WO2016195604A1

WO2016195604A1 - An apparatus for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials and process thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2016195604A1
Application number: PCT/TH2016/000050
Authority: WO
Inventors: Panya LAO-ANANTANA; Thanat SRISUKSON; Pichit Suvanprakorn; Assanee RATTANAVIJARN
Original assignee: Kasetsart University; Friends In Need (Of "Pa") Volunteers Foundation Thaired Cross
Priority date: 2015-06-03
Filing date: 2016-05-31
Publication date: 2016-12-08

Abstract

An apparatus and a process for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from a nursing container (101) onto a plantation field by moving the nursing containers past a plurality of gripping heads (301-310) aligned at an angle to the rows of the materials in the nursing containers. All gripping heads move in to grip the materials, pull such materials from the nursing containers, change the direction of the materials to point the roots downward, release the materials onto the plantation field synchronously, and advance the container to the next position. The distance between successive gripping heads determines the distance between the dropping position for the materials. The stepping function of the apparatus is synchronized with the motion of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached in order to drop the materials in a regular pattern.

Description

AN APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING SEEDLINGS OR PLANT PROPAGATION MATERIALS AND PROCESS THEREOF

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of machinery technology for direct use in agriculture. In particular, the present invention relates to the transfer of seedlings or plant propagation materials from a nursing container onto a plantation field. Even more particularly, this invention relates to such transfer using a plurality of gripping means organized into gripping heads that grip the seedlings or plant propagation materials and perform the transfer. Background Art

It is a common practice, especially in the case of rice, for farmers to first germinate seeds in some kind of nursing containers to form young and healthy seedlings before transferring such seedlings to the plantation field. For other plants such as sugarcane and potato, a transfer is commonly needed to move plant propagation materials such as stem cuttings, billets, and tubers from containers to the plantation field. Such transfer of seedlings or plant propagation materials from a nursing container onto a plantation field is a delicate and resource- consuming process. The seedlings or plant propagation materials must be gently handled during the transfer in order to ensure their survival. These seedlings or plant propagation materials must also be placed in the plantation field at depths and orientations appropriate for each kind of plant. Furthermore, the planting disposition of seedlings or plant propagation materials in the plantation field should be arranged in a regular manner in order to aid maintenance and harvesting.

In underdeveloped and developing countries, manual transfer of seedlings or plant propagation materials from a nursing container onto a plantation field often results in inefficient use of manpower and time resources. The resulting irregularly placed plants in the plantation field also complicate the use of mechanical harvesters. This is why inventors in developed countries have long invented several generations of semi-automated and automated transfer machines, such as a seed potato planting machine disclosed in AD 1880 in US patent 233,635. These machines may comprise wheels, chains or belts for conveying seedlings or plant propagation materials and placing them in the soil, such as a sugarcane planter disclosed in US patent 1,764,159 or dropping them in pits that are dug by the machine such as an onion set planter disclosed in US patent 1,926,476, or allowing them to free fall by earth's gravity onto the plantation field, such as a packaged seedling transplanter disclosed in US patent 3,374,752. Nevertheless, these early planting machines often operate slowly while subjecting the seedlings or plant propagation materials to much physical suffering and subjecting certain mechanical parts themselves to excessive wear and tear from contact with soil and gravels. Subsequent improvements on these machines may utilize gripping means to take the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers, such as a balled seedling transplanting machine disclosed in US patent 6,073,564, an automated plant selector according to US patent 6,212,821, and a foliage separator for a transplanter according to US patent 7,954,439. In US patent 5,557,881, a plurality of gripping means operate in parallel in the horizontal plane to speed up the transfer throughput. The mechanism of this latter invention is inefficient because the gantry-mounted gripping means and the nursing container must be moved by at least two sets of movement mechanisms that may often be complicated, costly, and slow. Furthermore, in case a transfer machine handles the seedlings or plant propagation materials in a brute or rough manner, such seedlings or plant propagation materials will need some time, usually a day or two, to recuperate after the transfer, resulting in slow overall growth of the plants that have already been transferred onto the plantation field.

