Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Seed planting arrangement and method of planting seeds
TECHNICAL AREA
The invention concerns a seed-planting arrangement and a method for the
planting of seeds.
BACKGROUND
When reforesting cleared ground and scarified areas, either saplings are
planted or seeds are sowed in the ground. The planting of saplings is
relatively time-
consuming and thus expensive, since the saplings require a lot of space and
must be
handled individually. Conventional sowing of seeds normally has the
disadvantages
of low germination capacity and the requirement to return to the site when the
tree
has started to grow in order to monitor the saplings and, possibly, to thin
the growth.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to remove the disadvantages specified above and
to provide a seed-planting unit, a planting arrangement and a method that can
pro-
vide a high seed germination capacity for the seeds, and a rapid and simple
planting
process without the need of a subsequent check.
This is achieved through the characteristics that are specified in the
attached
claims.
According to an aspect of the invention, the seed-planting arrangement com-
prises a seed-planting units each comprising a growth medium in the shape of a
stackable cylindrical body containing a number of seeds. Tubular containers
are ar-
ranged to slidably receive a stack of said seed-planting units. A planting
device com-
prises a channel to receive said tubular containers including the seed-
planting units
and a planting means is provided at a lower end of the channel and arranged to
be
driven down into the ground during a planting operation in order to release
into the
ground a lower seed-planting unit released from the stack.
By the planting unit having the shape of a cylindrical body, it is, in
contrast to
the case for saplings, capable of stacking the seed-planting units, and this
facilitates
considerably their storage, handling and final planting. The body keeps the
seeds dry
and prevents them starting to germinate until they are placed in the ground.
It also
protects the seeds from, for example, subsequently being eaten by birds. The
growth
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medium in the form of the cylindrical body can furthermore provide a good, pre-
determined growth environment for the seeds when the body is placed into the
ground, and this ensures a high germination capacity.
If the stack of units is surrounded by a container in the form of a tube, the
units
can be held securely in place in the stack during storage and transport. The
stacks
can also in this way be rapidly loaded into the planting tube. The container
can be
designed also to prevent the penetration of moisture. It can be possible to
seal the
opposing open ends of the tube by covers, which are removed at the planting of
the
units.
The seed-planting unit can furthermore have an upper part that is poor in
nutri-
ents for the accommodation of the said seeds, and a lower part that is rich in
nutri-
ents in order to provide nutrition for the said seeds after the planting. The
germination
capacity of the seeds and their growth ability can in this manner be improved.
The planting means in one embodiment can comprise a pair of jaws arranged
such that when the ground interaction unit is driven down the jaws surround
the
lower, released seed-planting unit, to be subsequently opened in order to
release the
seed-planting unit in the ground.
It is appropriate that the planting arrangement have also a lock arranged to
hold fixed a unit immediately superior to the lower unit during the operation
of plant-
ing, in order to allow the lower unit to be released from the stack.
The channel in the planting arrangement can be arranged also to accommo-
date said tubes that contain the stack in a manner that allows sliding.
In a method according to the invention for the planting of tree seeds,
seed-planting units are provided, each comprising a growth medium in the shape
of a
stackable cylindrical body containing a number of seeds. Stack of the units
are
slidably placed in tubular containers, that in turn, one at a time, is placed
in a planting
channel of a planting device. In the planting, the units, one at a time, is
deposited
from a respective container in the planting channel into planting holes in the
ground
created by the planting arrangement.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention are made clear by the
patent claims and the following detailed description of embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIGURE 1 shows a seed-planting unit according to the invention;
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FIGURE 2 shows a stack of seed-planting units according to the invention, at
a lower scale;
FIGURE 3 shows, in partially broken-away view, a tube-formed container for a
stack of seed-planting units according to FIGURE 2;
FIGURES 4A-C show three steps during a planting operation with a manual
planting arrangement according to the invention;
FIGURE 5 shows a carrier for tube-formed containers with seed-planting units
according to the invention;
FIGURES 6A-D show a mechanised planting arrangement according to the in-
vention; and
FIGURE 7 shows a modified embodiment of the planting arrangement accord-
ing to FIGURES 6A-D.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
The seed-planting unit 10 of briquette-nature shown in FIGURE 1 has the form
of a cylinder with plane top and bottom surfaces. It is not necessary that the
cross-
section be circular: it may have also any freely chosen form, such as square.
