US702402A - Seed-drill. - Google Patents

Description

Patented June 17, I902.

N L P A H c A SEED DRILL. (Application filed Jan. 2, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet I,

(no Model.)

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'No. 702,402. Patented June I7, 1902.

A. CHAPLIN;

SEED DRILL.

(Application filed Jan. 2, 1901.)

s Sheets-Sheet 2.

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Patented lune I7, 3902. A. CHAPLIN.

SEED DRILL.

(Application filed Jan.

3 SheetsSheet 3.

(No Model.)

Jnveniar UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

ALLEN CHAPLIN, OF WAL O TOWNSHIP, SUMNER COUNTY, KANSAS.

SEED-DRILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 702,402, dated June 17, 90

Application filed January 2, 1901. Serial No. 41,804. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN OHAP IN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of .Walton township, Sumner county, Kansas,

have invented a new and useful Seed-Drill, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to seed-drills; and it consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combinations of parts, as hereinafter described and'claimed.

The object of the invention is to produce a seed-drill of simple, strong, and durable construction which shall operate efliciently upon any kind or condition of soil, by which the seed may be planted at a uniform depth irrespective of the surface configuration or density of the soil and which is under perfect control of the driver at all times.

Other desirable objects are hereinafter enumerated, and in order that the invention may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure lrepresents a vertical section of a seed-drill, taken on the line I I of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is atop plan view of the drill, partly broken away. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view showing parts of the connection whereby the driver is enabled to raise or depress the seed-planting mechanisms. Fig. 4 is a side view of one element shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of another element shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged side elevationof the drillor condition.

4 of the frame.

10 designates a bracket depending from the tongue forward of the frame and provided with a'longitudinal series of perforations 11 and having its lower end connected bya link 12 with the tongue, rearward of said front or body portion 4 of the frame, in any suitable manner. i

13 designatesalinkadapted for pivotal connection with any one of theperforations 11; 14, a cliploosely connected to the link; 15, a

whiflietree pivoted in said clip, and 16 clips for the attachment of singletrees. (Not shown.) By this arrangement it is possible to so adjust link 13 upon perforated bracket 10 that practically a perfect balance is secured and the draft-animals are relieved'almost entirely'of neck weight, leaving them free to exert their full power in the propulsion of the machine.

17 designates aspring-bar secured to the rear end of the tongue and carrying a seat 18, as usual, at its upper end and within convenient reach of lever 19, projecting upward from the transverse rock-shaft 20, journaled in bearing-boxes 21, secured upon the rear ends of frame-arms 5 and tongue 9, said lever being provided with the usual devices for causing the engagement and. disengagement of the spring actuated pawl 22 with the notched sector 23, secured to the tongue. 24 designates a crank-arm projecting from said shaft, near its center by preference, and connected pivotally .by a link 25, with a similar crank-arm 27 of a second transverse rockshaft 26, arranged forward of the axle and journaled in bearing-boxes 28, secured to the cross-section to receive the crank-arms 29, equal in number to and in longitudinal alinement with the hose-pipes 8, the hub portions of said arms being provided with sectional boxings to enable the arms to be clamped rigidly on the shaft. At their free ends they are formed with bearings comprising the integrally-formed portion 31 and the separable portion 32, provided with registering grooves which conjointly form cylindrical passages 33, said separable portions or caps 32 being bolted to portions 31 as-at 34. Journaled in the cylindrical passages 33 of the arms are short bars 35, terminating at their ends in eyes 36 and formed with shoulders 37 to preventlongitudinal movement in said passages, and extending upwardly through the eyes of said bars, hereinafter termed eyebars, are pull and push rods 38, having heads or enlargements' 39 at their upper ends to prevent any possibility of disengagement with the eyebars and collars or enlargements 40 near their lower ends to form abutments for the expansive springs 41, spirally encircling the rods and bearing at their upper ends against the under sides of the eyebars. The lower ends of the pull and push rods connected to they front shaft are preferably pivoted, as at 42, to the inner sides of frames 43, said frames each consisting of a pair of parallel bars 44, which in length exceed slightly the distance between the rock-shafts and for the greater portion of their length extend approximately parallel with the surface of the ground, their rear ends occupying the same horizontal plane, if desired, though it is preferred to have the bars curve upwardly at their rear ends in order to accommodate between them larger press or covering wheels 45 than it would be possible to use if said bars were perfectly straight, as will be readily understood; these press-wheels having their peripheries concaved to more efficiently perform their covering function;

