IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DRILLS POR SOWING GRAIN, SEEDS, AND MANURE
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SMYTH, of Peasenhall, near Yoxford, Suffolk, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixteenth day of November, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Smyth, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said James Smyth, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Smyth, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DRILLS POR SOWING GRAIN,
SEEDS, AND MANURE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that
I, the said James Smyth, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at. large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance: with the said proviso, I, the said
James Smyth, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
Figure 1 represents a right-hand side.view.orga-drill having parts of my
improvements applied thereto; Figure 2 is a left-hand side view of the same;
Figure 3 is part of a plan, in order that the nature of the said framings may
be more readily understood.
It is well known that in. constructing drills the side framing has been of
wood, which requires considerable width or thickness of material in order to
obtain the requisite strength, by which arrangement it is necessary to incline
the wheels very much, in order that the wheels may come so near to the outer
sides of the drill apparatus, that in going up and down a field, particularly
where the land is ploughed in broad work without stretches, that one of the
wheels may follow in the track previously, made, and thus the seeds drilled
may fall in lines not too far distant. This arrangement of inclined wheels is
objectionable for various reasons; and the first part of my Invention consists of
applying iron for the side framing of drills, whereby the requisite strength
may be obtained, and yet allow the wheels to stand vertically, 'or only slightly
inclined, compared with the state of circumstances heretofore consequent on
the use of wood for the side framing of drills.
a, a, are the two side frames of a drill of iron, which are bolted and fixed
to the wood parts of the frame of a drill, as shewn. The 'shape and con-
struction of the iron sides or frames being clearly shewn in the Drawings,
they will not require further description. And I would only remark, that
although I believe the arrangement of iron side frames for a drill, shewn in
the Drawings, to be the best, yet I do not confine myself thereto, as the shape
and arrangement may be varied so long as the object of this part of my
improvements be accomplished. b is the axletree for the wheels c, c; this
axletree is fixed securely to the framing of the drill, and the arms for the
wheels may be perfectly horizontal or only slightly inclined.
It will not be necessary to enter into a description of the various parts of
a drill, which are well known; I propose, therefore, to confine my description
for the most part to the novel parts, which are claimed as the Invention secured
by the present Letters Patent.

page_text: On one of the wheels, as heretofore, is affixed a cog wheel c', which takes
into and drives the cog wheel d, affixed on the axis e of the apparatus for
feeding the drill with measured quantities of seed and manure; and as the rela-
tion of the wheel d, in respect to the wheel c', has to be, varied, I have several
such wheels, d with moveable bearings to adjust the centre of the wheel d,. used
correctly in-respect to the centre of the wheel c', in such manner that the drill
cannot be put to work unless the proper bearings be, used when a particular
size of wheel d is applied; and this is important, because farm servants, know-
ing little of machinery, are very liable to get into error when applying a different
wheel'd in drills of the present construction, as they have to adjust the bearings
used to different wheels, often doing great injury to the machinery, from being
careless, or not being able to adjust the bearings correctly. In the side
frames a, a, are made.openings with grooves at a', for receiving the bear-
ings e, e', and these bearings are made correctly for only one wheel d, and
the wheels d and their proper bearings are marked with the same mark,
so that the man when changing the wheel d at once knows which of the
several bearings he is to use with a particular wheel d, as the two bearings
proper for it will be marked to correspond with the wheel, and the drill can
only be got to work when the bearings used are correct for the wheel d which
may be for the time applied, thus preventing any accident arising to the
machinery from any want of knowledge or carelessness of the man. When it
is desired to change the wheel d, the axis e is to be lifted on to the projections
a²; and when it is desired, to keep the wheel d out of gear with the wheel c, the
lever f and chain g are employed, and brought into the position shown by the
dötted lines, and there held by a projecting pin passing under a staple or other-
wise; and it will be seen that the lever has several notches to receive the end
of the chain, in order that the same chain may be used for different bearings.
The ends of the box h, which contains the matter to be sown, is to be made
with metal, in order again to economise space in the width of the drill, and
thus to bring the wheels to the perpendicular, or as near thereto as may be.
Figure 4 shews a section of a manure and seed box, with suitable apparatus,
according to parts of my Invention; for sowing manure at intervals in the land,
and the seed is sowed either with the manure, or the manure is first covered
before sowing the seed. The apparatus for sowing manure at intervals consists
of several curved surfaces;. I believe four to be the most convenient, though
that number may be varied if the apparatus used therewith be varied also. On
the axis e is affixed a cog wheel i, which takes into and drives the cog wheel j,
which is an intermediate wheel. The cog wheel j. takes into and drives the
cog wheel k on the axis k; the cog wheel k takes into and driving the inter-

