Untitled record

Sheets—Sheet 1.

No. 37,286.

W. FINLEY.

Grain-Drill.

Patented Jan. 6, 1863.

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N.PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, DC.

Sheets—Sheet 2.

No. 37,286.

W. FINLEY.

Grain-Drill.

Patented .Jan. 6, 1863.

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N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. 0. C.

United States Patent Office.

WILLIAM FINLEY, OF SCHOOLCRAFT, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEEDING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,286, dated January 6, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, William Finley, of Schoolcraft, in the county of Kalamazoo and State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Seeding-Machine; and I do hereby declare that tbe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which—

Figure 1 is a side sectional view of my invention, taken in the line x x, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same; Fig. 3, an enlarged detached sectional view of the seeddistributing roller. Fig. 4 is a face view of a ratchet-pulley pertaining to the invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents an axle, on which two wheels, Β B', are placed loosely, the axle being fixed and having thills C 0 attached permanently to it.

D is the driver’s seat, which is attached to a board or platform, E, secured to the axle A andprojectingsomedistance behind it, the seat being on the back part of said platform.

F represents a seed box or hopper, which is secured transversely on the thills C 0 and parallel with the axle A. The bottom a of this seed-box is provided with holes b, at equal distances apart, and underneath the bottom a there is placed a roller, G, which extends the whole length of the bottom, and is provided with seed-cells c. These seed-cells are made circumferentially in rows in the roller G, the cells of the different rows varying in capacity, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, in which a section of the roller G is shown embracing two sets of cells for two of the holes b in the bottom a of the seed-box. The seed-cells c may be formed by turning grooves circumferentially in the roller aud then grooving the roller longituditudinally to receive radial plates or strips d. This will be fully understood by referring to Fig. 3. At one end of the roller G there are made a series of circumferential grooves e, to receive a slide, /, which is fitted in a socket, g, at one end of the seed-box. By means of this slide/and the grooves e the roller G may be retained in different positions underneath the seed-box, so as to keep any of the rows of seed-cells c in line with the holes b in the bottom a of the seed-box, the roller G being allowed to be adjusted longitudinally underneath the bottom a a distance· equal to the length comprised by each set of seed-cells c, so that any one of said sets may be brought in line with the holes b.

Directly underneath the seed-box F there is suspended a box, H, which is equal in length to the seed-box, and has a series of inclined boards or chutes, h, placed in it and arranged alternately in reverse positions, as shown in Fig. 1. This box H is suspended at its center to the seed-box F by means of a pin or bolt, i, and the box H is connected at one end by a rod, j, with a lever, I, which has its fulcrum Jc at the upper end of an upright, J, attached to the back part of one of the thills C. The back part of the lever I is fitted and works in a slot, I, in the upper end of an upright, K, attached to the axle A, a screw or pin, m, in said upright serving as a step for the lever.

The hub n of the wheel B' has a circular plate, o, fitted on its outer end and permanently secured to it, aud this plate has four holes made in it at equal distances apart. On the arm of the axle on which the hub n is fitted, and back of said hub, there is placed loosely a sleeve, L, which is provided with a] circumferential groove, iu which a collar, M, is fitted loosely. This collar is connected by a rod, N, to a lever, O, which has its fulcrum at q, the back end of said lever being fitted in a slot, r, in a bar, s, which projects from the seat D. The sleeve L has four horizontal bars, P, attached to it, and the ends of these bars pass through the holes of the plate o. By actuating the lever 0 the sleeve L may be moved on the arm of hub n aud the bars P shoved in and out of gear with a ratchet-pulley, Q, which is also placed loosely on the arm of hub n. The pulley Q has its teeth t formed in its inner side. These teeth are shown clearly iu Fig. 4.

The roller G has a pulley, R, at one end of it, around which and the ratchet-pulley Q a band, S, passes, and the roller G is rotated by this band when the bars P are thrown in gear with the ratchet-pulley Q. By disconnecting or throwing back the bars P from the pulley Q the rotation of the roller'G is stopped. The sleeve L is rotated in consequence of tbe bars P passing between the spokes of the wheel B'. The seed is distributed from the seed-box F

37,286 by passing through the holes b in the bottom a and into the seed-cells c, the latter discharging it into the box H, and the seed passing down the chutes It in said box and being discharged from the lowest one upon the ground. The chutes h serve to scatter and equalize the distribution of the seed, causing it to fall in a thin sheet the whole length of the box H, and when the machine is being drawn over inclined ground the driver, by actuating the lever, I may keep the box H in a horizontal position, so as to insure an even distribution of the seed. The box IT, at its upper part is fitted between cleats i* i^x, attached to the lower edge of the bottom of the hopper F. These cleats serve as guides for the box H.