46 designates colters or cutting-wheels arranged at the front ends of and betweenthe bars of frames 43, said colters having, preferably, cone or other bearings 47, made to exclude dust and dirt as far as possible, though I do not limit myself to any particular style. The bearings are carried by clamping-bolts 48, pivotally uniting the front ends of frames 43 with the rear ends of the parallel draftbars 49, said draft-bars extending upwardly and forwardly at a suitable angle, the major portion of the bars having their narrow edges occupying vertical planes, with the corresponding edges of the front or small portion occupying a horizontal plane, this result being attained by giving the bars a half twist near their front ends, at which points they are rigidly secured in any suitable manner to the short sleeves 50, journaled upon the tubular draft-rod 51, extending horizontally and transversely and carried at the front ends of the brackets 52, depending from the side 53, preferably of cast metal, being fitted upon the draft-rod between the pairs of draft-bars, as shown in Fig. 2, or in any other suitable or preferred manner. The draft-rod is tubular, because of its greater strength and stiffness than a solid rod; but it is to be understood that I do'not limit 'myself to any particular style of draft-rod, any particular way of supporting the same, orany particular method of securing the draft-bars thereto so as to possess the necessary vertical vibration independent of each other.

54 designates the drill-shoes, the same being carried by the frames 43 between the colters 46 and the covering-wheels 45, and, like said colters and wheels, are preferably arranged between the draft-bars. Each shoe consists of a thin quadrant-shaped front portion 55, having its curved edge preferably struck from the same radius as the-colter and sharpened. From the lower point of the quadrant upon a vertical line the shoe is branched to form the walls 56, which diverge gradually rearward and provide a chamber 57 between them.

58 designates the hose-cups, forming a part of the shoes and receiving the lower ends of the hose-pipes. The hose-cups are provided with. a portion depending below the upper edge of said walls, the same being triangular in plan view, withits sloping sides bifurcated, as at 59, so as to snugly clasp the upperedges of said walls both internally and externally, the inner portion 60 of said triangular portion extending down below the outer portion 61 to receive the rivets 62, projecting inwardly from said walls, and in this connection it will be noticed that the transverse or rear wall of the inner portion forms a closure for a few inches atthe upper end of thelrearwardly opening chamber 57 between the walls 56, and projecting rearwardly from said transverse wall and from the cup is a rib or flange 63, having a vertical series of perforations 64. To secure each shoe rigidly in position, a bolt 65 extends through the corresponding frame 43 and one or another of the openings 66 in the front edge of the shoe, a similar bolt 67, carried by said frame, extending through one of the perforations 64 of the cup-flange, suitable spacing-sleeves 68 being fitted upon the bolts between the sides of the frame and the shoe to hold it rigidly in alinement with the corresponding colter and covering-wheel.

The drawings show the machine as embodying a gang of ten sets of planting mechanisms arranged to vibrate vertically independently of each other to automatically adapt themselves to irregularities in the surface over which they pass, together with means whereby the drivermay raise or depress the entire gang simultaneously and gage the depth at which the seed is to be planted. This permits of the seed being planted at difierent depths in the. same field, so as to accommodate varying kinds and conditions of soil.

In traveling to and from the field and also to avoid obstructions the driver raises the gang to an inoperative position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, this result being effected a narrow gash or cut of the desired depth in the ground and serve to sever sod and clods.

or lumps of earth in the path of the machine.

