Patent Publication Number: US-8522699-B2

Title: Row unit for a seeding machine

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 13/352,914 filed Jan. 18, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,276,529, which is a Divisional of application Ser. No. 13/005,669, filed Jan. 13, 2011, abandoned, which is a Division of application Ser. No. 12/363,968, filed Feb. 2, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,918,168. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to a row unit for a seeding machine having a seed meter with an endless belt seed transport member and a delivery system to move seed from the meter to the ground. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Farmers, like others, seek to increase their productivity. As farm sizes increase more work must be done in the same period of time. For example, the planting season on a farm extends over a fixed period of days. To increase the area farmed, the farmer must plant crops on the increased area in the same planting season or reduce crop yield. As a result, there is a need for planting equipment capable of covering more area per day. One approach to increase productivity is to increase the width of the planting equipment. However, there are physical limitations regarding the size of the equipment. Another approach is to increase the operating speed of the planting equipment. 
     One common form of planter utilizes a vacuum disk seed meter for each row unit of the planter. One example of such is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,909. There, a seed disk is rotated past a pool of seeds on one side thereof. A plurality of seed cells formed by recesses in the surface of the seed disk at one or more circumferential rows of holes adjacent the outer periphery of the seed disk mechanically accelerate and eventually capture therein individual seeds from the seed pool. The individual seeds are held within the cells by a pressure differential created by a vacuum source coupled to the inside of the housing on the opposite side of the seed disk until the cells reach a discharge area. At the discharge area, the effects of the vacuum are cut off so as to release the individual seeds from the cells for discharge through a chute at the bottom of the housing to a seed furrow below. To increase the planting speed with such a disk, the disk must rotate faster, which may adversely impact seed pick-up and singulation, or the diameter of the disk must be increased to deliver an increased number of seeds while rotating at the same number of revolutions per minute. Increasing the diameter of the disk raises the height of the seed discharge area, allowing the seeds to ‘free fall’ a greater distance. This adversely impacts seed placement accuracy. 
     Conveyor belts have also been used in planter row units as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,706. There the belt is not used to meter the seed but to convey the seed from the meter to a drop point. Belts have been used in grain drills as metering devices as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,535. The belt is equipped with a number of recesses which collect the seed and move the seed to a drop location. Such a belt functions as a volumetric meter that does not singulate seed to provide individual seeds. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention utilizes an endless belt as a seed metering and seed transport member together with a pressure differential to hold the seed onto the belt. The flexibility of the belt enables the spatial orientation of the belt to vary from location to location where different seed meter functions are performed. The belt allows greater freedom in determining the location of the seed pick-up region and the seed release region beyond the constraints of a fixed diameter metering disk. The flexibility in determining the location of the seed pickup region and the seed release region allows the meter to be configured to fit a variety of envelope constraints. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view of a planter having the seed meter of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of a row unit of the planter of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of the meter of the present invention shown in relation to the row unit frame; 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged perspective view of the seed pick-up region of the meter shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the metering belt; 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view of the vacuum manifold as seen from the line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view of the of the seed hopper and meter in the seed pick-up region as seen from the line  7 - 7  of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a side view of the meter like  FIG. 3 , illustrating the meter in operation; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the meter and seed hopper showing an alternative seed singulator and agitator; 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view of an alternative seed singulator; 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the meter of the present invention; 
         FIG. 12  is a schematic side view of another arrangement of the meter of the present invention shown in a planter row unit together with a seed delivery system to move the seed from the meter to the ground; 
