Press for forming one-piece tablet containing seeds or the like

Claim 2

Apparatus for encapsulating agricultural seeds in frangible materials, comprising: a tablet forming press having means for depositing frangible materials into a die and means for compressing said materials together in the die to form a tablet; means for depositing a predetermined number of seeds in said materials in the die of the press whereby said compressing means forms a tablet containing said predetermined number of seeds; means for scanning the seeds deposited in said die by said depositing means and for generating an electrical signal when no seeds are deposited and when the number of seeds deposited is greater than said predetermined number; and means for rejecting any tablet lacking said predetermined number of seeds as indicated by said electrical signal from the scanning means.

Claim 3

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said depositing means includes means for singulating seeds from a bulk supply and depositing a single seed into said die of the tablet press.

Claim 4

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said tablet forming press includes a plurality of dies in which separate tablets are formed, and means for sequentially conveying each of said dies to said depositing means, said scanning means and said rejecting means.

Claim 5

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for scanning the seeds includes: means for illuminating with a beam of light a portion of the path through which the seeds travel from said seed depositing means to said die; means for measuring the amount of light obscured by the passage of seeds along said path; and means for converting the measured amount of obscured light to an electrical signal proportional to the number of seeds passing along said path.

Claim 6

Apparatus of claim 4 wherein said scanning means is arranged to generate an electrical signal indicating that exactly one seed was deposited in the materials by the sEed depositing means.

Claim 7

Apparatus of claim 1 wherein the seed depositing means includes: a seed singulator for separating individual seeds from a mass of seeds, said singulator being positioned remote from said die; a plurality of open mouth seed cups having openable bottoms; and means for sequentially conveying said cups between said seed singulator and the die, said seed cups being oriented so as to receive seeds from the seed singulator through their open mouths and so as to deposit the seeds into the die through their openable bottoms.

Claim 8

Apparatus for encapsulating agricultural seeds in frangible materials, comprising: a conveyor for transporting a plurality of spaced dies past a plurality of stations, each of said dies providing a mold for forming a tablet; a first frangible material dispenser for dispensing at a tablet bottom forming station a first measured charge of frangible material into each die on said conveyor; means for depositing a seed at a seed inserting station into the dies transported by the conveyor, said seed inserting station being located downstream of said tablet bottom forming station so that said seed is deposited on top of the first measured charges of frangible material; means for scanning the seeds deposited on top of the first measured charges in the dies; means for processing the information from said scanning means and for generating a control signal when more than one seed has been deposited into a die and when no seeds have been deposited into said die; a second frangible material dispenser for dispensing at a tablet top forming station a second measured charge of frangible material on top of the first measured charge of frangible material in each die; means for removing at a rejecting station the charges of materials and seeds from those dies containing more or less than one seed, said removing means being arranged to receive said control signal from said information processing means; and means for compressing at a tablet forming station the two measured charges of frangible materials about a seed in each die.

Claim 9

Apparatus for encapsulating agricultural seeds in frangible materials, comprising: a conveyor for transporting a plurality of spaced dies past a plurality of stations, each of said dies providing a mold for forming a tablet; a first frangible material dispenser for dispensing at a tablet bottom forming station a first measured charge of frangible material into each die on said conveyor; means for depositing a seed at a seed inserting station into the dies transported by the conveyor, said seed inserting station being located downstream of said tablet bottom forming station so that said seed is deposited on top of the first measured charges of frangible material; means for scanning the seeds deposited on top of the first measured charges in the dies; means for processing the information from said scanning means and for generating a control signal when more than one seed has been deposited into a die and when no seeds have been deposited into said die; a second frangible material dispenser for dispensing at a tablet top forming station a second measured charge of frangible material on top of the first measured charge of frangible material in each die; means for removing at a rejecting station the charges of materials and seeds from those dies containing more or less than one seed, said removing means being arranged to receive said control signal from said information processing means; and means for compressing at a tablet forming station the two measured charges of frangible materials about a seed in each die.

