Seedling detector and ferret

Claim 1

A detector device, for detecting seedlings suitable for transplantation in a tray having a two-dimensional grid of cells, with a container in each cell, said containers containing a growth medium and a plant seed, some of said plant seeds having grown into seedling plants and others of said plant seeds not having emerged, said detector device comprising: a comb having a plurality of teeth with the spacing between teeth being equal to the spacing between rows of cells, each tooth being long and thin so that said teeth pass midway between rows of said cells without touching any of said plants; a plurality of energy sources equal in number to the number of rows of cells, at least one of said sources mounted on a first side of each of said plurality of teeth; a plurality of energy detectors equal in number to the number of rows of cells, at least one of said detectors mounted on a second side of each of said plurality of teeth so that each of said sources is aligned with a corresponding one of said detectors to provide an energy beam thereto; said sources and detectors being mounted near the ends of said teeth; a plurality of threshold devices having an associated adjustable threshold signal value, each of said threshold devices receiving said output from a corresponding one of said detectors and holding high or low values of said output signal from said detector; a shift register for receiving said signal values from said threshold devices and temporarily holding said values; and a memory for storing said signal values; said energy detectors also determining the height of said seedlings; said tray and said comb being relatively movable so that each seedling plant passes between one of said sources and a corresponding one of said detectors to interrupt said energy beam, causing an output signal from said detector, whereby the presence of a seedling is detected so that cells without seedlings may be detected for removal and replacement.

Claim 6

A device for sorting seedlings suitable for transplantation which are arranged in a tray having a two-dimensional grid of cells, with a container in each cell, said containers containing a growth medium and a plant seed, some of said plant seeds having grown into seedling plants and others of said plant seeds not having emerged, said sorting device comprising: a comb having a plurality of teeth with the spacing between teeth being equal to the spacing between rows of cells, each tooth being long and thin so that said teeth pass midway between rows of said cells without touching any of said plants; a plurality of energy sources equal in number to the number of rows of cells, at least one of said sources mounted on a first side of each of said plurality of teeth; a plurality of energy detectors equal in number to the number of rows of cells, at least one of said detectors mounted on a second side of each of said plurality of teeth so that each of said sources is aligned with a corresponding one of said detectors to provide an energy beam thereto; said sources and detectors being mounted near the ends of said teeth; a plurality of threshold devices having an associated adjustable threshold signal value, each of said threshold devices receiving said output from a corresponding one of said detectors and holding high or low values of said output signal from said detector; a shift register for receiving said signal values from said threshold devices and temporarily holding said values; a memory for storing said signal values; a sorting device controlled by said memory for removing containers whose seeds have not emerged and for replacing them with containers having emerged seeds; said energy detectors also determining the height of said seedlings; said tray and said comb being relatively movable so that each seedling plant passes between one of said sources and a corresponding one of said detectors to interrupt said energy beam, causing an output signal from said detector, whereby the presence of a seedling is detected so that cells without seedlings may be removed and replaced with cells having seedlings.

Claim 7

A device for sorting seedlings suitable for transplantation which are arranged in a tray having a two-dimensional grid of cells, with a container in each cell, said containers containing a growth medium and a plant seed, some of said plant seeds having grown into seedling plants and others of said plant seeds not having emerged, said sorting device comprising: a comb having a plurality of teeth with the spacing between teeth being equal to the spacing between rows of cells, each tooth being long and thin so that said teeth pass midway between rows of said cells without touching any of said plants; a plurality of energy sources equal in number to the number of rows of cells, at least one of said sources mounted on a first side of each of said plurality of teeth; a plurality of energy detectors equal in number to the number of rows of cells, at least one of said detectors mounted on a second side of each of said plurality of teeth so that each of said sources is aligned with a corresponding one of said detectors to provide an energy beam thereto; said sources and detectors being mounted near the ends of said teeth; a plurality of threshold devices having an associated adjustable threshold signal value, each of said threshold devices receiving said output from a corresponding one of said detectors and holding high or low values of said output signal from said detector; a shift register for receiving said signal values from said threshold devices and temporarily holding said values; a memory for storing said signal values; a sorting device controlled by said memory for removing containers whose seeds have not emerged and for replacing them with containers having emerged seeds; said energy detectors also determining the height of said seedlings; said tray and said comb being relatively movable so that each seedling plant passes between one of said sources and a corresponding one of said detectors to interrupt said energy beam, causing an output signal from said detector, whereby the presence of a seedling is detected so that cells without seedlings may be removed and replaced with cells having seedlings.