An agricultural metering device with a variable geometry meter roller is provided. The agricultural metering device includes a meter roller having a plurality of flutes. An aggregate cross sectional area of the flutes increases along a longitudinal axis of the meter roller.

A seed delivery system for a seeding machine having a seed meter comprises a housing that defines an upper seed loading area and a lower seed discharge area. A drive pulley is mounted to rotate with respect to the housing. A belt is supported for rotation by the drive pulley within the housing. A loading wheel is mounted to rotate with respect to the housing to transfer seeds from the seed meter into the belt at the seed loading area. The belt conveys the seeds through the housing as the belt travels from the seed loading area to the seed discharge area.

A planting unit for a seeding machine having a seed meter with a metering member that moves seed sequentially along a first path to a release position at which the seed is moving in a first direction and a delivery system adapted to take seed from the metering member at the release position and control movement of the seed from the seed meter to a discharge location adjacent a seed furrow formed in soil beneath the seeding machine. The delivery system, at the release position, moves seed in a second direction along a second path. A blocking member located adjacent the first path immediately preceding the release position prevents movement of the seed in the second direction until the seed has passed the blocking member.

An agricultural metering system includes a releasable bearing coupler configured to selectively couple a meter roller to a housing of the agricultural metering system. The releasable bearing coupler includes a shaft configured to be disposed through an opening in the housing and to engage a bearing, wherein the bearing is configured to be disposed within a recess of the meter roller to facilitate rotation of the meter roller about the shaft and to couple the meter roller to the housing via contact with the shaft. The releasable bearing coupler includes a locking segment configured to selectively interlock with a corresponding locking feature of the housing to secure the releasable bearing coupler to the housing.

An agricultural metering system includes independently controllable sets of meter rollers. Each set of meter rollers includes at least one meter roller and is configured to rotate about a respective rotational axis, and the rotational axes are generally parallel to one another and not aligned with one another. The agricultural metering system also includes meter boxes configured to receive agricultural product from a compartment of a storage tank. Each set of meter rollers is disposed within a respective meter box, and each set of meter rollers is configured to meter the agricultural product from the compartment of the storage tank. The agricultural metering system also includes distribution lines. Each distribution line is disposed downstream from a respective set of meter rollers and is configured to receive the agricultural product output from the respective set of meter rollers.

Disclosed is a manual granule spreader including: a main body including a wheel and a handle bar; a hopper having a plurality of discharge chutes; a spreading module having a spreading roller so as to spread the granules via first spreading means; a power transmission means. According to the granule spreader, manpower applied to the wheel is used to spread granules in the hopper in a predetermined amount in a single direction or opposite directions for drill seeding or for broadcast seeding, whereby workforce is saved, granules are prevented from being wasted, and the direction, angle, and length of the spreading means are adjusted, and a flexible driving wire is used to transmit power for spreading granules, which allows a vertical spreading position of the granules to be easily controlled by a vertical position adjustment of the hopper.

A volumetric metering system includes a housing configured to be coupled to a commodity container. The housing has a transducer portion. A roller is removably coupled within the housing and has an encoding tab with at least one circuit. The encoding tab is positioned to allow interaction between the circuit and the transducer portion when the roller is installed in the housing. A controller is operably coupled to the transducer portion and configured to cause the transducer portion to interact with the circuit and identify the roller based on the interaction. The controller is configured to automatically set roller information based on automatic identification of the roller. In one example, the roller is provided with a set of magnets the relative positions of which encode the roller.

A meter roller for an agricultural metering system includes multiple flutes and corresponding recesses. The flutes and the corresponding recesses are configured to meter flowable particulate material from a storage tank to a material distribution system via rotation of the meter roller. The meter roller also includes multiple air passages formed within a body of the meter roller. Each air passage is fluidly coupled to a central cavity of the meter roller and extends to a base of a respective recess, and the air passage is configured to flow air from the central cavity into the respective recess.

A method of calibrating a metering system having a plurality of meter modules. Each of the meter modules includes an auger in communication with a product, the auger is driven by an electric motor. The method includes loading the auger with the product, discharging a metered quantity of the product from the auger by actuating the electric motor to drive the auger at a predetermined rotational speed for a predetermined number of auger revolutions. The discharged metered quantity of the product is captured with the capture structure. A load cell generates a signal magnitude correlating a known mass to obtain a derived mass value. A controller calculates a mass per auger revolution (MPR) value. The MPR values of each of the plurality of meter modules is summed and stored in memory. A derived application rate is calculated and compared to the derived application rate.

A seed delivery system for use in a seeding or planting machine that removes the seed from a seed meter by capturing the seed therefrom. The delivery system then moves the seed down to a lower discharge point and accelerates the seed horizontally rearward to a speed approximately equal to the forward travel speed of the seeding machine such that the seed, when discharged has a low or zero horizontal velocity relative to the ground. Rolling of the seed in the trench is thus reduced. Furthermore, as the seed only has a short drop from the outlet to the bottom of the seed trench, the seed has little vertical speed to induce bounce. The delivery system uses a brush belt to capture, move and accelerate the seed. By capturing the seed and moving it from the meter to the discharge, the seed is held in place relative to other seeds and the planter row unit. As a result, the seeds are isolated from row unit dynamics thereby maintaining seed spacing.