In order to eliminate the shortcomings indicated above, the present invention has incorporated several features: (1) the seedlings or plant propagation materials are not lunged or pierced into the soil but are released from the height of 1 to 2 meters to free fall, roots first, onto the plantation field, which may be crumbly soil, muddy soil, or covered with a layer of water, in order to preserve the integrity of the materials and especially of the shoots and the root hairs of seedlings; (2) the use of several gripping means working concurrently in parallel under the control of a common mechanism consisting of a few moving parts allows for faster operation at a lower construction and maintenance costs; (3) the one-dimensional and one-directional movement of the nursing container adds to the higher speed and the lower cost of the machine; (4) the seedlings or plant propagation materials are dropped onto the plantation field in a regular manner in two dimensions, i.e. having a regular spacing between one seedling or plant propagation material and another consecutive one in the same row as a result of the regular placement of the gripping heads and also a regular spacing between rows of planting as a result of the synchronized motion between the gripping heads and the movement of the vehicle to which the transferring apparatus is attached or mounted; (5) the wear and tear of the machine from contacts with soil is reduced.

It is an objective of the present invention, therefore, to provide an apparatus and a process for transferring seedlings, especially rice seedlings, or plant propagation materials, from a nursing container to the plantation field in a regular fashion in two dimensions.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a process for rapidly transferring seedlings, especially rice seedlings, or plant propagation materials, from a nursing container to the plantation field as a result of only one directional movement of the nursing container with respect to the gripping heads.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a process for transferring seedlings, especially rice seedlings, or plant propagation materials, from a nursing container to the plantation field, in a gentle manner to preserve the shoots and the root hairs of the seedlings and the health of the seedlings or plant propagation materials in general.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a process for transferring seedlings, especially rice seedlings, or plant propagation materials, from a nursing container to the plantation field, with a mechanism for feeding the nursing containers from shelves or storage means into the apparatus and a mechanism for taking the used nursing containers to a shelf or cabinet storage.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a method for an apparatus and a process for transferring seedlings, especially rice seedlings, or plant propagation materials, from a nursing container to the plantation field, that are practical to use in tropical, developing, and under-developed countries.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a nursing container that has at least one barb or hook or spur for inserting into or hooking with a loop or a hook on the apparatus according to the present invention for use in pulling or pushing the nursing container. Summary of the Invention

The invention herein described is directed to provide an apparatus for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from a nursing container onto a plantation field that operates gently, rapidly, and resulting in regularly-spaced plants in the plantation field. Such apparatus is not expensive to construct and easy to maintain owing to simple mechanisms that moves the nursing containers, one after another, past a plurality of regularly-spaced gripping heads in only one direction.

One aspect of the disclosed invention is directed towards an apparatus for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from a nursing container onto a plantation field by using a plurality of gripping heads, characterized by: said gripping heads aligned at an angle to the guiding rails for feeding the nursing containers into the apparatus; all gripping heads working synchronously by being ganged to the mechanism for gripping the seedling or plant propagation material and pulling such material from the nursing container, as well as the mechanism for changing the direction of the seedling or plant propagation material to point the roots downward; and synchronization of the gripping head and the feeding of the nursing containers into the apparatus with the motion of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached in order to drop the seedlings or plant propagation materials on the plantation field in a regular pattern. In principle, the appropriate number of gripping heads is equal to the number of rows of the seedlings or plant propagation materials in each nursing container. In addition to the transfer mechanism, there may also include a mechanism for feeding the nursing containers from shelves or storage means into the apparatus, and also a mechanism for taking the used nursing containers to a shelf or cabinet storage.

Another aspect of the invention is directed towards a process for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers to the plantation field, comprising the following steps in which the gripping heads all work synchronously, at a step rate that is synchronized with the motion of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached and the rate of feeding the nursing container into the apparatus: starting from the idle position, with closed gripping heads; in the first step, a plurality of gripping heads gripping the seedlings or plant propagation materials that stick out of the nursing container, which is continuously fed into the transferring apparatus via the guiding rails; in the second step, the gripping heads taking the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers and changing the direction of the seedling or plant propagation material to point the roots downward; in the third step, the gripping heads releasing the seedlings or plant propagation materials onto the plantation field; in the fourth step, advancing the nursing container one more position to the next seedling or plant propagation material; simultaneously returning the gripping heads to the starting position while avoiding any collision between the gripping heads and the seedlings or plant propagation materials still in the nursing container; and returning to the first step. In this aspect of the invention, the gripping heads form a line at an angle to the guiding rails for feeding the nursing containers into the apparatus, and: the first gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the first row of the nursing container; the second gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the second row of the nursing container; the third gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the third row of the nursing container; ...; and the last gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the last row of the nursing container. Furthermore, any collision between the gripping heads and the seedlings or plant propagation materials that are still in the nursing container is avoided by moving the gripping heads toward the seedlings or plant propagation materials and making a small vertical motion before gripping the seedings or plant propagation materials. The movement speed of the nursing containers is related to the speed of the transferring apparatus. Another aspect of the invention is directed towards a process as summarized in the above aspect of the invention but limited to transferring rice seedlings from the nursing containers to the plantation fields