The unit 10 has in the example shown an upper part and a lower part 18 of
growth medium. It is intended that the upper part 12 accommodate a number,
such
as 3-6, tree seeds 16, such as conifer tree seeds, and it may consist of, for
example,
mull and lime that are poor in nutrients, in order to give the seeds 16 a
neutral nutri-
tion that is not so forceful that it may disturb the germination. The
invention can just
as well be used for other types of seed, although the seeds here have been de-
scribed as tree seeds. The seeds 16 are inserted into holes, pits or
depressions 14 in
the upper surface of the upper part 12. The depressions 14 are depressed down
a
certain depth, such as 4 mm, which gives protection for the seeds and a rapid
germi-
nation of the seeds. This is important in regions with short summers, such
that the
seeds do not fall behind in the competition with other plants. The seeds are
placed in
the briquette 10 after it has been compressed, such that the seeds are not
damaged.
The seeds can subsequently be covered with a thin layer of growth material,
and
sealed such that they cannot fall out. The units can, furthermore, be colour-
coded in
association with the sealing operation, such that it will be easier to see
where they
have been planted and to keep track of the tree species.
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The lower part 18 can consist of, for example, growth agent, lime, and
crystals
that retain moisture, in order to give the seeds 16 the optimal nutrition and
moisture
level after the commencement of the germination process and the growth, after
the
unit 10 has been inserted into the ground. The upper part 12 and the lower
part 18
are compressed to their final form in, for example, a metal tube, in a manner
not
shown in the drawings.
The units 10 are stored, transported and planted in a serial arrangement in
the
form of stacks 20 (FIGURE 2). In the embodiment in FIGURE 3, a stack 20 of
units
is placed in a manner that allows sliding in a container in the form of a tube
22
that is sealed at its open ends by means of covers 24 (only one of which is
shown).
The tube 22 may be manufactured from a material for one-time use such as paper-
board, which in turn may be laminated with plastic foil in order to prevent
the units 10
with the seeds 16 absorbing moisture inside the tube 22 during storage.
FIGURES 4A-C shows schematically a lower part of a planting arrangement
30. The arrangement 30 in the example that is shown has a channel 32 for the
ac-
commodation of a tube 22 of the type described above filled with seed-planting
units
10. The channel 32 may have a closed cross-section, but the channel 32 in the
ex-
ample shown has instead an open side ¨ the left side in FIGURES 4A-C ¨ in
order to
save material and possibly also to allow the tube 22 to be filled from a
sideways di-
rection into the channel 32.
When the lower cover 24 has been removed, the units 10, which have been
drawn with dashed lines in FIGURE 4A, are allowed to slide down in the tube 22
ap-
proximately to the position shown, where a lower unit 10 is located inside a
space
within a pair of closed jaws 38, 40 of a ground interaction unit 36 of the
planting ar-
rangement 30.
The planting arrangement 30 in FIGURE 4A has been driven down into the
ground 60, which has preferably been previously scarified, such that the
ground in-
teraction unit 36 is located at an appropriate depth of planting.
The jaws 38, 40 of the ground interaction unit 36 have been opened in FIG-
URE 4B. Although it is possible to open the jaws 38, 40 in many different ways
through the use of appropriate mechanisms and adjustment units that exert a
force,
the jaws are opened in the example that is illustrated by means of an
operating arm
46. The operating arm 46 is attached to pivot at a joint 48, in a manner that
is not il-
lustrated in detail, with a stationary part of the planting arrangement 30,
and it is fixed
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attached at one side of the joint 48 with one jaw 40, of the jaws 38, 40. The
arm has
at the other side of the joint a pedal 50 that when depressed pivots the arm
46
around the joint and with a leverage effect pivots the jaw 40 up, such that a
gap
opens between the jaws 38, 40.
When the planting arrangement 30 is subsequently lifted up from the ground
60, the seed-planting unit 10 will pass through the gap between the jaws 38,
40 and
remain on the bottom of the planting hole 52 that has been formed by the jaws
38,
40.
The arrangement 30 has a lock 42 in order to prevent further units 10 exiting
from the planting arrangement 30 at each planting operation as described in
FIG-
URES 4A-C. Although many different types of lock are possible, the lock in the
ex-
ample shown in the drawings comprises a locking hook 42 that, when the gap be-
tween the jaws 38, 40 opens in the manner described above, holds the unit that
is
located immediately above the lowermost unit 10 in place in the channel below
the
lower end of the tube 22 through a force of pressure onto an opposite side of
the
channel 32. The force of pressure is achieved by a tensile spring 44 that acts
be-
tween the arm 46 and the locking hook 42. The spring 44 may be placed under no
tension in the position shown in FIGURE 4B (and A) such that a new unit 10
falls
down into the space between the closed jaws 38, 40 after each planting
operation.
The new lowermost unit 10 can be guided by a surrounding tube in the space be-
tween the jaws 38, 40 such that it does not become obliquely positioned and
risk fal-
ling onto its side in the planting hole 52.
