Improvements in Machinery for the Preparation of Seeds for Planting, and for other purposes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Feb., 1395
Complete Specification Left, 16th Dec., 1895-Accepted, 15th Feb., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for the Preparation of Seeds for
Planting, and for other purposes.
We WILLIAM EVANS, Gentleman, of 3 Glebe Street, Walsall, in the County
of Stafford, and WILLIAM FREDERICK HAMILTON, Esquire, of 19 Christchurch
Road, Streatham Hill, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
:-
This invention for improvements in machinery for the preparation of seeds for
planting and for other purposes, relates more especially to a method in which the
seeds are fixed on or between bands or strips of paper or other suitable material
by means of an agglutinant and placed in the ground along with such material, and
consists essentially in providing a machine for picking up singly seeds out of a
hopper and distributing them on the surface of the paper in an uniform mauner
so that the seeds shall be planted evenly and at a uniform depth to ensure a regular
growth of the plants. The machine is also applicable for picking up singly and
distributing other small articles.
An apparatus for picking up and depositing a single seed consists essentially of
a hopper having an inclined cover, of a hollow tube adapted to be reciprocated
vertically so that its upper end passes through the hopper and through a hole in
its cover, of a pin or needle situated within the hollow tube with its upper end
below the upper end of the tube and adapted to be reciprocated with the tube and
to have a further vertical motion when the said tube is in its bighest position so as
to project beyond the tube to force out the seed contained therein, and of guides to
deposit the said seed on the required spot. In one arrangement a set of needles is
fixed to a cross bar. and the tubes are mounted on the needles, and heads on their
lower ends rest on helical springs surrounding the said needles. Suitable hollow
guides are fixed in the bottom of the hopper for the tubes. The cross bar is
operated vertically and first raises the needles and tubes together and when the
beads come against the ends of the guides the motion of the tubes is arrested and
the needles alone are raised, the helical springs being compressed.
In a machine constructed according to this invention, a band or several strips of
paper are mounted at one end of the machine and pass first over rollers by which
an agglutinant is applied to the upper face, thence under the lower end of the
guides to receive the seeds, and thence, together with an upper band or several
strips, under pressure rollers by which the bands or strips are stuck together with
the seeds between. All motions are derived from a single main shaft by suitable
įjechanism.
ኪ.
1007
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.

page_text: Improvements in Machinery for the Preparation of Seeds for
Planting, and for other purposes.
We WILLIAM EVANS, Gentleman, of 3 Glebe Street Walsall, in the County
of Stafford, and WILLIAM FREDERICK HAMILTON, Esquire, of 19 Christchurch
Road, Streatham Hill, in the County of Surrey, 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 for improvements in machinery for the preparation of seeds for
planting and for other purposes, relates more especially to a method in which the
seeds are fixed on or between bands or strips of paper or other suitable material,
by means of an agglutinant and placed in the ground along with such material, and
consists essentially in providing a machine for picking up singly seeds out of a
hopper and distributing them on the surface of the paper in a uniform manner so
that the seeds shall be planted evenly and at a uniform depth to ensure a regular
growth of the plants. The machine is also applicable for picking up singly and
distributing other small articles.
An apparatus for picking up and depositing a single seed consists essentially of
a hopper having an inclined cover, of a tube adapted to be reciprocated vertically
so that its upper end passes through the hopper and through a hole in its cover, of
a pin or needle situated within the tube with its upper end below the upper end of
the tube and adapted to be reciprocated with the tube and to have a further
upward motion when the said tube is in its highest position so as to project beyond
the tube to force out the seed contained therein, and of guides to deposit the said
seed on the required spot. In one arrangement a set of needles is fixed to a cross
bar, and the tubes are mounted on the needles, and heads on their lower ends rest
on helical springs surrounding the said needle. Suitable hollow guides are fixed
in the bottom of the hopper for the tubes. The cross bar is operated vertically
and first raises the needles and tubes together and when the heads come against the
ends of the guides the motion of the tubes is arrested and the needles alone are
raised, the helical springs being compressed.
In a machine constructed according to this invention a band or several strips of
paper are mounted at one end of the machine and pass first over rollers by which
an agglutinant is applied to the upper face, thence under the lower end of the
guides to receive the seeds, and thence together with an upper band or several
strips, under pressure rollers by which the bands or strips are stuck together with
the seeds between. All motions are derived from a single main shaft by suitable
⚫ mechanism.
In the accompanying two sheets of illustrative drawings
―:
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a machine for the preparation of seeds for planting
constructed according to this invention and
Fig. 2 is a part vertical section through the seed hoppers showing the apparatus
for picking up the seeds singly and depositing them at the desired spots on the
paper travelling beneath the hopper.
The hoppers a containing the seed are provided with inclined hinged covers b
having guide ribs c on their upper surface. Fixed in the bottom of the hoppers a
are guide tubes d. Picker tubes e slightly coned at their upper ends are fitted in
the tubes d and are adapted to reciprocated up through the hoppers and so that
their upper ends pass up through the holes f in the covers b.
The picker tubes are provided near their lower ends with collars
and spiral
springs surround their lower ends and bear against the collars and a cross bar i.
A vertical reciprocating movement is imparted to the cross bar by the bars sliding
in guides m in the side frames of the machine and provided at their lower ends

