IMPROVEMENTS IN SEED DRILLS
Year: 1884

page_text: I LEONARD RANDOLPH KNAPP of Clanfield, Faringdon, in the County of Berks,
Agricultural Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEED DRILLS" to bo as follows :-
This invention relates to improvements in the seed distributors of what are
known as Anglo-American or Canadian corn drills and the improvements consist
in providing for the seed wheels of the distributors to run loose or independently
on a round or square spindle or an equivalent; the wheel is provided with a clutch
on the centre boss and a clutch working on the spindle driven by a small pin or
feather and, by being provided with a small lever and spring for throwing in and
out of gear, the feed can be instantly stopped of any one of the distributors
employed, thereby effectually stopping waste of seed on angular headlands and
finishing work; the seed wheels can be so arranged as to be driven by clutch, cog,
or cone gearing or equivalent means. By my improvements the distributors can
be made with larger outlets than heretofore and being fitted with a small valve,
slido or adjustable block or its equivalent the feed can be regulated without the
aid of change wheels. A drill can be made with one spindle or axle only, the
travelling wheels being fixed to the said axle, or ratchet gearing may be employed.
G. F. REDFERN,
4, South Street, Finsbury, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: "
"
I LEONARD' RANDOLPH KNAPP, of Clanfield, Faringdon, in the County of Berks,
Agricultural Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN-SEED DRILLS 'and in what' manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement:
This invention relates to improvements in the seed distributors of what are
known as Anglo-American or Canadian corn drills and the improvements consist
in providing for the seed wheels of the distributors to run loose or independently
on a round or square spindle or an equivalent; each distributor is provided with
a clutch one half of which is on the centre boss of the said wheel and the other
half of the clutch works on the spindle and is driven by a small pin or feather on
the spindle if it be round and by the spindle itself if it be square and, by being
provided with a small lever and spring for throwing in and out of gear, the feed
can be instantly stopped of any one of the distributors employed thereby effectually
stopping waste of seed on angular headlands and when finishing work; the seod
wheels can be so arranged as to be driven by clutch cog or cone gearing or
equivalent means.
Further by my improvements the distributors can be made with larger outlets
than heretofore for which purpose they are fitted with an adjustable valve, slide or
block or its equivalent whereby the feed can be regulated without the aid of
change wheels. The drill can sometimes be made with one spindle or axle only,
the travelling wheels being fixed to the said axle, or ratchet gearing may be
employed.
.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1, represents
an elevation of two of the seed distributors of an Anglo-American or Canadian
corn drill with my improved clutch arrangement applied thereto the seed wheels
being arranged on the ordinary spindle; figure 2 is a transverse vertical section on
line A B of figure 1; figure 3 is a detached side elevation of one of the seed
wheels; figure 4 is an elevation of a sced distributor arranged on the axle of the
travelling wheels of the drill and provided with an adjustable valve according to
my improvements; figure 5 is a transverse vertical section taken through the axle
and seed box; figure 6 is a section on line CD of figure 5; in figures 4 and 5 the
levers and parts of the clutches are removed for the sake of clearness. Similar.
letters in all the figures represent similar parts.
Referring to figures 1, 2 and 3, a, a, are the seed wheols of the distributors
which are formed with a circular central hole through the boss c as shewn in
figure 3 so that the wheels can run loose or independently on the usual spindle b,
which can be either round in cross section or square as shewn; d and e represent
the clutches the parts d thereof being formed on the centre bosses c, of the seed
wheels and the parts e, working on the square spindle b, and driven thereby; f, aro
the levers pivotted at g, to brackets h, on the seed boxes i, and serving to throw

page_text: the clutches d, e, out of gear; j, are the springs for automatically bringing the
clutches again into gear when the levers f are released; k, is a bar extending
across the drill and provided with notches I, in which the levers f, are placed when
required to fix the clutches in their disengaged position. Suitable means not shewo
in the drawing such as clutch, cog or cone gearing are employed for operating
the seed wheels a from the spindle b driven from the travelling wheels. The feed
is regulated in the ordinary manner by the aid of change wheels and takes place
or both sides of the seed wheels a as usual.
The operation is as follows:-
When the drill is being drawn along and all the levers ƒ are released and in the
position shewn at the right hand side of figure 1 all the seed wheels will by means
of the clutches d, e, bo operated by the spindle b which is driven from the axle of
the travelling wheels as herein before described and the seed will be fed to the
coulters the whole width of the drill; when however the drill arrives at an angular
headland or is required to distribute the seed to a less width of ground than the
width of the drill such as when finishing: work, in order to prevent the waste of
seed which would otherwise occur the attendant moves the lever or levers f of any
one or more of the distributors the feed of which it may be required to stop, into
the position shewn at the left hand side of figure 1 when the clutch or clutches d, e,
will be disengaged and the seed wheels will cease to rotate thereby instantly
stopping the feed.
In figures 4, 5 and 6, which shews a distributor provided with my adjustable
valve and arranged upon the axle of the travelling wheels, m represents the valve
which consists of a kind of tongue hinged at n, and situated in the sced wheel a,
at the bottom of the feed channel o, of the distributor as shewn in figure 5; the
valve m, is provided with a projection p receiving one end of a pin or stud q, the
other end passing into a hole r, in a bar a extending across the machine; by
moving the bar 8, longitudinally the pins or studs q, will raise or lower the
valve m, so as to regulate the feed of the sced to any desired extent thereby
dispensing with the necessity of employing change wheels and the distributors can
be made with much larger outlets than heretofore; it will be observed by reference
to figure 6 that in this arrangement the seed wheels a, are made so that they feed
on one side only instead of on both sides as in figures 1, 2 and 3. B represents the
axle on which the travelling wheels (not shewn in the drawing) of the drill are
fixed and on which the distributors are placed and which are in this manner
operated by the said travelling wheels without it being necessary to employ change
wheels. The clutch arrangement is similar to that hereinbofore described and
shewn in figures 1, 2 and 3 and therefore needs no further description.
Although I have described and shewn in figures 4, 5 and 6 an adjustable valvo
for regulating the feed it will be obvious that a similar effect could be produced by
employing an adjustable slide or block.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a seed drill such as that herein described arranging the seed wheels of the
distributor so that they shall run loose or independently on their spindle or axle
substantially as herein before described and represented in the various figures of
the accompanying drawing.
2. In a seed drill the herein described arrangement of clutch mechanism
operating substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein before described
and represented in the accompanying drawing.
3. Providing the distributors of seed drills with an adjustable valve, slide, block.
or its equivalent to allow of regulating the feed without employing change wheels
substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in figures 4, 5 and 6 of tho
accompanying drawing.

page_text: 4. Arranging the distributors of seed drills upon the axle of the travelling
wheels in the manner hereinbefore described so that the said distributors shall be
operated thereby without it being necessary to employ change wheels substantially
as hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying drawing...
5. The improved seed distributors for seed drills herein before described and 5
represented in the accompanying drawing.