Patent GB-124847-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Ploughing Machines.
Inventor: WARDLE WILFRED RATCLIFFE
IPC: A01B3/56
Filed: 1917-06-02
Abstract: 124,847. Wardle, W. R. June 2, 1917, Ploughs.-A motor ploughing-machine is fitted with an adjustable mechanical map whereby all the movements of the machine in ploughing a field of any shape are automatically controlled. Power is obtained from a motor 21 the main shaft of which is connected to a shaft 24, Fig. 6, extending into a change-gear box 25. The shaft 24 drives, through a hand-operated clutch 31, 34 and worm gear 42, a shaft 36, whence power is transmitted to the main power shaft 43, Fig. 5. The speed of this shaft can be varied by the adjustment of change-speed pinions 45, 46. The machine is moved longitudinally across the field by endless chains 20 passing over sprocket-wheels 18, 19, Fig. 3, mounted in spring bearings, the sprocketwheels 19 being driven by chains 61 from a shaft 57. The shaft 57, which is provided with differential gear, receives its motion from bevel-gears 49, 50, Fig. 5, rotatable on the main shaft 43 and adapted to be clutched to it by a reversing-gear operated by the automatic control. The transverse movement at the headlands, to lift the machine into line with the next set of furrows to be ploughed, is given by the action of mis-shapen wheels 87, Fig. 2, mounted on shafts 86 which are driven through worm-gear 88, 89 from a rotating casing 130 which is provided with a wormwheel 90 engaged by a worm at the lower end of the shaft 91. The upper end of the shaft 91 has splined to it a male clutch member 96, Fig. 6, which, on the operation of a lever 98 by the automatic control, is forced into the female member of the clutch 94 driven from the shaft 36. The machine is steered by a steering-wheel mounted in a frame projecting from one end of the main frame, the wheel being carried in a bifurcated stem which is provided at its upper end with a toothed arc engaged by a worm on a stub-shaft connected by a universal joint 74<1>, Fig. 1, shaft 73, and universal joint 74 with a shaft 75, Fig. 12, passing through the casing 76 of the automatic steering-gear. The automatic steering-gear is operated by furrow-wheels 119, 120 mounted on a frame 117, 118 adapted to swing in vertical trunnions 113, 114, Fig. 1. This frame is also automatically moved at each headland about an horizontal axis to place the correct furrow-wheel in position for operating the steering-mechanism. The frame 117, 118 is connected to the automatic steering-gear by a member 85 carrying at each end a ball-joint member 303, 304 adapted to engage in corresponding sockets 301, 302 carried by horizontal racks 83, 84 engaging with pinions 81, 82 on the steering-wheel control shaft 75. Lateral diversions of the furrow-wheels 119, 120 therefore cause movements of the racks 83, 84 and corresponding turnings of the shaft 75, thus automatically controlling the main steering-wheel. The steering-wheel is also arranged to be operated by a hand-wheel 80 when the automatic control is net being used, the ball-joint members then being free of their sockets. The trunnions 113, 114, Fig. 2, in which the frame carrying the furrow-wheels is mounted, are carried on a sleeve rotatable on a casing 115, and this sleeve is adapted to be automatically tilted to bring the appropriate furrowwheel into operation as the plough leaves the headland, by the movement of a rod 135 mounted on a shaft 129. The interior of the casing 115 is provided with a cam 126 in which runs a crosshead 127 carried by a screwed sleeve 128 sliding on, and splined to, the shaft 129 and engaging an arm 134. The arm 134, which can rotate on the sleeve 128, is connected by a link 133 to a stud 132 riding in a cam 131 formed in the rotatable easing 180 carrying the worm gear by which the misshapen wheels for moving the machine laterally at the headlands are driven. The cam 131 is provided with two paths in part of its length, and a spring device is adapted to cause the stud 132 to take its course through the one or the other of these paths, according to the direction in which the plough is starting from the headand. According to the movement of the .stud 132. the link 133, arm 134, sleeve 128, and cross-head 127 are moved to the right or to the left. The cross-head 127 moves in a helical cam 126 the lead of which is such that, in the movement of the cross-head