Improvements in Seed Drills.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 13th June, 1894-Accepted, 11th Aug., 1894
Improvements in Seed Drills.
I, FRED BLACKSHAW of the Bristol Dairy, Church Place, Kemp Town,
Brighton in the County of Sussex, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in seed drills used by hand and is
particularly applicable to drills for mangolds, turnips, carrots or any other kind of
seed to be sown in rows.
The object of my invention is to make a seed drill of simple construction, light
weight and one that drills, sows and covers the seed at one and the same operation,
and in order that my said invention may be better understood reference is made to
the accompanying drawings which form part of this Specification in which :-
Fig. 1 is a side view of seed drill.
Fig. 2 is a view of same on the opposite side,
Fig. 3 is a plan of seed drill showing how the framework is put together,
Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the disc showing the various sizes of holes.
The machine has a framework A, in the fork of which is a wheel B and upon its
axle m a toothed wheel C is fixed which connects with a toothed wheel D by
the chain n, the axle of this latter wheel D passes through the hopper E and
to this a brush b is attached to keep the outlet for seed free and to regulate
the supply of seed to the chute F.
The coulter G is connected to the frame A in such a manner that it can be
adjusted to the required height and the hopper E is secured to the top of the
frame having a rising lid a, the sides and bottom of the hopper being shaped
so that the seed will fall towards the outlet g into the chute F, behind the
hopper I have a rake the shaft of which can be adjusted to any required
height, the rake is fastened to the shaft by means of a spring joint f and this
enables the rake to fall into its proper position after being displaced by passing
over stones, the object of the rake d is to cover the seed when planted, with
soil, but it can be dispensed with where it is intended to use a roller.
The outlet 9 in the hopper is large enough for any kind of seed to pass through
and in order to provide for limiting the quantity of seed passing through it I pivot
over a disc having various sizes of holes k and this can be turned over the outlet
by the knob in accordance with the size of the seed to be used.
The chute F is hinged to the hopper over the disc and is formed in such a
shape as to allow the bottom of the chute to come directly behind the coulter G.
In working my invention only one row can be done at a time, as the wheel B
is passed over the ground, the coulter G forms the furrow, and the motion trans-
mitted by the two toothed wheels C and D revolves the brush inside the hopper
and keeps the outlet to the chute free thereby allowing a continuous flow of seed
to pass through the requisite hole in the disc into the chute, the rake d referrel to
covers up the seed with soil thus completing the operation of sowing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
In apparatus for sowing seed the combination of coulter, chute, rake and other

page_text: parts forming the seed drill as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 11th day of June 1894.
THOMAS H. MELLOR,
St. James's Street, Brighton, Agent for the Applicant.