Patent GB-130759-A (GB)
Title: Motor Plough.
Inventor: CHAMPION FREETHY
IPC: A01B3/56
Filed: 1918-08-07
Abstract: 130,759. Champion, F., and Champion, H. Aug. 7, 1918. Ploughs.-A one-way multiple-furrow plough is provided with means for raising and lowering its shares in succession so that the furrows terminate in a straight line at the headland The plough frame is supported upon a driving-wheel A driven through change-speed and reversing gear from a motor, and steering-wheels E<1>, E<2>, the axles of which are mounted on vertical pivots 13 and are connected through universal joints and links 15 with a steering-wheel 20 which is arranged to turn the wheels E<1>, E<2> about the pivots 13 in opposite directions. The operator's seat is arranged to be swung round the steering-wheel 20 so that he can face in the direction the plough is travelling. The ploughs are pivoted to beams 21 pivoted on shafts X<1>, X<2> passing through brackets depending from the main frame. Each plough is provided with an upper extension 25 which terminate in an arc-piece 26 carrying a support for the coulter, which is inclined at an angle of 64 degrees. The arc-piece 26 is provided with a series of holes, any one of which may be brought into register with a hole in the beam to enable the share to be adjusted at the desired depth by passing a pin through the alined holes. The sets of ploughs are provided with lifting-shafts W<1>, W<2> carrying lifting-disks N, A<1>, B<1> for the individual shares. Each lifting-disk is provided with a semicircular slot widened at one end. A pin F<1> on a lifting-lever for each share is adapted to ride in the slot and, when the shares are being lowered, to fall back into the wide portion of the slot The lifting-levers are pivoted on shafts P<1>, P<2> secured on the main frame. The outer disks N are connected by links S<1>, S<2> with a crank-arm 0 loose on the axle of the driving-wheel A, but capable of being locked thereto by a clutch actuated by the movement of bell-crank levers 48, 49 operated from hand-levers through rock-shafts carrying arms 50, 51. When the crank-arm O is locked to the axle, it rotates therewith, pulling round the outer disk N on the one side and, through the shafts W<1>, W<2>, all the other lifting-disks on that side. The pins F<1> ride from the wide portion of the slot into the circular portion, swinging over the lifting-levers and, through wire connexions between the ends of the levers and the plough beams, raising the ploughs until the ends of the pivot pins 22 become engaged by catch-hooks 30. The lifting-disks are so fitted on the shaft W<1> that the ploughs are lifted in succession, leaving the ends of the furrows in a straight line. After the last plough has been lifted, the controlling- member for the clutch locking the crank O to the axle is freed, leaving the mechanism set ready to raise the other set of ploughs when the clutch is thrown in again with the machine travelling in the opposite direction. To lower the ploughs in succession at the beginning of a traverse, the catch-hooks 30 of the first plough are released by hand, and this plough drops. As this plough falls, a pin on its beam rides down a slot in a tripping-lever 40, rocking this lever and moving the catch-hooks of the second plough, which, in its turn, falls and operates the tripping-lever of the third plough. According to the Provisional Specification, the lifting of the ploughs in succession is accomplished by the lifting-lever of the first plough after moving through a desired distance operating the lifting-lever of the second, and so on. The Provisional Specification also states that the ploughs, with their shafts, may be removed and the motor and frame used for a grass-cutter or self-binder.