Seeding Mechanism

the working part of a seed drill for planting the seed of agricultural crops. The most widely used seeding mechanisms are roll, disk, cell-disk, and spike.

The roll seeding mechanism consists of a fluted roll located in a housing and mounted on a turning shaft, a socket, and a fixed coupling. The rotating roll drops the seeds into the seed tube, through which they are delivered to the drill shoe and fall into the furrow made by the latter. Depending upon the direction the roll turns, there are seeding mechanisms with upper and with under seeding. The roll of a seeding mechanism with under seeding releases the seeds from the lower part of the feed chamber. A seeding mechanism with upper seeding differs in that the upper channels of the roll pick up the seed from the upper part of the feed chamber. A seeding mechanism with under seeding is usually used for wheat, rye, oats, and barley. A mechanism with upper seeding is used for large and easily damaged seed.

The disk seeding mechanism is used in checkrow planters and single-seed drills. It consists of a cylindrical canister, in the hinged bottom of which there are the feeding disk, a deflector, and an ejector. For sowing 1 and 2 calibrated seeds in the ground, cover plates are put on the feeding disk. The deflectors remove the excess seeds that are improperly placed in the cells of the turning disk, and the ejector ejects the seeds that, depending upon the position of the flow divider, fall into the left or right receiver of the shoe and from it into the furrow.

The cell-disk seeding mechanism is designed for the precision seeding of sugar beet, corn, cotton, and other crops by one seed at a time. The seeding mechanism has a seed canister, a cellular disk, a combined bottom and support, pusher rollers, and a deflector. The cells of the vertically placed rotating disk are filled with seeds, the deflector removes them from the upper part of the disk, and the excess seeds fall out from the upper openings. The ejectors eject the seeds from the openings of the disk into the drill tube.

The spike seeding mechanism is used for the nonfree-flowing seed of grasses, vegetables, and forest crops, as well as for scattering fertilizers. The mechanism consists of a shaft with spike-sprockets mounted on it with blades usually located at an angle to the rotation plane. The spikes, in turning, agitate and eject the seeds through openings found in the wall of the seed box into the drill tubes. Agitators are located over the spikes for breaking up the mounds of seeds compacting in the box. Other drills previously produced had brush, cord, inner-ribbed, and other seeding mechanisms.