IMPROVEMENTS IN CULTIVATING LAND, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Hobson Hughes, of Ashgrove House,
in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CULTIVATING LAND, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR.
"
Sealed the 21st June 1872, and dated the 28th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Hobson
Hughes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th March 1872.
I, NATHANIEL HOBSON HUGHES, of Ashgrove House, in the County
of Ayr, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CULTIVATING LAND AND IN THE MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to improvements in cultivating land,"
has for its object to provide by mechanical means the action of several
spades or digging implements as ordinarily operated by the hand. The
mechanism consists of a framing supported on a pair of wheels and.
provided with shafts or a pole for being drawn by one or more horses,

page_text: according to the size of the machine; it may, however, be driven by a
steam engine or hauling rope after the manner of working a steam
plough. The wheels on which the cultivator travels constitute driving
wheels, and the inner circle of their felloes are provided with internal
spur teeth which gear into corresponding spur pinions on a driving
shaft situate transversely with the length of the machine. On the
driving shaft one or more spur wheels are fixed which gear into one or
more similar spur wheels on a crank shaft. To each crank of the shaft
a connecting link is coupled, carrying at its lower end a series of spades
or digging instruments. Each such spade or digging instrument is
attached to a rod or shaft which passes through a guide, the rod or
shaft having a spiral groove passed round it into which a stop in the
guide enters, so that as the spades or digging instruments are raised
and lowered by the action of the cranks and the rising and falling of
the framing in which the crank shaft is carried they are caused to travel
through a circular arc which has the effect of turning over the soil into
which they have penetrated. The rising and falling of the frame is
effected by placing it in curved guides, and when the heads carrying
the spades or digging instruments bear against that portion of the
mechanism which carries the spiral guides, the continued revolution of
the crank lifts the frame until the crank is in its lowest position, in
passing beyond which the framing falls and lifts the spades or digging
instruments accordingly. A clutch or other disengaging gear is pro-
vided for disconnecting the cultivating mechanism from the driving
wheels at times when it is necessary to transport the apparatus without
employing it for the purpose herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nathaniel Hobson Hughes in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHANIEL
HOBSON HUGHES, of Ashgrove House, in the County of Ayr, North
Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.
⋅
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the 3

page_text: 35th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Nathaniel Hobson Hughes, Her special
license that I, the said Nathaniel Hobson Hughes, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Nathaniel Hobson
Hughes, my executors, administrators, or 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 CULTIVATING LAND, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Nathaniel Hobson Hughes, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Nathaniel Hobson Hughes, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in cultivating land,
has for its object to provide by mechanical means the action of several
spades or digging implements as ordinarily operated by hand. The
mechanism consists of a framing supported on a pair of wheels and
provided with shafts or a pole for being drawn by one or more horses,
according to the size of the machine; it may, however, be drawn by a
steam engine or hauling rope after the manner of working a steam
plough. The wheels on which the cultivator travels constitute driving
wheels, and the inner circles of their fellies are provided with internal
spur teeth which gear into corresponding spur pinions on a driving shaft
situate transversely with the length of the machine. On the driving
shaft one or more spur wheels are fixed which gear into one or more
similar spur wheels on a crank shaft. To each crank of this shaft a
connecting rod is coupled carrying at its lower end a series of spades
or digging instruments. Each such spade or digging instrument is
"

page_text: attached to a rod or shaft which passes through a guide, the rod or shaft
having a spiral groove passed round it into which a stop in the guide
enters, so that as the spades or digging instruments are raised and
lowered by the action of the cranks, and the rising and falling of the
framing in which the crank shaft is carried they are caused to travel
through a circular arc which has the effect of turning over the soil into
which they have penetrated. The rising and falling of the frame is
effected by placing it in curved guides, and when the heads carrying
the spades or digging instruments bear against that portion of the
mechanism which carries the spiral guides the continued revolution of
the crank lifts the frame until the crank is in its lowest position, on
passing beyond which the framing falls and lifts the spades or digging
instruments accordingly. A clutch or other disengaging gear is pro-
vided for disconnecting the cultivating mechanism from the driving
wheels at times when it is necessary to transport the apparatus without
employing it for the purpose herein-before described.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, that is to say,―
On Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto appended Figure 1 is a side
elevation; Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 a longitudinal section on the
line a, a, Figure 2, of the digging machine or apparatus constructed in
accordance with this Invention, whilst Figure 5 on Sheet 2 of the
Drawings is an elevation of the rear end of the same.
)
The mechanism consists of a framing A supported on two pairs of
wheels B and C, and also upon a pair of rollers D, whose axes are carried
in brackets q attached by means of swivel pins or bogies j to a beam q
situate in the rear of the wheels B and extending across the under
side of the machine from one side frame A to the other. The rollers D,
in conjunction with the driving wheels B act as breakers or crushers
and prepare the soil for the spades or diggers herein-after described.
The leading wheels C are attached to the forward end of the framing A
by means of a swivel pin or bogie D', as shewn more particularly at
Figure 3, Sheet 1 of the Drawings, and the wheels B constitute the
driving wheels, being formed with internal spur teeth at the inner sides
of their fellies or rims, as more particularly seen at Figure 3. The teeth
of the wheels B gear into corresponding spur pinions E situate on opposite