         FIG. 13  is a perspective view of the seed meter of  FIG. 12  partial disassembled; 
         FIG. 14  is perspective view of the seed meter as seen along the line  14 - 14  of  FIG. 13 ; 
         FIG. 15  is a perspective view of the vacuum manifold of the seed meter of  FIG. 13 ; 
         FIG. 16  is a sectional view of the idler pulley mounting structure of the seed meter of  FIG. 13 ; 
         FIG. 17  is a plan view of a vacuum control member in the seed meter of  FIG. 13 ; 
         FIG. 18  is a perspective view of the seed meter housing cover of the seed meter of  FIG. 13 ; 
         FIG. 19  is perspective view of the upper end of the seed meter of  FIG. 13 ; 
         FIG. 20  is a perspective view showing the seed meter of  FIG. 13  in relation to a seed deliver system; and 
         FIG. 21  is a perspective view of another embodiment of the seed meter of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     With reference to  FIG. 1  an example planter  10  is shown containing the differential pressure seed meter of the present invention. Planter  10  includes a tool bar  12  as part of a planter frame  14 . Mounted to the tool bar are multiple planting row units  16 . A row unit  16  is shown in greater detail in  FIG. 2 . The row unit  16  is mounted to the tool bar  12  in a conventional manner. The row unit  16  is provided with a central frame member  20  having a pair of upwardly extending arms  21  ( FIG. 3 ) at the forward end thereof. The arms  21  connect to a parallelogram linkage  22  mounting the row unit  16  to the tool bar  12  for up and down relative movement between the unit  16  and toolbar  12  in a known manner. Seed is stored in seed hopper  24  and provided to seed meter  26 . Seed meter  26  functions to select seeds individually and provide the seed to a placing mechanism, a seed tube  28  in  FIG. 3  for delivery of the seed to a planting furrow formed in the soil by furrow openers  30 . Gauge wheels  32  control the depth of the furrow and closing wheels  34  close the furrow over the seed. The gauge wheels  32  are mounted to the frame member  20  by arms  36 . The toolbar and row unit are designed to be move over the ground in a forward working direction identified by the arrow  38 . 
     The row unit  16  further includes a chemical hopper  40 , a row cleaner attachment  42  and a down force generator  44 . The row unit  16  is shown as an example of the environment in which the meter of the present invention is used. The present invention can be used in any of a variety of planting units. 
     One embodiment of the differential pressure seed meter  26  is shown in  FIGS. 3-8 . Excess structure from the row unit  16  has been omitted for purposes of clarity. A flexible seed transport member is provided in the form of an endless belt  50 . The belt  50  has a series of apertures or perforations  52  along its length that extend through the belt from a seed side  55  shown in  FIG. 4  to the opposite side  57 . In  FIG. 4 , the belt is shown with optional recess  53  surrounding the apertures  52  forming seed cells. The seed cells may improve the pick-up and retention of certain seeds on the belt. The seed side of the belt also has a series of raised features  54  in the form of ribs along each edge of the belt. The raised features  54  each form a confronting face  59  in a travel direction  61  of the belt. The other surface of the belt is preferably flat in this embodiment. The belt  50  travels around idler pulley  56 , a drive pulley  58  and is reverse wrapped around a tensioning idler pulley  60 . The belt further travels over the outer surface of a vacuum manifold  62 . The three pulleys and the vacuum manifold define the path of travel of the belt  50 . The pulleys  56  and  60  are mounted to the row unit frame  20  by brackets (not shown) in a conventional manner. Tensioning idler pulley  60  is mounted on a pivot arm (not shown) that is biased to maintain tension in the belt  50 . The pulley  58  is preferably driven by an electric motor  64 . It will be understood, however, that mechanical, hydraulic, etc. drives for the seed meter  26  can be utilized. Additionally, any pulley in the system can be the drive pulley and any number of pulleys can be incorporated. The confronting faces  59  of the features  54  are used to agitate seed in the seed pool  80  and are optional. 
     Another embodiment of the belt is shown in  FIG. 5 . There the belt  50 ′ has apertures  52 ′ each of which is surrounded by a feature  230  in the form of a recess which begins forward of the apertures  52 ′ in the travel direction and cuts deeper into the seed side of the belt to the aperture and ends immediately after the aperture in an confronting face  232 . The confronting faces agitate the seed and help to push the seed into a delivery system as described below. 
     The vacuum manifold  62  is shown in section in  FIG. 6 . Manifold  62  has a hollow interior forming a vacuum chamber  66 . The outer wall  68  of the manifold, over which the belt  50  slides, has a slot  70 . As the belt travels, in the direction of the arrow  72 , the apertures travel over the slot  70 . This exposes the apertures to the internal pressure in the manifold chamber  66 . The manifold further includes a vacuum port  74  through which the manifold chamber  66  is coupled to a the suction side of an air pump, not shown, but which are commonly employed in many modern planters. 
