A Dibbling and Sowing Machine.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Dec., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 9th Sept., 1891-Accepted, 14th Nov., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Dibbling and Sowing Machine.
EDWARD WILLIAM LYNAM Gortnamona Ballinasloe Ireland Civil Engineer,
and FRANCIS JOHN LYNAM Gortnamona Ballinasloe Ireland Civil Engineer do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
An arrangement of one or more hollow dibbles, fixed to a bar or arranged in
a circle; which dibble or dibbles are made in two or more parts, capable of being
opened while in the ground, so as to drop the seed into the hole made by the dibble
or dibbles, and an arrangement by which the seed is passed from the seed hopper
or hoppers to the dibble or dibbles consisting of blocks or bars having a hole or
holes cut in them of sizes to contain the proper quantity of seed, sliding under
the seed hopper or hoppers, so that in one position of the blocks or bars the
hole or holes in same shall be under the hopper or hoppers, when the hole or
holes shall be filled with seed from the hopper or hoppers, and in another position
of the blocks or bars the hole or holes shall be in a position to drop the seed
through the dibble or dibbles and into the ground. The movement for discharging
the seed into the hole or holes in the blocks or bars, for moving the blocks or
bars over the dibble or dibbles and for opening and closing the dibble or dibbles, to
be worked by a hand or foot lever or system of levers. A block or bar or blocks
or bars may be used to pass the seed to the dibble or dibbles from the hopper or
hoppers.
Dated this Thirteenth day of December 1890.
EDWARD WILLIAM LYNAM.
FRANCIS JOHN LYNAM.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Dibbling and Sowing Machine.
EDWARD WILLIAM & FRANCIS JOHN LYNAM of Gortnamona Ballinasloe
Ireland Civil Engineers do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
It
The invention is an agricultural machine for dibbling and sowing seeds.
consists of one or more hollow dibble points, which are made to open and close, and
are fixed on a straight bar or arranged on a wheel; together with an arrange-
ment by which fixed quantities of seed are delivered at intervals into and through
cach dibble point.
The drawings show the invention as applied to a hand-power dibbling and sowing
machine.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of the machine. B B. B. being dibble points fixed to the
bar A A. On the bar A A and nearly over the dibble points B B, hoppers H. H,.
to contain the seed, are fixed. The bar A A is connected by the rods O O, to the
handle M. FF is a plate which passes under the hoppers H. H and is capable of
a motion in the direction of its length. The lever L is connected by means of the
rod N with the bell crank G which moves the plate F F. so that when the lever L
is raised, the plate F F is moved to the left and when the lever L is released, the
spring K draws the plate F F back to its first and normal position.
Fig. 2. is a vertical section on an enlarged scale through the dibble point B and
the hopper H. both fixed to the bar A A as already described. The plate F forms

page_text: A lever E
the bottom of the hopper H. and is perforated as shown at Q. When the lever L
(Fig. 1) is released the plate Fis in its normal position (shown in Fig. 2) that is the
perforation Qis underneath the hopper H. and forms a recess, closed at the bottom
by the bar A A, into which seed drops by the action of gravity, from the hopper H.
When the lever L is raised the plate F moves towards the left, a charge of seed
being carried in the perforation Q until the perforation A comes over the
passage P. cut through the bar A A and leading into the dibble point B. The
dibble point B is formed of sheet metal and has a side or door D moveable
round an axis C. so that it can be opened and closed at the bottom.
is fixed to the door D and passes through a slot S in the plate F. and this slot
is so formed that when the plate F is moved to the left until the perforation Q is
over the passage P. at the same time the end of the slot S presses the lever E
and moves back the door D leaving the dibble point B open at the bottom so that
the seed can drop through the dibble point B and into the earth. When the
lever L is released the spring K (Fig. 1) draws the plate F. back to the right
into its first and normal position and the other end of the slot S presses back the
lever-E and closes the door D so that the dibble point B can be pressed into the
ground without clay being admitted into it.
Figure 3 is a plan of a portion of the plate F. Q being the perforation which
forms a recess for seed and S the slot through which the lever E passes. The
plate F passes under all the hoppers H H. with a perforation and a slot at each
hopper and over cach dibble point. Several plates as F may be supplied to each
machine with perforations Q of different sizes to suit different varieties of seeds, or
one thin plate may be used with detachable pieces, such as that shewn in Fig. 3,
fixed to it at each hopper. These pieces to be supplied in sets. Each set to be
provided with a different sized perforation Q. to suit the various kinds-of-seeds-to
be dibbled.
The mode of operating the machine is as follows:-
The hoppers H H are filled with seed. The lever L-being-released-and-con-
sequently the perforations-Q-being filled with. sced under each hopper and the
doors D of the dibble points being closed. The operator presses the dibble
points into the earth, holding the machine by the handle M. The bar A,
touching the earth-along-its-length, the dibble points are at equal depths in the
earth. The operator then pulls the lever L upwards, the motion of which,
transmitted through the rod Nand bell crank-Gas-before-described-actuates.the_
bar F. F. opens the doors D of the dibble points B and at the same time, the
bar F-F-being carried-to-the left, the charge of seed is carried in the perforations Q
to the passages P. and drops into the earth at the bottom of the holes made by
the dibble points B. The operator then lifts the machine out of the earth, and
releases the lever L. when the spring K. (Fig. 1) draws back the plate F F into
its normal position, closing the doors D of the dibble points B and the perfora-
tions Q. traversing under the hoppers H. are filled with seed by gravitation and
the machine is ready to repeat the operation.
The bell crank G. Fig. 1. may be moved by hand or foot power.
Instead of being arranged on a straight bar as shewn in the drawings, the
hoppers H. and the dibble points B may be fixed on the periphery of a wheel and
two or more such wheels may be placed side by-side at fixed distances apart in
the same machine. In such a machine there must be a separate plate F. (as shewn
in Fig. 2) for each hopper and dibble point; and each such plate F. may be
moved by a cam or eccentric at the moment when the dibble point to which it
is attached is in the ground.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is-
(1) A dibbling and sowing machine comprising the use of a hollow dibble point
or points capable of being onened while in the earth. and

page_text: (2) A dibbling and sowing machine comprising the use of a sliding plate or
plates with perforations cut through them and so arranged that at each movement
of the sliding plate a quantity of seed nearly equal in volume to the cubic capacity
of the perforation in the plate, is carried from a hopper and delivered into a hollow
dibble point as above described.
Dated, at Gortuamona, Ballinasloe, this 8th day of September 1891.
EDWARD WILLIAM LYNAM, M.E.
FRANCIS JOHN LYNAM,
Francis Street, Dundalk.