|Publication number||US6273010 B1|
|Application number||US 09/535,402|
|Publication date||Aug 14, 2001|
|Filing date||Mar 27, 2000|
|Priority date||Mar 27, 2000|
|Publication number||09535402, 535402, US 6273010 B1, US 6273010B1, US-B1-6273010, US6273010 B1, US6273010B1|
|Inventors||Gary Deloy Luxon|
|Original Assignee||Deere & Company|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (9), Non-Patent Citations (2), Referenced by (16), Classifications (9), Legal Events (5)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a singulating brush assembly having two sets of bristles which can be selectively used in a finger pickup seed meter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Finger pickup seed meters are popular seed meters used in row crop planters. The finger pickup seed meter comprises a rotatable member having a series of radially extending fingers having seed trapping spoons. The rotatable member adjoins a stationary plate having a seed outlet. The stationary plate has a finger pickup side and a conveyor side. A seed puddle is formed adjacent to the finger pickup side of the stationary plate so that spoons passing through the seed puddle are first opened by a camming mechanism and then closed trapping the seed between the stationary plate and the seed engaging spoons. The seed engaging spoons rotate the trapped upwardly out of the seed puddle to the seed outlet. The seed is passed through the seed outlet to the conveyor side of the stationary plate. A belt conveyor receives the seed and transports the seed to a downwardly extending seed tube. The seed tube in turn directs the seed to the planting furrow formed by a furrow opener.
Immediately upstream from the seed outlet is a singulating brush for eliminating extra seed trapped by the seed engaging spoons. The brush knocks off the extraneous seed returning to the seed puddle. The bristles of the singulating brush pass through a brush aperture formed in the stationary plate. It has been found that at higher planting speeds or with smaller seeds that finger pickup meters tend to overpopulate. Brushes having stiffer bristles improve seed meter performance with smaller seeds and higher planting speeds, but stiffer brushes tend under populate with larger seeds and slower planting speeds.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a singulating brush assembly having two sets of bristles that have corresponding mounting positions so that one set of bristles can be selectively positioned to eliminate extra seed.
A finger pickup seed meter is provided with a rotating member having readily extending fingers with seed engaging spoons. The rotatable member adjoins a stationary plate having a seed outlet and a singulating brush aperture. A singulating brush assembly is mounted to the stationary plate upstream from the seed outlet. The singulating brush assembly comprises a flat carrier having a first mounting position and a second mounting position. The flat carrier is also provided with a first set of bristles and a second set of bristles. The first set of bristles pass through the singulating brush aperture and come into contact with the seed engaging spoons when the flat carrier is mounted to the stationary plate in its first mounting position. Similarly, the second set of bristles extend through the singulating brush aperture and come into contact with the seed engaging spoons when the flat carrier is mounted to the stationary plate in its second mounting position. The two sets of bristles have different stiffness so that one set would be used with smaller seeds and/or higher planting speeds, wherein the other set of bristles would be used for more conventionally sized seed and more conventional planting speeds. The singulating brush is mounted to the stationary plate by a carrier. The carrier is bolted to the stationary plate.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the finger pickup side of a finger pickup seed meter.
FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the singulating brush assembly located on the conveyor side of the finger pickup seed meter.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the singulating brush and carrier.
FIG. 4 is a side view of the singulating brush.
FIG. 5 is a front view of the singulating brush.
A finger pickup seed meter 10 is provided with a rotating member 12 and a stationary plate 14. The rotating member 12 has radially extending fingers 16. Each of the radially extending fingers 16 is provided with a seed engaging spoon 18 for trapping seed against the stationary plate 14. The stationary plate 14 has a finger pickup side 20 and a conveyor side 22, the finger pickup side 20 being illustrated in FIG. 1. A seed outlet 24, in the form of an aperture, extends between the finger pickup side 20 and the conveyor side 22 of the stationary plate 14. The bristles of a singulating brush 26 are located upstream from the seed outlet 24 for removing extra seed trapped by the seed engaging spoons 18.
In operation, a seed puddle is formed against the bottom of the stationary plate 14 on the finger pickup side 20. As the radially extending fingers 16 are rotated clockwise from their two o'clock position to their seven o'clock position, the seed engaging spoons 18 are opened away from the stationary plate 14 by a camming mechanism, not shown. The opened seed engaging spoons 18 pass through the seed puddle. At the seven o'clock position the seed engaging spoons 18 are biased closed by springs trapping seeds between the spoons 18 and the finger pickup side 20 of the stationary plate 14.
The singulating brush 26 comprises a flat carrier 30 having a first, second, third and fourth side edges 32, 34, 36 and 38, respectively. The first side edge 32 and the second side edge 34 define an obtuse angle 40. The third side edge 36 and the fourth side edge 38 define an obtuse angle 42. The second and third side edges 34 and 36 and the first and fourth side edges 32 and 38 define acute angles 44 and 46, respectively. A first set of bristles 50 extends outwardly from the fourth side edge 38 and a second set of bristles 52 extends outwardly from the third side edge 36. Each set of bristles 50 and 52 are arranged in two bundles of bristles 54 and 56. The fourth side edge 38 and the third side edge 36 are provided with hooks 58. The fourth side edge 38 and respective hook 58 define a first mounting position for the singulating brush assembly 26. When the singulating brush 26 is in its first mounting position, illustrated in FIG. 2, the first set of bristles 50 extend towards the seed engaging spoons 18 contacting seed trapped in the spoons 18. Similarly, the third side edge 36 and respective hook 58 defines a second mounting position for the singulating brush assembly 26. In the second mounting position the second set of bristles 52 extend into contact with the spoons 18.
