the form of a shoe 5 mounted for orbital motion between its upper and lower positions, the mounting for the shoe being such that its orientation remains substantially constant throughout its orbital motion whereby the axis of each of the planter tubes remains substantially vertical throughout the orbital motion. 10 The orbital motion of the shoe is about an axis transverse to the normal direction of movement of the apparatus relative to the ground, and the rotational direction of the orbital motion is such that when the shoe is traversing the lower part of its trajectory it is moving in the opposite direction to the direction of movement of the apparatus whereby during the movement along the lowest part of its trajectory its velocity relative to the ground in the 15 direction of movement of the apparatus is substantially zero. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the transfer mechanism comprises seedling pushers or other means for removing individual seedlings from the cells of the seedling tray and for feeding the seedlings to the upper ends of transfer tubes for discharge via the 20 lower ends of the transfer tubes into the planter tubes. The preferred form of the apparatus has a plurality of planting stations each having a said shoe and associated transfer mechanism. There may be two such transfer stations arranged in a row one behind the other in the direction of travel of the apparatus and, preferably, a 25 second such row of transfer stations with the two rows of transfer stations being in side-by side relation. An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 30 Figure 1 is a perspective view taken from one side and the rear showing the overall layout of transplanting apparatus having four planting stations carried by a main frame of C \NRPonbr\DCCPLB\l657669 _ DOC.15D2/OO -3 the apparatus; Figure 2 is a side perspective view similar to Figure 1 but to an enlarged scale and principally showing one of the planting stations, certain of the detail having been omitted from this figure for clarity of illustration; 5 Figure 3 is a view from the rear and showing the planting station of Figure 2; Figure 4 is an end view showing a planter shoe and its associated mounting linkage when the shoe is at the upper part of its orbital trajectory; Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing the shoe when at the lower part of its orbital trajectory; 10 Figure 6 is a schematic view from the front of part of the planting station of Figures 2 and 3 and showing a tray conveyor and associated transfer mechanism for feeding seedlings to the planter shoe; Figure 7 is a schematic view similar to Figure 6 but in a different phase of operation; and 15 Figures 8A to 8E show schematically the orbital motion of the planter shoe and its co-operation with the transfer mechanism. The transplanting apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings is shown in somewhat diagrammatic form to facilitate a clearer understanding of the basic operative 20 components of the apparatus. As such, certain structural elements by which various of the components are mounted from a main frame of the apparatus have been omitted for clarity of illustration but such structural elements are not of a critical nature as regards an understanding of the basic construction and operation of the apparatus in its preferred embodiment. 25 More particularly with reference to Figure 1, the apparatus comprises a main frame 2 from which the major components of the apparatus are mounted. The main frame 2 is mounted to a chassis (not shown) having ground-engaging wheels. The chassis is coupled to a prime mover, a tractor for example, to be driven along a bed into which seedlings are to be 30 transplanted, the wheels of the tractor and chassis engaging the ground at each side of the bed. The height of the main frame 2 and components mounted thereby relative to the C:\NRPorbl\DCCPLB\2657669 LDOC-1542/2010 -4 chassis is adjustable in order to permit variation of the planting depth as will be apparent from the detailed operation of the apparatus to be described. The preferred embodiment of the apparatus has four planting stations T 1 , T 2 , T 3 , T 4 carried 5 by the main frame 2. The stations Ti to T4 are arranged in two rows, one at each side of the apparatus in the direction of movement of the apparatus as indicated by the arrow A in Figure 1, and each row has a forward station and a rear station as considered in the direction of travel. Accordingly, with reference to Figure 1, the left hand row (in the direction of travel) consists of forward station T, and rear station T 2 and the right hand row 10 consists of forward station T 3 and rear station T 4 . It is however to be understood that other embodiments may consist of only a single row of planting stations or more than two rows of planting stations according to the particular requirements of use. While it is, in principle, possible for the apparatus to have only a single planting station, for most practical applications it is unlikely that a single station could be configured to provide an 15 adequate output and for this reason multiple (two or more) planting stations are preferred. Each of the planting stations is of the same detailed structure which will now be described. The planting station comprises a planter assembly in the form of a shoe 4 consisting of a block 6 mounting a series of planter tubes 8. The tubes 8 are arranged in parallel rows 20 extending in the direction of travel A. In the embodiment shown, there are two rows with four planter tubes 8 in each row although other embodiments could consist of only a single row or more than two rows, three for example, and there may be less than, or more than, four planter tubes in each row. Each planter tube 8 is open at its upper end and is normally closed at its lower end. As is clearly shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4 the lower end of the 25 planter tube 8 is of tapered form so as to penetrate the ground when pushed into the ground. It will also penetrate plastic sheeting covering the ground. The tapered lower end of the tube 8 is formed by a pair of jaws 8a, 8b (see Figure 4), the jaw 8a being fixed and the jaw 8b being pivotal between a closed position in which the jaws can be forced through plastic sheet and into the ground, and an open position as shown in Figure 5 to open a hole 30 in the ground of predetermined depth and into which a seedling within the lower end of the tube can be deposited. A single planter tube having these general characteristics is C:\NRPoftb\DCC\PLBL657669_1.DOC-I5A)2/2010 -5 disclosed in International patent application PCT/AU2004/000774 to which reference may be made for a more detailed understanding of the configuration of the lower end of the tube with openable jaw. