Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-croD seeder and in particular to a multi-
crop seeder which can be used to sow seeds in dry lands utilizing human energy
as the power source for crops like mustard, rai, wheat, green gram, black gram
etc.
Description of known art
It is presently known to provide seed drills for sowing seeds in dry land. Such
seed drills have different types of metering mechanism like agitator with
adjustable cells, vertical rotor with cells or fluted like roller type mechanism. In
such system the metering mechanism is the heart of the sowing machine and its
function is to distribute seeds uniformly at desired application rates.
In the adjustable orifice with agitator metering device, seed flow is regulated by
changing the size of opening provided at hopper bottom. An agitator fixed above
seed opening helps in continuous flow of seeds.
In such seed drill equipped with adjustable orifice and agitator there is no precise
control over the seed rate and uniformity of distribution in rows.
In the fluted roller arrangement axial or helical flutes are machined or cast on an
aluminium, cast iron or plastic roller, Rotation of fluted roller in a housing, filled
with seeds, causes the seeds to flow out from roller housing in a continuous
stream. Seed rate is controlled by changing the exposed length of fluted roller in
contact with seeds.
The seed drill equipped withfluted roller need to be calibrated frequently by
adjusting the exposed length of fluted roller to get the desired seed rate. Only
one manual drawn seed drill available for sowing mustard seeds is equipped with
fluted roller metering mechanism. In addition to the above mentioned problem,
this machine also requires two labourers to pull and no covering device has been
provided.
Also known is the vertical rotor with cells which are suitable for metering
individual or hill of seeds. The rotor with grooves or cells on its periphery is fixed
in the hopper. The size and number of cells on the rotor are according to the size
of seed and desired seed rate. A cut off device is provided above the rotor for
regulating the flow of seed to ceils.
The said drill equipped with vertical cells are suitable for hill dropping. The rotors
having cells on its periphery has to be changed for sowing different seeds.
Apart from the limitations of such known metering mechanism discussed above in
all of these metering mechanisms, power has to be transmitted from the ground
wheel with the help of a transmission system, resulting in additional components
and thereby increasing the self weight of the seed drill.
There is also the low land manual rice seeder available for sowing pre-
germinated paddy seeds in puddled fileds. The seeder is capable of sowing
seeds in 8 rows at 200 mm row-to-row spacing. It has a lugged ground wheel
and two skids. The lugged ground wheel helps in rotating the seed drums and
the two skids help in sliding the machine in the field as well as preventing the
machine from sinking in the muddy field. The pre-germinated paddy seeds are
kept in four drums which have peripheral openings at the two ends for discharge.
The lowland manual rice seeder can't be utilized for sowing any seeds in dryland.
It has neither any furrow openers nor covering devices, which are very much
essential for carrying out sowing operations in dryland. The size of holes
provided on the periphery of the drum is big enough to handle any seeds other
than sprouted paddy. Even for sowing in puddled soil, perfect levelling and
proper maintenance of water level (10 mm) are necessary and the soil should be
allowed to settle for 2 to 3 days prior to sowing. Failing which, the machine will
not work.
Most of the seed drills available are crop specific and the economic condition of
the farmer doesn't permit to have number of such seed drills for sowing different
seeds. For these reasons, the available seed drills are not very much
popularised among the rural farmers.
Moreover, in States where land holdings are very small, mustard and wheat
crops are grown predominantly after harvesting of rice crop by using the
traditional methods of sowing resulting in higher requirement of labourers, thus
increasing the cost of cultivation. Draft animals and human labours continue to
be the major power source for agricultural production in small and marginal land
holdings as well as in hilly areas indicating a very low level of mechanisation.
With the increase in maintenance cost and also reduction in population of draft
animals, human energy is predominantly used in agriculture for all operations
starting from seedbed preparation to threshing and transportation.
It is thus the basic object of the present invention to provide efficient machines or
implements to raise the agricultural production.
Another object is directed to provide simple and efficient multi-crop seed drill
which would not need frequent adjustments and would be convenient for farmers
to use in fields using human power.
Yet further object is directed to provide for a simple, lighter weight, manual drawn
seed drill, which can sow different types of seed efficiently.
