Machine for picking up and depositing seeds.

摘要

A machine for picking up seeds from a mass of seeds and depositing the seeds individually comprises a row of suction heads each having a suction duct terminating in an orifice and a container for holding the mass of seeds. The row of heads are pivotally mounted and are provided with a driving mechanism which swings the heads to and fro along a path between a pick-up position in which each of the orifices is adjacent the container and a discharge position in which seeds picked up by suction through the orifices are discharged. In order to enable each head to discharge at the discharge position only a single natural seed rather than a pelleted seed, a wiper member is provided and extends parallel to the row of heads in their path between the pick-up position and the discharge position. The wiper member has a curved surface and the heads swing close to this surface just before they reach the discharge position. The surface is so shaped that a tapering space is formed between the surface and a flat circular surface surrounding the orifice of each head and this tapering space is of sufficient width to hold a single seed, but squeezes surplus seeds away from the orifice of each head as the orifice passes over the curved surface.