Horizontally disposed apparatus for the random distribution of seeds and granular materials

Claim 1

In a farm implement having a container for holding a supply of particles to be distributed, a conduit for receiving particles from said container, means for producing an air stream within said conduit for entraining the particles within said stream and propelling the same toward a point of discharge, and apparatus for splitting said stream into a plurality of individual, particle-entraining streams containing uniform and randomly divided quantities of said particles, said apparatus comprising: a horizontally disposed, transversely corrugated pipe of circular cross-section in downstream communication with said conduit for providing a uniform flow of particles through an annular discharge passage of said pipe, said pipe having a longitudinal series of internal, annular, radially inwardly projecting corrugations disposed for random impingement with the particles of said stream as the particles flow through the pipe whereby to randomly distribute the particles throughout the transverse cross-sectional area of the pipe; and a horizontally disposed, tubular, stream-splitting distribution body coupled in downstream communication with said pipe, said body having a transition section progressively and symmetrically changing in a downstream direction from a circular configuration toward a generally flat, rectangular configuration disposed in a horizontal plane, a generally flat transfer section leading from said transition section and spreading symmetrically laterally outwardly in the downstream direction, and a single layer of generally horizontally disposed outlet tubes at the downstream end of said transfer section, said transition section having a circular inlet for receiving particles from said pipe discharge passage, said pipe discharge passage and said inlet being of substantially the same cross sectional area and axially aligned for undisturbed flow of particles from said pipe to said body, said transition section flaring laterally outwardly toward a rectangular downstream end which is substantially wider and substantially shallower than said circular inlet, said transfer section having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, and a pair of spaced apart sidewalls interconnecting said top and said bottom walls and diverging from said downstream end of the transition section.