The narrow front portions of the'shoes, following immediately in the wake of the colters,

travel with practically no resistance in the narrow grooves made by the colter-s, serving to keep the same open and prevent the dirt falling therein, the diverging rear walls 56 serving to increase the width of the furrow or groove as slightly as possible and yet hold the walls of earth sufficiently apart to permit the seed dropping in the usual manner from the seedbox through the intermediate devices to attain the proper depth, when the earth, all resistance being removed, falls inward and covers the seed by filling up the furrows or grooves. that, like the cultivator-shovel or the moldboard of a plow, the shoes have the divergence of their walls 56continue to their rear edges, so that in passing through the earth they will scour and clear themselves of soil, for the rea son that as long as in action they are pressing against the soil. If said diverging walls should be bent so as tohave their rear walls extending parallel, they would impose practically no pressure upon the walls of earth previously separated by the diverging portions of theshoes. As a consequence upon their parallel walls mellow damp soil would accumulate, at first at their extremerear edges and then gradually forward, until the diverging walls and forward portions were reached and covered, thereby materially increasing the draft and thewidth of the groove or furrow.

The concave covering-wheels, following immediately in the wake of the shoes,press the loose earth firmly down into the grooves or furrows in the usual manner. In case exceptionally hard obstructions are metsuch, for instance, as rocks projecting, perhaps, only slightly from the groundthe springs 41 of the planting mechanisms encountering such obstruction or obstructions will yield andpermit such mechanisms to ride over said ohstruction or obstructions without injury and Without interfering'with the operation of the other seed-planting mechanisms, this independent automatic action being essential, as many obstructions are encountered which the driver fails to observe, who, if he did and wished to avoid contact with them, would be In this connection it will be noted compelled to elevate all for the purpose of avoiding an obstruction in the pathof one.

By means of the draft-bars49 it will be noted that the draft onthe planting mechanisms isobtained from a point forward'of the same, so as to-eliminate any lateral strain upon the pull and push rods 38, leaving said rods free to perform their proper functionnamely, to pull the planting mechanisms upward or, through the instrumentality of springs 4l,to push them yieldingly downward,

the intensity of such pressure being regulated, of course, by the position in whichthe lever 19 is locked onthe sector by the dog 22. By means of said lever the driver can force said mechanisms into any reasonable seedbed and gage the depth of out very accurately,

so-that it will be uniform in soils of substantially the same kind and condition, or, if

needed, practically the entireweight' of the machine can be evenly distributed upon the planting mechanism, this being efiected by depressing thesamesufficiently to transfer most of the weight of the frame and drivewheels to the rock-shafts 26 by throwing the lever forward a sufficientdistance.

From the above description it will be apparent that I haveproduced a seed-drill embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirable inthe statement of invention, and while the preferred embodiment of the invention is describedand shown it is to be understood that it is susceptible of various changes in the form, proportion, detail construction, and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 1

Having thus described the invention, what Iclaim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a seed-drill, the combination of a wheeled frame, having seed-droppingmechanism, a seed-planting mechanism'belowand connected'to the same, comprisingacolter at its front end, a covering-wheel at its'rear end, a shoe between and in line with the colter and covering-wheel and providedwith a seed-cup, and parallel bars connecting the shoe, the colter, and the covering} wheel, headed rods pivotedat their lower ends to andnear the opposite end of said bars, and provided with shoulders, an eyebar slidingly connecting said rods, spiral expansive springs upon saidrods and engagingsaid shoulders and eyebars at their opposite ends, a pairof rock-shafts provided with crank-arms pivotally connected to Saidbyebars at their free ends, and means tooperate said rock-shafts tween said furrow making and closing de- IIO vices and consisting of a perforated thin front portion arranged centrally of said bars, a branched rear portion, a hose-cup surmounting and adapted to discharge into the chamber 5 formed between the branches or walls of the rear portion, and provided with a rearwardlyprojecting perforated rib, a clamping-bolt extending through said bars and one of the perforations of the front portion, sleeves upon said IO bolt between said portion of the shoe and said bars, a clamping-bolt extending through said bars and one of the perforations of the rib, and sleeves upon said bolt between said rib and said bars, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature 15 in the presence of two witnesses.

ALLEN OHAPLIN. WVitnesses:

E. L. GRAY, MERRITT J EFFRIES.

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