US3478936A - Applicator for granular insecticides,fertilizers and seeds - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 18, 1969 H. FARM ERY 3,478,936

APPLICATOR FOR GRANULAR INSECTICIDES, FERTILIZERS AND SEEDS Filed Oct. 9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 B 10 ,r 2 11 g 20 1 a i a Y 15 18 Z a j M 15 j FIG] HoRsrmE FARMERY Ihveh'for Nov. 18, 1969 H. FARMERY 3,478,936

APPLICATOR FOR GRANULAR INSECTICIDES, FERTILIZERS AND SEEDS Filed Oct. 9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FlBl. FIGS r E i J HORST/NE FAR/WEI? y h rfl or United States Patent 3,478,936 APPLICATOR FOR GRANULAR INSECTICIDES, FERTILIZERS AND SEEDS Horstine Farmery, York, England, assignor to Horstine Farmery Limited, York, England, a British company Filed Oct. 9, 1967, Ser. No. 673,822 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 29, 1966, 48,597/ 66 Int. Cl. Gtllf 11/06, 11/28 US. Cl. 222-340 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The object of the invention is to an apparatus for applying small quantities of granules on the ground or onto growing crops, and is particularly concerned with the provision of a simple apparatus, suitable for use by unskilled persons and Where mechanical apparatus is unsuitable or unavailable, for so applying small quantities of granular insecticides and fertilizers or for seed sowing.

To this end the apparatus according to the present invention comprises a hollow body having a discharge orifice, an externally mounted rockable member, an elongated member fastened to the rockable member and carrying a pair of spaced orifice closure surfaces individually capable of selectively closing the discharge orifice, and resilient means effective on said elongated member to urge one of said closure surfaces into a position closing the discharge orifice and the other of said closure surfaces into a position remote from said orifice, the positions of said closure surfaces relative to said orifice being reversible upon movement of said elongated member.

The elongated member may extend over the hollow body and have at its free end a pad for convenient digital operation by a hand holding such body to rock the rockably mounted member to cause selectively opening movements of the closure surfaces, or said elongated member may extend away from the body so that its free end may be dragged along or tapped on the ground similarly to rock the rockably mounted member, to permit granular and like particulate material in the hollow body to discharge through the orifice.

In preferred form, the apparatus comprises a tubular body of circular cross-section, which is closed at one end where the discharge orifice is provided. The rockable member is preferably in the form of a ball, with such ball extending through an aperture in the wall of the body with the edge of which aperture it makes rubbing contact. The ball is mounted on a shaft or pin carried by integral lugs or members exteriorly fastened to the wall of the body. The ball may carry, internally of the body, an arm, which may be suitably curved and which may have at its end a part-spherical surface capable of closing the discharge orifice (comprising one of the closure surfaces mentioned earlier), and a tapering opposite surface to 3,478,936 Patented Nov. 18, 1969 facilitate that member moving through the contents of the body. When such an arm is provided, but Without the part-spherical closure surface, it acts as an agitator to facilitate the discharge of the material in the body.

The elongated member is, for example, a rod made of steel and extends, substantially parallel to the major axis of a tubular hollow body, through the rockable member or ball at right angles to its pivot axis.

The other closure member may take a variety of forms but is preferably a duplicate of the aforementioned ball rockable member comprising another arm having a partspherical closure surface, and a portion apertured to thread onto the elongated member and be locked thereto in the required position for its part-spherical closure surface to close the discharge orifice in the body.

An elastic band may extend around the elongated member and the hollow body, or a spring may act between such member and the body, normally to tend to urge the parts so that one of the closure surfaces will close the discharge orifice from the body.

In use, the apparatus is carried along by hand either for digital operation or with the tip of the elongated member dragging along the ground so that ground irregularities vibrate the elongated member to cause the two closure surfaces alternately to open and close the discharge orifice. This action produces an intermittent discharge of the contents, which is facilitated by the agitation imparted to the contents of the body by movement of one of the aforementioned arms through said contents.