Thus, according to the present invention there is provided a multi-crop seeder
devise comprising:
a. a rotatable container means having means for feeding in the seeds to be
seeded;
b. a plurality of openings/holes of varied dimensions provided in said container
body with means for selectively opening the holes of specified dimensions
while maintaining the other holes closed for selective release of desired seeds
for specified crop;
c. furrow means for creating furrow opening for the purpose of seeding;
d. ground wheels provided at the ends of the said container and operatively
connected thereto such that the motion of the said ground wheels on the
ground effectuate the required rotary motion of the container to thereby drop
the seeds of specified dimensions through opening/holes in the container into
the furrow;
e. means for covering the seeds thus dropped in the furrows.
The above disclosed multi-crop drum seeder has been developed for sowing
multi crop seeds, such as, mustard and wheat seeds. Preferably, the container is
a cylindrical drum which is horizontally disposed with said ground wheels
provided at the two sides thereof. The furrow means, the container - ground
wheels and the covering means are supported with respect to a support
structure. A handle means can be provided to facilitate handling of the drum on
land for seeding.
The details of the invention, its objects and advantages are explained in greater
detail in relation to non-limiting exemplary illustrations as per the accompanying
figures wherein
Figures 1A to 1C illustrate the various types of conventional (seed metering)
devices commonly used in the art;
Figures 2A and 2B illustrate presently available manually operated mustard drill;
Figure 3 illustrates by way of a schematic illustration of low land manual rice
seeder also presently available.
Figure 4 illustrates by way of an isometric view the multi-crop dry land drum
seeder in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 5 illustrates a top plan view of the drum seeder of figure 4.
Figure 6 illustrates a side view the drum seeder in accordance with the present
invention;
Figure 7 illustrates by way of an elevational view the drum seeder of the invention.
Reference is first invited to Figure 1A, which illustrates a conventional metering device
used in the art. As shown in said figure, such a conventional metering device comprises
of hopper (HO), agitator means (AG) and orifice (OR). The seeds are placed in the
hopper (HO) and upon movement of the agitator (AG) the same are metered through the
orifice (OR).
Reference is now invited to Figure 1B which illustrates another embodiment of
conventional metering device the vertical rotor with cells fixed in secondary feed hopper.
As illustrated in said figure, in such an embodiment there is also provided a primary
hopper (PA) from which seeds are fed into a secondary hopper (SH) by granting feed. A
vertical rotor (VR) is adapted to rotate adjacent the secondary hopper (SH) to thereby
favour metered delivery of the seed from the secondary hopper (SH) through a delivery
tube (DT).
Reference is further invited to Figure 1C which shows yet further embodiment of a
conventional metering device the known fluted feed roller assembly. As shown in said
figure, the fluted feed roller assembly comprise of a hopper (HO) containing the seeds to
be metered. A fluted roller (FR) with spring and tongue means is provided in conjunction
with the hopper (HO) to slowly release the seeds through sprout means (SM).
Reference is now invited to Figures 2a and 2b which shows the manually operated
mustard drill which is also available in the art. As illustrated in said figure, such a drill is
comprised of a frame structure (1) which supports seed hopper (2) and the roll Wheel (3)
which is provided to move the drill on ground. The seed metering mechanism (4) is
provided for meter release of seed from the hopper. A furrow opener (5) is also provided
for creating furrow on the ground for the desired seeding. Additionally the drill includes
means for setting the seed rate on a scale (6).
Also known is the low land manual rice seeder as shown in Figure 3. As shown in said
figure such a seeder is comprised of main frame structure (7) which supports a lifting bar
(8), a pair of skid means (9) and the ground wheel (10). There between two skid means
there is provided drum hoppers (11) while external of said skid means a row marker
(12) there is provided a further drum hopper (13) on either side. The ground wheel is
apart from supporting the frame also facilitates the movement of the rice seeder on
ground. The drums are provided with slots / opener for metered release of seeds there
through. In such a seeder during rotary motion of the wheel, the drum is also rotated for
discharge of the seed through the metering holes.