Claim 10

Apparatus of claim 7 wherein the seed depositing means includes: a seed singulator for separating individual seeds from a mass of seeds at a position remote from the conveyor transporting the dies; a plurality of transportable seed cups each having an open mouth and an open bottom; a stationary plate for supporting the seed cups, said plate being disposed between the seed singulator and the die conveyor and having a seed slot provided therein overlying the path of the dies; and means for transporting the seed cups along the stationary support plate between the seed singulator and the dies whereby the seed singulator is arranged to deposit a seed into the open mouth of each of the seed cups and the seeds thus deposited are retained in said cups by the underlying stationary support plate until each seed cup comes into communication with an associated die through said seed slot whereby the seed falls through the open bottom of the seed cup through the seed slot and into said associated die.

Claim 11

Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said means for processing the information from said scanning means includes an integrating circuit.

Claim 12

Apparatus for encapsulating agricultural seeds in frangible materials comprising: a rotating die table having a plurality of spaced tablet forming cavities contained therein; means for rotating the die table; a pair of compressing punches slidably received in each cavity on the die table, and means for individually reciprocating said punches within said cavities during rotation of the die table; a first frangible material dispenser for storing and dispensing a measured quantity of frangible material into each cavity as said cavities are moved thereunder; a seed singulator for separating individual seeds from a mass of seeds, means for transferring seeds from the seed singulator to saiD cavities in the rotating die table, said seed transferring means being located downstream from said first material dispenser whereby each seed is deposited onto the first charge of frangible material in a cavity; means for measuring the projected areas of the individual seeds during transfer between the seed singulator and the cavities; means connected to said measuring means for determining the number of seeds deposited in each cavity; a second frangible material dispenser located downstream of said seed transferring means for storing and dispensing measured quantities of frangible material into each cavity as said cavities are passed thereunder; a rejector connected to said seed number determining means for removing any frangible materials and any seeds from a cavity prior to the compression thereof if an improper number of seeds is deposited in a cavity; and means for encapsulating the seeds between the first and second charges of frangible materials in each cavity by reciprocally moving the compression punches together within the cavities, whereby a one-piece tablet containing an agricultural seed is compressibly formed.

Claim 13

Apparatus for encapsulating agricultural seeds in frangible materials comprising: a rotating die table having a plurality of spaced tablet forming cavities contained therein; means for rotating the die table; a pair of compressing punches slidably received in each cavity on the die table, and means for individually reciprocating said punches within said cavities during rotation of the die table; a first frangible material dispenser for storing and dispensing a measured quantity of frangible material into each cavity as said cavities are moved thereunder; a seed singulator for separating individual seeds from a mass of seeds, means for transferring seeds from the seed singulator to saiD cavities in the rotating die table, said seed transferring means being located downstream from said first material dispenser whereby each seed is deposited onto the first charge of frangible material in a cavity; means for measuring the projected areas of the individual seeds during transfer between the seed singulator and the cavities; means connected to said measuring means for determining the number of seeds deposited in each cavity; a second frangible material dispenser located downstream of said seed transferring means for storing and dispensing measured quantities of frangible material into each cavity as said cavities are passed thereunder; a rejector connected to said seed number determining means for removing any frangible materials and any seeds from a cavity prior to the compression thereof if an improper number of seeds is deposited in a cavity; and means for encapsulating the seeds between the first and second charges of frangible materials in each cavity by reciprocally moving the compression punches together within the cavities, whereby a one-piece tablet containing an agricultural seed is compressibly formed.

Claim 14

Apparatus of claim 10 wherein said preselected quantity of seeds deposited into each cavity comprises one seed.

Claim 15

Apparatus of claim 10 wherein said preselected quantity of seeds deposited into each cavity comprises two or more seeds

Claim 16

Apparatus of claim 10 wherein said means for encapsulating the seeds by reciprocally moving the compression punches together operates so that a tablet is formed with a compression ratio of from between about 3:1 and about 5:1.

Claim 17

Apparatus of claim 10 wherein the means for transferring seeds comprises: a seed transfer plate having a circular array of bores therethrough; means for rotating the seed transfer plate in synchronization with the rotating die table; a plurality of seed cups, each seed cup being received in a bore in the seed transfer plate and each seed cup having an upward opening mouth for receiving a seed from the seed singulator and a downward opening exit for depositing the seed onto the first charge of frangible materials in each cavity; and a stationary support plate rigidly mounted to the seed encapsulating apparatus and supporting the seed transfer plate and the seed cups, said seed transfer plate being positioned so as to overlie the stationary support plate thereby permitting the seed cups to slide along on top of the stationary support plate, said stationary support plate having a seed slot in the path of the seed cups and the cavities; whereby the seed cups are slidably pushed along on top of the stationary support plate by the seed transfer plate and any seeds within the seed cups fall through the downward opening exit, through the seed slot in the stationary support plate, and into the frangible materials in the cavities in the die table.

