IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lewis, of Hassall, near Sandbach, in the
County of Chester, Farmer and Agricultural Implement Agent, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS.”
Sealed the 19th April 1872, and dated the 8th January 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lewis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th January 1872.
I, GEORGE LEWIS, of Hassall, near Sandbach, in the County of
Chester, Farmer and Agricultural Implement Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS," to
be as follows:-
My Invention consists in applying to ploughs a pulverizer con-
structed and combined with the plough in the manner herein-after
described.
My Invention is applicable to single and double-furrow ploughs, turn-

page_text: I will describe my Invention as applied to a single-furrow plough.
The pulverizer constructed according to my Invention consists of a
circular frame or wheel capable of rotation in a horizontal plane, the
rim of the said frame or wheel being furnished on its under side with
twelve or other number of teeth or tines situated perpendicular to the
plane of the frame or wheel. I generally make the said pulverizer of
about fifteen inches diameter, but I do not limit myself to that diameter.
The said pulverizer is situated and fixed at the rear or hind end of the
mould board of the plough. The said pulverizer turns horizontally on
an axle supported by a cranked strap and draw rod, the said strap and
rod being connected in any convenient manner with the beam and
handles of the plough. When the plough to which my pulverizer
is applied is in operation the pulverizer is made to rotate by one
side of it being pressed in the furrow by the advance of the plough.
By the rotation of the pulverizer in combination with its advancing
motion the teeth or tines on its under side are made to crush or break
up by a cross-cutting action the soil behind the mould board, and at the
same time to level the soil. The soil is thereby thoroughly pulverized
or broken up, and the subsequent breaking up by a separate implement
is wholly or in part dispensed with.
In applying my Invention to double ploughs and steam ploughs a
pulverizer of the construction described is fixed behind each of the
mould boards of the plough. In turnwrest ploughs the pulverizer
swivels to either side, thus preparing a seed bed at one operation.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LEWIS, of Hassall, near Sandbach, in the County of Chester, Farmer and
Agricultural Implement Agent, send greeting.

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Lewis, Her special license
that I, the said George Lewis, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Lewis, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Lewis, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Lewis, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ploughs, and
consists in combining a rotary harrow or pulverizer with a plough as
herein-after described, so that the teeth or tines of the pulverizer shall
cut through and break up the furrow, slice, or spit behind the mould
board with a cross-cutting action.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn a single-furrow
plough having a rotary pulverizer thus combined with it.
Figure 1 shews a plan view, and Figure 2 a side view of the plough;
Figures 3 and Figures 4 shew plan and side views of the pulverizer and
parts which carry it. The pulverizer is composed of a number of teeth
or tines fixed in a circle concentrically with a spindle, around which the
circle of this is capable of revolving. In the pulverizer shewn at
Figures 3 the stems of the tines are passed through the rim of a wheel,
and are secured by bolts and nuts; in Figures 4 the stems of the tines
are bent, and are fixed in a central boss so as to stand out radially there-
from, as shewn..

page_text: In each of these Figures a, a, are the tines carried in a circle around
a central boss b capable of revolving on a short spindle c, on the top of
which is a ball d which is received in a socket at the lower end of a
vertical rod e. This ball-and-socket joint admits of the spindle c being
inclined in any direction, and of being secured in the position desired by
screwing up the bolts e¹; the rod e passes through and is secured in a
socket, which can be, slid to and fro along the horizontal bar g. This
bar is clamped on to the plough handles, as. shewn. It will thus be seen
that the spindle carrying the pulverizer can either be raised or lowered
or set nearer to or further from the plough, and also that it can be set
at any desired angle, so that the pulverizer can be inclined in any
direction desired to adapt it to the requirements of the soil that is being
ploughed.
A. diagram view of the pulverizer set in the position we prefer for
acting upon most kinds of land is shewn at Figure 5, the teeth of the
pulverizer nearest to the plough entering into the furrow, slice, or spit
just in rear of the mould board, whereby a revolving motion is given to
the pulverizer, and its teeth are caused to cut crosswise through the soil
turned over by the mould board at the same time that they are drawn
through it by the forward movement of the plough.
In the diagram view, Figure 5, the spindle c is set to incline outwards
away from the plough, but if desired it might also be set to incline for-
wards, so that the teeth in rear of the spindle shall enter deeper into the
turned over spits of soil than the teeth in front of the spindle, or as
shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 5. The spindle may be inclined to a
greater angle and set so that its teeth shall cut more into the spit just
turned over by the mould board and less into those which have been
previously turned over. By thus causing the teeth of the pulverizer to
cut crosswise through the soil as it is turned over by the mould board
the tops of the furrows are harrowed down, making a perfectly level sced
bed suitable for a seed drill to follow after; they also, especially when
set in the position shewn by the dotted lines, break through the ground
and bring up twitch and other roots, and deliver them lightly on to the
surface of the soil and expose them to the action of the sun.
I would remark that although in the Drawings I have only shewn the
pulverizer combined with a single-furrow plough, yet that the pulverizer
may be similarly combined with multiple-furrow ploughs, whether

page_text: GEORGE LEWIS. (L.S.)