     A lower portion  76  of the hopper  24  holds a pool of seed  80 . Alternatively, a small hopper can be provided which receives and holds seed from a central, large seed tank. Hopper portion  76  is positioned immediately adjacent the belt  50  and has an opening  78  which fits over the belt  50  as shown in  FIG. 7 . The belt  50  closes the hopper opening  78 , thereby exposing the belt  50  to the seed pool  80 . 
     In operation, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the vacuum pump produces a lower pressure in the manifold  62 . The belt  50  is driven by the drive pulley  58  turning clockwise as viewed in  FIG. 8 . This moves the belt upward across the seed pool  80 . The confronting faces  59  on the features  54  engage seed in the seed pool to agitate the seed. Air is drawn into the manifold through the apertures  52  in the belt which overlay the slot  70  in the manifold outer wall  68 . As the belt moves through the seed pool, the air drawn into the manifold will draw seeds  82  onto each aperture  52  and the pressure differential across the belt apertures retains the seed thereon. The seeds  82  will then travel along the path of the belt  50  to a seed release region at the lower end  84  of the manifold where the pressure differential across the belt is terminated. The seeds  82  are then removed from the belt by gravity and fall off the belt into the seed tube  28 , and from there into the furrow formed by the openers  30 . The seed meter  26  may be configured with a housing over the belt  50  and positive pressure used to capture and retain the seed rather than the negative pressure of the vacuum manifold as described above. 
     In the hopper lower portion  76 , a seed pick-up region  84  is defined where the belt passes the seed pool  80 . This is where seeds are picked-up by the belt. In this seed pick-up region, the belt is in a plane  86  which may be angled relative to the vertical plane  88  as shown in  FIG. 8 . This is in contrast to a typical vacuum disk seed meter where the plane of the disk is vertical and thus the disk surface is vertical in the seed pick-up region. Furthermore, at the seed release region, the angle the belt plane is reversed relative to vertical as shown by the belt tangent plane  87  relative to the vertical plane  89 . In this case, the belt is hanging over the seed and, as a result, when the seeds are released, the belt path moves away from the falling seed. This differs from a substantially vertical vacuum disk where the seeds are released at approximately the three O&#39;clock position and fall across a portion of the vertical face of the disk upon release. The flexible seed transport member, belt  50 , allows the spatial orientation of the transport member to be selected at various locations along its path to optimize the function of meter at each location. With a substantially vertically oriented vacuum disk, the orientation of the seed transport member remains at or near vertical at all locations and for all functions. 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 3-8 , the seed drop is located in the seed tube  28 , at a location closer to the furrow than with a conventional vacuum disk. This reduces the length of seed free fall, allowing less drop time for variation to occur in the seed path and final seed spacing. The use of a belt for the seed transport member allows the designer the freedom to select the optimal seed drop location without the constraints of a fixed diameter seed disk. For example, if desired, the seed drop can be even lower in the seed tube than shown. 
     With reference again to  FIG. 4 , a wedge shaped plate  90  is provided just past the seed pick-up region. The plate  90  is positioned over the belt surface and functions to remove doubles or multiple seeds from the apertures  52  in the belt. Various configurations of the plate  90  can be used to remove doubles as are known in the field. Brushes, wheels or other fingered mechanisms can also be used. 
     With reference to  FIG. 9 , as an alternative, the plate  90  is replaced with a pair of air nozzles  94 . The nozzles are positioned to blow air across the belt  50  and dislodge multiple seeds. The seeds then drop back into the seed pool  80 . The nozzles are coupled by tubes  96  to the exhaust side of the air pump used to provide the vacuum in the manifold  62 . A separate air compressor could be used if desired to produce the air blast. Agitation of the seed pool  80  can also be accomplished by pressurized air. A nozzle  98  is provided in the hopper lower portion  76 , below the seed pick-up region. The air from the nozzle  98  is directed into the seed pool, causing the seeds to circulate within the seed pool rather than remain packed together. The air causes the seeds to move across the surface of the belt, assisting in capture of seeds in the apertures  52 . The nozzle  98  is also coupled to the air pump exhaust by tube  100  or to a separate air compressor or to an incoming positive air pressure inlet in the case of a positive air pressure system. Pressurized air to remove doubles and to agitate the seed pool can be used in seed meters having seed transport members other than the metering belt shown here, such as, but not limited to, a vacuum seed disk. 
