Patent ID: 8701576

Claim:
A seed metering apparatus for a farm implement, comprising: a hopper sized to hold a volume of granular material, the hopper having a first end for receiving granular material and a second end for discharging granular material and wherein the second end includes a plurality of openings; a drive shaft; a plurality of modular seed metering units, each seed metering unit independently moveable between an engaged condition wherein a seed metering unit is remote from and operatively engaged with the drive shaft and aligned to receive granular material from the hopper through a respective one of the plurality of openings and a disengaged condition wherein the seed metering unit is operatively disengaged from the drive shaft; and a plurality of drive arrangements, each drive arrangement operatively connecting a corresponding one of the plurality of modular seed metering units to the drive shaft with the corresponding one of the plurality of modular seed metering units in the engaged condition and isolating the corresponding one of the plurality of modular seed metering units from the drive shaft with the corresponding one of the plurality of modular seed metering units in the disengaged condition.