page_text: extremities of a shaft F, as shewn in dotted lines at Figure 2, Sheet 1.
The shaft F is supported in a framing G centred on the shaft or axis H
of the driving wheels B, the opposite end of. the framing G being carried
in curved guides I fixed to or forming part of the framing A. On the
driving shaft F, whereon the spur pinions E are situate, spur. wheels J
are also fixed which gear into corresponding, spur wheels K fixed on a
crank shaft L, which is also supported in the framing G, as shewn on the
Drawings, and whereby motion is communicated to the spades or digging
instruments M as herein-after set forth. A fly, wheel Z is.or may be
situated on one extremity of the shaft L and to each of the cranks on
the said shaft the upper extremity of a connecting link N is coupled, its
lower extremity being fixed to a cross head O, to which the upper ends
of the rods or shafts P of the spades or digging instruments M are
attached. The rods or shafts P are passed through holes or openings
formed in circular guide bars R carried in a frame R', which is situated
in guides S fixed to or forming part of the side frames A. The guide
bars R are free to rotate to a certain extent in their, several bearings in
the frame R', and each of the rods or shafts P is formed with a quick
helical groove around it into which a stop or pin fixed in each hole in
the guide bars R, through which each rod P passes, enters, as shown at c
in the end clevation Figure 5, Sheet 2 of the Drawings. By means of
this arrangement the spades or digging instruments M are caused in
being raised and lowered by the action of the cranks of the shaft L to
travel through the arc of a circle, the effect of which is to turn over
the soil into which the said spades or digging instruments have penetrated.
The cranks T and T are so arranged on the shaft L that whilst one set
of spades or digging instruments M is penetrating into the soil the set of
spades or digging instruments alternating therewith is being raised full
of soil to its highest position. In effecting this the cross heads O' are
arranged so as to come in contact with the guide bars R before the
cranks to which they are attached have reached their lowest positions,
as is shewn by the dotted lines on Figure 3, Sheet 1 of the Drawings,
so that the cranks in continuing to revolve force the framing G upwards
in the curved guides I until the lowest positions. of the cranks have been
reached, in passing beyond which the framing G falls and lifts the spades
or digging instruments M until the rods P thereof; form an acute angle
with their respective cranks T, as shewn by the dotted lines on Figure 3,
Sheet 1 of the Drawings, after which the continued upward revolution
of the cranks by drawing inwards the spades or digging instruments M
1
;

page_text: causes the said spades or digging instruments, by the action of the pins
or studs c in the helical grooves of their rods or shafts P to turn over
from the flat position U, Figure 2, Sheet 1, in which they have been
raised with the soil into the position V, Figure 2, Sheet 1, thereby causing
the spades or digging instruments to turn over and deposit the soil which
they had lifted in a manner similar to that performed with a spade or
digging implement as ordinarily operated by the hand. Springs k
bearing at one extremity on the framing G, and attached at their opposite
extremities to a cross bar Q, may or may not be provided to assist in
restoring the framing G to its lowest position. The momentum due to
the falling of the framing G whilst causing those spades or digging
instruments, whose cranks T have passed beyond the lowest positions, to
be raised in the manner herein-before described, also imparts a penetrating
impetus to these spades or digging instruments whose cranks T¹ have
commenced the downward stroke, and which is or may be further and
continuously increased by springs e, whose lower extremities bear against
the cross heads O, their upper ends being fixed to a bar W extending
across the machine, and supported in brackets X fixed on the framing A.
The depth of penetration into the soil of the spades or digging instru-
ments M is regulated as desired by adjusting the distance above the
ground of the framing R' which carries the guide bars R. This is
effected by providing the framing R' with racks Y into which spur
pinions b, supported on a shaft f, carried in the brackets ✗, are
geared, as shewn on the Drawings. On one extremity of the shaft f
a hand wheel g is situated, by which the shaft and spur pinions b
are rotated, and a ratchet wheel his formed on or fixed to the inner
side of the hand wheel 'g, into which a pall i gears so as to retain the
framing R in the position to which it has been adjusted. In order to
throw the spur wheels J and pinions E which operate the digging
apparatus out of gear with the driving wheels B, when the machine is
being moved from one field of operation to another, or at such times as
it is not desired to have the digging apparatus in operation, an arrange-
ment of mechanism'shewn at Figures 2 and 3 and in detail at Figure 4,
Sheet 1 of the Drawings, is provided. This mechanism consists of
eccentrics m placed loosely on the driving shaft H, the straps of cach
of which are furnished with an arm or bracket n through an eye formed
in the extremity of which the shaft F, whereon the spur pinions E and.
spur wheels J are fixed, is passed, as shown; or the brackets n may be
fixed to the bearing blocks c' of the shaft F, so as to obviate friction

