AU595329B2 - Valved seed outlet - Google Patents

Description

TO: The Comnmissireor of Patents, Commonwealth of AustraliJa.

C f, 595329 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA The Patents Act 1952 9 S f f i

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4.* 'S f 9S Name of Applicant Address of Applicant Actual Inventor Address for Service COMPLETE SPECIFICATION GILBERT KELSO FLETCHER 130 Opal Street, Emerald, Queensland, 4720, Australia GILBERT KELSO FLETCHER GRANT ADAMS COMPANY, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 333 Adelaide Street, BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, 4000

AUSTRALIA.

FOR THE INVENTION ENTITLED: "VALVED SEED OUTLET" The following statement the invention including ing it known to us: -1is a full description of the best method of perform- I at 1 1d tuJ TH3S INVENTION relates to seeding apparatus, and more particularly, to the means by which seed may be fed from a storage hopper to distribution lines.

Various forms of apparatus are known whereby seed is entrained in an air flow and scattered thereby over an area of ground to be seeded, the apparatus being mounted on a suitable vehicle to enable distribution over an extensive area. Seed is held for use in a hopper which is valved to control outflow of seed. It is usual, so as to assist the flow of seed, to pressurise the hopper with air pumped, thereto so as to cause a strong flow past the valve at the outlet when the valve is opened. However, it is possible, for the seed to become bound at the outlet and so block the flow. This particularly so with seeds that have a seed E coat that is spined or hairy.

It is an object of the invention to provide a valved seed outlet which is not subject to becoming 0 blocked by the binding of seed at the outlet. Other o 20 objects and advantages of the present invention will hereinafter become apparent.

The invention resides in the provision of a valved seed outlet to be used in a seed apparatus to o. dispense fluffy or hairy coated seed that is prone to 25 bridging wherein a storage container with walls contoured to lead seed therein gravitationally to an opening is used, the valved seed outlet being mounted in the said opening of the said container, the said valved seed outlet comprising: S 30 a body part with a first passage therethrough to lead seed from the storage container, the first passage having first and second ends; the first end being provided with a mounting means thereat whereby the valved seed outlet may be mounted beneath the said storage container at the said opening therein externally of the container; a valve seat at the first end defining an orifice by which seed may flow from the said storage container; a valve means mounted for operative movement orthogonal to the valve seat within the container, the said movement achieved by a valve support disposed into the first passage from the lower surface of the valve means, the said movement regulating a flow area into the orifice, the said flow area being defined by he separation between the outer circumference of the valve means, so that the flow of seed past the orifice is metered by the position of the valve means and the flow of seed is stopped when the valve means engages the valve seat to block the orifice; seed sweep means rotatively mounted to i: disturb seed at the orifice; means by which the seed sweep means may be continuously or intermittently activated; a second passage, transverse at the first 20 passage adjacent the second end thereof, the second passage being operative, in use, with a flow of air therethrough to draw seed through the orifice by aspiration; and the seed sweep means including a- least a 25 first set of depending arms to sweep .osely around the periphery of the alve and its valve seat.

The invention will now be described with S reference to a preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein: S. 30 FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a valved seed outlet in accordance with the present invention; S' FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the valved seed outlet of FIG. 1 cut perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a sectional view of another valved seed outlet in accordance with the present invention; r II r*~a~nsr- FIG. 4 is a view of a sweep arm which may be used in the valved seed outlets of FIGS. 1 to 3; FIGS. 5 to 9 illustrate various pneumatic circuit arrangements whereby a valved seed outlet, in accordance with the present invention, may be put into practice.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a seed storage hopper 10 is provided with a valved seed outlet 11 having a seed sweep means 12 to disturb seed at the orifice controlled by valve means 13. The seed sweep means is rotatively supported over the valve means 13 as is set out below.

Seed sweep means 12 is mounted upon an axle which can be coupled to a drive motor 18 through a reduction gear box 17 if required. Valve 13 is mounted 15 on a support means 19 which encloses axle 14. Support means 19 is activated by a mechanism acting at 20 to raise or lower the valve means 13 as is described below.

The seed outlet from storage hopper 10 leads to a tube 21 which connects with a line 22 along which air is

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pumped past a suitable constriction such as 23 so as to create a venturi effect, if necessary, at the joint of line 22 with tube 21 so as to draw air and entrained seed from the storage hopper 10 into the line 22. Line 22 is connected to a seed distribution outlet which may be any of the various forms which are now in use.

By utilising a valved seed outlet of the above type, a pressurised line 22 may be effective to draw seed from hopper 10, which need no longer be constructed for pressurized operation, without the outlet becoming blocked because rotation of the seed sweep means 12 disturbs the seed at the orifice and effectively breaks up any agglomerations of seed that might otherwise bind and bridge over the outlet to block it.

