GB559212A - Improvements in potato planting machines - Google Patents

Abstract

559,212. Potato-planters. WHIDBORNE, J. F., and MALTBY, H. C. July 27, 1942, No. 10516. [Class 6 (i)] A potato-planter comprises a plurality of belt conveyers 30 accommodated in open-topped boxes 29 extending through the rear wall of a hopper 24 from which potatoes are fed by hand to the spaces between upstanding curved plates 31 on the conveyer belts for delivery through shoots 51 into furrows, the upper runs of the conveyer and the bottom of the hopper being upwardly and forwardly inclined. A bench seat 64 for the operator is mounted over the rear ends of the boxes 29. The driving pulleys 37 are keyed to a shaft 38 on which is journalled a sprocket 44 driven by a chain 43 from a sprocket 42 on a countershaft 41 connected by gearing 39, 40 with the live axle 18 of a wheel 16, a slidable clutch 45, operable by a lever 46, serving to connect the sprocket 44 with the shaft. The gear ratio may be varied by replacing the sprocket 42 by another of different diameter. The bearing 47 for the countershaft 41 is angularly adjustable about the axis of the axle 18 for adjusting the tension of the chain 43 and the shafts of idler pulleys 32 are adjustable in slots in the boxes 29 for adjusting the tension of the conveyer belts. Prongs 52 are provided ahead of the shoots 51 for scraping loose earth into the furrows to prevent the potatoes rolling forward and ridging tools 57, 57a behind the shoots for refilling the furrows, the prongs and tools being carried respectively by shafts 53, 55 connected by a link 61 and levers 62, 63 for simultaneous operation by a lever 58 for raising and lowering the prongs and tools. A slidable latch 60 on the lever co-operates with a notched quadrant 59 for locking the parts in either the operative, or the inoperative ,position. A detachable draw-bar 21 is fitted, with a draught tongue 22 having alternative bolt holes 23 whereby the height of the rear part of the frame can be varied. The wheels 16 may be attached to axles at the ends of a longitudinal frame member 12 to facilitate movement through gateways &c.