The planting arrangement 30 can have at its upper end, not shown in the draw-
ings, a, for example, transverse handle. The handle can be used, in addition
to being
used to carry and handle the planting arrangement, to release the ground
interaction
unit 36 from the open position shown in FIGURE 4B. When the pedal is
depressed, a
lock, not shown in the drawings, may be activated, which lock holds open the
ground
interaction unit 36 without the pedal 50 needing to be subject to a downward
force.
The lock can be arranged such that it is released through, for example, a
Bowden
cable, through turning of the handle.
FIGURE 5 shows a carrier 90 for containers 22 for seed-planting units accord-
ing to the invention. It is intended that the carrier 90 be carried in the
manner of a
rucksack with the aid of support straps 96, 96 by a person, not shown in the
draw-
ings, who places the seed-planting units using a manual arrangement such as
the
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arrangement 30 shown in FIGURES 4A-C. The carrier 90 consists of a frame con-
struction that limits a vertical holding compartment 92 for several lying
containers 22.
Closed end pieces 94, 94 of the frame construction prevent the containers from
slid-
ing out sideways from the carrier 90. As FIGURE 5 also makes clear, the bottom
of
the compartment 92 may be turned such that the lowermost container 22 is
turned
each time towards the user and is free of hinder by at least one of the end
pieces 94,
94, whereby the lowermost container can be removed by the user each time from
the
carrier 94 without hinder, when the planting arrangement 30 (FIGURES 4A-C) is
to
be loaded with a new container 22. This can also be achieved in other ways,
for ex-
ample, by the end pieces 94, 94 being shortened at their lower ends. The upper
open
end of the compartment 92 can, as is made clear by FIGURE 5, be opened out
such
that it allows accommodation of the containers 22 next to each other.
FIGURES 6A-D show schematically a mechanised planting arrangement 70
that may be mounted on an off-road vehicle such as a scooter, not shown in the
drawings.
The arrangement is lowered down into the ground 60 in the planting situation
as shown in all of FIGURES 6A-D, such that a scarifier device in the form of a
tooth
72 excavates a hole or a ditch 64 in the ground when the arrangement 70 is
driven
by the vehicle, not shown in the drawings, in the direction to the left in
FIGURES 6A-
D.
The arrangement 70, furthermore, has a channel 74 corresponding to the
channel 32 in the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4, for the accommodation of a
stack
of seed-planting units 10 or of a tube 22 (FIGURE 3) with units 10. The
lowermost
unit 10 in the stack can fall down into a opening 78 in a shuttle 76 that can
move for-
wards and backwards, when the shuttle is located at its rearmost position as
shown
in FIGURE 6A. The shuttle is driven by an actuator 80. When the shuttle is
driven
forward to its forward location as shown in FIGURE 6B, the unit 10 falls down
through
the opening 78 and into a planting tube 82 that is located in the ditch 64
behind the
excavation tooth 72.
The enlarged region of FIGURE 6B shows that the planting tube 82 in the em-
bodiment that is illustrated has an elastic constriction 84 that prevent the
unit 10 from
falling down into the ditch immediately after it has been pushed forwards by
the shut-
tle 76. The unit is instead fed through the planting tube and down into the
ditch by a
piston 88 of an actuator 86, as is shown in FIGURE 6C. The planting
arrangement 70
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subsequently returns to the position shown in FIGURE 6D, which corresponds to
the
initial position shown in FIGURE 6A.
The planting tube 82 has been replaced by a rotating arrangement 100 in the
embodiment according to FIGURE 7. The arrangement 100 comprises a pair of dia-
metrically opposing pieces of tube 102, 102, each one of which houses an
actuator
104 with a piston 106. Each unit 10 is fed into the outermost end of the
pieces of tube
102 by the piston 88 of the actuator 86 that was described in association with
FIG-
URE 6. The pieces of tube 102, 102 are driven anti-clockwise in FIGURE 7 by a
mo-
tor 108, in synchrony with the forward driving speed of the planting
arrangement 70.
The excavation tooth 72 in this embodiment is mounted on a guide rail 110 that
cov-
ers, when each piece of tube 102 rotates from its highest position, at which
it re-
ceives a seed-planting unit 10, the outer surface of the piece of tube 102,
such that
the unit 10 does not fall out from the piece of tube 102 before it is directed
vertically
downwards. The piston 106 of the actuator 104 pushes the unit 10 out, at this
down-
wardly directed position, such that it leaves the planting arrangement in a
safe man-
ner and is placed at the bottom of the ditch without any risk that the unit 10
tumbles
around and is placed with the wrong side downwards, given that it is of the
type de-
scribed above in association with FIGURE 1 having two distinct parts.
While embodiments of the invention have been described in the detailed
description,
the scope of the claims should not be limited by the preferred embodiments set
forth
in the examples, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent
with the
description as a whole.