While above illustrated systems / means have been provided over the years to facilitate
the metered discharge of seeds on ground, such systems / means suffer from some
inherent problems/limitations as already discussed. To avoid such
shortcomings/disadvantages of the known metering devices/drills, the multi-crop device
seeder of the invention as illustrated in accompanying figures 4 to 7 is proposed. As
illustrated in said figures, the multi-crop seeder of the invention is comprised of circular
drum (14) preferably obtained of Gl sheet and can be of length 600 mm and diameter
160 for carrying seeds. The drum is provided with opening preferably of sizes 18x60
mm with hinged cover for putting the seeds into drum.
On the periphery of the drum (14), two sets of holes (15 & 16) have beenprovided for
dropping of seeds in the furrows. One set comprising of two rows of holes of diameter,
such as, 3 mm and peripheral spacing, such as, 60 mm for mustard seeds and the
other set having three rows of holes of diameter 6 mm with peripheral spacing 20 mm for
sowing wheat seeds. In this type of seeder, neither hopper nor metering mechanism is
required separately to carry and meter seeds respectively as in the case of conventional
seed drills. There is no need of replacing the metering mechanisms or making
adjustments in the exposed length of the roller when it is to be used for sowing different
seeds. Simply by providing means for covering a set of holes on the seed drum it can
be adapted to work for different types of seed.
The device also includes provision for making furrows by way of shovel type furrow
openers (3) of width such as, 30 mm and mounted on a frame (17) at the front of the
drum with the help of nuts and grooves drilled on the shanks. The depth of furrows can
be varied by loosening the nut and the raising or lowering the shank (18). This type of
arrangement provides for adaptability of the device to create furrows of varying depth
depending upon the seed to be seeded.
A "V" shape square section iron bar of width, such as, 170 mm has been provided as
the covering device (19) at the back of the seed drum of each furrow opener. All these
units are preferably mounted in a frame such as of size 750x460 mm made up
preferably of MS angle section 25x25x3 mm with the help of chains. Such an
arrangement can cover the seeds as well as compact the soil above the seed for
obtaining better germination.
The entire unit could be transported to the field with the help of three rubber wheels (20)
of size such as 100x40 mm each, two mounted at the front and one at the back side of
the main frame with the help of pins and holes. This arrangement provides for carrying
the seed drill to and from the field.
In the field, movement of the seeder is possible by raising the rubber wheels (20) by
removing the pins and raising the shaft of the rubber wheels so that the two ground
wheels of 360 mm diameter and 37 mm width, mounted to the seed drum at the two
ends with the help of nuts and bolts are in contact with soil and then pulling manually.
By this arrangement the seed drum and the ground wheel could be moved together.
This type of arrangement eliminates the transmission system required as in the case of
conventional seed drills. For better gripping between soil and ground wheel, lug means
are provided such as eight number of lugs of 40 mm height made up of 25x3 mm
preferably of MS flat are welded at right angle to the periphery of the wheel at equal
angular intervals.
The handle means is adapted for adjustable handle height is an additional advantage
over the conventional seed drills for meeting the various operators' height for pulling the
seed drill during operation.
It would thus be evident from the above that the construction of this seeder is
very simple and would meet the much required need for a multi-crop seeder at
cost-effective rates.
The drum seeder can work well for sowing seeds like wheat and mustard.
Preferably, the best mode for operating this seeder with human power is three
rows and two rows with 7 and 5 mm depth of placement for wheat and mustard
seeds respectively.
The device provides for the simple metering mechanism i.e. the holes drilled on
the periphery of the seed drum carrying the seeds and during forward movement
as the drum rotates, the seeds fall on the seedbed. The size and peripheral
spacing between two consecutive holes determine the seed rate for different
seeds. The device is adaptable to different crops i.e. mustard, wheat etc.
There is no transmission mechanism necessary for operating the metering
mechanism, which makes it simple and of less weight and thus convenient to
handle. Additionally, the device has been used for adjustment of furrow depth for
placing the seeds, movement of the drum seeder off the field, arrangement for
disengagement or rubber wheels for putting the steel ground wheels in contact
with soil surface for getting the desired motion, arrangement for adjustment of
handle height according to the operator's height, covering devices (Chain with "V"
Shape iron bars).
