Seed planter, planter assembly and method of picking up and discharging single seeds

摘要

A seed planter comprises a seed transport member having a porous surface and an air jet directed normally to this surface. The porous surface is moved past a plurality of seeds, whereupon the air jet retains a single seed on the porous surface, and the seed transport member carries this retained seed to a seed unloading station, where the impingement of the air jet upon the surface is interrupted, thus allowing the retained seed to fall from the porous surface. The planter is capable of metering both flat and spherical seeds very accurately at metering rates of about 40 seeds per second and can be made of small width so that a single row of planters on a planter assembly can plant closely spaced rows. A planter assembly capable of planting multiple rows of seeds is provided by mounting a plurality of the seed planters on a frame.