GB599962A - Improvements in or relating to the planting of plants, bulbs, seeds or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

599,962. Filling flower pots. BROCKHOUSE, J. V. H. Nov. 23, 1945, No. 31633. [Classes 6 (i) and 6 (ii)] A machine for filling flower-pots or like containers with soil, preparatory to the setting of plants, seeds or the like therein, includes a mechanical means for filling the pots with soil and means both for compacting and for dibbling the soil. In the form shown, the machine comprises an annular rotary table 15 driven by an engine 10. Flower - pots 16 travelling round on the table become filled with soil on passing beneath a hopper 17, the filling being controlled by an a.pertured disc mounted below the hopper and rotated in synchronism with the movement of the table. The pots then pass beneath a tamping and dibbing device B comprising a rotating disc 29, Fig. 3, carrying spring-loaded radial plungers 32 on the outer ends of which are mounted tamping and dibbing elements 36. The elements are pressed against the soil in the pots through the interaction of the plungers 32 with a stationary cam 27. After tamping and dibbing, the pots pass to a point C where plants are set by hand. The consolidation of soil around the plant may be performed either manually or by a tamping device similar to that described above. In a modification, the pots are arranged in racks on a roller conveyer, the tamping and dibbing then being performed on a batch of pots by a plate carrying rows of plungers. In a modification, described in the Provisional Specification, the tamping and dibbling device comprises a piston through which passes a plunger movable relatively thereto. Either or both of these members may rotate during operation.