Patent GB-645984-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in potato planting machines
IPC: A01C9/02
Filed: 1948-08-24
Abstract: 645,984. Potato-planting machines. BARNETT, C., and BARNETT, W. Aug. 24, 1948, No. 22245. [Class 6(i)] A potato-planting machine has a hopper with a transversely reciprocable bottom plate 1 and an adjustable wall plate 2, an outlet between these plates leading to a trough 3 with a transversely reciprocable bottom plate 8, (Fig. 1), the trough being arranged to discharge potatoes into spaced pockets 30 (Fig. 4) in an endless conveyer 29, which carries the potatoes to one or more discharge outlets of the machine. In addition, driving mechanism is provided for reciprocating the plates and operating , the conveyer.. The wall plate is supported on bolts screw - threaded through a bar 7 whereby the position of the plate can be adjusted. An adjustable fence 9 deflects potatoes leaving the hopper into the trough. This fence comprises a transverse plate held in brackets 11 by adjustable bolts. The trough may have an auxiliary bottom plate 13 moving in phase with the hopper bottom plate and in opposite phase to the main trough bottom plate 8. The flow along the plate 8 may be braked by a step or steps which may, comprise an adjustable plate extending through a transverse slot in the plate 8. A transverse stop plate 15 moved by a hand lever 16 may be used to stop or reduce the flow on to the plate 13. From the trough the potatoes pass through gateways 19 in an adjustable plate 18, Fig. 5, to a discharge shoot 14, sub-divided into parallel channels 17, each-taking a single file of potatoes. By raising and lowering the plate 18 the size of the openings 19 is varied. The bottom plates of the hopper and trough are connected by lever arms 23, 24, 25 to a pair of rocking shafts 20, 20a, Fig. 4; the shaft 20 being driven from transverse shaft 21 which is driven from the land wheels of the machine. From the discharge shoot 14 the potatoes pass into pockets 30 in the endless conveyer 29 formed by linking together plates 31 and training them over driving sprockets 32, deflector sprockets 33 and rim sprockets 34 so that the upper run of the conveyer is upwardly inclined at 35 degrees before sloping downwardly to the discharge point. The conveyer plates 31 may be stampings, each pocket having a longitudinal slot 36 to engage flanges 37 on the rear sprockets 34 and thereby eject the potatoes. From the central line of pockets the potatoes may pass directly to the ground through a delivery shoot 38, Fig. 3. From the side lines the potatoes pass to transverse conveyers 39 and thence to delivery shoots 40. Each conveyer 39 has partition elements 41 passing downwardly over an inner sprocket 42 and slightly upwardly along guide plates 44. Each delivery shoot is associated with a pair of drill-forming shares 45 suspended from a tool frame 47 raised and lowered by a hand lever 49 and adapted to carry further tools. Each shoot 40 is closed by a pair of flaps 50 held by a spring and opened by toggle mechanism 52 when a cam 53 is actuated by a partition element 41, Fig. 13. The drill shares may be adjusted and the shoots 40 may be correspondingly adjusted, each shoot being clamped in a slot 54 and carrying an auxiliary guide plate 55 overlapping the main guide plate 44. In an alternative arrangement the transverse conveyers and the multi-row main conveyer may be replaced by singlerow conveyers for each row to be planted, these single-row conveyers diverging from the discharge shoot to the spaced delivery shoots. Alternatively, a multi-row conveyer may be arranged transversely of the machine, the discharge shoot being arranged to fill the pockets of the upper run while guide plates along the lower run allow the potatoes to escape at spaced discharge points. In a single-row machine in place of conveyers a discharge shoot as in Fig. 6 may be used. The potato is stopped by an end wall 57 and lifted out of the shoot by a spiked arm 58 mounted on a shaft 60 oscillated by a rack and pinion. The arm 58 drops into a slot in an inclined stripper plate 63 which removes the potato and allows it to drop into the delivery shoot 65. The rack bar may be driven from the mechanism reciprocating the bottom plates. In a second construction (not shown) the end wall of the discharge shoot is slotted to allow the passage of bar elements on a rotating shaft. These bars form a platform lifting a potato out of the discharge shoot and carrying it, to the mouth of the delivery shoot. The shaft may carry several radial platforms lifting potatoes and dropping them successively into the shoot, The shares 45 may be dispensed with and the delivery shoot be shaped to dig into the ground to form a furrow. Ridging tools may be mounted on the tool frame. The drive from the land wheels (Fig. 4) is through a free gear 71 and a clutch 72 on a shaft 73 driven through a variable ratio transmission 74 from the axle 75. Gear 71 meshes with a gear 76 fast on a sleeve surrounding the axle 75 and acting as shaft for the driving sprockets of the main conveyer 29. The rear sprocket shaft 78 of this conveyer carries bevel gears 79 driving the shafts of the outer sprockets of the transverse conveyers. From the axle sleeve a belt drive 80 is taken to the shaft 21 which through the drive 22 drives the rocker shaft 20. The machine may be towed behind a tractor or constructed as a self-propelled vehicle. In the latter case, the drive for the planting mechanism may be from the engine.