Patents by Inventor Raymond C. Long

Raymond C. Long has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5987862
    Abstract: An apparatus for simultaneously topping and precisely applying sucker control chemicals to tobacco plants and for related uses wherein the apparatus comprises a housing wherein the front and bottom of the housing are open. A blower is positioned in the top of the apparatus for creating a downwardly directed air stream to facilitate decapitating the tobacco plants by a mechanical cutter positioned in the bottom of the apparatus as the tobacco plants pass therebeneath. A pair of spaced-apart rotating belts are located beneath the mechanical cutter and define a pathway from the front to the back of the housing and act to gather tobacco plants at the front and guide the tobacco plants through the housing. A spray manifold is provided for applying sucker control chemicals downwardly in a confined pattern onto decapitated tobacco plants as they pass from the mechanical cutter and beneath the spray manifold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Assignees: North Carolina State University, Hydraulic & Pneumatic Sales, Inc.
    Inventors: Raymond C. Long, Heinz Seltmann, R. Wayne Barnhardt
  • Patent number: 5209305
    Abstract: An apparatus for removing tobacco transplant seedlings from a plant bed by being connected to a tractor and pulled thereacross. An undercutter bar is provided at the front of the apparatus for undercutting a ribbon of soil which is then received by a conveyor defining an upwardly extending and a horizontally extending portion. A shaker mechanism provided beneath the conveyor serves to dislodge soil and smaller transplant seedlings from the seedlings as the seedlings are transported from the front to the rear of the automated apparatus. A boxing mechanism is provided at the rear of the automated apparatus which serves to fill containers with the transplant seedlings and then to deposit the filled containers upon the ground as the apparatus is pulled across a plant bed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1993
    Assignee: North Carolina State University
    Inventor: Raymond C. Long