Seed drill

Claim 2

A towable seed drilling unit comprising: a seed hopper; a seed chamber having walls and a floor formed by a portion of the lower run of an endless belt, said endless belt being regularly perforated by at least one row of holes along its length, each hole being sized to contain a single seed; means communicating with said seed hopper and said seed chamber for providing gravity feed between said seed hopper and said seed chamber; a seed repelling roller in communication with said endless belt for agitating seed in said seed chamber; a masking plate located below said floor formed by said endless belt, the rear edge of said plate being forwardly spaced from said seed repelling roller and unmasking at least one hole in said endless belt through which a seed may fall; means including a drive rollEr for carrying said endless belt; a coulter located beneath said seed chamber for forming a furrow ahead of said unmasked hole; a furrow closing member located behind said seed chamber for closing said furrow formed by said coulter; a first ground contacting wheel located in front of said coulter; a second ground contacting wheel located in back of said furrow closing member; drive means operably associated with said second ground contacting wheel and said drive roller for driving said lower run of said endless belt in a direction opposite the direction in which said towable seed drilling unit is towed; and means including at least one pivot arm attached to said first ground contacting wheel, a linkage system coupled to said at least one pivot arm and a manually adjustable screw operatively associated with said linkage system for adjusting the level of said towable seed drilling unit above the ground.

Claim 3

A towable seed drilling unit as defined in claim 1 wherein a towing bracket is provided, an arm has one end coupled to said at least one pivot arm and its other end coupled to said towing bracket and a variable spring tension means is provided between said towing bracket and said arm.

Claim 4

A towable seed drilling unit comprising: a seed hopper; a seed chamber having walls and a floor formed by a portion of the lower run of an endless belt, said endless belt being regularly perforated by at least one row of holes along its length, each hole being sized to contain a single seed; means communicating with said seed hopper and said seed chamber for providing gravity feed between said seed hopper and said seed chamber; a seed repelling roller in communication with said endless belt for agitating seed in said seed chamber; a masking plate located below said floor formed by said endless belt, the rear edge of said plate being forwardly spaced from said seed repelling roller and unmasking at least one hole in said endless belt through which a seed may fall; means including a drive roller for carrying said endless belt; a coulter located beneath said seed chamber for forming a furrow ahead of said unmasked hole; a furrow closing member located behind said seed chamber for closing said furrow formed by said coulter; a first ground contacting wheel located in front of said coulter; a second ground contacting wheel located in back of said furrow closing member; drive means operably associated with said second ground contacting wheel and said drive roller for driving said lower run of said endless belt in a direction opposite the direction in which said towable seed drilling unit is towed; and means including a manually adjustable screw, a first pivot arm coupled to said first ground contacting wheel, a second pivot arm coupled to said second ground contacting wheel, a first linkage coupled between said first pivot arm and said manually adjustable screw, and a second linkage coupled between said second pivot arm and said manually adjustable screw for adjusting the level of said towable seed drilling unit above the ground.

Claim 5

A towable seed drilling unit comprising: a seed hopper; a seed chamber having walls and a floor formed by a portion of the lower run of an endless belt, said endless belt being regularly perforated by at least one row of holes along its length, each hole being sized to contain a single seed; means communicating with said seed hopper and said seed chamber for providing gravity feed between said seed hopper and said seed chamber; a seed repelling roller in communication with said endless belt for agitating seed in said seed chamber; a masking plate located below said floor formed by said endless belt, the rear edge of said plate being forwardly spaced from said seed repelling roller and unmasking at least one hole in said endless belt through which a seed may fall; means including a drive roller for carrying said endless belt; a coulter located beneath said seed chamber for forming a furrow ahead of said unmasked hole; a furrow closing member located behind said seed chamber for closing said furrow formed by said coulter; a first ground contacting wheel located in front of said coulter; a second ground contacting wheel located in back of said furrow closing member; drive means operably associated with said second ground contacting wheel and said drive roller for driving said lower run of said endless belt in a direction opposite the direction in which said towable seed drilling unit is towed; and means including a manually adjustable screw, a first pivot arm coupled to said first ground contacting wheel, a second pivot arm coupled to said second ground contacting wheel, a first linkage coupled between said first pivot arm and said manually adjustable screw, and a second linkage coupled between said second pivot arm and said manually adjustable screw for adjusting the level of said towable seed drilling unit above the ground.