Inventions
Seed Drill
Mechanical Engineering
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A seed drill is an agricultural device that sows seed by positioning it in the soil and burying it to a set depth, rather than scattering it by hand. Ancient Babylonians used primitive seed drills as early as 1400 BC, and China developed multi-tube iron seed drills by the 2nd century BC; in Europe, Camillo Torello received the first known patent for one from the Venetian Senate in 1566, but the design most influential on modern farming is the one the English agriculturist Jethro Tull refined in 1701. Seed drills raised crop yields as much as eightfold over hand broadcasting while cutting seed waste and labor, making them a critical part of the British Agricultural Revolution.
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Jethro Tull, Engineers Refined the seed drill design most influential on modern farming in 1701; earlier seed drills already existed in ancient Babylon, China and 1566 Venice.
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