Patent GB-157390-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in gang-ploughs
IPC: A01B63/18
Filed: 1921-01-10
Abstract: 157,390. Graham, W. S. Jan. 22, 1915, [Convention date]. Ploughs.-A plough of the type in which the tools are moved into and out of operative position by the rocking of cranked axles on the cranks of which the carrying wheels are mounted has ploughshares 14, 15 carried by beams 10, 11 secured together by braces 12, 13 and supported at the rear by a furrow-wheel 16. This wheel is mounted by an axle-member 17, a sleeve 18, a swinging link 19 and a bracket 20 on the beam 11. The wheel is raised or depressed to permit transport of the plough by a lever 21 pivoted on the bracket 20 and connected to an arm 22 fixed to the sleeve 18. Extension plates 23, 24 are secured to the forward ends of the beams 10, 11 and carry vertical hitch straps 25 on which draught-bars 26 for connection to the tractor are mounted. A cranked axle 27 on which is mounted a carrying wheel 29 is supported in bearings in the plates 23, 24 and a similar axle 32 with a wheel 34 is mounted in brackets 30, 31 on the beams 10, 11, springs 36, 39 being connected to these axles in such a way as to tend to bring the wheels to their lowest position. A lever 71, which when the ploughs are lowered, extends forwardly within easy reach of the tractor driver, is secured to the axle 27 and is adapted to be secured adjustably to a rack 69 on a sleeve rotatably mounted on the axle 27, the sleeve also carrying a second rack 75 adapted to be engaged by the pawl of a second hand lever 73 which is pivoted on the arm of the rack. The rack 69 is connected at its end by a link 79 to a plate 52 adapted to be rotated through 180 degrees by bringing a half-revolution clutch into operation by pulling a cord 63. The plate 52 is provided with recesses into which a roller 58 on the clutch operating lever 59 falls when the plate has turned through 180 degrees, thus lifting a spring-pressed dog mounted on the plate 52 out of a recess in the constantly rotating clutch member 41. The member 41 is mounted on a stud in the bracket 31 and is driven from a sprocket wheel 45 on the hub of the wheel 34, the gear being arranged so that the member 41 rotates at a lower rate than the wheel 45 to give power for lifting the ploughs. A jockey-roll on a spring-pressed arm 46 maintains the driving chain taut while the ploughs are being lifted. When the plate 52 is rotated on the clutch being thrown in, with the ploughs raised as shown in Fig. 4, the link 79 is pressed forward rocking the sleeve carrying the racks 69 and 75 and through the lever 71 the crank 27. The lever 73, also, moves the crank-axle 32 through a link adjustably connecting the far end 76 of the lever to the cranked portion of the axle. The ploughs are thus lowered to operative position. A subsequent pull on the cord 63 would cause a further half revolution of the plate 52 raising the ploughs to the position shown in Fig. 4 again. The pivot of the lever 73 is so positioned on the arm of the rack 75 that notwithstanding adjustment of the depth of working by moving the lever 73, the lifting of the ploughs is evenly distributed over the full half-rotation of the plate 52. The relative position of the cranked axles and the sizes of the gears driving the lifting mechanism are also so arranged that the shares leave and enter the soil in succession and cause the furrows to terminate in a straight line at the headland.