Patent Application
20060021670
None
Not applicable.
The present invention generally relates to the handling of seed and more importantly to a step-down for use in transferring seed to hoppers without damage to the seed.
Kernels of, for example, corn or soybean (“seed”) for planting are very fragile, being susceptible to mechanical damage. A tiny stress crack in the seed will prevent it from germinating and/or growing to its full potential. Therefore, seed companies are very careful how they handle seed, which leads to the use of a so-called “step-down” device.
There is a finite limit as to how far a seed can drop in a bin or hopper without risk of damage. This is particularly true when the process is initiated to fill the bin and there are no other seeds to cushion the dropping seed from hitting the bottom floor of the bin. A step-down or forced cascading device is inserted to limit the vertical drop height, yet still permit the bin to be filled.
Heretofore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,290 proposes a tubular telescoping loading chute for loading granules into a cargo vessel where the chute has internally disposed alternating rays for limiting the vertical distance that the particulates can drop.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,133,436 proposes a tubular fruit picker conveyor having alternating inclined plates for limiting the vertical distance that the fruit falls to prevent bruising.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,873 proposes an apparatus for growing crystals, which includes a tubular pipe having internally disposed alternating baffle plates that limit the vertical distance that the crystals can drop.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,230,820 proposes a tubular chute for unloading concrete, which has internally disposed alternating baffle plates.
These proposals do not relate to handling seed and do not show the inventive device.
The new step-down device is an apertured round (oval or circular in cross-section) pipe that has slanted steps periodically disposed along the vertical length of the pipe interior and which only radially extend a short distance into the pipe interior. The slanted steps, which may be located on alternate (opposite) sides of the pipe interior, force the seed to cascade down the pipe bouncing off the steps and interior of the pipe. The step spacing determines the total all distance of the seed, which is insufficient to cause damage to the falling seed. The vertically spaced-apart apertures permit the seed to flow out from the pipe interior into the bin when the level of seed in the bin reaches each aperture.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
These drawings will be described in greater detail below.
The principle of the inventive grain step-down device is to create a plurality of small “waterfalls”, so that the grain does not free fall too far before contacting a step, which slows the velocity of the grain. Damage to the grain is minimized, if not precluded, by breaking up long vertical distances into a series of short distances. The grain, then, is not subjected to the violent crushing of long free-fall with attendant grain kernel damage.
Key to the inventive grain step-down device is that it is round. It can be fabricated from any length of pipe up to, say, 40 feet in length, and welded together to make any overall device length; and width from, say, 6″ or smaller, to 8″, 10″, 12″, or even larger, especially to rapidly handle larger volumes of grain. Current step-down devices are square and heavy, and occupy a lot of room. When grain falls through such square devices, a lot of the individual kernels are caught in the interior square corners, resulting in grain loss and waste. The inventive round step-down device has no interior square corners to catch the grain. It is easy to weld round pipe sections together to make a strong step-down device that is easy to clean and install.
Referring to
Referring now to
It should be observed at this point in the description that device 12 can be removable from bin 22, especially if bin 22 is small, or it (most commonly) can be permanently installed in bin 10. For example, bin 22 has a gate assembly, 30, at its lower end for grain 22 to be discharged from bin 22, say, and into a trailer for planting. Regardless, device 12 has flexibility in design and operation to permit its use as a removable or a permanent grain-handling device.
Referring now also to
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. In this application all units are in the US system and all amounts and percentages are by weight, unless otherwise expressly indicated. Also, all citations referred herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