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, opening and closure of the jaw 8b is effected by means of a cam 10 which operates in conjunction with the 5 movement of the shoe 4 as will be subsequently described. The shoe 4 is supported from the main frame 2 by parallel link arms 12 which are journalled to the frame 2 and journalled to the support block 6 so that the shoe 4 is able to move in an orbital path in a vertical plane while remaining at all times parallel to the 10 ground, with the tubes 8 thereby remaining with their axes always vertical. More particularly, each link arm 12 has at its inner end a shaft 14 journalled in a bearing carried by the main frame 2 and within which the shaft rotates. One or more of those shafts carries a sprocket or gear by which the shaft is driven to impart the required orbital motion to the planter shoe 4. In the embodiment shown, the shafts within the central part of the main 15 frame are driven shafts whereby a common drive system can be used to power the planter shoes of all four stations in synchronism as will be subsequently described. The orbital motion of the planter shoe 4 thereby causes the shoe 4 to move between a raised position above the main frame 2 and in which the tubes 8 are loaded with seedlings for planting, and a lower position beneath the main frame 2 in which the tapered ends of the tubes 8 20 have penetrated the plastic sheeting and the ground beneath the sheeting and the jaws are open to deposit the seedlings into the hole 5 thus formed in the ground. Each planting station also has a tray conveyor 20 for seedling trays 22, the conveyor 20 being mounted from the main frame 2 by support structure which has been omitted from 25 the drawings for clarity of illustration. The seedling trays 22 are loaded manually onto the conveyor 20 by an operator. In the embodiment shown, the tray conveyor 20 is orientated vertically and engages the tray 22 to advance the tray vertically downwardly stepwise through increments equivalent to one row of seedling cells within the tray and also to index the tray horizontally to present different groups of cells in the row to a discharge position. 30 Tray conveyors of this type for advancing and indexing seedlings trays are well known in the art and will not be described in detail herein. A row of seedling pusher fingers 26 C:\NRPor\DCC\PLB%657669- I.DOC-15A52/2010 -6 which form part of a transfer mechanism 30 is arranged behind the tray 22 to push a row of seedlings from the tray for delivery by the transfer mechanism 30 to the planter tubes 8 of the shoe 4. The number of pusher fingers 26 is equivalent to the number of tubes 8 in each row in the shoe 4 and therefore in the embodiment shown there are four pusher fingers 26; 5 when, as in the embodiment shown, there are two rows of planter tubes 8 in the shoe 4, the two rows of four planter tubes will be filled with seedlings in two successive cycles of operation of the pusher fingers 26 as will now be described. The transfer mechanism 30 and its operation can best be understood with reference to Figures 2, 3, 6 and 7. 10 The transfer mechanism 30 comprises a row of four seedling chutes 34 which discharge into a row of four seedling drop tubes 36. The row of seedling drop tubes is associated with seedling transfer tubes 38 each associated with one of the planter tubes 8 of the shoe 4. The transfer tubes 38 are accordingly arranged in two rows each consisting of four transfer tubes and leading to the tubes 8 of the respective rows of the planter shoe 4. The 15 row of four drop tubes 36 is mounted for swinging movement as shown in Figures 6 and 7 between a first position (Figure 6) in which the lower ends of the row of four tubes 36 are aligned with the upper ends of one row of transfer tubes 38 and a second position (Figure 7) in which the lower ends of the row of four tubes 36 are aligned with the other row of transfer tubes 38. The transfer tubes 38 are normally closed at their lower ends by a 20 sliding valve gate 40 to retain a seedling loaded into each transfer tube until it is required for delivery into the associated planter tube 8. Individual seedlings are fed into the transfer tubes 38 for retention therein by pushing, by means of the fingers 26, a row of four seedlings from the tray 22 into the seedling chutes 25 34 so that the seedlings lie in the chutes 34 with their root zones lowermost. When the fingers 26 are withdrawn, the seedlings will fall with their root zones lowermost into the drop tubes 36 and then into the transfer tubes 38 of the row with which the drop tubes 36 are aligned at that time. The seedlings will be retained in the lower ends of the transfer tubes 38 by the valve plate 40 which is closed at that time. The tray conveyor 20 is then 30 indexed to present a new group of seedling cells to the pusher fingers 26 and the drop tubes 36 are swung into alignment with the other row of transfer tubes 38 whereby seedlings will C:\NRPortbl\DCC\PLB\I657669 1.DOC-I52/l2IO -7 be deposited into that row of transfer tubes 38 to be retained therein by the closed valve plate 40. It is to be understood that with this form of transfer mechanism, for each planting cycle of the associated planter shoe 4, two cycles of operation of the pusher fingers 26 will be required. It is to be understood that other types of transfer mechanism can be 5 incorporated to remove the required number of seedlings from the tray and to feed them into the transfer tubes associated with the planter shoe. For example, an alternative form of transfer mechanism may comprise a row of seedling pickers comprising gripper rods or fingers which withdraw seedlings from the cells. 10 Planting of the seedlings from the shoe 4 into the ground occurs when the shoe 4 is traversing the lower part of its orbit as will be described, and transfer of seedlings from the transfer tubes 38 into the tubes 8 of the shoe for subsequent planting occurs when the shoe 4 is traversing the upper part of its orbit. To enable such transfer, the transfer tubes 38 are maintained with their lower ends in alignment with the upper open ends of the planter 15 tubes 8 while the shoe 4 is traversing the upper part of its orbit. For this purpose, the group of transfer tubes 38 is mounted in a carriage 41 mounted in tracks 42 (see Figure 3) for limited horizontal movement so that when the planter shoe 4 moves along the upper part of its orbit, the transfer tubes 38 will follow that movement for a sufficient time to maintain alignment with the upper ends of the tubes 8 to permit delivery of seedlings from the lower 20 ends of the transfer tubes 38 when the valve plate 40 is opened at that time. The required movement is actually quite small, a few centimetres at most, and can readily be achieved by engagement between the shoe 4 and tube carriage 41 so that the shoe 4 drags the carriage 41 against a spring bias to maintain the required alignment with the tubes 38, the carriage 41 with tubes 38 returning