To vary the amount of material discharged at each opening of the discharge orifice, a plate may be mounted on the end of the body and provided with a series of holes of different size, the largest of which corresponds to the size of the discharge orifice. This plate is preferably rotatably mounted and has an arcuate row of holes, and also preferably has a blank space between the largest and smallest holes as an additional closure means for the discharge orifice when the apparatus is not in use. Such a plate is exposed for rotary movement by an operators fingers when the chutes or guides (to be described) are removed from the apparatus or not in use, and the plate is held in each desired position by a peripheral recess positioned radially of each hole as well as adjacent the blank space, and cooperating with a spring loaded detent or ball which can latch in one such recess.

Chutes or guides of various shapes and lengths may be provided to lead the discharged material in falling to ground or onto growing crops.

The apparatus may be used as stated by dragging the tip of the elongated member along the ground to lay a line of insecticide granules or fertilizer, or by tapping such tip on the ground to apply such granules or fertilizer at required points, or manually both for continuous as well as intermittent discharge; and the apparatus may also be used to sow seeds into drills or prepared troughs in the ground.

An embodiment of apparatus is by way of example hereinafter more fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus,

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale,

FIG. 3 is an end view looking on the left hand side of FIG 2,

FIG. 4 is a view of the disc on the end of the body, and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal-section similar to FIG. 2, showing a modification of the apparatus.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 to 4 of the drawings throughout which like parts bear like reference numerals, the apparatus comprises a body 1 in the form of a tube, for example of mild steel, which has at one end a die-cast closure part 2 in which is provided a discharge orifice 3. In the wall of body 1 is'an aperture in which is seated a ball 4, mounted for rocking movement on an axle 5 carried by lugs 6 and 7 integral with part 2, in an arrangement such that the periphery of ball 4 makes rubbing contact with the edge of said aperture.

The ball 4 carries, or is integral with, and arm 8 terminating in a part-spherical surface 9 capable of closing discharge orifice 3, and provided with opposite divergent fiat surface 10 to facilitate movement of arm 8 through the contents of the body 1. The ball 4 also has an external extension 11 through which extends an elongated metal member or rod 12, in a direction at right angles to the axle 5, to overlie the body 1. The rod 12 has a pad or disc 13 on its end. The rod 12 also carries a closure member 14, which is conveniently a duplicate of the ball 4 and its arm 8, and which has an arm 15 provided with a part-spherical closure surface 16.

In order to vary the amount discharged at each opening of the discharge orifice 3, a disc 17 (see FIG. 4) having and arcuate row of holes 18 of different size is rotatably mounted adjacent one end of part 2. By rotation of disc 17, any one of the holes 18 may register with discharge orifice 3, and orifice 3 can be completely closed when covered by the blank part of disc 17. A recess 19 is provided in the periphery of disc 17 in association with each of the holes 18 and with the aforementioned blank part of disc 17, part 2 is provided with a detent or spring loaded ball 20 which can engage any one such recess 19 to latch disc 17 in a selected position.

A spring 21 is disposed around axle 5 to react between part 2 and rod 12 so as to urge rod 12 in a direction such that surface 16 of closure member 14, 15 normally closes discharge orifice 3 by obstructing the hole 18 in disc 17 in register therewith thus preventing any of the contents of body 1 from passing therethrough.

The aparatus is completed by the provision of a chute 23 which can be plugged into the end of part 2, chute 23 being provided with a gap to accomodate the closure member 14, 15.

In use, the apparatus is carried in the hand. When it is desired to deposit granular or particulate material, seeds and such like contents of the body 1 onto the ground, digital pressure, e.g. by the holders thumb, is applied to the pad 13 to depress rod 12 against the spring pressure thereon. This acts to rock the ball 4 in such direction that the surface 9 moves to close the discharge orifice 3. At the same time, movement of arm 15 causes its surface 16 to move away from and so open the hole 18 in the dis 17 in register with orifice 3. Between the time that hole 18 is opened by movement of surface 16, and the time that orifice 3 is closed by movement of surface 9, a portion of the contents of the body 1 will pass through such discharge orifice 3 and will be discharged onto the ground via chute 23.

