Patent GB-362226-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to the planting of seed and the manufacture of blocks or briquettes containing seeds
IPC: A01G9/10
Filed: 1931-02-02
Abstract: 362,226. Seeding land ; distributers for seeds ; pots for plants ; moulding seed-containing briquettes. TRIGGS, W. W., 57, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.- (International Skogplantningsmetode Aktieselskap; Skippergaten, Oslo, Norway.) Feb. 2, 1931, No. 3328. [Classes 6 (i), 6 (ii), and 58.] Seeds are planted or embedded in soil compressed in cavities in blocks or briquettes adapted to be placed in the ground and made of material which forms a durable container for soil but allows the roots of the plants to penetrate into the ground, the briquettes being formed by compressing the material in moulds, step by step, upon a travelling table and the soil and seeds being deposited and compressed in the cavities before the briquettes are removed from the moulds. The material used may be peat or peaty material mixed with fertilizers or soil, or a mixture of crushed charcoal and loamy soil, with or without straw, hair, or fibres. The briquettes may be impregnated or coated with wax, paraffin, or paraffined paper. In the arrangement shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3, the moulds A are connected together to form a continuous chain by pins B projecting into guide grooves. The chain passes over a table D and is moved step by step by a cross-shaped wheel L driven from a shaft F by the crank and ratchet mechanism shown. Presser dies P<1>, P<2>, P<3> are driven from the shaft F by cranks O<1>, O<2>, O<3>, and openings R<1> .. R<4> are provided in the vertical frame plate through which material may be supplied to the moulds. The briquette is moulded in three stages by the dies P<1>, P<2>, P<3>, the third die being shaped to form a cavity in it. Some soil 63, Fig. 2, is then pushed into the mould and the seeds 65 supplied through a tube S and more soil through a tube T, the soil and seeds then being compressed by a plunger or a spring. The briquette is pushed from the mould by a pusher N engaged by a rod U connected with an arm V on a shaft W rocked by an arm X and a lever Y, and a cam wheel Z on the shaft F. The briquette is pushed against a gripper on an arm of a four-armed cross c which is rotated, step by step, by the ratchet mechanism shown. The arm carries it through impregnating material in a basin l, after which it is removed and deposited on a belt or board by a spring clip arm m, which may be provided with pins to make holes in the impregnating material. In the automatic machine shown in Fig. 7, a rotatable table 11 carries double moulds 12, Fig. 5, and is rotated step by step by means of a pin 14 eccentrically mounted on a bevel wheel 15 driven by gearing from the main shaft carrying the driving-pulley 16. The briquette is compressed in steps by dies 22, 23, 24 and the soil and seed compressed in it by a die 25 and a fifth die (not shown). The dies are driven by cranks and connecting-rods actuated by gearing from the main shaft. The die 24 is provided with knobs 33 to make the cavities in the briquettes. The moulds are closed at the bottom by plungers 41 by which the briquettes are discharged, the plungers being mounted on guide-rods 44 and raised during part of a revolution by the engagement of rollers 43 on them with a fixed cam 42. On discharge from the moulds the briquettes may be immersed in a bath of paraffin. The materials to be supplied to the moulds are delivered on to the mould plate on the table 11 and are pushed into the moulds as they move by filling-members 46. The soil and seeds are delivered automatically by proportioning devices of the construction shown in Fig. 8. This comprises a table 47 rotated step by step by crank, bevel and chain gearing and on to which soil is supplied by hand or by a conveyer. In the bottom of the table are measuring apertures 53 normally closed by a fixed ring below. Plates 58 carried by a fixed segment 59 push the soil into the apertures. The fixed ring has two apertures one of which registers with one of the apertures 53 in each position of rest, so that the contents are discharged through tubes on to the mould table 11. Automatically operated plungers insure the discharge of the material from the apertures 53. The presser dies may be provided with heads of less diameter than the moulds and of rounded conical form as indicated in dotted lines 64 in Fig. 2, the head for the second pressing being smaller than that for the first.