Abstract: Apparatus for spraying plants with liquid treatment chemical such as an insecticide, fungicide, herbicide or the like, includes a reusable container having inlet and outlet hose connections, and a disposable cartridge which is inserted into the container. The cartridge comprises a pressure-sensitive container in the form of a piston cylinder or a collapsible bag containing the liquid chemical, and is mounted within a rigid casing or jar communicating with a stream of water under pressure entering the inlet hose connection. The water also flows through an axial bore in the head of the reusable container to the outlet hose connection, passing from a high pressure side through a mixing chamber to a low pressure side.

Abstract: A lawn and garden feeding apparatus includes a container made of transparent plastic, having inlet and outlet hose connections and a disposable cartridge which is inserted into the container. The cartridge comprises a gel with plant nutriment and a water soluble dye suspended therein with the cartridge fitting the inside of the container and having a bore communicating with the inlet and outlet connections. The container inlet is connected by a garden hose to a source of water and the outlet is connected by a hose to a conventional sprinkler or nozzle so that in use of apparatus, water flows through the cartridge bore drawing nutriment and dye from the gel in micro-feeding amounts, and is discharged through the sprinkler or nozzle. Extraction of dye from the gel, after a selected period of time, results in a perceptible change in gel color, indicating that the cartridge requires replacement.

Abstract: Apparatus for spraying plants with liquid treatment chemical such as an insecticide, fungicide, herbicide or the like, includes a reusable container having inlet and outlet hose connections, and a disposable cartridge which is inserted into the container. The cartridge comprises a pressure-sensitive container in the form of a piston cylinder or a collapsible bag containing the liquid chemical, and is mounted within a rigid casing or jar communicating with a stream of water under pressure entering the inlet hose connection. The stream of water also flows through an axial bore in the head of the reusable container to the outlet hose connection, passing from a high pressure side through a mixing chamber to a low pressure side.

Abstract: A lawn and garden feeding apparatus includes a container made of transparent plastic, having inlet and outlet hose connections and a disposable cartridge which is inserted into the container. The cartridge comprises a gel with plant nutriment and a water soluble dye suspended therein with the cartridge fitting the inside of the container and having a bore communicating with the inlet and outlet connections. The container inlet is connected by a garden hose to a source of water and the outlet is connected by a hose to a conventional sprinkler or nozzle so that in use of apparatus, water flows through the cartridge bore drawing nutriment and dye from the gel in micro-feeding amounts, and is discharged through the sprinkler or nozzle. Extraction of dye from the gel, after a selected period of time, results in a perceptible change in gel color, indicating that the cartridge requires replacement.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing plant nutriments to a growing medium, such as soil, sand or the like, the apparatus being effective to transfer to the medium over protracted periods of time doses of nutriments at a rate which is a function essentially solely of the amount of water added to the growing medium at each watering. Broadly stated, the invention relates to a container which preferably includes a probe adapted to be inserted sufficiently below the surface of the growing medium to prevent evaporation. The container is sealed except for a dispensing aperture or apertures in the probe of critical size, larger than a capillary. The apparatus is characterized by its being filled with a hydrophilic gel, within which gel there has been dissolved a soluble nutriment component, preferably in saturation quantities. The gel may contain an inert soluble dye to signal the exhaustion of the active products.

Abstract: A universal joint having two intermeshed rotatable assemblies in driving and driven relationship. Each of the assemblies of the joint has a base adapted to be connected to a rotatable device. Each assembly has a plurality of yoke arms fixed at one end to the base and at the other end to a joinder disc through which the axis of rotation of the base passes. Each of the yoke arms extends in a plane including the axis of rotation of the base and curves outwardly from its common point of joinder and then inwardly toward the axis of rotation of the base. Each yoke arm has an eliptical cross-section at its end attached to the base and gradually tapers to a circular cross-section toward its other end at its common point of attachment to the other yoke arms.

Abstract: A planter for planting disk-shaped environmental seed cells which are formed of low-density readily-crumbled, compressed pulverulent material. The planter apparatus comprises a planter chassis supported from a tool bar of a tractor and pivotally supported thereon and resiliently urged at each end into contact with the ground. The planter comprises means for separating seed disks in the hopper and transferring seed cells therefrom in a file along a pair of inclined rollers driven in the same direction to dispense the seed disks individually through a chute into a furrow formed by a furrow shoe. The row of seeds is then compacted by a packing wheel which is also resiliently urged into ground-engaging contact from the support bar and serves to drive the separating and conveying rollers on the planter.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to apparatus for automatically fabricating environmental seed cells, e.g. tablets incorporating two or more layers of material which will protect the seed during transportation and facilitate its growth after the same is planted, the apparatus including a tableting machine for feeding the environmental surround material into compression mold cavities, a singulator mechanism whereby individual seeds are separated from a bulk supply, and transfer mechanism for receiving separated seeds from the singulator and depositing them in the molds of the tableting machine. After loading, the aggregate comprising the environmental material and seed are subjected to compression, to produce the finished environmental seed cell.