page_text: with rollers n working in grooves in cams o mounted on the driving shaft p. Fig. 1
shows ordinary cams adapted to raise the cross bar, the return motion being effected
by the weight of the parts or by springs. Within the picker tubes are needles
rigidly attached to the cross bar i or as shown the spiral springs h bearing against
the collars g on the picker tubes also bear against the heads of the needles and force
the heads firmly against the cross bar. Above the cross bar i and rigidly attached
to it is a second bars through holes in which the picker tubes pass the collars g
being just below it. From the inclined covers guides t lead down to the desired
spots just above the surface of the travelling paper on which the seeds are to be
arranged.
The action is as follows:-Supposing the parts to be in the position shown in
Fig. 2, the shaft p is rotated and raises the bars and cross bars and s raising the
picker tubes e and needles together through the hopper until the ends of the
tubes project above the covers 6, when the ends of the guide tubes d will bear
against the collars 9 and prevent any further upward motion. In passing up through
the hopper a single seed will lodge on the top of each tube. The cross bars.
continue to rise (the spiral springs h being compressed as the tubes e cannot rise
any further) and the needles are consequently still forced upwards until their ends
project well above the ends of the picker tubes e and force the seeds from off their
coned seats on to the inclined cover b whence the seeds fall down the guides t on to.
the surface of the paper beneath.
The apparatus is also applicable for picking up other articles having a similar
shape such as balls, shot, nuts, fruit and the like.
The machine is so designed that a band of paper from a roll mounted on the
machine is first pasted, then passed under the guide tubes t from the seed hopper to
receive the seed and then between pressure rollers where it meets a second band of
paper pasted on its under side so that the seed is fixed between the two bands.
The first paper band is mounted in the form of a roll V in bearings at the end of
the machine and passes over a guide roller 21 and over a felt carrier band 22
guided by the rollers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, the roller 1 being the driving roller. The
upper surface of the paper in its traverse comes in contact with the pasting roller 11
supplied with paste from the paste reservoir 7 through the rollers 8, 9, 10 the
rollers 8, 9, 10 and 11 running in contact and being covered with telt; the jockey
roller 12 also assists in the even distribution of the paste on the paper. The band
passes thence under the guide tube t and at this point it is essential that it be
horizontal so that the seeds shall be retained at the point at which they drop on to
the paper. The paper carrying the seeds on its upper surface passes thence between
the pressure rollers 13, 14 where it meets a band of paper passing from the roller W
in contact with the pasting roller 19 back over the roller W and thence between
the rollers 13 and 14 with its pasted surface downwards. The paper from the
roller W is pressed against the roller 19 by the roller 20 and the roller 19 is supplied
with paste from the reservoir 15 through the rollers, 16, 17, and 18.
The rollers 8 and 9 and also 16 and 17 are driven in opposite directions to
distribute the paste more evenly. The main shaft p is also driven by suitable
means.
The combined paper with the seeds between may if desired be then passed
between heated rollers to dry the paste and then may be cut up into long strips
containing any one row of seeds or as desired and wound on a roller mounted at the
end of the machine.
The paper is traversed continuously or if preferred by a step motion after the
deposit of each set of seeds.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :
1. A machine for preparing seeds for planting consisting of a set of pasting
rollers, an apparatus adapted to automatically pick up singly seeds and deposit them

page_text: in the required spots, a set of guide rollers adapted to guide a strip of paper in
contact with a pasting roller, and under the spot where the sced is deposited with
its pasted surface uppermost and means for traversing the strip of paper for the
deposit of each seed.
2. A machine for preparing seeds for planting, consisting of two sets of pasting
rollers, an apparatus adapted to automatically pick up singly seeds and deposit
them in the required spot, a set of guide rollers adapted to guide a strip of paper
in contact with a pasting roller and under the spot where the seed is deposited with
its pasted surface uppermost, a second set of guide rollers adapted to guide a second
strip of paper in contact with a pasting roller and against the first strip beyond the
place where the seed is deposited and with its pasted surface against the pasted
surface of the first strip, a means for pressing the two strips together, and means
for traversing the strips of paper for the deposit of each seed.
3. A picking up apparatus, consisting of a hopper containing the articles to be
picked up, a tube adapted to be reciprocated vertically so that its upper end passes
up through the hopper and retains a single article, a needle within the tube adapted
to be reciprocated with the tube through the hopper and then to have a further
upward motion so as to force the article from off the end of the tube, and a means
for catching the article as it falls and guiding it to the desired spot.
4. An apparatus for picking up a single article and depositing it in the required
spot substantially as described with reference to the drawing.
5. A machine for preparing seeds for planting, substantially as described with
reference to the drawings.
Dated this 16th day of December 1895.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.