to a rest position by means of the spring bias upon 25 release from the shoe 4 as it starts to move downwardly from the upper part of its orbital movement. This is illustrated schematically in Figures 8A to 8E which show the shoe 4 at successive stages of its orbital motion from the upper to the lower part of its trajectory. Following discharge of the seedlings from the transfer tubes 38 into the planter shoe 4, the transfer tubes 38 are loaded with further seedlings in the manner previously described in 30 preparation for transfer to the shoe 4 at the following cycle. In an alternative, the tube carriage 41 could be driven by a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder in synchronism with the C:NRPonbl\DCCPLB\1657669I .DOC- IS22/2010 -8 movement of the shoe 4. It is important to note that the direction of orbital motion of the planter shoe 4 is such that when tranversing the lower part of its trajectory when it pierces the plastic sheeting and 5 ground and planting takes place, it is moving in the opposite direction to the direction of movement of the transplanting apparatus; in the embodiment illustrated in which the direction of movement of the apparatus is indicated by the arrow A, the planter shoe 4 will be orbiting in an anticlockwise direction (see Figure 8E in particular). As a result of this, with an appropriate speed relationship between the speed at which the transplanting 10 apparatus normally advances along the planting bed and the rotational speed of the planter shoe 4, during the movement of the planter shoe along the lower part of its orbit its speed relative to the ground will be zero or practically zero. Accordingly, relative to the ground at that time the planter shoe 4 will displace downwardly so that the tapered lower ends of the tubes 8 pierce the plastic sheeting and penetrate the ground, with their jaws 8b then 15 opening under the action of the cam 10 which is linked to the movement of the shoe 4, to thereby deposit the seedlings in the holes thus formed; these actions will occur with virtually no movement occurring of the tubes 8 along the ground in the direction of travel of the apparatus 6. At the lowest point of shoe movement, a pressure plate 44 carried by the shoe and through which the lower ends of the tubes 8 extend, will apply downwards 20 pressure to the plastic sheeting and surrounding soil to ensure effective transfer of the seedlings; the pressure plate 44 is spring-loaded in a downwards direction so as to be movable through a limited distance relative to the lower ends of the tubes 8 whereby to maintain the pressure on the ground during opening of the hole and seedling delivery. When planting has taken place and the shoe 4 continues in its orbital motion, it is 25 withdrawn from the ground and moves into the upper part of its orbit where it is loaded with fresh seedlings from the transfer tubes 38 in preparation for a further planting cycle. Pressure wheels (not shown) at the rear of the transplanting apparatus engage the ground (via the plastic sheeting) at either side of the rows of transplanted seedlings to firm the soil around the seedlings. 30 From the forgoing description, it will be understood that as the apparatus advances, the C:\NRPonb\DCC\PLBk6$7669 .DOC-I5M221o0 -9 shoe 4 will plant seedlings in spaced groups along the ground. In the preferred embodiment where two shoes 4 are one behind the other in a row, the shoes of the row are driven in synchronism and are so spaced in the direction of travel that the rearmost shoe will plant seedlings into the space between successive groups of plantings of the forward 5 shoe. In the preferred embodiment where the apparatus has two rows of planter shoes 4, one at each side of the main frame 2, the two forward shoes and two rearward shoes are linked by common shafts which are driven by a common drive. The interlinked forward and 10 rearward shoes are arranged 1800 out of phase in order to provide a degree of balance to the rotating mass arising from the orbital motion of the four shoes. Although it will be understood that the orbital motion of each of the planter shoes 4 is a constant radius relative to the main frame 2 and thereby the shoes 4 displace upwardly and 15 downwardly through a constant distance relative to the main frame 2, by adjusting the height of the main frame 2 relative to the wheeled chassis to which it is mounted, the height of the main frame relative to the ground, and thereby the depth of penetration of the planter tubes into the ground, can be varied. The required adjustment, which may be a few centimetres at most to suit different types of seedling will also be accommodated by the 20 spring-loaded pressure plate 44 which will always be in contact with the ground when the shoe is at the lower part of its trajectory. An apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention is suitable for transplanting a wide variety of seedlings into ground covered by plastic sheeting including, 25 for example, tomato, onion and cotton. It is envisaged that transplanting apparatus in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention can be configured to transplant at least 20,000 seedlings per hour and possibly up to 30,000 seedlings per hour. A particular feature of the apparatus is that the configuration of the planter shoes with multiple planter tubes enables high density planting to be achieved. Each planter shoe 30 simultaneously plants in two closely spaced rows with a relatively small plant spacing along the row. In one practical example the row spacing is only as 90 mm and the plant C:NRPorbl\DCCPLB\16576691 .DOC.15A)2/O1O - 10 spacing in each row is only 100 mm. Planting densities of that magnitude can represent the highest planting densities recommended for many types of seedlings, including those mentioned, having regard to the need to accommodate plant growth while maintaining healthy environmental conditions for plant growth. It will be understood that the planter 5 shoe can readily be configured to provide different planting densities by changing the number of planter tubes and tube spacing in the show, with corresponding change being made to the transfer mechanism by which seedlings are fed to the shoe. Although a principal utility of the preferred embodiment of the invention is in 10 transplanting through plastic sheeting, its use is not confined to that and it also has utility in direct planting into soil types, for example thick clay soils, which are not particularly susceptible to transplanting using more conventional transplanting apparatus which creates a furrow into which seedlings are delivered. When configured for such a usage, wipers may be provided to clean soil from the tapered lower ends of the transplanting tubes; the 15 wipers may be associated with the pressure plate 44. The embodiment has been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

