Patent ID: 11968923
Assignee: PRECISION PLANTING LLC
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A liquid application apparatus for applying liquid to soil during a planting operation, comprising:
A seed firmer mounted to a planter row unit, said planter row unit having an opening system and a closing system, said opening system configured to open a planting trench in the soil with first and second sidewalls as the planter advances in a forward direction of travel, said planter row unit configured to deposit seed in said planting trench between said first and second sidewalls forward of said closing system, said closing system configured to close the planting trench by moving soil over the deposited seed as the planter row unit advances in said forward direction of travel, the seed firmer disposed at least partially within said planting trench forward of said closing system as said planter row unit advances in said forward direction of travel, said seed firmer including:
A firmer body having a flexible portion, a tail portion, and a ground engaging portion, said flexible portion providing a resilient downward force on said tail portion, said ground engaging portion mounted to said tail portion and disposed to resiliently engage a bottom portion of said planting trench to firm the previously deposited seeds at the bottom of said planting trench into the soil forward of said closing system as said planter row unit advances in said forward direction of travel, said tail portion having a first wing extending transversely outward from a first side of said tail portion such that said first wing opens a first transversely-extending side trench into said first sidewall as said planter row unit advances in said forward direction of travel; and
A first liquid injection conduit configured to inject liquid into said first transversely-extending side trench after the seed is deposited and prior to the planting trench being closed by said closing system as said planter row unit advances in said forward direction of travel.