AN IMPROVED ROTARY CULTIVATOR
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Fryer at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
March 1869.
I, JOHN FRYER, of Redcar, in the County of York, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ROTARY CULTIVATOR," to
be as follows:-
The Invention consists in constructing cultivators having a series of
diggers or blades arranged on a shaft or axle in such manner that by
means of suitable pins projecting from the wheels carrying the machine
such wheels, one or both of them, may by their onward motion be made
to drive the shaft or axle holding such diggers or blades at a velocity
quicker than the revolution of the carrying wheels when in movement.
And also when the diggers or blades are not in use so constructing the
machine that they may be easily put out of gear, and so arranged that
the machine may travel or move about without causing the diggers to
work. Further constructing the carrying wheels with moveable spikes
or tines so arranged that when the machine is required to travel on

page_text: roads, or when otherwise not needed, such spikes or tines can be easily
removed and replaced by hand.
The Invention may be performed by constructing the improved rotary
cultivator with two carrying wheels and one guide wheel, the carrying
wheels having formed on them pins or teeth at suitable distances, which
pins may be formed so as to project sideways inwards from the tyre or
near the periphery of the wheel, made so that they can be easily and
rapidly cleaned, and made to fit into and move toothed or notched
wheels fitted to the end of the shaft or axle carrying the diggers or
blades, such notched wheels and the carrying wheels above described
being made any relative diameters suitable to the amount of quickened
speed desired to be imparted to the diggers by the forward movement of
the machine. The ratchet or notched wheels on the axle or shaft
carrying the diggers may be conveniently made with a play or
movement actuated by suitable springs or levers, by which means they
may be easily and rapidly disconnected from the travelling wheels, and
the lever may be so arranged, or other suitable lever for the purpose,
that the shaft bearing the diggers may when disconnected be drawn up
or moved out in a forward or backward direction, and be clear of the
ground and be regulated by such lever to dig to any depth usual for
cultivating purposes. The ratchet or notched wheels may be so
arranged that when the machine is being turned in any direction from
a straight line the travelling or driving wheels may work the shaft
carrying the diggers independently of each other, and the pressure or
strain from the increased revolutions of the one driving wheel may
act upon a suitable spring and cause the ratchet teeth to move or pass
over several notches according to the pressure and rate of movement
exerted until the machine is drawn into a straight line again, and thus
obviate the necessity of throwing the digger out of gear when turning
at the ends of fields. The carrying wheels when intended to have spikes
or tines projecting from their peripheries may be conveniently made
with slots or holes to hold such spikes or tines, which holes may be
made taper where they come in contact with the spikes and tines and
secured by a linched pin or double wedge so that they can be easily
removed and replaced.
The improved rotary cultivator may be supplied with a driving scat
or box, and be worked by any convenient power, and may be made of

page_text: metal and wood, or wholly of one or the other, the diggers or blades in
any case being of metal, and guano or manure distributors and seed
sowing machines may be conveniently attached to it and worked by the
travelling wheels when in motion.