GB387676A - Improvements in or relating to hand operated seed drills - Google Patents

Abstract

387,676. H a n d - tools for sowing seeds. WEBSTER, C. T., Ellington, Masham, Yorkshire. Aug. 7, 1931, No. 22441. [Class 6 (ii).] Seeds are sown in patches by means of a hand-operated tool by opening the discharge aperture of a seed container and imparting a jerk to the container in one operation, the aperture being of such a size in relation to that of the seeds that in the absence of a jerk the seeds do not flow through the aperture. The tool comprises a seed tube slidable in an outer tube and having a lateral discharge aperture, a handle associated with the seed tube, a spring normally holding the seed tube in a retracted position with its discharge aperture covered by the outer tube, and a ground-engaging member at the lower end of the outer tube adapted to be struck against the ground to compress the spring and uncover the discharge aperture, as well as to open up the ground to receive the seeds and to draw earth over them. The seed tube 2 is provided with a crook handle 1 and an interchangeable nozzle 3 having a lateral discharge aperture 4. A filling cup 10 is mounted on a rotatable sleeve 9 so that it may be brought over a filling opening 6 in the tube 2. Slots in the tube 2 and a fixed sleeve 8 are covered with celluloid or the like to form inspection windows. The tube 2 slides in an outer tube 11 against the action of a spring 12, the movement being limited by a pin 15 working in slots 16. The aperture 4 passes clear of the tube 11 and seeds are discharged into an extension tube 18 provided with an inspection slot 19 normally covered by a rotatable sleeve 20. An interchangeable ground-engaging piece 24 is connected to the tube 18 by a bolt 22 and a finger nut 23. The piece 24 may consist of a tube carrying arms 26 connected together by a cross-bar 27, which may be given a twist in the ground. In the form shown in Fig. 5 the tube 24 has a lateral discharge opening 28 and carries a cylindrical cross-bar 29 of varying length. A shoot 30, Fig. 7, may be provided below the outlet 28. Instead of passing beyond the end of the tube 11, the aperture in the tube 2 may come into communication with a passage in the tube 11 forming an inspection slot and covered by a rotatable sleeve.