Coating apparatus – Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed... – Responsive to attribute – absence or presence of work
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-20
2001-07-17
Osele, Mark A. (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed...
Responsive to attribute, absence or presence of work
C118S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06261371
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel and improved apparatus for coating seeds with gel, particularly which can produce a plurality of gel-coated seeds simlutaneously.
2. Related Art
Japanese Laid Open Gazette No. Hei 9-149,711, for example, discloses a well-known conventional apparatus for coating small seeds with gelling solution mixed together with nutrition, medicine and the like, wherein seeds are sucked to a plurality of sucking chips respectively, carried to the above portion of processing nozzles by the movement of the sucking nozzles and released into the respective nozzles. Each of the nozzles is previously fed therein with gelling solution so as to form a gel-membrane therein for receiving the released seed, thereby coating the seed with the gelling solution. In the same apparatus, the gel-coated seeds are dropped into hardening solution in a tank so as to be conveyed therein by the movement of paddles while the gel-coat thereof being hardened, and then are dropped into water or other washing liquid in another tank so as to be conveyed therein by a screw-typed conveyor while the hardening solution stuck to the outer surface thereof being washed out.
The above-said conventional seed coating apparatus with gel has included some problems as follows:
The apparatus has been able to processes only small seeds. Large seeds have been processed by a different apparatus.
The sucking chips have been moved by actuators consisting of a horizontally moving cylinder and a vertically moving cylinder, so that there has been such a fear that the seeds carried by the sucking chips fall down by an inertial force at the intermediate of its carriage course where the carrying direction is changed. Additionally, the seed carrying means having such cylinders is complicated.
The flow of gelling solution fed into each nozzle has been substantially horizontally oneway, so that when it was excessively pressurized, there has been a fear of deviation of the gel-membrane from its determined portion by the pressure. It has also caused the deviation of the gel-coated seed dropped between the nozzle and the hardening unit from its determined arrival portion in the hardening unit, so that the dropped gel-coated seed has hit its soft gel-coat against the paddle. On seeding, the resultant unevenly gel-coated seeds are sent through a hose or a seeding machine while rubbing against one another, thereby causing the inner seeds to be removed from the gel-coats or to be injured.
The conveyors of the hardening unit and the washing unit has been mechanically different from each other as the above mentioned, thereby expensively increasing the kinds of parts. Additionally, the paddle of the hardening unit has been made of a plate bored by a plurality of slits for allowance of the hardening solution to pass therethrough, which has been laterally united at the upper and lower ends thereof in perpendicular to its conveyance direction, thereby causing its resistance against the hardening solution so as to push out the hardening solution together with the gel-coated seeds through a seed discharge hole of the hardening unit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Regarding to a seed coating apparatus including a seed stocker, a plurality of seed holders for catching seeds from the seed stocker respectively, a seed holder block integrally provided with the seed holders, a plurality of nozzles for seed coating as many as the seed holders, a nozzle block integrally provided with the nozzles, and a seed carrying means for moving the seed holder block between the seed stocker and the nozzle block so as to carry seeds caught on the seed holders to the nozzles respectively, the first object of the present invention is to enable the seed coating apparatus to process every sized seed whether it is extremely small or large, thereby reducing the tooling cost for production of coated seeds.
For attainment of the first objection, the seed holder block can be replaced another seed holder block having different seed holders in correspondence to the size of seed to be held, the nozzle block can be replaced with another nozzle block having different nozzles in correspondence to the size of seeds to be coated, and the position of the seed carrying means can be changed so as to change the distance between the seed holders and the seed stocker.
Due to the exchangeability of the seed holder block and the nozzle block, the apparatus can process any sized (either small or large) seed, so that it is unnecessary to provide individual apparatuses for small seeds and large seeds. Also, due to the adjustability of the position of the seed carrying means, the seeds on the seed stocker are prevented from crashing by the seed holders or missing to be caught by the same.
The second object of the present invention regarding to a seed resuming-and-blocking of the downstream portions are simultaneously performed.
Accordingly, it comes to be unnecessary to provide the passages with individual valves respectively, thereby simplifying the construction and control of valves for the feeding of gelling solution and reducing the cost thereof. The integral first and second valves slidably crossing all the passages have mechanical errors less than a ball-type valve, thereby being prevented from an escape of gelling solution and enabling a constant quantity of gelling solution to be discharged to each nozzle. Also, they make the gelling solution simultaneously flowing through all the passages constant in quantity and term, thereby producing constant sized gel-coated seeds.
The fourth object of the present invention regarding to the seed coating apparatus including a plurality of nozzles supplied therein with seeds and gelling solution respectively for coating the seeds with the gelling solution, each of the nozzles being provided with a hole for dropping a seed coated with gelling solution, is to prevent the gelling solution in the nozzles from a splash of hardening liquid raised from a hardening unit disposed below the nozzles for hardening the gel-coats of seeds.
For attainment of the fourth object, the holes of the nozzles for dropping the gel-coated seeds to the hardening solution tank are opened-and-closed by a shutter. The shutter closes all the holes of the nozzles as soon as the gel-coated seeds are dropped from the holes.
The fifth object of the present invention regarding to the similar seed coating apparatus including the first and second valves and the shutter is to interlock the valves and shutter properly, thereby simplifying the control system of them and making it less expensive.
For attainment of the fifth object, the first and second valves and coating apparatus including a seed stocker, a nozzle for coating a seed therein, and a seed carrying means for carrying seeds on the seed stocker to the nozzle, is to simplify the mechanism and control of the seed carrying means for cost reduction or compacting and to simplify the carriage course thereof for preventing the seeds carried by the moving seed carrying means from falling down when the seed carrying means changes its carriage direction.
For attainment of the second object, the carrying means is directed vertically slantwise, so that the carriage distance is reduced and the change of carriage direction vanishes, thereby reducing the vibration generated on the moving seed carrying means.
Regarding to a seed coating apparatus including a plurality of parallel nozzles supplied therein with seeds and gelling solution respectively for coating the seeds with the gelling solution, and a plurality of parallel passages for respectively feeding the nozzles with gelling solution, the third object of the present invention is to simplify the control mechanism for simultaneously feeding all the nozzles with the gelling solution and to even the feeding of gelling solution to all the nozzles for diminishing the qualitative variation of gel-coated seeds or reducing defective pieces.
For attainment of the third object, a single elongated first valve axially slidably cr
Kohno Yasushi
Maejima Takamichi
Nakatsukasa Kazushi
Agritecno Yazaki Co. Ltd.
Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear Llp.
Osele Mark A.
Tadesse Yewebdar T
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