I am seeking references that describe a specific technique of seed
primimg which pre-date June of 1994.  Seed priming is a process for
treating plant seeds that enables them to undergo faster and more
uniform germination.

Specifically, your answer will need to describe a technique, apparatus
or process which combines "drum seed primimg" and "matrix seed
priming" techniques.

In this case, the apparatus is a double drum where seeds are placed in
the internal drum and a liquid (water, osmotic material, polyethylene
glycol (PEG), etc.) is placed in the secondary or outer drum. A key
element of any reference you locate is that the internal drum is lined
with a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane allows, when rotated,
full and uniform seed contact, agitation of the seeds and temmperature
control.

Again, references should pre-date June of 1994.

I appreciate your efforts.

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Request for Question Clarification by byrd-ga on 28 Jan 2003 10:42 PST

Hello,

As you're no doubt already aware, there was a patent (No. 5,992,091)
issued to the British Technology Group, Ltd. in Nov. 1999, with
reference to a prior foreign patent application in June of 1994.  I'm
assuming you're aware of this patent, and it is information pre-dating
this particular patent that you're trying to find. Is that correct?

In addition, there had been a similar, related patent (No.5,873,197)
issued in February 1999.

And of course, tracing the antecedent links of these patents leads to
the patent of the drum method of seed priming in 1992 (No. 5,119,589):
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F5119589

and the matrix method in 1990 (No.4,912,874):
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F4912874

Since presumably proper research, including a search for prior art and
filings, was done before each of these patents was issued, my question
is do you have specific reason to believe these searches were
insufficient or inconclusive, and that there actually was an invention
that preceded the 1999 patent(s) for this method and apparatus?  If
so, could you possibly give some details that might assist in
Researchers in locating the source of this previous invention?

I've posted the patent numbers and links not only for your information
in case you didn't already have them, but also for any other
Researcher who might have more success than I in tracking down any
prior references to this process.  The search page for the USPTO is
here: http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

Thank you for your clarification and best wishes,
--Byrd

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Clarification of Question by the_answers_are_here-ga on 28 Jan 2003 11:37 PST

Thank you for your questions, I'm sure they will only assist you and
other researchers in locating the best references.

The US patents you cite, 5,992,091 and 5,873,197 by Rowse are known to
me, as are patents 5,119,589 and 4,912,874. Given the workload of the
examiners at the USPTO I am not presuming proper and exhaustive
research was done prior to the patents being issued. It is my hope
that one of the fine Google researchers will prove this out.

For greater clarity, the patents you site, 5,119,589 and 4,912,874,
are of great help in pointing out the specific elements I am looking
for.  In 5,119,589, a drum is used but it uses steam to prime the
seeds and there is no mention of the dual drums or the semi-permeable
membrane I seek.

Secondly, the 4,912,874 patent speaks strictly of a dry medium base
material mixed in with the seeds with a liquid medium introduced. 
Again no mention of the dual drums or semi-permeable membrane.

For further clarrification, the patent you cite, 5,992,091, is a great
example of what I'm looking for...although disclosed or discussed
prior to June of 1994.

Thank you for your question.