page_text: mediate cog wheel, which takes into and drives the cog wheel m on the axis
m'; thus the axes e, k¹, and m³ revolve at the same speed, and as the manure
is delivered by the axis k¹, and the seed delivered by the axis m³, they will
deposit at the same intervals. n, n, are the curved surfaces which receive the
manure from the cups on the arms on the axis e, and by revolving, the curved
surfaces n deliver the manure at intervals apart. On the axis m¹ are affixed
the usual cups or apparatus for measuring the seed into the drills used there-
with. But one part of my improvements consists in so arranging the seed box
or apparatus, that the seed may be delivered with the manure, or after the
manure has been covered, and this is accomplished by means of the flap or
door n*, which is hinged at n¹, so that it can close the opening o into the
manure drill, and cause the opening p into the seed drill to be open, and thus
separate the delivery of the seed from the manure; or the door may leave the
opening o open, so that the seed may descend with the manure through the
seed drill. In case the manure is required to be covered before the seed is
sown, then between the manure drill and the seed drill I apply an apparatus
to cover the manure, as is shown at q, which is a forked apparatus, which
enters the earth on either side of the furrow made by a manure drill, and thus
causes part of the earth to descend into the furrow and cover the manure.
Figure 5 shows part of the axis e, with the cups or apparatus for measuring
the manure on to the surfaces, which deliver it to the drill at intervals.
Figure 6 shows a side section of the seed box, in order that the mode of
opening and closing the openings o, p, as above described, may be better
understood.
Figure 7 shows a plan of the apparatus for delivering manure to a drill,
and, combined therewith, the seed box and apparatus; Figure 8 shows a
side section; Figure 9 is a plan, and Figure 10 is a transverse section,. of an
apparatus for delivering seeds to a drill. I have not thought it necessary to
show the drill and other parts to be used with this apparatus as they are well
understood. The object of this apparatus is, by means of the same axis to
deliver to the same drill seeds from two boxes or apparatus containing the
seeds. This apparatus is particularly applicable in such cases as when sowing
clover seed and grass seeds, where the nature of the seed is such, that the one
being heavier than the other, renders the heavier one liable to descend to the
lower part, and separate from the lighter, should they be mixed in the same
box. The apparatus where the cups revolve is divided into two parts, so that
the two different descriptions of seeds to be simultaneously sowed are put into
separate compartments r and s, and seed is supplied to those compartments
from suitable boxes r¹ and s', with suitable conduits between them, so that the

page_text: seeds may fall from the boxes r, s, into the compartments r, s, within which
the frames of cups revolve. t, t, are the cups which work in the compart-
ments r, and they deliver their seed through the hoppers v, v, to the drill; and
the cups u, u, work in the compartment 8, and deliver their seed through the
hoppers w, w, to the drill; thus, the seeds being kept separate till thrown to
the drill, are uniformly delivered to the drill by the revolution of the same
axis x, which has both sets of cups affixed thereto. This mode of using a
divided apparatus with two sets of cups on the same axis of motion may be so
arranged as to require only one hopper. This will be readily understood
on examining Figure 11, which is a side section of an apparatus for this
purpose. The compartments and s are one below the other, and the two sets
of cups are on two frames, the one of larger diameter than the other, the cup
being set in such manner on the outer frame as not to deliver till it gets beyond
the point where the corresponding cup of the other frame has delivered its
contents, and this is effected by turning the inner surfaces of the cups of the
outer frame so much up as to prevent their delivering their seed till it comes
over the one hopper y.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details here shown, so long as the peculiar cha-
racter of either part of my Invention be retained. But what I claim is,-
First, the mode of constructing the frames of drills by the application of iron
for the side frames; and I also claim the making of the ends of the manure
and seed boxes with iron.
Secondly, I claim the mode of arranging the bearings in respect to the
wheels of the axis e.
Thirdly, I claim the mode of arranging the revolving apparatus for delivering
the manure at intervals.
Fourthly, I claim the mode of arranging apparatus whereby the seed can
be delivered together with or separate from the manure, and the earth covered
over the manure before the seed is sown.
And, fifthly, I claim the mode of sowing seed from two different compart-
ments by the same drill, by two sets of cups being affixed on the same axis,
and moving in two separate compartments, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smyth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
JAMES
(L.B.) SMITH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid James Smyth came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and everything therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
. Enrolled the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four..