Patent GB-972854-A (GB)
Title: Seed-treating machine
IPC: A01C1/00
Filed: 1961-01-23
Abstract: 972,854. Treating seeds. BEN GUSTAFSON & SON MANUFACTURING CO. Jan. 23, 1961 [Sept. 22, 1960], No. 2645/61. Heading A2Q. [Also in Division B8] A machine for treating seeds, such as cotton seeds, with one or two liquid chemical agents comprises a frame 8, Figs. 1 and 2, a housing 9 having a vertical portion 9a and a tapering portion 9b leading to an outlet 9c, a conical or outwardly flaring seed distributer 21 rotatable, in the housing, about a vertical axis, means for feeding seeds downwardly on to the conical or flared upper surface of the distributer, a rotatable horizontal disc 38 for flinging a mist of a liquid agent, fed on to its upper serrated surface, on to the seeds as they are distributed in the housing and means including variable speed mechanism for rotating the distributer 21 at a desired speed, e.g. ranging between 20 and 350 R.P.M. and the disc 38 at a constant speed e.g. 2,000 R.P.M. Wipers 22, eg. of resilient wire, are attached to the distributer to clear the interior surface of the housing 9. The distributer 21 is secured to the lower portion of a hollow, vertical shaft 12 supported at its lower end on a ball-bearing 17 and rotated, about a fixed inner tube 14, by a chain 20 which engages a sprocket wheel 19 on the upper end of the shaft and a sprocket wheel 46 on the output countershaft 47 of variable speed mechanism, Fig. 3, controlled by a hand-wheel 60 and driven by a motor 41 mounted, on a bracket 42, on the frame 8. The disc 38 is secured to the lower end of a vertical shaft 39 passing through the tube 14 and bearings 36, 37 at the ends thereof, and carrying at its upper end, a pulley driven, by a belt 40, from a pulley on the output shaft of the said motor. An auger or screw conveyer 23, provided, peripherally, with downwardly inclined agitators 26 and outwardly and downwardly inclined agitators 27, is secured to the middle portion of the shaft 12 to break up any balls or lumps of seeds and propel the seeds from a surrounding funnel-shaped hopper 25, through its outlet opening 24 on to the distributer. The opening 24 is surrounded by a tubular collar 28 which can be raised away from or lowered towards the distributer, by mechanism comprising a link 29 pivoted, at 34, to the outside of the hopper and to a threaded block 31, a link 30 pivoted to this block and to a lever 35 supporting the collar, and a screw 32, which engages the threads in the block 31 and can be turned by a hand-wheel 33, to regulate the flow of seeds e.g. to a substantially single layer on to the distributer. The seeds are fed through a shoot 43 and metering mechanism, of the type described in U.S.A. Specification 2,823,904 and controlled by a counter-weight arm 44, into the hopper 25. Liquid agent is fed on to the disc 38 through metering mechanism, of the type described in the aforementioned U.S.A. Specification, or a modification thereof provided with a dual tank enabling two different liquid agents to be used alternatively, and through a pipe 45, Fig. 3, passing downwardly through the tube 14 and terminating in an outlet 45a. Pipes 61 and 62 are connected to suction devices to exhaust air, lint and dust respectively from the space surrounding the variable speed mechanism (Fig. 5 not shown) and the housing 9.