Deere & Company

Ralph Everette Stanfill

Daniel M Foley

Timothy Dirk Wodrich

Gary Allen Rehn

James Gerald Steinbach

William Wayne Jackson

George Frederick Oelschlaeger

A seeding implement grain box is provided with a single piece molded plastic insert at the bottom of the box that forms an array of funnel sections having open lower ends that align with the openings in the grain box bottom wall. The funnel sections have sloping walls between each bottom wall opening to cover the flat portions of the bottom wall between the openings, thereby allowing the seed grain to completely empty from the grain box.

Grain box insert for seeding implement

A power seeding rate adjustment mechanism for a seeding implement has a threaded lead screw that is rotated by an electric motor. A nut threaded onto the lead screw is fixed to the shifter lever such that when the lead screw is rotated, the nut translates along the length of the lead screw to pivot a shifter lever. The shifter lever is in turn coupled to a seed meter drive shaft to move the shaft transversely, thereby moving fluted feed wheels in or out of the seed cups. A switch carried by the operator in the pulling tractor actuates the motor. The adjustment mechanism enables the operator to make adjustments on-the-go without stopping or leaving the tractor. The motor can be disengaged from the lead screw and the screw turned by a hand crank for manual adjustment in the event of a power failure to the motor.

Power rate adjustment mechanism for a seeding implement

An opener for use in varying ground conditions, ranging from no-till to conventional full tillage conditions, includes an adjustable down pressure control and a down pressure spring and tension link assembly which selectively provide a limited free float opener condition or a conventional down pressure spring controlled bias condition. A sleeve slidably received by the opener arm and mounted over the lower portion of the tension link assembly allows the opener to free float in loose soil conditions so that only the weight of the opener provides downward bias when the down pressure control is adjusted to a minimum condition. The opener is free to ride up and down to follow irregularities in the ground surface. In harder soil conditions such as those encountered in no-till farming methods, the down pressure control is adjusted to a position wherein an enlarged portion on the sleeve bottoms against the opener arm and the spring begins to compress so that the opener operates in the conventional spring biased mode. The sleeve allows increased downward movement of the opener to follow depressions in the soil.

Down pressure system with free float extension

A plow having a main frame beam disposed in a diagonal direction with respect to the direction of travel and having a plurality of plow bottoms equally spaced along the diagonal beam, each bottom being vertically pivotally supported on the beam. A furrow wheel frame is carried on the rear of the beam to swing about a vertical axis. The plow bottoms and wheel frame are connected together and are power operated so that the plows may have their effective plowing width adjusted while at the same time positioning the furrow wheel frame. A hitch connection is carried on the forward end of the plow and is composed of a first part which is adapted for connection to a tractor and a second part which is rearward of the first part and adapted to shift with the plow frame. The two parts are connected by a vertical pivot to permit relative lateral swinging between the parts. Master and slave cylinders extend respectively between the first and second parts of the hitch and furrow wheel frame and the furrow wheel so that upon adjusting the width of cut of the plow bottoms on the go which would tend to shift the hitch parts relative to one another the position of the rear furrow wheel with respect to the wheel frame is automatically adjusted. The master and slave cylinders are so mounted and dimensioned that the rear wheel will automatically adjust itself with respect to the direction of travel in order to achieve desired steering of the rear wheel and resultant positioning of the rear position of the frame.

Growing community of inventors

Geneseo, IL, United States of America

Ralph Everette Stanfill