An assembly to distribute flowable particulate material, the assembly including: a conduit to which the material is delivered and to which an airstream is supplied to move the material along the conduit to a delivery downstream destination; material delivery means connected to the conduit for delivery of material to the downstream destination; control means operatively associated with the material delivery means to selectively deliver a pre-determined rate of the material to a separator to engage the airstream to concentrate the material in a portion of the airstream, the separator being positioned within the conduit upstream of the material delivery means; air distribution means in constant fluid communication with the separator and the material delivery means to control airflow to the material delivery means.

A variable rate air metering system is provided. The system includes seed meter cartridges, each having a housing, a meter wheel, and a variable speed electric motor operatively connected to the seed meter cartridge. The seed meter cartridges provide flowable material to distribution manifolds, which are configured to distribute flowable material to multiple row outputs for deposition into a field. A control system is configured to control operation of the distribution manifolds for enabling/disabling dispersement of flowable material to row units. The control system is also configured to adjust the dispersement rate of flowable material by the seed meter cartridges in association with the opening/disabling the dispersement of flowable material to row outputs.

A flow control system for controlling flow of materials such as seeds or fertilizer as the materials are fed into a manifold and meter unit of an air seeder. The flow control system generally includes a flow controller which is connected between a volume of materials, such as a tank, and a manifold of an air seeder. The flow controller is adapted to control flow of the materials into the manifold to be metered by a meter unit. The flow controller includes a plurality of movable gates; with each gate being adapted to selectively open or close a corresponding opening in the flow controller. The gates may be manually adjusted, such as by a handle, or may be automatically adjusted, such as by actuators. By selectively opening or closing various gates, the volume and speed of flow of materials into the manifold may be easily and efficiently adjusted.

An agricultural implement system that includes a first toolbar section, a first row unit coupled to the first toolbar section, a second toolbar section, a second row unit coupled to the second toolbar section, and a row unit position control system. The system includes a sensor that detects an angle of the second toolbar section with respect to the first toolbar section. A controller couples to the sensor. The controller raises the first row unit and/or the second row unit in response to the angle to block contact of the first row unit and/or the second row unit with the ground.

A system for distributing seeds includes a storage tank operable to store a plurality of seeds. A seed-on-demand distribution system is operable to transfer at least some seeds of the plurality of seeds from the storage tank to a distribution system outlet. A dispersion unit has an inlet, a first outlet, and a second outlet. The inlet is in communication with the distribution system outlet. The first outlet is in communication with a first secondary conduit. The second outlet is in communication with a second secondary conduit. A first volumetric meter is operable to volumetrically meter at least some seeds of the plurality of seeds from the first secondary conduit. A second volumetric meter is operable to volumetrically meter at least some seeds of the plurality of seeds from the secondary conduit.

A port interface for a pneumatic distribution system includes a first flow passage configured to receive fluidized particulate material from an outlet port of a header and to output the fluidized particulate material to an outlet line. The port interface also includes a second flow passage configured to receive a purging airflow and to output the purging airflow to the outlet line. In addition, the port interface includes a knife valve having a blade with a first opening and a second opening. The blade is configured to move between a first position in which the first opening is substantially aligned with the first flow passage and the second opening is substantially aligned with the second flow passage, and a second position in which the first opening is substantially aligned with the second flow passage and a solid portion of the blade is substantially aligned with the first flow passage.

A distribution tower of an agricultural distribution machine for spreading granular material comprises a riser pipe supplying a flow of distribution goods to a ring-shaped distributor head for dividing the flow into a multitude of flows of distribution goods along the circumference of the distributor head. At least one of the outflows has a shut-off device. The shut-off device has a track switch operable to selectively guide the flow of distribution goods toward a seed tube or toward a return section. A return device connects to and surrounds the riser pipe. Openings in the riser pipe serve to receive the returned distribution goods. The return section, as well as the seed tube connection, are permanently, pneumatically connected. A method is also provided where it is possible to shut off an optional number of outflows without any resulting major change of the lateral distribution.

A distributor head of a distribution agricultural device comprises an outer hoop provided with at least four outlets of the same size, arranged evenly along the circumference of the outer hoop, a movably positioned ring, a main inlet, and a driving mechanism connected with the ring through a ring attachment, wherein the ring is provided with a number of evenly arranged openings of the same size, number of which corresponds to half of the number of outlets. The ring can be in three operating positions, wherein in the first position, the ring is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and therefore covers every other outlet, in the second position it is not located in the same plane as the outer hoop and thus does not cover any outlet, and in the third position it is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and thus covers every other outlet, wherein the outlets covered in the third position are different from the outlets covered in the first position of the ring.

A distributor head of a distribution agricultural device comprises an outer hoop provided with at least four outlets of the same size, arranged evenly along the circumference of the outer hoop, a movably positioned ring, a main inlet, and a driving mechanism connected with the ring through a ring attachment, wherein the ring is provided with a number of evenly arranged openings of the same size, number of which corresponds to half of the number of outlets. The ring can be in three operating positions, wherein in the first position, the ring is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and therefore covers every other outlet, in the second position it is not located in the same plane as the outer hoop and thus does not cover any outlet, and in the third position it is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and thus covers every other outlet, wherein the outlets covered in the third position are different from the outlets covered in the first position of the ring.

An agricultural machine for dispensing material to be distributed, which agricultural machine comprises at least one metering element having a metering roller for metering the material to be distributed mounted in a metering housing and is rotatably driven. The metering roller has a plurality of metering wheel segments, each metering wheel segment of the metering roller is assigned a separate drive to drive the metering wheel segments independently of each other to ensure exact metering of the material to be distributed within finely subdivided partial widths of the agricultural machine. The drives of the metering wheel segments of the metering roller are arranged in the interior thereof, for example within a tubular hollow body, on which the metering wheel segments are mounted, such that the drives are ideally accommodated with protection from external influences and in a space-saving manner.