     With reference to  FIG. 10 , a roller singulator  102  is shown in position contacting the surface of the belt  50  near the apertures  52 . As the seeds pass the roller, if multiple seeds are adhered to the belt at a given aperture, the roller gently removes the excess seeds. 
       FIG. 11  shows another embodiment of the differential pressure seed meter with a belt  110  of similar construction as belt  50 . The belt  110  is wrapped about a drive pulley  112 , idler pulleys  114  and  116  and reverse wrapped around the tensioning idler  118 . The drive pulley is provided with a flange  120  having raised features  122  to agitate the seed in the seed pool. A manifold  124  provides the vacuum pressure differential to the belt  110 . The idler pulley  114  is slotted to maintain vacuum to the belt as it travels over the pulley  114 . The pulley  114  has a small diameter such that during operation, the centrifugal force on the seeds traveling around the pulley  114  will cause excess seed to be thrown off the belt  110 , thereby automatically singulating the seed. The housing  126  surrounding the pulley  114  catches the thrown seed and includes a slide  128  which returns the thrown seed to the seed pool. 
     The meters shown in  FIGS. 3 and 11  can be designed to fit within the packaging space for the seed meter of many current John Deere production planter row units. The belts operate in a generally vertical plane that is oriented in the fore and aft travel direction of the row unit. However, other arrangements of the meter are possible. For example, with reference to  FIG. 1 , a belt meter  200  is shown schematically to illustrate the relationship of the belt  250  relative to the row unit structure. The belt  250  lies in a plane that is inclined relative to all three axes, that is the plane of the belt is inclined relative to a vertical fore and aft plane, inclined relative to a vertical transverse plane and inclined relative to a horizontal plane. Furthermore, the seed pickup region  206  is positioned at the lower end of the belt  250  while the seed release location  208  is located at the upper end of the belt  250 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 12 , the seed is removed from the belt  250  at the release location by a seed delivery mechanism  210 . The seed delivery mechanism is fully described in co-pending application Ser. No. 12/364,010 filed Feb. 2, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference. The seed delivery mechanism  210  moves the seed from the seed meter belt to the lower end of the row unit between the furrow opening disks  30  where it is deposited into the furrow formed in the soil. The seed meter  200  is similar to the seed meter  26  described above and is described fully below with reference to  FIGS. 13-20 . 
     The seed meter  200  has a frame member  220  in the form of a plate which is mounted to the row unit frame  20  in a suitable manner. The frame member  220  supports the upper idler pulley  256  and the lower drive pulley  260  about which the belt  250  is wrapped. A gearbox and drive motor (not shown) are coupled to the shaft  264  to drive the pulley  260  and belt counterclockwise as viewed in  FIG. 13  and shown by the arrow  261 . The frame member  220  also carries a vacuum manifold  262  having a hollow interior vacuum chamber  266 . A vacuum port  263  extends from the opposite side of the vacuum chamber through the frame member  220 . The manifold  262  has an outer wall  268  ( FIG. 15 ) containing a main slot  270  extending the length of the outer wall. A secondary slot  272  extends only a short portion of the length of the outer wall. 
     The belt  250  has an outer seed engaging face or side  251 . The belt  250  includes a row of first apertures  252  which overlie the slot  270  in the manifold  262 . The apertures  252  extend through the belt, allowing air to flow through the belt. The belt further has a plurality of features  254  formed as ribs extending from the seed face  251 . The features  254  each for a confronting face  255  shown in  FIG. 19  facing in the travel direction of the belt. In this embodiment, the feature  254  confronting face  255  extend outward from the seed side  251  of the belt. In the embodiment shown, the features  254  do not extend laterally to both side edges of the belt, but leaves a flat edge zone  257  along one edge of the belt. An optional second row of apertures  258  in the belt are positioned to pass over the secondary slot  272  in the manifold outer wall  268 . The apertures  258  are only in communication with the vacuum chamber  266  for the short portion of the path of the apertures  258  over the slot  272 . 