Claim 18

Apparatus of claim 10 wherein the means for measuring the projected areas of the seeds comprises: a lamp; a first array of light guides for transmitting illumination from the lamp across the path of the seeds being transferred by the seed transferring means, whereby the seeds obscure a portion of the illumination according to the projected area of each seed; a second array of light guides for receiving the illumination from the first array of light guides; a photocell for receiving the illumination from the second array of light guides; and means for electrically measuring the output of said photocell.

Claim 19

Apparatus of claim 15 wherein the means for electrically measuring the output of said photocell includes an integrator for integrating the instantaneous projected areas of the seeds with respect to time.

Claim 20

Apparatus of claim 15 further including a memory for storing the information from said measuring means for subsequent use by said rejector.

Claim 21

Apparatus of claim 17 wherein said memory comprises a shift register.

Claim 22

In an apparatus for encapsUlating agricultural seeds in frangible materials, which apparatus includes: a table forming press having at least one compression punch and at least one compression mold whereby the compression punch compresses the frangible materials in the mold to form a tablet; a seed singulator for separating individual seeds from a mass of seeds; means for depositing the seeds from the seed singulator in the compression mold whereby said tablet forming press forms tablets containing the seeds; means for monitoring the deposit of seeds into the compression mold; and means for rejecting any capsules formed in the tablet press that contains no seeds, the improvement comprising: means for measuring the instantaneous projected area of a seed being deposited into the compression mold by the seed depositing means; means for integrating the output of said last named means and for generating an electrical signal representative of the number of seeds deposited in a compression mold by the seed depositing means; and means associated with said integrating means for commanding the rejecting means to eliminate any tablets prior to formation in the press that will have more than a predetermined number of seeds contained. therein.

Claim 23

In an apparatus for encapsUlating agricultural seeds in frangible materials, which apparatus includes: a table forming press having at least one compression punch and at least one compression mold whereby the compression punch compresses the frangible materials in the mold to form a tablet; a seed singulator for separating individual seeds from a mass of seeds; means for depositing the seeds from the seed singulator in the compression mold whereby said tablet forming press forms tablets containing the seeds; means for monitoring the deposit of seeds into the compression mold; and means for rejecting any capsules formed in the tablet press that contains no seeds, the improvement comprising: means for measuring the instantaneous projected area of a seed being deposited into the compression mold by the seed depositing means; means for integrating the output of said last named means and for generating an electrical signal representative of the number of seeds deposited in a compression mold by the seed depositing means; and means associated with said integrating means for commanding the rejecting means to eliminate any tablets prior to formation in the press that will have more than a predetermined number of seeds contained. therein.

Claim 24

Apparatus for use in a seed tablet making machine for determining the number of agricultural seeds falling together in groups, said apparatus comprising: means for generating a beam of light which is wide in the horizontal plane and narrow in the vertical plane through which the seeds travel during free fall whereby the seeds obscure a portion of the beam according to the projected area of each seed; a photodetector for receiving the beam of light from the generating means and for measuring the amount of illumination received thereby; and means for integrating the output of the photodetector and generating an electrical signal representative of the number of seeds falling together in a group.

Claim 25

Apparatus for use in a seed tablet making machine for determining the number of agricultural seeds falling together in groups, said apparatus comprising: means for generating a beam of light which is wide in the horizontal plane and narrow in the vertical plane through which the seeds travel during free fall whereby the seeds obscure a portion of the beam according to the projected area of each seed; a photodetector for receiving the beam of light from the generating means and for measuring the amount of illumination received thereby; and means for integrating the output of the photodetector and generating an electrical signal representative of the number of seeds falling together in a group.

Claim 26

Apparatus of claim 20 wherein said light beam generating means comprises a lamp, a transmitting array of fiber optic light guides for collimating the illumination from the lamp into said beam, and a receiving array of fiber optic light guides for receiving the illumination from the transmitting array of light guides and for transmitting the received illumination to said photodetector.