Yet another aspect of the invention is directed towards a nursing container for seedlings or plant propagation materials in the shape of a parallelogram, and especially a rectangle, comprising rows and columns of cultivating pits, and having at least one barb or hook or spur on the container for inserting into or hooking with a loop or a hook of the apparatus for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials in order to pull or push the nursing container into the apparatus.

The use of the word "a" or "an" when used in conjunction with the term "comprising" in the claims and/or the specification may mean "one," but it is also consistent with the meaning of "one or more," "at least one," and "one or more than one." These, and other, embodiments of the invention will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following description, while indicating various embodiments of the invention and numerous specific details thereof, is given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements may be made within the scope of the invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and the invention includes all such substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements.

Brief Description of Drawings The following drawings form part of the present specification and are included to further demonstrate certain aspects of the present invention. The present invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the detailed description of specific embodiments presented herein.

Figure 1 illustrates the nursing container to be used with the apparatus for transferring seedlings or plant, propagation materials from a nursing container onto a plantation field according to the present invention. The container herein is shown standing in the vertical plane, with many seedling shoots sticking out of the cultivating pits in he horizontal direction.

Figure 2 illustrates the conveyer mechanism for moving the nursing containers past the gripping heads, as viewed from behind the apparatus. Figure 3 shows the placement of the gripping heads, as viewed from behind the apparatus.

Figure 4 illustrates the mechanism for causing the gripping and releasing actions of the gripping heads, as viewed from the front of the apparatus.

Figure 5 illustrates the mechanism that causes each of the two gripping means of a gripping head to grip and to release, as viewed from behind the apparatus. Figure 6 illustrates the mechanism that causes a gripping head to gently pull a seedling from its pit in the nursing container and rotates the root of the seedling to point downward, as viewed obliquely from the side and behind the apparatus.

Figure 7 shows the power drivetrain mechanism that delivers power to other mechanisms that grip and release the gripping heads and move the nursing containers.

The figures and written description are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosed apparatus and method. Rather, the figures and written description are provided to illustrate the disclosed apparatus and method to a person having ordinary skill in the art by reference to particular embodiments of the invention. The invention will now be described with such particularity as to enable any person skilled in the pertinent art to practice the invention without extensive experimentation.

Detailed Description of the Invention

In the present invention, the seedlings or plant propagation materials, rice seedlings for example, are grown or placed regularly in a rectangular grid in cultivating pits of the nursing containers, which are basically trays with parallel upper and lower rims. During operation, the nursing containers, which stand vertically, are conveyed one by one along the guiding rail into the apparatus past the gripping heads. In this configuration, the rows of seedlings or plant propagation materials in their cultivating pits line up, one on top of another, in the plane of the containers. The nursing containers are fed past a plurality of gripping heads, that should be equal in number to the number rows in a nursing container for best efficiency of operation. Each gripping head comprises two, i.e. the left and the right, gripping means that concurrently and synchronously grip or release by being ganged together to a common mechanism that delivers mechanical power to grip or release the gripping means in order to achieve simplicity in design. During operation, the gripping heads move towards the seedlings or plant propagation materials and gently pull such seedlings or plant propagation materials out of the cultivation pits. Then the gripping heads rotate in a predetermined manner, normally at right angle, to point the roots of the seedlings downwards before releasing the seedlings onto the plantation field. The predetermined rotation step can also be performed but is not necessary in case the plant propagation materials have no roots or shoots. The most important and innovative feature of the present invention is that the gripping heads are not lined up in parallel with the rows of the seedlings or plant propagation materials in the nursing containers. Instead, the gripping heads are arranged substantially in a straight line that forms a non-zero angle with the rows of the nursing containers, and therefore with the guiding rails for feeding the containers into the apparatus. In the most efficient case that the number of gripping heads is equal to the number of rows, the first gripping head would grip the seedlings or plant propagation materials located in the first row and the last gripping head would grip the seedlings or plant propagation materials located in the last row. With the teaching disclosed in the present invention, a person having ordinary skill in the art should be able to calculate the exact angle based on the physical dimensions of the apparatus and those of the nursing containers. In this configuration, the row of gripping heads are designed to grip and release the seedlings or plant propagation materials in all rows and columns of the nursing containers from only one-dimension, i.e. one directional motion of the nursing containers along the guiding rails into the apparatus. Once a nursing container starts to be fed along the guiding rails into the apparatus, another nursing container full of seedlings or plant propagation materials should be placed onto the guiding rail in order to achieve an uninterrupted operation. This single direction movement results in the simplicity, the lower energy consumption, the ease of maintenance, and the low cost of the apparatus. Again in this configuration, the line of gripping heads is stationary and the nursing containers move past, and at an angle to, the line of gripping heads. It should be obvious to persons having ordinary skill in the art that causing the line of gripping heads to move past a stationary nursing container would yield the same effect, although perhaps with lower efficiencies since some extra mechanisms may be needed to feed the nursing containers into the stationary position.

