This horse- or tractor-drawn seed drill or planter was built c.1920s to 1930s. The "VB" on the drill identifies this as part of the famous Van Brunt drill line, which first appeared in 1861 and was acquired by John Deere in 1911. These drills were used to plant seeds for crops such as grain, beets, beans, and barley for the horses.

The Van Brunt seeder contained elaborate mechanisms to plant seeds. The seeder contained a wooden seed box where the seeds were held; metal funnels which guided the seeds to the ground; disks which broke up the ground and metal chains that dragged on the ground after the seeds were laid down in order to drag dirt over them. The seeder was used to plants seeds in multiple rows at one time.