     A housing  276  is attached to the frame member  220  and closely positioned to the belt  250 . A portion  277  of the housing  276  overlies the flat edge zone  257  of the belt. The housing  276 , the belt  250 , and a cover  278  (shown in  FIG. 18 ) form a small chamber  279  which holds a pool of seed  280 . A brush  282  mounted to the housing  276  sweeps across the face  251  of the belt and seals the chamber  279  at the location where the belt enters the chamber to prevent seed from escaping the chamber  279 . Seed enters in the chamber  279  through a suitable port, not shown, in the housing  276  or housing cover  278 . 
     The belt  250  and housing  276  form a V-shaped trough for the seed pool that extends uphill in the direction of belt travel. The confronting faces  255  formed by the features  254  of the belt engage the seed in the pool to agitate the seed creating a circular flow of seed as shown by the broken line  284  of  FIG. 14 . Since the belt forms one side of the V-shaped trough, seed will always remain in contact with the belt regardless of tilt or inclination of the planter, as long as sufficient seed is present in the seed pool. An advantage of the seed meter is that when the vacuum shut off, seed on the belt falls back into the seed pool. This is in contrast to disk meters where a portion of the seed on the disk above the seed tube will fall to the ground upon vacuum shut-off. 
     The idler pulley  256  is supported by a bearing set  285  on a tube  286  ( FIG. 16 ). A flange  288  welded to the tube  286  is attached to the frame member  220  by bolts  290 . A spacer  292  is positioned between the flange and frame member  220 . The idler pulley  256  has a groove  294  in its outer periphery which is in line with the belt apertures  252 . Channels  296  extend radially through the pulley  256  to an annular chamber  298  surrounding the tube  286 . An opening  300  in the tube  286  provides communication between the chamber  298  and the hollow interior  302  of the tube. The tube is connected to the vacuum source whereby the vacuum is applied to the apertures  252  in the belt as the belt travels over the pulley  256 . A fork  304  is attached to the frame member  220  with tines  306  seated in the groove  294  in the idler pulley. The tines filled the groove  294  to cut off the vacuum and create the seed release location  208 . The tines  306  extend from the seed release location to the vacuum manifold in the direction of rotation of the idler pulley to seal the vacuum chamber and the groove in the idler pulley. 
     The housing cover  278  mounts to the manifold and covers the open side of the housing  276  as shown in  FIG. 19 . A doubles the eliminator  310  is mounted to the housing cover and, when assembled, lies on top of the belt  250 . The doubles eliminator  310  is roughly wedge-shaped and progressively increases in width in the travel direction of the belt to increase its coverage over the apertures  252 . The doubles eliminated  310  causes doubles or multiples of seed to be removed from the belt resulting in a single seed covering each aperture  252 . 
     In operation, as the belt rotates, the confronting faces  255  engage and agitate seed in the seed pool at the bottom of the housing  276 . Seed from the seed pool will be adhered to the belt at each aperture  252  due to the vacuum applied to the apertures from the interior of the manifold  262  or by positive air pressure on the seed side of the belt. By virtue of the main slot  270 , the seeds will continue to be retained on the belt as the belt travels from the seed pick-up region  206  to the idler pulley  256 . Due to the groove in the idler pulley, the vacuum is maintained on the apertures as the belt travels around the pulley until the seed and the aperture reaches the tine  306  of the fork  304 . Upon reaching the tine  306 , the vacuum is terminated and the seed is released from the belt  250 . Alternatively, the seed can be mechanically removed from the belt or removed by a combination of vacuum termination and mechanical removal or the seeds can be removed mechanically while the vacuum is still applied. 
     The second row of apertures  258  will also operate to retain a seed therein while the aperture  258  travels over the shorter slot  272 . By picking up seed, the apertures  258  act to further agitate the seed pool. In addition, when the apertures  258  reach the downstream end  273  of the secondary slot  272 , the seed is released from the belt. The release location from the aperture  258  causes the seed to pass over one of the apertures  252  as the seed falls. If the aperture  252  failed to pick-up a seed and is empty, the falling seed may be retained thereon. If the aperture  252  is not empty, but instead picked-up multiple seeds, the falling seed may collide with the multiple seeds and assist in removing one or more of the multiple seeds. In this fashion, the falling seed operates to avoid errors in terms either no seed or multiple seeds on an aperture  252 . 