Referring to Figure 1, the apparatus according to the present invention is designed to work in conjunction with nursing containers or trays 101 in the shape of a parallelogram and especially a rectangle. The tray is fabricated from a solid material with cultivating pits 106 arranged in a grid- like pattern horizontally and vertically with respect to the upper and lower parallel rims of the tray. The shoots 104 of the seedlings protrude from the cultivating pits while the roots and the cultivating materials 105 are inside the cultivating pits. As an example, the nursing container shown in Figure 1 comprises 10 rows of cultivating pits and each row comprises 20 pits. Furthermore, a nursing container according to the present invention comprises at least one barb or hook or spur on the container for inserting into or hooking with a loop or a hook of the apparatus according to the present invention in order to pull or push the nursing container into the apparatus. In Figure 1, two barbs or hooks or spurs 102 can be seen at the upper rim of the nursing container and two more barbs or hooks or spurs 103 can be seen at the lower rim of the container. In this case, all four barbs or hooks or spurs are located close to the four vertices of the nursing container but in actual practice, these barbs or hooks or spurs may be located anywhere on the container as long as they can work in conjunction with the loop or hook 203 in Figure 2 in order to push or pull the nursing tray into the apparatus.

In the embodiment of the present invention shown in all the Figures, the nursing containers are fed manually, one by one, into the apparatus by a human operator. In actual embodiments, due to the vast number of seedlings or plant propagation materials needed to be transferred, there may be hundreds or thousands of nursing containers, which may preclude manual feeding. In such cases, the nursing containers may be stacked in a holding tray or cabinet, which is installed onto the same vehicle as the apparatus according to the present invention or on a different vehicle. Feeding of the nursing containers into the apparatus may be performed by an automatic electro-mechanical or electronic means with or without human supervision. Such a mechanism would take a nursing container from the stack and feed the container into the guiding rail so that the barbs or hooks or spurs 102 and/or 103 engage with the corresponding loop or hook that would pull the nursing container into the apparatus. Furthermore, there may be a mechanism for stacking the used nursing containers in another holding tray or cabinet located at the end of the guiding rail.

In Figure 2, the operation of the apparatus according to the present invention starts with feeding a nursing tray into the guiding rail 202, which is physically supported by frame 204 of the apparatus, from the right hand side of the figure. In this embodiment of the present invention, only the lower guiding rail 202 is adequate for its function but in -other embodiments, an upper guiding rail may be added to increase the stability of the guiding mechanism. The nursing container is drawn into the apparatus past the gripping heads from right to left in this figure, which is viewed from the rear of the apparatus, by the action of a chain or belt or cog 201 pulling the hole, hook or spur 203 which rides on the guiding rail 202. The hole, hook or spur 203 in turn engages and pull the barb or hook or spur 103 of the nursing container leftward into the apparatus. In case the upper guiding rail is present, another hook or spur would engage and pull the barb or hook or spur 102 of the nursing container in a similar manner. In this embodiment, the operator can add more nursing container to the feeding mechanism from the righthand side of the figure by placing the barb or hook or spur 103 of the new nursing container into the vacant slot of the hole, hook or spur 203. The nursing containers are thus fed into the apparatus such that the trays are in a vertical plane and the seedlings or plant propagation materials protrude from the nursing containers horizontally. In addition to the guiding function, the guiding rail 202 and the chain or belt or cog 201 also bear the weight of the nursing containers during the operation.