The first set of bristles 50 is stiffer than the second set of bristles 52. When a farmer is operating at higher planting speeds and/or is working with smaller seeds the brush is put in its first mounting position so that the stiffer bristles contact the seed trapped in the spoons 18. In more normal operating conditions the singulating brush assembly 26 is placed in its second mounting position. As shown in FIG. 5, the two sets of bristles 50 and 52 are canted laterally in opposite directions. In this way the set of bristles not in use extends along the conveyor side of the stationary plate as shown in FIG. 2.
The singulating brush assembly 26 is mounted to the stationary plate 14 by a carrier 60 that is bolted to the stationary plate 14. The carrier 60 overlies a brush aperture slot 62 formed in the stationary plate 14. The carrier 60 has internal surfaces 64 contoured to receive the third side edge 36 and respective hook 58 or the fourth side edge 38 and the respective hook 58 as illustrated in phantom in FIG. 2. The carrier 60 is provided with an upwardly extending ear 66 having a hole 68 therein in which is inserted an integral cylindrical stud 70 formed on the flat carrier 30. The opposite side of the carrier 60 is provided with a semi-cylindrical depression for receiving the stud 70 located on the opposite side of the flat carrier 30. The studs 70 and the cooperating hole 68 and the semi-cylindrical depression act to provide the farmer with positive reinforcement that the singulating brush 26 is correctly positioned in the carrier 60.
The carrier 60 and singulating brush 26 are sized to fit into older finger pickup seed meters so this singulating brush assembly can be readily retrofitted into these planters. The carrier 60 and flat carrier 30 are made of plastic and both sets of bristles 50 and 52 are made of nylon.
The present invention should not be limited by the above described embodiment, but should be limited solely by the clams that follow.
|Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US4307822 *||Jun 28, 1979||Dec 29, 1981||Robert Hardesty||Metered dispenser|
|US4449642 *||Mar 18, 1983||May 22, 1984||Weyerhaeuser Company||Seed planter|
|US4450979 *||Sep 27, 1982||May 29, 1984||White Farm Equipment Company||Seed metering means|
|US4793511 *||Mar 17, 1986||Dec 27, 1988||Deere & Company||Seed meter having seed disk aperture cleaning wiper and brush arrangement|
|US5058766 *||May 25, 1990||Oct 22, 1991||Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.||Seed meter for row crop planter unit|
|US5784985 *||Jan 24, 1997||Jul 28, 1998||Deere & Company||Mechanical seed meter|
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|US6216615 *||Nov 4, 1998||Apr 17, 2001||William W. Romans||Chemical metering apparatus for controlled deposit of agricultural chemicals in coordination with seed singulation|
|*||DE3615189A||Title not available|
|1||Deere & Company Brochure entitled Drawn, Integral and Unit Planters, cover page and pp. 9-10, printed in the U.S.A.|
|2||Deere & Company Operator's Manual entitled "7000 Max-Emerge 4-Row Narrow, 4-Row Wide, and 6-Row Narron Drawn Planters" OM-A42741 Issue E1, cover and introduction pages and pp. 96-99,j printed in U.S.A.|
|Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US6581533 *||Dec 18, 2001||Jun 24, 2003||Deere & Company||Seed meter brushes forming a transport seed puddle|
|US6581535 *||Dec 5, 2001||Jun 24, 2003||Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.||Agricultural seed meter|
|US7014064 *||Dec 22, 2002||Mar 21, 2006||Tetsuya Asada||Piece feeder|
|US7162963||Aug 16, 2004||Jan 16, 2007||Precision Planting, Inc.||Adjustable singulating brush assembly and method of singulating seeds|
|US7370589||Apr 23, 2004||May 13, 2008||University Of Tennessee Research Foundation||Systems and methods for fluid dispensing|
|US8074585||May 1, 2008||Dec 13, 2011||University Of Tennessee Research Foundation||Systems and methods for fluid dispensing|
|US9226442||Apr 24, 2013||Jan 5, 2016||Capstan Ag Systems, Inc.||System and method for spraying seeds dispensed from a planter|
|US9313943||Jan 31, 2014||Apr 19, 2016||Deere & Company||Seed-double eliminator for a planting unit|
|US9332688||Jan 31, 2014||May 10, 2016||Deere & Company||Seed-double eliminator for a planting unit|
|US20030121832 *||Dec 22, 2002||Jul 3, 2003||Tetsuya Asada||Piece feeder|
|US20040231575 *||Apr 23, 2004||Nov 25, 2004||The University Of Tennessee Research Foundation||Systems and methods for fluid dispensing|
|US20050150442 *||Jan 14, 2004||Jul 14, 2005||Enrique Friesen||Seed meter|
|US20060032421 *||Aug 16, 2004||Feb 16, 2006||Precision Planting, Inc.||Adjustable singulating brush assembly and method of singulating seeds|
|US20080202398 *||May 1, 2008||Aug 28, 2008||The University Of Tennessee Research Foundation||Systems and methods for fluid dispensing|
|CN104488420A *||Jan 27, 2015||Apr 8, 2015||河北农业大学||Precision seed sowing device with adjustable seed scoops|
|EP2901833A1 *||Jan 23, 2015||Aug 5, 2015||Deere & Company||Seed-double eliminator and seeding machine with such|
|U.S. Classification||111/184, 221/263, 222/352, 221/254, 221/166, 111/77|
|Mar 27, 2000||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: DEERE & COMPANY, ILLINOIS
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:LUXON, GARY DELOY;REEL/FRAME:010714/0540
Effective date: 20000324
|Jan 18, 2005||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|Feb 23, 2009||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|Aug 14, 2009||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|Oct 6, 2009||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 20090814