15 The seed sweep means 12 comprises inverted U-shaped elements being connected to axle 15 at their centre. Downwardly depending arms 40 and 41 extend downwardly to a position adjacent the valve seat 24 so as to sweep around the opening created as the valve 20 means 13 is raised. The seed sweep means may be fixed to axle 15 by passing the end 25 of axle 15 through a hole in seed sweep means 12 and locking the parts together with a nut circlip or any suitable means which is effective to hold the seed sweep m ins on a locking 25 abutment. Various means of interconnecting the respective parts may be adopted here. The axle 15 may be located at its upper end in a bearing means 27, which may be a Teflon bushing in valve plate 13 which is held by support posts 14, which may also be bushed and passed therethrough as shown, and it may be mated at its base 28 to the output 29 of the reduction box 17.

Any means of mounting the device may be adopted and what is suitable in any particular application will be largely dictated by the demands imposed by that application. Rather than being removably attached, -4i each of the above parts may be integrally formed or permanently bonded to respective ones of their companion parts as will be possible with plastic moulded parts that, if not mouldable in a single parts, may be welded or adhered together as a fixed composite.

The valve means 13 may be moved relative to its valve seat 2~4 to open the orifice and meter the seed according to its degree of opening by passing a.: end of valve support 19 out tube 21 through a slot 31 which permits axial movement. Support 19 may be biassed downwardly by any suitable means if required such as spring 32. Various alternate ways of achieving control of valve means 13 will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

fee*** 15 The sweep means 12 may comprise a number of downwardly dependent arms; the two arms 42 and 43, seen *so: in FIG. 2, closely encircle the valve seat; the two arms 40 and 41 seen in FIG. 1, may be orthogonally positioned relative to the pair 42 and 43, and sweep 9* :0 20 around a circle of larger circumference; the arm 44 (see FIG. 4) is angled upwardly and is intended to sweep around the conical wall of the hopper (not shown) so as to break up any bridging of seed at higher levels above the level of the valve as can happen with some types of seed. The sweep means may be simply slotted onto the end of drive shaft 15 with complementary looking surfaces acting in respect of rotary motions so that the drive shaft turns the sweep means. Any suitable retainer 25 may be used such as lock nuts, circlips, etc.

The drive shaft 15 may be provided with an arm 45 or arms extended outwardly thereof so as to dislodge any seed that may build up in chamber 21 opposite passage 22. The drive shaft may be simply keyed at end 46 orto the output shaft 29 of gear box 17.

-17 M., The valve means 13 may be a simple circle of plate material, centrally holeu and bushed at 27 for passage of shaft 15 so that the plate 13 may move vertically off valve seat 24. The valve plate may be retained in place by support posts engaged in notches in the plato periphery (see FIG. 3) or passed therethrough (see FIGS. 1 and 2) to prevent rotary movement whilst allowing sliding vertical movement therealong. The underside of the valve is engaged by two opposed, peripherally disposed, downwardly dependent arms 19 which join at their base 47 to support actuator which protrudes through slot 31. Actuator 20 may be engaged by a filament 48 passed over pulley 49 from sheath 50 clamped at 51 to provide a remote operation 15 using the standard cable actuated technique. Other means such as mechanical linkages of the lever arm type might equally be employed. Alternatively electrical or fluid pressure actuators might be used. A plate 57 with a series of holes 58 beside slot 31 provides a means to 20 limit the movement of the valve means 13. A stop may be fitted to a hole 58 to block the vertical movement, of actuating arm The main body 52 of the seeding apparatus may be coupled to the base 53 of a hopper by connecting means such as bolts at 30 engaging lugs 55, with a seal 56 between the hopper base and a flange around the main body 52.

The downwardly dependent arms of the sweep means may have a flat form in cross section with an angle applied to them to increase the rate of flow of seed to the valve. Thus, instead of being tangential to the circle about which they are made to track, they are offset .rom that by a few degrees so as to push seed to the valve. Any number of arms might be used, 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. to increase their effect.

-6i 4**e *9 9 9 9 4 *644 *4 9 *4* 9 9** 99 9 9 9* 4~ 9 999* 9 0..90 4 9 99999S 9 FIG. 3 shows an alternate form of a valved seed outlet, similar in some respects to that of FIGS.

1 and 2, with like integers numbered identically.

