Planting – Plant setting – Plant dispensing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-14
2003-07-15
Novosad, Christopher J. (Department: 3671)
Planting
Plant setting
Plant dispensing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06591766
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to apparatus for transplanting seedlings from a propagating and growing tray directly into a prepared ground planting position.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Transplants comprising a plant growing in a discrete and separate mass of growing medium, known as a plug or more simply as plant seedlings, have traditionally been planted by hand or by means of a semi-automatic machine which generally performs one or more of the following functions:
(i) A rotating set of cups receive a manually selected and placed plant.
(ii) The plant cup mechanically opens and drops the plant via free fall to the ground height.
(iii) A mechanical pushing mechanism pushes the transplant out of the rear of the soil opening shoe.
(iv) A variety of machines variously drop plants into a belt with finger wires to assist in guiding the plant tops in an attempt to hold the plant vertical.
(v) Other mechanical transplanting mechanisms remove every plug regardless of whether or not a plug contains a living plant which causes gaps in the plant spacing in the field.
In all of the manual and automatic transplanters described there is:
(a) A continuous movement of plugs from the container tray to the ground with no provision for gapping up that is a separate zone able to move plants at different speeds to another zone with the ability to change one zone speed from stationary to very high speed and transfer the seedling to another zone.
(b) No provision for separate areas of plant storage or provision for sorting plugs not containing plants from plugs with plants.
It is accepted that 10-15% of tray cells in a nursery tray of seedlings will not contain a live seedling suitable for transplanting into the field. This will result in a market gardener or the like having to have additional workers to hand plant seedlings in the missing gaps. A more difficult problem may result if the machine not only leaves gaps but also plants seedlings too close together which require workers to manually dig out and replant such seedlings. In the case of celery, for example, 45,000 seedlings are planted per acre and 15% missing live seedlings in the trays amounts to 6750 gaps or misses per acre that have to be manually planted. In Australian Patent Application No. 460909/93 there is disclosed an arrangement which will allow seedlings to be transplanted from trays into a field position with their spacing substantially uniform, however, this arrangement, while working satisfactorily is relatively complicated and therefore expensive to produce. Field planting machinery of this general type also desirably requires a number of other capabilities including the ability for adjacent rows of planted seedlings to be closely adjacent one another and in some cases down to eight inch row centres and that it be capable of simple connection to and operation from conventional tractors commonly used by nursery men and market gardeners.
The current practice of mechanically pushing a plant out of the soil opening shoe is reliant on the plants dropping vertically over a long distance and arriving at the correct time to coincide with the plant pushing mechanism and then pushing only to the shoe edge. This results in very variable planting in terms of the precise height of the plug relevant to the soil surface and the angle of the plant with some plants with broad leaf foliage having leaves being buried. A particular case in point is the necessity with lettuce plants to have the top of the plug level with the soil surface.
If the plug top is above the soil surface, evaporation and wicking occurs causing the plant plug to very rapidly dry out. If the plug top is below the soil surface, the soil then being in contact with or surrounding the stems and leaf area at the base of the plant will cause crown rot to set in with the loss of the plants.
Furthermore, planting often takes place in windy conditions resulting in plants blowing over in the wind before they are positioned correctly and enveloped with soil.
The objective therefore of the present invention is to provide improved machinery of the aforementioned type that is capable of transplanting seedlings from trays directly into ground planting positions, preferably with uniform ground spacing, and preferably constructed in a relatively uncomplicated manner. A further objective of the present invention is to provide improved devices for use in transplanting machinery of the aforementioned type.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention provides apparatus for transplanting plugs comprising seedlings and propagating medium from a tray including a plurality of plug retaining cells into a prepared ground planting position, said apparatus including tray holding means, plug eject means for removing one or more plugs from the plug retaining cells, plug delivery means for receiving a plug ejected from said tray and delivering same via a travel path to a ground planting preparation device arranged to at least partly prepare said ground planting position, plug holding means associated with said ground planting preparation device arranged to hold a plug delivered by said plug delivery means, plant plug removal means arranged between said plug eject means and said plug holding means to remove any plant plug not containing a seedling viable for planting from said travel path prior to reaching said plug holding means, and plug planting means to move a said plug from said plug holding means to the prepared ground planting position in response to said apparatus having travelled a predetermined distance over the around.
Conveniently, the apparatus is constructed and operated so as to ensure that a seedling is always located at the seedling holding means when the seedling planting means is activated in response to the apparatus having travelled the predetermined distance. Preferably this might be achieved by providing at least one intermediate seedling holding device located along said travel path to interrupt and hold a seedling at said intermediate seedling holding device, the or each said intermediate seedling holding device including sensor means to determine if a seedling viable for planting is hold by the intermediate seedling holding device, and a said plant plug removal means located at or adjacent each said intermediate seedling holding device to remove from said travel path any plant plug not containing a seedling viable for planting. Conveniently the travel path might be formed by at least one substantially upright drop tube through which said seedlings pass while moving towards said seedling holding means associated with said ground planting preparation device, at least one said intermediate seedling holding device being located along the or each said drop tube. Preferably, at least one further sensor means may be located before the or each said intermediate seedling holding device to determine if a said plant plug contains a seedling viable for planting as said plant plug moves along said travel path. A further said plant plug removal means may be provided associated with the or each said further sensor means to remove from said travel path any said plant plug not containing a seedling viable for planting.
In one preferred embodiment, the seedling delivery means may include an endless conveyor having a plurality of plant plug receiving receptacles there along, each of said plant plug receiving receptacles being adapted to receive a plant plug ejected from a said seedling retaining cell of the tray, said endless conveyor being bodily movable from a position where one or more said seedling plant plugs are positioned in respective said plant receiving receptacles to a second position where said seedling plant plugs are sequentially released from said endless conveyor. Conveniently the bodily movement of the endless conveyor may be between 0° and 60° to 120°, preferably between 0° and 90°. In a still further preferred embodiment, the tray holding means may be arranged to hold at least one tray in a substantially vertical orientation and includes tr
Novosad Christopher J.
Reising Ethington, Barnes, Kisselle, Learman & McCulloch, P.C.
Williames Hi-Tech International Pty Ltd.
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