Claims (14)

1. Apparatus for the transplanting of seedlings comprising a planter assembly having a group of planter tubes each open at its upper end to receive a seedling and having at its 5 lower end a tapered jaw assembly actuable to open a hole in the ground and to discharge the seedling root zone lowermost into the hole, the planter assembly being mounted for movement between an upper position spaced from the ground and a lower position adjacent the ground to effect penetration of the ground, and a transfer mechanism for feeding seedlings from a seedling tray and for depositing the seedlings root zone 10 lowermost into the planter tubes via their upper ends.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tapered jaw assembly of each planter tube comprises a fixed jaw and a movable jaw, the movable jaw moving between a closed position adjacent the fixed jaw and in which the lower end of the tube is closed, and an 15 open position to open the hole and to open the lower end of the tube for discharge of the seedling into the hole.

3. Apparatus according to claim I or claim 2, wherein the planter assembly is mounted for orbital motion between its upper and lower positions, the mounting for the 20 planter assembly being such that the orientation of the assembly remains substantially constant throughout its orbital motion whereby the axis of each of the planter tubes of the assembly remains substantially vertical throughout the orbital motion.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the orbital motion of the planter assembly 25 is about an axis transverse to the normal direction of movement of the apparatus relative to the ground, and the rotational direction of the orbital motion is such that when the assembly is traversing the lower part of its trajectory it is moving in the opposite direction to the direction of movement of the apparatus whereby during the movement along the lowest part of its trajectory its velocity relative to the ground in the direction of movement 30 of the apparatus is substantially zero. C \NRPorbl\DCCPLBl657669.DOC-15A2/20O -12

5. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 having a second such planter assembly behind the first mentioned assembly (the first assembly) in the direction of travel of the apparatus and operated in synchronism with the first assembly such that as the apparatus advances and the first assembly plants groups of seedlings at spaced intervals in 5 the direction of travel, the second assembly will operate to plant groups of seedlings between the groups planted by the first group.

6. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 having a conveyor for a seedling tray, the conveyor being operative to index the tray to present different groups of seedling 10 cells of the tray for removal of seedlings therein by the transfer mechanism.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the transfer mechanism comprises means for removing individual seedlings from the cells and for feeding the seedlings to the upper ends of transfer tubes for discharge via the lower ends of the transfer tubes into the planter 15 tubes.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 having means for closing the lower ends of the transfer tubes to retain the seedlings therein, the lower ends of the transfer tubes being opened to effect discharge of the seedlings therefrom into the planter tubes when the 20 planter assembly has moved into its upper position with the planter tubes of the assembly in substantial alignment with the lower ends of the transfer tubes.

9. Apparatus according to any one of claims I to 4 having a plurality of planting stations each having a said planter assembly, a said transfer mechanism, and a conveyor 25 for a seedling tray for seedlings to be planted at that station, the conveyor being operative to index the tray to present different groups of seedling cells of the tray for removal of seedlings therein by the transfer mechanism.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein two such transfer stations are arranged in 30 a row one behind the other in the direction of travel of the apparatus. C:\NRPortbl\DCC\PLB\l657669 l.DOC-I5A)2/2I10 - 13

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 having a second row of such transfer stations arranged one behind the other in the direction of travel, the two rows of transfer stations being in side-by-side relation. 5

12. Apparatus according to any one of claims I to 11, wherein the or each planter assembly and associated transfer mechanism is mounted to a main frame of the apparatus, the main frame being mounted to a wheeled chassis having ground-engaging wheels, the height of the main frame relative to the wheeled chassis being adjustable whereby to adjust the depth of penetration of the lower ends of the planter tubes into the ground. 10

13. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein in the or each planter assembly, the tubes of the group of planter tubes are mounted in a plurality of parallel rows extending in the direction of travel of the apparatus, with each row consisting of several planter tubes. 15

14. Apparatus according to claim 13 when dependent on claim 5, wherein the rows of planter tubes of the first assembly are aligned with those of the second assembly.