In FIG. 3 a seed storage hopper 10 is provided with a valved seed outlet having a seed sweep means 12 to disturb seed at the orifice controlled by valve means 13. The valve sweep means is rotatably supported over the valve means 13 upon a bridge means Seed sweep means 12 is mounted upon an axle 15 which is provided with a drive wheel 61 coupled to a worm gear 62 on the output shaft of a drive motor 18.

Valve 13 is mounted on a support tube 69 which encloses axle 15. Support tube 69 is activated by a mechanism 63 to raise or lower the valve means 13 as is described 15 below, The seed outlet from storage hopper 10 leads to a tube 21 which connects with a liiie 22 along which air is pumped past a suitable constriction 23 so as to create a venturi effect at the joint of line 22 with tube 21 so as to draw air and entrained seed from the 20 storage hopper 10 into the line 22. Line 22 is connected to a seed distribution outlet which may be any of the various forms which are now in use.

The axle 15 is located at its upper end in a bearing means 6~4 in support bridge 60 which may be screw 25 threaded at its base 65 so as to be removably fitted to pipe end 66.

The valve means 13 may be moved relative to its valve seat 241 to open the orifice and meter the seed according to its degree of opening by passing valve support tube 69 out tube 21 through a bearing surface 31 which permits axial movement. Support tube 69 is biassed downwardly by action of spring 32 acting on end plate 33 which may be moved upwardly, against the action of spring 32, by lever 341. Lever 341 is pivoted at 37 and activated by tension on cable 68. So as to limit -7-

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the degree of travel of lever 34, and valve nmeans 13, a stop plate 35 may be provided with a means wherebyv the degree of travel may be adjustably set, so as to vary the rate of feed of seed. Various alternate ways of achieving control of valve means 13 will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the bottom of tube 21 has been provided with a removable floor plate 103.This allows the floor to be repositioned when different size pressurised lines 22 are used to suit different fans. In practice, the floor should line up with the lower joint between passages 21 and 22 so that seed build up is reduced. In FIG. 3, the .two passages 21 and 22 are formed integrally and the passage 21 can be merged with 22 with a smooth curve to prevent build up. A D.C. motor 18 and reduction box 17 can be iiounted on the floor plate which might be changed to suit various models of motors. Typically, motors turning at 25 rpm might be used. The number of 20 sweep arms in assembly 12 may be varied so as to compensate for the different speeds of available motors 0* and/or, the reduction gear box parameters might be selectively altered. As a simple means of attachment, the axle 15 and reduction box output 29 may be locked together by insertion therethrough of a pin which doubles as the sweep arm 45. The sweep arm assembly of FIG. 4 is fitted to axle 15 with a simple keyway formed by a flat face 70 out into the side of the shaft (see (FIG. 2) with a complementary mating hole in the top of the sweep assembly or a round hole with flat plate 72 thereover (see FIG. A further plate 73 (see FIG. 4) enables a flat washer to ride thereon for the retaining means (locking pin, circlip, etc.) to engage against.

The above described valved seed outlet may be used with a variety of fan types, both low pressure and

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higher pressure fans. Fans typically available are low pressure trash fans which convey material therethrough and the medium pressure fans as used on commercial grain air seeders which cannot pass material therethrough.

Different pneumatic circuits are possible to accommodate these different fans. Generally, the trash fan is robust and lower in price.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show circuits employing a trashfan 74. In FIG. 5, fan 74 is connected to valved seed outlet 75 at the bottom of hopper 76 provided with a chain 77 hung from above to swing above the outlet so as to break up any high level bridging of seed as may occur with seeds such as buffel grass. The valve 75 is on the suction side of the fan, air being drawn in at 15 78 to entrain seed which is pvssed through fan 74 to a distributor 80 via tubing 81. An inlet 79 may be added where the system's requirement for air is greater than what may be drawn through inlet 78. This arrangement is suitable for seeds such as buffel grass which are not 20 damaged by the fan. The venturi restriction may be used in this arrangement. Such a unit may be mounted on a trayback vehicle or bulldozer, etc., to spray seed over a short distance from the vehicle. A number of hoppers may feed the same distributor and in FIG. 5, two valved seed outlets are connected via fan 74 to distributor to allow accurate metering of different seed sizes which may separate by vibrations when mixed in one hopper.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show how a medium pressure fan 84, which may not pass the seed therethrough, may feed seed from hoppers to distributor 80. In FIG. 7, fan 84 is connected to push air past outlet 86, to entrain seed, and pass it to distributor 80 via tube 81. In FIG. 8, the fan 84 pumps air past two distributors 87 and 88 to entrain a selected one of seed from two hoppers, or from both hoppers together. Such a circuit -9is successful with all grass seeds as well as grain seeds such as millet. Millet is damaged if passed through a trash fan. The benefit of using the medium pressure fans is that any type of seed may be transported much further and with longer transport possible, typically to 25 metres, systems may feed distributors on the large blade ploughs now in use to control tree sucker regrowth.