     At the seed release location  208 , the seed is transferred from the metering belt  252  to the seed delivery system  210 . The seed delivery system  210  is more fully described in co-pending application Ser. No. 12/364,010 filed Feb. 2, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference. The seed delivery system  210  includes an endless member also wrapped around pulleys and contained within a housing  322 . The housing has an upper opening  324  through which seed is admitted into the delivery system. The endless member is shown in the form of a belt brush  312  having bristles  314  that sweep across the face  251  of the belt  250  to remove the seed therefrom. At the seed release location  208 , a transition plate  316  is positioned adjacent the belt  250 . The transition plate has a curved first edge  318  abutting the edge of the belt as the belt travels around the idler pulley. The belt brush bristles will engage a seed in the aperture  252 A at the location shown in  FIG. 19  and will sweep the seed off the belt and across the face  320  of the transition plate  316  in the direction of the arrow  321 . The confronting face  255  behind the aperture  252 A serves as a back stop to prevent the brush from knocking the seed off the metering belt. The confronting face  255  pushes the seed into the brush bristles. The downward extending tab portion  323  of the transition plate projects into the housing of the delivery system  210  to allow the brush to continuously trap seed as the seed moves off the belt  250 , over the transition plate  316  and into the interior of the delivery system housing where the seed is trapped by the brush bristles and the interior surface of the delivery system housing  322 . A guide  325  projects from the surface of the transition plate to guide the seed and keep the seed from being swept off the meter belt prematurely. 
     As shown in  FIG. 13 , the belt  250  has the seed side on the radially outer surface of the belt with the vacuum manifold on the radially inner surface of the belt. The meter can be configured in an opposite manner with the seeds side being the radially inner surface of the belt and the vacuum manifold on the outer surface of the belt. Such an embodiment is shown in connection with  FIG. 21  with some components removed for purposes of clarity. Seed meter  340  includes a support member  342  mounted to the row unit frame by a bracket  344 . A motor  346  is drivingly coupled to a drive pulley  348 . Idler pulleys  350  and  352  are also carried by the support member  342 . A metering belt  360  is wrapped around the pulleys with a seed side  362  facing radially inwardly. Apertures  364  extend through the belt as described previously. Features  366  each forming a confronting face  368  provided immediately behind the apertures  364  in the travel direction  370  of the belt. Housing  372  is in communication with a seed source and holds a pool of seed at its lower end  374 . The belt  360  passes the seed pool in a similar arrangement as shown in  FIGS. 13 and 14 . Covering the radially outer surface  376  of the belt over a portion of the belt path is a vacuum manifold  378 . As described above with manifold  262 , the manifold  378  includes a slot (not shown) aligned with the apertures  364 . The manifold  378  is connected to a vacuum pump to create a lower pressure within the manifold. The lower pressure in the manifold draws air through the apertures  364  in the belt causing the seeds to adhere to the belt. Seeds are adhered to the belt in a seed pickup region at the lower end  374  of the housing  372  and travel with the belt to a seed release region  380 . The idler pulley  350  years slotted to provide clearance for the seed on the belt. At the release region  380 , the brush belt  312  of a seed delivery system  210  sweeps the seed off the metering belt  360  and delivers the seed to the furrow in the soil as described previously. The confronting faces  368  of the features  366  again assist in pushing the seed into the brush belt  312 . 
     While the meter  340  as shown and described utilizes a low pressure or vacuum manifold to adhere to the seeds to the belt, the manifold  378  can be replaced with a supporting panel having a slot there in and the housing  372  pressurized to provide a positive air pressure to hold the seed to the belt  360 . 
     The seed meter of the present invention, with a flexible belt as a seed metering and seed transport member enables the orientation of the member to varying along the belt path to optimize various functions of the member at different locations. The belt surface need not be vertical in the seed pick-up region as it is in a flat disk. Instead, the belt can be inclined, creating a less than vertical up-hill path for the seed at pick-up. Likewise, at the seed release, if dropped into a seed tube, the release orientation can be a reverse incline, or overhang, so that the belt moves away from the seed as the seed falls vertically. Alternatively, when the meter is used in conjunction with a seed delivery system, at the hand-off of the seed from the meter to the delivery system, the orientation of the metering belt relative to the delivery system can also be optimized. 
     Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.