page_text: of the brackets n on the said shaft. A lever o is attached near its lower
extremity to each of the eccentrics m by means of a pin p, and a pin
or stud v is fixed into each lever o which enters into a slot formed in
an arm s projecting from a frame s¹ provided with two stops t and u
respectively. The frame s¹ is attached to the framing G by means
of pins or studs d as shewn at Figures 3 and 4, Sheet 1, and the
shoulders t and u, whilst the machine is in operation, are entered into
slots or openings formed at the upper and lower sides of the bearing
block.c of the shaft F, thereby locking the shaft in its proper position
in slots formed in the ribs of the framing G, as shewn by the dotted
lines at Figure 3, Sheet 1 of the Drawings. When it is desired to put
the digging mechanism out of gear with the driving wheels B the
handles or levers o are raised to the position indicated in dotted lines at
Figure 4, Sheet 1 of the Drawings, whereby the lower parts of the
handles or levers o are brought into contact with shoulders » formed on
the sides of the eccentrics m, and the lower extremities of the levers o
being also caused to bear against the revolving driving shaft H cause
the eccentrics m to become geared with the said shaft, thereby drawing
inwards the shaft F, spur wheels J, and pinions E, into the position
indicated in dotted lines at Figure 4, Sheet 1 of the Drawings, in
which position the spur wheels J arc out of gear with the pinions K,
and the digging mechanism is thereby rendered stationary. In raising
the handles or levers o to the position shown in dotted lines at Figure 4,
the pins v moving through the arc of a circle in the slots in the arms s
cause the said arms to be elevated, and thereby release the shoulders t
and u of each frame s¹ from contact with the bearing blocks c¹ of the
shaft F, which is then free to move inwards, when the eccentrics m are
geared with the shaft H, as herein-before described.
It is preferred to connect the handles or levers o together by a cross
piece as shewn in plan at Figure 2, Sheet 1 of the Drawings, so as to
cause them to move forwards and backwards in unison.
The cultivating or digging apparatus illustrated on the Drawings
hereunto appended may be drawn along the ground by a horse or horses,
harnessed to shafts or a pole at the forward end of the framing, according
to the size and weight of the machine, it being here explained that
although I have on the accompanying Drawings illustrated the machine
as constructed with four sets of spades or digging instruments and

page_text: .
mechanism in connection therewith, the said machine may be con-
structed with a greater or less number of sets of such spades or digging
instruments, and in lieu of horse power being employed to draw the
machine whilst in operation a hauling rope communicating with a
steam engine and attached to the forward end of the framing A may
be employed to draw or propel the machine after the manner of hauling
a steam plough. In order to cut the turf when the digging machine
is working in a "lea" field a disc w is provided, which is lowered into
the soil to any required extent by means of a rack y, to the lower
extremity of which it is attached, the rack y being operated by a spur
pinion g, fixed on a shaft provided with a hand wheel z', and carried
in a bracket attached to the side frame A, as shewn at Figures 1 and 2,
Sheet 1 of the Drawings. The rack y is retained in any position to
which it has been adjusted by a pin x passed through the side frame A
and entered into one of a series of holes formed in the rack, or a pall and
ratchet wheel may be used in lieu thereof.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe
in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, and there-
fore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
receited Letters Patent is,-
+
First. The general arrangement and combination of mechanism con-
stituting the apparatus or implement for cultivating land and operating
thereon in the manner herein-before described and illustrated upon the
annexed Sheet of Drawings or any mere modification thereof.
Second. The carrying the crank shaft to which the spades or digging
instruments are attached in guides, and so arranging it in relation to
the guide bars, through which the shafts of the spades or digging instru-
ments pass, that its weight in being raised becomes available for securing
the penetration of the soil, and in falling for withdrawing the spades or
digging instruments therefrom.
Third. The arrangement of mechanism whereby the notions of the
spades or digging instruments are caused to assimilate the motions of
such instruments when operated by manual labour, and so as to effect
the overturning of the soil operated upon as herein-before described, or
any mere modification thereof.

page_text: Fourth. The mechanism whereby the digging or cultivating gear is
disconnected from the driving gear when required as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Hobson Hughes, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of Sep-
tember, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
NATHANIEL HOBSON HUGHES. (L.S.)