to the right or left, it is caused to turn through 90 degrees. The cross-head 127 is connected by a sleeve 217 to a cross-head 318 secured to a. sleeve 219 carrying at its extreme end a quadrant gear 221 meshing with a similar gear on the ploughoperating shaft 100. The ploughs 109 arc carried by a frame pivoted on the shaft 100, the ends of the frame being slotted to carry crossheads 108 to which are attached the multiple ploughshares. A wheel at each end supports the plough frame. The plough frame is automatically clutched to, and moved round by, the shaft 100 at the headland. The ploughs and associated parts may be put in neutral position for the transport of the machine, by an operating-handle actuating the sleeve 128. The automatic control of the machine is given by a drum 137 on which is arranged a plan of the field to be ploughed, by spring stops 310 adjustable in slots in the drum. When the machine is in operation, an operating- head moves along a lead-screw 200, Fig. 2, driven from the main steering-wheel of the machine. As the machine approaches a headland, the head engages the stop 310 and forces the drum 137 (which is mounted in floating bearings) slightly to one side or the other, say to the left, as shown in Fig. 5. The drum, as shown in Fig. 5, carries internally a ring 141 which, through an arm 143 and spring-cushioned shaft 144, operates a carriage 147. The carriage 147 projects upwardly into a slot in a rotatable sleeve 148 carrying a pin 162 'extending through a slot in the end of the main driving-shaft 43 and slidable therealong. This pin is connected to the reversing-gear for the creeper chains giving the longitudinal movement to the machine, and operates the clutches of this gearing through its longitudinal movement along the slot. The lower end of the carriage. 147 passes through an eye in a slidable rod 151 and extends into a cam in a cam-drum 149, Figs. 5 and 21. As the drum 137 is pushed to the left, a stop 207 on the end of its shaft is forced into engagement with the cam-drum 149, pushing this to the left so that a clutch member 160 on it engages a clutch member 159 on a sleeve driven through a reversible clutch from a shaft 150 operated from the main shaft. As the drum rotates, the camroll at the bottom of the carriage 147 rides in the passage 209, Fig. 21, until it comes opposite the gate 325, when it passes into the channel 312. The carriage 147 is thus permitted to move to the left, moving the stud 162 and releasing the clutch for the creeper chains. At the same time, a stud at the end of a lever is forced out of a recess in the exterior of the drum 149 and thus operates the shaft 99, Fig. 6, setting in operation the wheels for transporting the machine to the line of the next furrows, and the mechanism for changing the ploughs and the guide-wheels. As the cam-drum completes its rotation, the cam-roll on the carriage 147 slips through the gate 212, Fig. 21, to the extreme left passage of the cam, permitting the stud 162 to move the loose member of the reversing-clutch into engagement with the fixed member to give a reverse drive to the creeper chains. At the same time, the rod operating the shaft 99 actuating the mis-shapen wheels slips back into its recess and frees the clutch 96, 94, Fig. 6, and also moves a trip-gear which permits the drum 137 and the cam-drum 149 to move closer together, thus freeing the clutch members 159, 160. The reversing-device for the clutch 159 is simultaneously operated. When the plough reaches the opposite headland, the automatic operation are repeated, the cam-drum 149 being moved into its clutched position, in this case, by presser members 207<a> on levers 207<b> mounted on the frame and operated by the movement to the right of the drum 137. The drum 137 is rotated to bring a fresh pair of stops into position for each double traverse of the field, by a .ratchet-drive operated by the movement of the head 201. When the last traverse has been made, a lever falls into a recess in the drum 137 and stops the machine. In the Provisional Specification, the machine is described as being mounted on pairs of wheels at the front and the rear, an extra driving-wheel being mounted on a shaft passing through the middle of the plough carriage; a vertically adjustable wheel is also positioned at the extreme outer central portion of the plough frame to facilitate the transverse movement of the machine,