The device (seeder) of the invention would provide for reducing the labour
requirement by 50 to 55% and 30% to 35% as compared to traditional methods of
sowing and using conventional seed drills respectively. There is a saving of 30 to
35% on cost of sowing either wheat or mustard seeds by using this seeder.
The device is simple to develop and lighter weight and its low power requirement
make it cost effective and convenient to the user.
We Claim
1. A multi-crop dryland seeder comprisings:
a. a rotatable container having means for keeping the seeds to be sown;
b. a plurality of openings/holes (15 & 16) of varied dimensions provided in said
container body with means for selectively opening the holes of specified
dimensions while maintaining the other holes closed for discharging of
desired seeds for specified crop ;
c. furrow means for creating furrow opening for the purpose of seeding ;
d. ground wheels provided at the ends of the said container and operatively
connected thereto such that the motion of the said ground wheels on the
ground provide the required rotary motion of the container to drop the seeds
of specified dimensions in the furrow through opening/holes in the container;
e. means (19) for covering the seeds thus dropped in the furrows.
2. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in claim 1 wherein said container
comprises a drum means (14) with said ground wheels provided at the two ends
thereof, said drum and wheels supported with respect to a frame structure.
3. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in anyone of claims 1 or 2 wherein said
furrow means comprising of shovel type furrow openers (3) supported with
respect to said frame structure at the front of the device having means (18) for
varying the depth of the furrow and in alignment with said holes in the drums.
4. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3 wherein means
for covering comprise of a covering device (19) of 'V shape members supported
from said frame structure at the rear.
5. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 4 wherein said
container/drum is provided with an opening with hinged cover for feeding of the
seeds to be metered.
6. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 5 wherein said
frame structure (17) is supported with adjustable wheels preTerably rubber wheels
(20) for smooth handling of the device.
7. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in claim 6 wherein the said rubber wheels
(20) are adapted to retract to allow the ground wheels to operate and actuate the
rotary motion and the consequent movement of the container/drum means.
8. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 7 wherein the
peripheral openings (15 & 16) are of varying sizes to favour multi-crop seeding.
9. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 8 wherein there
is provided handle means for moving/transportation of the device by human
power which is operatively connected preferably to the frame structure.
10. A multi-crop dryland seeder as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 9 wherein said
container is a circular drum (14) of length in the size of 600 mm and diameter 160
mm and having an opening of size 80x60 mm for feeding seeds adapted to be
covered by a hinged cover, on the periphery of the said drum two sets of holes
(15 & 16) are provided one set comprising of two rows of holes of diameter 3 mm
and peripheral spacing 60 mm for seeding a particular variety and the other set
provided with three rows of holes of diameter 6 mm with peripheral spacing of 20
mm for seeding other variety seeds, means for covering one set of holes for
seeding of seeds of a particular variety.
11. A multi-crop dryland seeder substantially as herein described and illustrated with
reference to the accompanying figures 4 to 7.

A multi-crop seeder and in particular to a multi-crop seeder which can be used to sow seeds
in dry lands utilizing human energy as the power source for crops like mustard, rai, wheat,
green gram, black gram etc.
The multi-crop seeder devise basically comprises of a rotatable container means, a plurality
of openings/holes (15 & 16) of varied dimensions provided in said container body with
means for selectively opening the holes of specified dimensions while maintaining the other
holes closed for selective release of desired seeds for specified crop, furrow means (3) for
creating furrow opening for the purpose of seeding, ground wheels provided at the ends of
the said container and operatively connected thereto such that the motion of the said ground
wheels on the ground effectuate the required rotary motion of the container to thereby drop
the seeds of specified dimensions through opening/holes (15 & 16) in the container into the
furrow and means (19) for covering the seeds thus dropped in the furrows.
Preferably, the container is a cylindrical drum (14), which is horizontally disposed with said
ground wheels provided at the two sides thereof. The furrow means (3), the container -
ground wheels and the covering means (19) are supported with respect to a support
structure. A handle means can be provided to facilitate handling of the drum on land for
seeding.
The device would provide for an efficient machine or implement to raise the agricultural
production. It is a simple and efficient multi-crop seed drill, which would not need frequent
adjustments and would be convenient for farmers to use in fields using human power. It is
lighter weight, manual drawn seed drill, which can sow different types of seed efficiently.