Figure 3 shows the positions of gripping heads 301, 302, 303, 310, inclusive. These gripping heads form a substantially straight line at a non-zero angle to the guiding rail 202, thus making the gripping heads line up at angle with the row of the seedlings or plant propagating materials in the nursing containers. For best efficiency, the number of the gripping heads should be equal to the number of rows of the cultivating pits in the nursing container. If the 10 rows by 20 columns nursing container shown in Figure i is used, 10 gripping heads should be present. In case the number of gripping heads is less than the number of rows, such as when some but not all gripping heads happen to malfunction or are removed, there will be some seedlings or plant propagation materials left in the pits of the nursing containers after the transfer operation. In case the number of gripping heads is more than the number of rows, the excess gripping head(s) is (are) not utilized because there is (are) nothing to grip. Therefore, for the most efficient operation, the number of gripping heads must equal the number of rows in the nursing containers. Furthermore, in order to achieve regularly-spaced plants in the plantation field, the displacement between one gripping head and the next gripping head must be equal.

The overall idea behind this present invention is easily illustrated in Figure 3. Here, the first nursing container 101 is fed from the righthand side along the guiding rail 202. The gripping heads 301, 302, 303, ... 310, inclusive, form a line, in this case a straight line, that is at an angle to the guiding rail 202, and also to the rows of seedlings or plant propagation material contained in the nursing container. In this particular case, the gripping heads 301 work on the last, the bottommost row, or the tenth row and the gripping head 310 works on the first or the topmost row. Such an arrangement of the gripping heads allow the transfer to be accomplished using only one directional movement of the nursing container 101 past the slanted row of the gripping heads. More details of the present invention may be found in the following paragraphs. Figure 4 shows a close-up view of two representative gripping heads and Figure 5 shows the drive mechanism that causes the gripping heads to grip or to release. Each gripping head comprises the left gripping means 401 and the right gripping means 402 made from pliable materials such as soft plastic strips. The left gripping means 401 of all gripping heads are commonly held by the left drive bar 403 while the right gripping means 402 of all gripping heads are commonly held by the right drive bar 404. Simultaneous gripping of all gripping heads is caused by a rightward motion of the left drive bar 403 at the same time as a leftward motion of the right drive bar 404. Conversely, simultaneous releasing of all gripping heads is caused by a leftward motion of the left drive bar 403 at the same time as a rightward motion of the right drive bar 404. Such gripping and releasing of the gripping heads is under the control of the grip/release strut 405, which is timed by a power drivetrain through cam 701 and following wheel 702 in Figure 7. This drivetrain transfers drive power from cam 701 via axle 705, bar 706, and axle 707, which in turn rotates seesaw 503 in Figure 5, causing bars 403 and 404 to move in opposite directions, thus causing the gripping means 401 and 402 to grip and release. Figure 6 illustrates the mechanism that allows the gripping heads to gently pull the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers and to rotate the roots of the seedlings to point downward. Visible in this view is the grip/release strut 405 with the left drive bar 403 underneath but the right drive bar 404, which lies next to the left drive bar 403, is hidden from view. The height as well as the rotation of these two drive bars, with corresponding links 501 and 502 to the grip/release strut 405, is predetermined by follower 601 with a connector 602 to the grip/release strut 405 and wheel 603 that follows the timing cam 604 at the end of axle 605 that is connected to the power drivetrain at the other end of the axle, which is visible in Figure 7. This end of the axle 605 is connected to follower 704, which moves up and down according to the timing cam 703 that obtains power from the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached. In many circumstances, this vehicle would be an ordinary walking hand tractor, with wheels suitable for the soil in the plantation field. In case the apparatus according to the present invention is mounted on different kinds of vehicle such as a flat-bottomed boat or a water ski, the mechanical power would be derived from the engine of the vehicle, or from a separate small engine. During operation, the seedlings or plant propagation materials are gently pulled from the nursing container by the rotation of the grip/release strut 405 causing all the gripping heads to be rotated at the pre-determined right angles and away from the nursing container. The seedlings or plant propagation materials are now gently pulled from the nursing container and rotated at the same time to point the roots downward. At that instant, the grip/release strut 405 is lifted up for approximately 2 to 5 centimeters by the combined action of cams 604 and 703. The grip/release strut 405, in turn, lifts the drive bars 403 and 404 for approximately 2 to 5 centimeters upward so that when the gripping heads rotate back to their original positions after releasing the seedlings or plant propagation materials, the left and right gripping means would not bump into the stems and leaves of the next seedlings or plant propagation material to be transferred, that are conveyed along the guiding rail by the pulling action of chain 201 on the nursing container 101. The height of such lifting is to be adjusted in the field to suit the kind and age of the seedlings or plant propagation materials that are being transferred.

