GB1219366A - Seedling transplanting device - Google Patents

Abstract

1,219,366. Planting. NIPPON TENSAI SEITO K.K. and CIRCLE TETSUKOJO K.K. 23 Feb., 1968 [25 Feb., 1967; 6 June, 1967; 4 Aug., 1967; 5 Aug., 1967; 28 Sept., 1967; 28 Oct., 1967; 7 Nov., 1967], No. 9035/68. Heading A1D. [Also in Division B8] A device for transplanting seedlings contained in paper containers joined together by water soluble starch, comprises a conveyer 6, Fig. 1, for a group of containers, a second conveyer 30, at right angles to the first, for a single row of containers, and devices for separating a row from the group and a single container from a row. The group of containers is carried on conveyer 6 with row-positioning device 13, consisting of rods 14 which rise and fall about axis 19, holding the rows of containers in alignment. The conveyer 6 moves forward intermittently by means of a ratchet wheel 8, driven by driving wheel 9 on which pin 9<SP>1</SP> is eccentrically mounted. As wheel 9 turns and the pin 9<SP>1</SP> leaves the top-most position, the device 13 turns clockwise and withdraws from the front of the containers; as pin 9<SP>1</SP> approaches the bottom position, rods 21 activated via a swing rod 23 push the containers on to the row conveyer 30. As the pin 9<SP>1</SP> ascends, the device 13 returns to a horizontal position, a pawl 12 turns the ratchet wheel 8 and the cycle starts again. Conveyer 30 driven by chain wheel 3<SP>1</SP> moves fast enough to slippingly shift the containers until stopper 32 is reached. A separating wheel 35 with blades 36 pushes each container through a gap between the stopper 32 and carriage 31 into guide tube 37. In a modification, Fig. 4 (not shown), the second row of containers on the conveyer 6 is held down by a rod (51) while rods (14) are raised by means of links (44), (45), (54) thereby permitting the foremost row of containers to be separated. The containers may be separated by the combined action of a holding board (64), blades (68) and closing board (67), Fig. 5 (not shown); alternatively, the holding board and impeller blades are replaced by spongecovered wheels (73), (72), Fig. 6 (not shown). The transplanting device may be provided with a means to prevent the seedlings from falling on their sides: a hole is provided in the bottom of a levelling plate (108), Fig. 7 (not shown), a guide tube (37) is adjusted so that the seedling falls through the hole and into the groove cut by a trench opener (109 and soil is heaped round the seedling by soil banking wheels (110).