'As an alternative to such digital operation, the rod 12 may extend in a direction opposite to that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to an appreciable distance beyond the lower end of the apparatus as shown in FIG. 5. When the lower free end of such a downwardly extending rod 12 is dragged along the ground the lower irregularities thereof will cause rocking of the ball 4, or such free end of rod may be tapped on the ground to cause rocking of the ball 4. In this alternative arrangement, when a heavier or continuous discharge is required, the part-spherical end 9 of thearm 8 may be cut off as indicated at 24 (FIG. 5) so that the discharge orifice is not closed internally, and the arm 8 then merely acts as an agitator.

The'open end. of the body 1 may be closed by a cap which may be removed for filling the body 1, or such open end may telescope with respect to'the end of tubular container (not shown) of material to be discharged.

I claim:

1. An applicator for dispensing granular material and seeds comprising a hollow container for holding material to be dispensed, means providinga discharge orifice at one end of said container, an aperture in a side wall of said container, pivot-means on the exterior of said container adjacent said aperture, support' means rockably mounted on said pivot means and having a portion extending through said side wall aperture from the exterior to the interior of said container, said support means including a curved surface in rubbing engagement with the edges of said side wall aperture for sealing said side wall aperture against the discharge of material therethrough while simiutaneously permitting rocking motion of said support means on said pivot means, an elongated arm extending from the interior portion of said support means into the interior of said container and through any material contained therein for movement through said material upon rocking motion of said support means,1said arm including a closure surface positioned within said container adjacent said discharge orifice and movable toward and away from said discharge orifice with rocking motion of said support means and resultant movement of said elongated arm, and manual operator means engaging said support means adjacent the exterior of said container for selectively effecting rocking motion of said support means and resultant movement of said closure surface.

2. The applicator of claim 1 wherein said side wall aperture is round, said curved surface in rubbing engagement with said aperture being spherical.

3. The applicator of claim 2 wherein said discharge orifice is round, said closure surface being spherical.

4. The applicator or claim 1 including a further elongated arm positioned exterior of said container and ex tending toward said discharge orifice in spaced relation to said first-mentioned arm, said further arm including a further closure surface positioned outside of said container adjacent said discharge orifice in spaced relation to said first-mentioned closure surface, and means coupling said further arm to said manual operator means for movement of said further arm together with said first-mentioned arm, whereby movement of one of said closure surfaces toward said discharge orifice simultaneously effects movement of the other closure surface away from said orifice.

5. The applicator of claim 4 wherein each of said closure surfaces comprises a part spherical surface.

6. The applicator of claim 4, including resilient means coupled to said manual operator means for normally urging one of said closure surfaces into closing engagement with said discharge orifice and for simultaneously urging the other of said closure surfaces into a position spaced from said discharge orifice.

7. The applicator of claim 6 wherein said resilient means is arranged to urge said first-mentioned closure surface into normally spaced relation to said orifice on the interior or said container, and to urgesaid further closure surface into normally closing engagement with said orifice on the exterior of said container.

8. The applicator of claim 1 including flow control means adjacent said discharge orifice for selectively varying the effective size of said discharge orifice.

9. The applicator of claim 4 including flow control means disposed adjacent said discharge orifice at a location between said closure surfaces, said flow control means comprising a movably mounted apertured member having a plurality of differently sizedapertures adapted to be individually positioned adjacent, said discharge orifice.

10. The applicator of claim 1 wherein said container is tubular, said manual operator. comprising an elongated rod extending alongside the exterior, of said container in. a direction generally parallel to the axis of said tubular container, said rod having afree end remote from. said discharge orifice for selective movement to control the positioning of said closure surface relative to said orifice.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,064,493 11/1962 Popovich et a1. 3,257,037

6/1966 Watson 222-556 X ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner 5 N. L. STACK, JR., Assistant Examiner

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