When the seedlings or plant propagation materials are positioned to point the roots downward, the apparatus then releases the seedlings or plant propagation materials onto the plantation field by reversing the steps that have been explained so far. Basically, the left drive bar 403 is moved to the left while the right drive bar 404 is simultaneously moved to the right, as already explained in Figure 4, under the control of cam 701 and following wheel 702, which route the power to the drive bars via axle 705, bar 706, and axle 707, which in turn rotates seesaw 503, causing drive bars 403 and 404 to move in opposite directions, thus opening all gripping means 401 and 402. After the release of the seedlings or plant propagation materials onto the plantation field, all gripping heads are rotated back to the original direction, perpendicular to the seedlings or plant propagation materials in the nursing container while being lowered approximately 2 to 5 centimeters to match the rows of the seedlings or plant propagation materials by the reverse action of the same set of cams and followers, which also drive the chain 201 to move the nursing container just enough to position the next seedling or plant propagation material for the next round of transfer.

In short, the process for transferring rice seedlings from the nursing containers to the plantation fields comprises the following basic steps in which the gripping heads all work synchronously: (1) a plurality of gripping heads gripping the seedlings or plant propagation materials that stick out of the nursing container, which is continuously fed into the transferring apparatus via the guiding rails; (2) the gripping heads taking the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers and changing the direction of the seedling or plant propagation material to point the roots downward towards the ground; (3) the gripping heads releasing the seedlings or plant propagation materials onto the plantation field; (4) the nursing container is advanced one more position to the next seedling or plant propagation material; (5) at the same time, the gripping heads are returned to the starting position while avoiding any collision between the gripping heads and the seedling or plant propagation materials that are still in the nursing container. After that, the process returns to the first step, at a step rate that is synchronized with the motion of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached and the rate of feeding the nursing container into the appraratus.

In an actual operation, when the apparatus starts to run and the first nursing container is drawn into the apparatus on the guide rail 202, the first few rows of the planted seedlings or plant propagation materials will contain fewer seedlings or plant propagation materials than the number of gripping heads. For example, if the 20 columns by 10 rows nursing containers as shown in Figure 1 are used with the apparatus according to the present invention that is equipped with 10 gripping heads, the first 9 rows in the plantation field will contain 1, 2, 3, and 9 seedlings or plant propagation materials. These anomalous rows represent a minuscule portion of all rows, which may be in the hundred or thousands, depending on the size of the plantation.

Figure 7 illustrates the major power drivetrain of the apparatus. The torque is transferred from the engine of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached, or from a separate engine, via a drive chain to cams 701 and 703 to synchronize the operation of all mechanisms in the apparatus with the speed that the vehicle is moving in the plantation field. This synchronization causes a regular separation between one row of planted seedlings or plant propagation materials to the next row in the plantation field.

Once the seedlings or plant propagation materials in a nursing container have been transferred, the used container is collected by a recess in the guiding rail 202 causing the barb or hook or spur 103, and 102 as well in case the apparatus also has the top guiding rail, to disengage from the loop or hook 203. At the same time, the nursing container bumps into a solid bumper that is strategically placed at the position to cause the nursing container to derail from the guiding rail 202 and fall on a short conveyer belt that brings the used container to the operator, who collects these containers and stack them in a used container bin. The bumper is not shown in Figure 2 because it can take any of the many possible shapes, e.g. bar, rod, string, button, depending on the design that works best for a particular shape and size of the nursing container.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention The best mode of carrying out the invention known at present is the same as the detailed description of the invention that is disclosed above. Possible extensions and

attachments are given in the Industrial Applicability section.

Industrial Applicability of the Invention

The present invention is applicable to the agricultural machinery industry. The utility of this apparatus, especially when mounted onto a small three or four-wheel vehicle driven by a small gasoline engine, is directly applicable to rice farmers in tropical countries.

