Planting machine

Claim 1

A planting machine including vehicle means having a normal direction of movement over a ground surface, a rotary assembly having a frame rotatably mounted on said vehicle means on a horizontal axis of rotation transverse to said direction of movement, and drive means for said rotary assembly, wherein the improvement comprises: at least one receptacle rotatably mounted on said rotary assembly, said receptacle having trap door means at the bottom thereof at least in part defining a downwardly pointed configuration at the lower extremity of the rotary path of movement of said receptacle, said axis of rotation being disposed to cause penetration of ground by said pointed configuration; orienting means mounted on said vehicle means interrelating said receptacle and said vehicle means, and maintaining a substantially constant position of said receptacle during the rotation of said rotary assembly; synchronizing means incorporated in said drive means interrelating the movement of said vehicle means and said rotary assembly to establish a substantially zero velocity of said receptacle means with respect to ground at the lower extremity of said rotary path of movement; actuating means having components mounted on said vehicle means and receptacle means, respectively, and operative to induce said trap door means to open exclusively at an adjacent said lower extremity; hopper means mounted on said vehicle and located generally above said rotary assembly; and transfer means operative to remove a predetermined quantity of material from said hopper means and transfer the same to said receptacle means in an upper portion thereof, said transfer means including a rotary member having end-plates and mounted for rotation on a horizontal axis, and also having a plurality of outwardly-open pockets between said end-plates, said rotary transfer member being vertically interposed between said outlet and the path of movement of the top of said receptacle at the upper positions thereof, said transfer means further including a shield disposed to close off the opening of said pockets around a section of rotation of said rotary transfer member sufficient to induce said pockets to dump the contents thereof exclusively into said receptacle, and means synchronizing said transfer means and said rotary assembly, said synchronizing means including a Geneva mechanism incorporating a portion of said receptacle and angularly spaced arms extending from said rotary transfer member.