Agco Corporation

William H Thompson

Ranjit Patwardhan

Douglas J Grollmes

William E Higgs

A foldable marker mounted to an agricultural implement includes pivotally connected inboard and outboard arms, with the outboard arm supporting a ground marker device. The arms are shiftable between folded and unfolded conditions, with the inboard arm defining a longitudinal axis extending along the length of the inboard arm and a transverse axis orthogonal to the longitudinal axis, with the inboard arm operable to be unfolded so that the transverse axis is substantially aligned with a forward direction in the unfolded condition. A pivot joint defines a pivot axis, with the pivot axis and transverse axis defining a lateral angle of at least twenty degrees and a vertical angle of at least twenty degrees. The outboard arm is in a laterally extended position when the arms are in the unfolded condition and in a laterally retracted position when the arms are in the folded condition.

Agricultural implement marker foldable about compound angle

A metering device having an obstruction within its metering chamber to prevent inputs such as seeds from passing from a seed sump to other areas within the metering chamber and causing to the metering device to become overfilled with seeds when the metering device is raised out of the planting position. In one embodiment, the obstruction includes one or more hingedly connected flaps that move due to the changing orientation of the metering device. In one or more positions of the metering device, the obstruction is positioned to prevent the seeds from leaving the seed sump. The seeds are prevented from leaving the seed sump without having to manually shut a gate on each metering devices of a planter.

Growing community of inventors

Hesston, KS, United States of America

William H Thompson