2. Implements for depositing Seed, etc.
Seed-Sowing Machines-Drills.-These machines are
mainly distinguished by the mechanical devices the drills are opened, seed fed, and drills
reclosed upon the seed. Of these the feeding-device is the essential feature, and this
usually involves either means for varying the quantity of seed fed by varying the escape-
openings, or by positive mechanical movements variable in speed. The principal
requirements are capability of distributing seed with a continuous and regular discharge
from each distributor or grain-tube; accuracy in quantity of seed discharged; efficiency in
regulating the same under all circumstances on inclined, level, or irregular land;
changeability of the feed-apparatus to suit coarse or fine seed, and facility of
adjustment.
Fig. 37 represents a sowing-machine to which a horse may be attached , or may be pushed
by hand. A is the seed-box in the bottom of which is the seed-delivering device which
consists either of a brush D, or a revolving cylinder C. The
former is employed for small, the latter for large seed. To change the quantity of seed
sown, the speed of either of these feed-devices is increased as follows: B is a casting
containing several diameters of gears upon one casting, which is either fast to the wheel or
the axle. Into one of these gears is meshed a pinion fast upon an horizontal shaft or
spindle, which by means of bevel-gears at the other end rotates the brush or cylinder as the
case may be. Hence by changing the pinion at B from meshing into the larger or smaller
gear at B, the rotations of the brush or cylinder may be increased or diminished, an the
quantity of seed sown varied in consequence. The grain-spout enters the ground at its
point, and therefore opens the drill ready to receive the seed while the swing-board beneath
the handles closes the earth over the sown seed, and the roller following compacts and
levels the same over the seed.
Fig. 38 is a Bickford and Huffman grain-drill. It contains
eight dropping-tubes.
The mode by which the grain is discharged from the hopper down
these tubes is exhibited in section in Fig. 39, which shows the interior of the hopper, and a
revolving wheel the projecting rims of which form the bottom of the seed-holder ; the axle
causes this wheel to revolve and the small projections on the interior of the rim carry the
seed to where it drops through an opening in the plate which forms the side of the seed-
holder. The rapidity of discharge is perfectly controlled by wheel-work, which causes the
axle to revolve slowly or fast at pleasure.
The seed-holder is divided into two parts by the
wheel, as shown by cross-section in Fig. 40; one part containing wheat, barley, and other
medium-sized grains, and the other for corn, peas, and the larger seeds. This figure shows
the opening in the side-plates, through which the grain is discharged. As these two
divisions must be used on separate occasions, the apertures between them and the hopper
are opened and closed at pleasure by a sliding bottom with a single movement of the hand.
This sliding bottom is shown in Fig. 41, and forms hoppers with sloping sides down which
the grain passes. The ends of the tubes, which are shod with steel, are made to pass any
desired depth into the mellowed soil, and form the drills for the seed, which is immediately
covered by the falling earth as the drill passes.
In Figs. 42 and 43 is shown the "force-feed" device. The seed is delivered from the internal
flange of the feed-wheel. 
Fig. 42 exhibits the feed for wheat
and small grain, and
Fig. 43 the same for corn or coarse grain. The flange serving
as a bottom for the distribution, the grain rests upon it ; consequently, when the wheel is
revolved, the seed travels exactly with it, thereby insuring the flow of grain to be in a
steady, unbroken stream. The two casings, as shown by the cuts, between which the feed-
wheel revolves, forms the outer walls of a complete measuring channel, or
throat, through which the grain is carried by the rotary motion of the wheel, thus
providing the means of measuring the seed with as much accuracy as could be done with a
small measure. The quantity sown per acre is governed by simply increasing or
diminishing the speed of the feed-wheel.
In. Fig. 44 is represented Kuhn's grain-drill, in which
the change of speed in the feeding-device is altered by a system of cone-gearing shown in
Fig. 45.
The lower gear-wheel may be adjusted to mesh into such of
the cone-gears as is required in accordance with the amount of seed to be deposited. The
mode in which the grain is fed by a positive mechanical movement is exhibited in Figs. 46
to 49.
Fig. 46 shows a feed-wheel,
Fig. 47 a sectional view of wheel and cap, and
Figs. 48 and 49 the delivery of the grain.
In Fig. 50 is represented a potato-planting machine. The cut
potatoes are placed in the hopper shown. Secured upon the axle is a cast - iron disk,
around the periphery of which a number of holes are made in order that the cups may be
fastened thereon, at any points or at any distances apart. As this disk revolves, the cups,
which are turned rearward, enter the hopper from beneath, passing through an orifice
protected by bristles which serve to prevent the escape of the seed. The cups thus become
filled As they are carried on out of the hopper by the disk, they pass through a box, also
shown larger at one side. The sides of this attachment are fitted with bristles, which, while
offering no resistance to the passage of the cup, retain the seed in the same as it
is reversed by the rotation of the disk. As soon, however, as each cup
emerges from between the bristles, its contents drop out-directly, however,
into the drill made by the opening plough. Wings in rear of the latter, as the machine
advances replace the soil in the furrow, completing the planting. The knives in the cutter
divide the seed into pieces of uniform size, and thus the constant filling of the cups is
rendered more certain.
FIg. 51 and 52 represent an apparatus for cutting potatoes before planting.
They are placed in the tubes shown on the table, across
which a strap passes, thence over a pulley, and finally is attached to a treadle. On the
upper side of the strap are bolted horizontal blades (see enlarged view, Fig. 52) which carry
one or more vertical cutters on the portions contained within the peripheries of the tubes.
These tubes, it will be seen, are slotted in order to allow all the blades to be drawn through
them, an operation effected through the strap and treadle already referred to. By
increasing the number of vertical cutters in any tube, the number of pieces into which the
potato is divided is of course augmented. The system of knives is connected by bars
underneath the table, secured to vertical arms extending down through slots in the
same. In operation, after the potatoes are deposited, one in each tube pressure upon the treadle
carries the 
knives through them; and thus divided, they fall through apertures beneath the
tubes, upon an inclined plane, and into any vessel placed for their reception.
Your Comments Welcomed! Copyright © 1995 Roger Corrie