From the above invention disclosure, it should be clear that the distance between two consecutive gripping heads along the line of gripping heads determines the distance between the planted plants along the same row in the plantation field while the speed of movement of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached determines the distance between two consecutive rows in the plantation field. Since the distance between two consecutive rows are equal and the distance between two consecutive gripping heads are equal, the resulting plants in the plantation field will be arranged in a regular manner in the shape of a rectangular array that is pleasant to the eyes and suitable for use with mechanical harvesters. The apparatus according to the present invention can be attached to, or mounted on, different kinds of vehicles with and without wheels, such as a mobile plough, a tractor, a flat- bottomed boat, or even a water ski, utilizing a mechanical drive from the engine of such vehicle or from a separate small engine that can easily be found in the countryside. When mounting the apparatus according to the present invention to a vehicle, the center of gravity of the apparatus should be placed to coincide with or close to the center of gravity of the vehicle, or placed along a wheel axle, in case of a wheeled vehicle, to achieve better stability and reduce vibration during use. In actual construction, the mechanism for feeding the nursing containers from shelves or storage means into the apparatus and the mechanism for taking the used nursing containers to a shelf or cabinet storage may both be designed by persons having ordinary skill in the art to be foldable when not in use in order to decrease the overall width of the apparatus- mounted vehicle to the point that it occupies only a single traffic lane on a road.

The foregoing description of preferred and other embodiments is not intended to limit or restrict the scope or applicability of the inventive concepts contained herein that were conceived by the Inventor, In exchange for disclosing the inventive concepts contained herein, the Inventor desires all patent rights afforded by the appended claims. Therefore, it is intended that the inventive concepts contained herein include all modifications and alterations to the full extent that they come within the scope of the following claims or the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from a nursing container onto a plantation field by using a plurality of gripping heads, characterized by: said gripping heads aligned at an angle to the guiding rails for feeding the nursing containers into the apparatus;

all gripping heads working synchronously by being ganged to the mechanism for gripping the seedling or plant propagation material and pulling such material from the nursing container, as well as the mechanism for changing the direction of the seedling or plant propagation material to point the roots downward; and

synchronization of the gripping head and the feeding of the nursing containers into the apparatus with the motion of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached in order to drop the seedlings or plant propagation materials on the plantation field in a regular pattern.

2. The apparatus as in Claim 1, wherein the appropriate number of gripping heads is equal to the number of rows of the seedlings or plant propagation materials in each nursing container.

3. The apparatus as in either Claim 1 or Claim 2, further comprising a mechanism for feeding the nursing containers from shelves or storage means into the apparatus.

4. The apparatus as in any one of Claims 1-3 inclusive, further comprising a mechanism for taking the used nursing containers to a shelf or cabinet storage.

5. A process for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers to the plantation field, comprising the following steps in which the gripping heads all work synchronously at a step rate that is synchronized with the motion of the vehicle to which the apparatus is attached and the rate of feeding the nursing container into the apparatus:

starting from the idle position;

in the first step, the plurality of gripping heads gripping the seedlings or plant propagation materials that stick out of the nursing container, which is continuously fed into the transferring apparatus via the guiding rails; in the second step, the gripping heads taking the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers and changing the direction of the seedling or plant propagation material to point the roots downward towards the ground;

in the third step, the gripping heads releasing the seedlings or plant propagation materials onto the plantation field;

in the fourth step, advancing the nursing container one more position to the next seedling or plant propagation material; and

simultaneously returning the gripping heads to the starting position while avoiding any collision between the gripping heads and the seedlings or plant propagation materials still in the nursing container.

The process for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers to the plantation field as in Claim 5, wherein the gripping heads line at an angle to the guiding rails for feeding the nursing containers into the apparatus, and:

the first gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the first row of the nursing container;

the second gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the second row of the nursing container;

the third gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the third row of the nursing container;

...; and

the last gripping head grips the seedlings or plant propagation materials from the last row of the nursing container.

The process for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers to the plantation field as in either Claim 5 or Claim 6, wherein said gripping heads move toward the seedlings or plant propagation materials and make a small vertical motion before gripping the seedings or plant propagation materials.

The process for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials from the nursing containers to the plantation field as in any one of Claims 5-7 inclusive, wherein the movement speed of the nursing containers is related to the speed of the transferring apparatus.

The process for transferring rice seedlings from the nursing containers to the plantation fields as in any one of Claims 5-8 inclusive.

10. A nursing container for seedlings or plant propagation materials in the shape of a parallelogram, and especially a rectangle, comprising rows and columns of cultivating pits, and having at least one barb or hook or spur on the container for inserting into or hooking with a loop or a hook of the apparatus for transferring seedlings or plant propagation materials, for use in pulling or pushing the nursing container into the apparatus.