The above valved seed outlet is ideal for drawing seeds into the inlet of a trash fan where a certain volume of air can bypass the valve. When positioned on the outlet side of a fan, the total volume of air must pass the outlet, or outlets, and, to accommodate this air, the passage 22 may need to be enlarged depending on the size of the fan. This may mean that the length of passage 21 and axle 15 would have to be increased. An alternative is to split the outlet air and bypass a portion around the valve, but the problem then arises of reintroducing the lower pressure air (after the venturi), plus seeds, back into the main airstream.

FIG. 9 shows how the complete system may be *.set up. A vehicle 90 carries a seeding apparatus 91 and a boom 92 which may be supported off to one side on stay 102 which may also pull the boom upwardly when a..:necessary. Boom 92 carries spreaders 93 which have a defleoction plate 9i4 to fan the flow out pipe 95 to spread the seed. Other spreaders might be employed.

Fan 96 entrains seed in hopper 9T to carry it along line 96 to distributor 99 which, via lines such as 100, feed the spreaders (such as 101).

With the device of the above character, it is possible to feed seed to a distribution head which might be any of the knqown mechanisms whereby seed is disseminated. Any form of power- source may be applied

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to the seed sweep arm, electric, hydraulic, and even manual activation might be provided for. In some applications, a spring might be wound so as to provide the means by which the seed sweep is activated. Where a number of seeds are to be sewn simultaneously, a plurality of hoppers may be used, one per seed type, each with an outlet of the above character, the respective air streams being combined to eed the seed mix thereby created to a distribution head.

Devices such as those described above might be mounted on bulldozers so that reseeding may be most 0:40 conveniently achieved in land reclamation with seeding taking place along with soil working operations. The •device might be applied to hoppers employed in aircraft 15 etc., the device being a substitute for existing units wherever they occur. The system may be mounted on 4 x 4 farm vehicles to allow more accurate seeding of smaller areas than possible using aerial seeding. Aerial is expensive and requires large areas to be economical.

20 The slow action of the sweep coupled with the action of the vacuum allous uncleancd buffet seed to be used through the valve as the sweep deflects the trash s"while the seed is separated. M1 cattlemen -ow collect their own seed and would no' lean the seed if the valved seed outlet is Whilst the above h* .xoibed with reference to a sac'.fic exb,d'La~rt. I w'J1 be clear that many variations and modtfications may be -o.ade thereto that are Within the scope and 9pirit of the present invention.

Claims (8)

1. 2. A valved seat outlet as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the second passage is restricted in size adjacent the first passage to increase aspiration utilising the venturi effect.
2. 3. A valved seed outlet as claimed in Claim 2 wherein: the first pa~ssage has a shaft axially the rethough; a motor is mounted at the second end to rotate the shaft; and the seed sweep means i8 mounted to the shaft for rotation therewith.
3. 4. A valved seed outlet as claimed in Claim 3 wherein the shaf t is provided with a sweep arm mounted *0 radially tW'-reon adjacent the second end to sweep around the second ei,- the first passage.
4. 5. A valved seed, outlet as claimed in Claim 3 wherein: the valve means is a plate with the shaft passed therethrough, the valve means being axially slidable therealong; the valve means being attached to a valve support by which the valve means can be selectively moved between a closed position and a range of degrees of openness.
5. 6. A valved seed ouftlet as claimed in Claim wherein the valve support has an arm extending outwardly through a slot in the first passage whereat a resilient *:fee: means biases the valve means t'.o a closed position and a 'mechanism is provided whereby the valve means may be opened by displacement of the arm.
6. 7. A valved seea outlet as claimed in Claim I wherein the seed sweep means comprises a number of dependent arms that sweep o.ircular2ly around the orifice, angle to the tangent to their line of motion to sweep I~_ seed to the orifice.
7. 8. A valved seed outlet as claimed in Claim 7 wherein an additional sweep arm extends upwardly to disturb seed above the level of the orifice.
8. 9. A seed container having a valved seed outlet as claimed in Claim 8 wherein a length of chain is suspended in the container, above the valved seed outlet, and dependent therein to a point close to the valved seed outlet, and dependent therein to a point close to the valved seed outlet to disturb seed thereover. A valved seed outlet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 15 DATED this eleventh day of January 1990. GILBERT KELSO FLETCHER by his Patent Attorneys GRANT ADAMS COMPANY S S S 0)55e 5" ~S* 0 .55. S. S S w P 1 -ii r