Air Seeder With Disc Openers More Accurate Than Drill

Air Seeder With Disc Openers More Accurate Than Drill AIR SEEDERS Air Seeders (42B) 6-3-35 When Howard Short of Harper, Kan., bought an air seeder and teamed it up with his cultivator, he liked the big capacity and air delivery of seed. But in giving up the disc openers and press wheels on his conventional drill, he felt he lost accuracy. So Short, not willing to give up the advantages of either machine, decided to combine the best of both. The result is a new "Super Seeder" that not only features the best of two machines but also has an exclusive new "walking beam" automatic depth control that lets the 40-ft. wide machine plant with precision accuracy, even on hilly or terraced ground. "The new Super Seeder will plant at 9 miles per hour with 93% accuracy, according to tests by the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in Canada. That compares favorably with the 85% depth accuracy of most drills," says Howard Hershberger, general manager of DewEze, the company manufacturing the new drill. "The machine, at 40-ft., will cover more than 30 acres an hour. Short could only plant at speeds up to 5 miles per hour with his air seeder-cultivator and with much less accuracy." At the heart of the new machine are double disc openers and press wheels which are mounted together on a "walking beam" that Hershberger says insures penetration in hard soil and flotation in loose soil for uniform depth. "Cultivator shanks are very difficult to control and most drills are spring-loaded toward the ground so that they often plant unevenly in uneven ground or varying soil types. These row units are designed so that as the rear-mounted press wheels go up over a bump or obstacle, the disc openers in front go down, maintaining an even depth. When the disc openers go up, the press wheels drop. In addition, the walking beam is mounted on a parallel linkage so there's no sway on hilly ground," explains Hershberger. DewEze expects the drill, which is adjustable for row spacing to any width from 6 in. and up, to be popular for everything from small grains to corn and soybeans. To vary row width, row units slide quickly apart or you can plug up the unneeded rows. In addition to the depth control features of each row unit, the entire 3-section toolbar rotates, being controlled by a mechanical hydraulic depth control monitor that adjusts to varying terrain. The rotating toolbar also picks up the row units for transport. The bar simply turns, lifting the units off the ground and then folds hydraulically to a width of 15 ft. Although initially designed for the Prasco air seeder, set-ups. DewEze plans to produce about 25 of the 40-ft. units this year at $19,900 each (with 8-in. row spacing). For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, DewEze Mfg., East Highway 160, Harper, Kan. 67058 (ph 316 896-7381).

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