Automatic soil plug loader and feeder

Claim 1

Apparatus for transferring soil plugs (10), each plug having a foliage end (22) and a butt end (23), from a densely packed configuration of plural rows in a growing tray (12) to a more spaced apart state, suitable for subsequent handling, comprising: plug ejection means (40) operable upon reciprocation thereof to assume an engaged position to eject a row of plugs (10) from said tray (12); reciprocation means (127, 130, 132) operable to intermittently reciprocate said plug ejection means (40) to effect ejection of said row of plugs (10); tray indexing means (35) operable to incrementally move said tray (12) so that each row assumes a position of operative alignment with said plug ejection means (40) for sequential ejection of said rows of plugs (10) in said trays (12); feeder means (30) operable to receive a row of ejected plugs (10) and transport them to a plug take up location (15); and synchronous drive means (50, 57, 107, 105, 90, 92) responsive to an input drive (32A) for operating said tray indexing means (35), said feeder means (30), and said reciprocation means (127, 130, 132) in precise timed relationship over a machine cycle during which said reciprocation means (127, 130, 132) causes ejection of a row of plugs (10) and subsequent retraction of said plug ejection means (40), said feeder means (30) receives said row of plugs (10), said tray indexing means (35) causes the next row of plugs (10) to be moved into operative alignment with said plug ejection means (40), and said feeder means (30) transports said row of plugs (10) toward said take up location (15), characterised in that said feeder means comprises a feeder conveyor (carousel conveyor (30)) and a plurality of plug receiving troughs (47) which are spaced apart on the feeder conveyor (30), with the spacing of the troughs (47) along a straight path portion of the conveyor adjacent said tray (12) corresponding to the spac- ' ing of the plugs (107 in the complete row of plugs (10) and with the troughs (47) being disposed transversely to the straight path portion and to the direction of movement of the conveyor (30); in that said synchronous drive means (50, 57, 107, 105, 90, 92) is operable to drive said feeder conveyor (30) at a generally uniform speed; and in that said feeder conveyor (30) includes a path portion of substantial curvature at said plug take up location (15), with said path portion of substantial curvature lying in a substantially horizontal plane whereby, in transporting said row of plugs (10) over said path portion of substantial curvature the foliage ends (22) of said plugs (10) are spread apart and said plugs (10) adopt said more spaced apart state.

Claim 8

A method of transferring soil plugs (10), each having a butt end (23) and a foliage end (22), from a densely packed parallel configuration of plural rows in a growing tray (12) to a more spaced apart state suitable for subsequent handling following ejection from said tray (12), the method being characterised by the steps of ejecting a complete row of plugs (10) in said parallel configuration at the same time; depositing said row of plugs (10) onto a portion of a moving feeder conveyor (30) that is moving over a straight substantially horizontal path portion, with said plugs (10) lying substantially transverse to said straight path portion and to the direction of movement of said feeder conveyor (30) and with the plugs (10) being spaced apart on said conveyor (30) over said straight path portion by an amount substantially equal to the spacing of said plugs (10) in a row of said tray (12); and transporting said row of plugs (10) over a substantially horizontally disposed path portion of substantial curvature to cause the foliage ends (12) of said plugs (10) to spread apart from one another so that said plugs (10) assume said more spaced apart state.

Claim 9

A method of transferring soil plugs (10), each having a butt end (23) and a foliage end (22), from a densely packed parallel configuration of plural rows in a growing tray (12) to a more spaced apart state suitable for subsequent handling following ejection from said tray (12), the method being characterised by the steps of ejecting a complete row of plugs (10) in said parallel configuration at the same time; depositing said row of plugs (10) onto a portion of a moving feeder conveyor (30) that is moving over a straight substantially horizontal path portion, with said plugs (10) lying substantially transverse to said straight path portion and to the direction of movement of said feeder conveyor (30) and with the plugs (10) being spaced apart on said conveyor (30) over said straight path portion by an amount substantially equal to the spacing of said plugs (10) in a row of said tray (12); and transporting said row of plugs (10) over a substantially horizontally disposed path portion of substantial curvature to cause the foliage ends (12) of said plugs (10) to spread apart from one another so that said plugs (10) assume said more spaced apart state.

Claim 11

The method of either of the preceding claims 7 and 8 and characterised in that said ejecting step includes the substep of deflecting the foliage ends (22) of said plugs (10) upwardly so that said plugs (10) are maintained in a substantially horizontal attitude during the time that the butt ends (23) of said plugs are leaving the tray (12).