hand-operated seeder
hand-held seeder (artifact #8)

HAND-OPERATED  SEEDER

This seed planter is from the Doyle farm.  Upon close examination the tool appears to be a corn or bean planter.  The planter is made of lightweight wood with a tin hopper, steel carrier, metal earth-penetrating points, and pins and rivets of steel.  The construction is sturdy, designed to withstand a lot of use.  The design principle is much like a man reaching deep into a container of seeds, retrieving only a single seed, and accurately dispensing it into a planting tube.  A hand action of this type would be tiring after a few operations and the repetition would be overwhelming.

The receiver/ejector insert can be removed from the tool by removing a cotter pin holding its carrier captive.  Perhaps the insert is only one of a set, there being an insert for different sizes of seeds, or it could be switched end for end to accommodate two seed sizes.  It is interesting to note that the receiver/ejector carrier rests on a bed of wood.  It has sled rails, one on each side at the bottom.  The design and operation of the planter is similar to a pump rifle, a manual tool and simple in operation.  With a small amount of practice and with just a touch of rhythm, one can see that the loaded hopper could be planted quite easily and this would be a good step up from dropping seeds by hand.  The planter would place the seed rather accurately, overcoming problems associated with hand seeding.  There would not be the problems of misdropped or misplanted seeds, no multiple seed drops, and the wind blowing seeds about.  These are just some of the noticeable advantages.

The hopper is attached to one upright.  The carrier for the receiver/ejector is attached to the opposing upright.  The uprights are hinged a few inches from the bottom, creating a scissors action with metal points attached at the lower ends of the uprights.  The handles are opened at the end of a cycle of operation.  The beginning of the next cycle starts by pushing the handles together, pushing the receiver/ejector into the hopper, guided by a slide mechanism, and closing the points.  This allows a seed to fall into the receiver hole, somewhat larger than the seed, and at the same time rejecting the entry of other seeds.  The points are pushed into the soil for the next seed drop.  Upon opening the handles, the opposing uprights are pulled apart, pulling the receiver/ejector out and simply allowing the seed to fall by gravity, through a tube, and into the cavity of earth formed by the opening points.

There are metal points attached to the lower end of each upright.  This pair of points, pushed slightly into the soil at the location of the next seed drop, opens and closes the soil, covering the seed as it is planted.  Seeds can be planted uniformly to the proper depth by adjusting ones technique of operation.  This approach would promote a controlled environment conducive to maximum germination and establishment of early growth of the tender sprouting seeds.  This would eliminate the seeds being nonuniformly covered by a plow and would also eliminate the animals and plowman from steeping on the seeds as they are being planted.  No hoeing in of the seed would be required.

The one-quart hopper capacity appears adequate for at least a two-row round trip back to the seed bag while keeping the weight and volume to reasonable limits.  This is quite an improvement over hand dropping of seeds.  No wind problem, no wasted seeds, and no major spacing problems controls the cost of precious seeds.  This was a development on the road to mechanization of farm equipment.

C.D. Doyle  3/7/03

seed planter
From a restaurant display near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
This one uses a wooden plug as a hopper lid.

The hand-operated seeder is so well conceived and developed that more detail is in order :

Seeder Detail

1.  Carrier withdrawn from hopper (b&w)
2.  Receiver/Ejector insert rusted together with the carrier (same as 1. but in color)
3.  Cotter Pin holds carrier in place
4.  Slider rails guide for carrier tray
5.  Slider rails/guide (another view)
6.  Hopper (close-up)
7.  Seeder closed position
8.  Seeder open position
9.  Seeder closed perspective view
10. Points, closed
11. Points, open
12. Lower pivot repair (close-up)
13. Bolt Stop
14. Bolt Stop (close-up)  Note that the bolt is upset (peened) by being knocked against the opposing round-head bolt, which acts as an anvil.


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