IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Perkins, of Hitchin, in the County of
Herts, Edward Faux, of Yaxley, in the County of Huntington, and
Samuel William Campain, of Deeping Saint Nicholas, in the County
of Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Perkins, Edward
Faux, and Samuel William Campain at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 9th March
1872.
We, THOMAS PERKINS, of Hitchin, in the County of Herts, EDWARD
FAUX, of Yaxley, in the County of Huntington, and SAMUEL WILLIAM
CAMPAIN, of Deeping Saint Nicholas, in the County of Lincoln, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
IMPLEMENTS FOR CULTIVATING LAND, AND FOR ACTUATING THE SAME BY STEAM
POWER," to be as follows:-

page_text: When the axes are connected by a train of wheels or chain and chain
wheels, there may be one or more sets of tines on each of the driven
axes (one will usually be sufficient), but when the axes are not so geared
each axis must have at one point of its length at least four rotating tines,
acting as a driving wheel, and causing the axis with the single or double
row of tines upon it to rotate; there must be one tine of each axis
always in the ground or the rotation would cease.
In some cases we turn the axes half or partly round each time the
direction of motion of the implement is reversed, and this we do by
lapping chains in connection with the draft rope partly around the
axes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Perkins, Edward Faux, and Samuel
William Campain in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, We, THOMAS
PERKINS, of Hitchin, in the County of Herts, EDWARD FAUX, of Yaxley,
in the County of Huntingdon, and SAMUEL WILLIAM CAMPAIN, of
Deeping Saint Nicholas, in the County of Lincoln, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year 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 us, the said Thomas Perkins, Edward Faux, and Samuel
William Campain, Her special license that we, the said Thomas Perkins,
Edward Faux, and Samuel William Campain, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Perkins, Edward
Faux, and Samuel William Campain, our executors, administrators, 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 IMPLEMENTS FOR CULTIVATING
LAND, AND FOR ACTUATING THE SAME BY STEAM POWER," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Perkins, Edward Faux, and
Samuel William Campain, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Perkins, on behalf of
myself and the said Edward Faux, and Samuel William Campain, 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 implements for
' cultivating land, and in apparatus for actuating the same by steam
power.
We draw the cultivating implements to and fro on the land by means
of a portable steam engine, which by a belt gives motion to two drums
upon which the hauling rope is alternately wound; the engine can be
shifted along the axles which support it by screws and nuts to facilitate
the true alignment of the driving pulleys. The attendant at the winding
drums controls the engine by cords, rods, or equivalent instruments
passing to the regulator. The ropes pass from the winding drums over
snatch blocks set opposite to them. The two blocks or pullies are
mounted in a frame capable of sliding in an outer frame which is fixed
down to the ground. The inner frame is moved by a screw or otherwise,
until the blocks or pulleys stand truly opposite to the winding drums,
so that the ropes in running on to the drums may coil themselves
evenly. The winding ropes pass around pulley carriages on the head-
lands; as the pulley rotates it drives a train of gear in connection with
rotating tines or wheels, and so the carriage is moved forward; when
the carriage is sufficiently forward the hauling rope presses against a
lever or an instrument, and throws the driving train out of gear.
When the pulley turns in the reverse direction a pawl upon it also
throws the train of driving gear out of action. Similarly it is again
put into action when the pulley turns forward.
We employ a cultivating implement which consists of a number of
parallel axes mounted in a frame. The axes carry tines and are geared

page_text: together by spur wheels or a chain and chain wheels or otherwise, and
when at work are usually locked and securely held to prevent them
turning.
When it is desired to clear the implement from roots and such like,
which the tines collect, the axes are unlocked by lifting a pawl, and the
axes turn, lifting the tines and allowing the rubbish to escape. The
rotation of the axis continues until the same or another set of tines is
brought again into work, when the pawl again drops in.
The rotation of the axes may be obtained either directly by the strain
of the hauling rope, or indirectly by the resistance offered to the tines
by the land over which the implement is drawn. In the latter case, in
place of gearing or connecting the axes together so as to cause them to
turn simultaneously, there may be a locking pawl in connection with
each axis. When the first pawl is lifted the axis turns until the whole
or part of the rotation is completed, when at a determined point a pro-
jection on the rotating axis lifts the pawl of the next axis, so that in
this arrangement the axes turn in succession from end to end of the
series.
When the axes are connected by a train of wheels or chain and
chain wheels, there may be one or more sets of tines on each of the
driven axes (one will usually be sufficient), but when the axes are not
so geared each axis must have at one point of its length at least four
rotating tines acting as a driving wheel, and causing the axis with the
single or double row of tines upon it to rotate. There must be one
tine of each axis always on the ground or the rotation would cease.
In order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the engine, shewing the screw a in
the bolster plate for shifting the front portion of engine sideways
without moving the wheels and axles; the screw a works through
the head of the locking pin b as a nut; Figure 2 is a side elevation
of Figure 1.

page_text: of the same. The bracket plates which are fixed on the fire-box, and
which by resting upon the axle support the weight of the after end
of the engine, are able to slide upon the axle; the traverse motion
is given by the screw c working in a nut fixed upon the axle. By
these adjustments the driving pulley on the engine is readily brought
to its proper position in respect to the driven pulley of the windlass or
winding drums.
Figure 5 is a plan of the portable engine and windlass, and a is the
driving belt passing from the one to the other around the driving and
driven pulleys. The same Figure also shews the cord arrangement by
which one man may tend both the engine and the windlass. The cord
passes immediately under the lever 6 of the windlass clutches around
pulleys to the regulator of the engine, so that the engine may be
stopped by the left hand and the windlass reversed by the right hand
at the same moment.
Figure 6 is an end elevation of the engine, shewing the mode of
attaching to the fire-box the guide pulleys, and brackets, for carrying
the cord for stopping and starting the engine from the windlass.
Figure 7 is a plan, and Figure 8 an elevation of the snatch block
it consists of an outer frame a which is firmly anchored to the land,
and an inner frame b capable of sliding longitudinally in the frame a.
The frame 6 carries the two guide pulleys c, c, for the hauling rope;
d is a screw carried by the frame 6 and working through a nut fixed
upon the frame a, so that by turning the screw d the pulleys can be
moved along the fixed frame a until they are exactly in position in
front of the winding drums.
Figure 9 is a plan of an entirely self-acting anchor for the hauling
rope to pass round the headland; a is the frame of the anchor
carriage; it is mounted on disc wheels b; c is the pulley which receives
the hauling rope. A worm d is keyed on to the upright spindle
upon which the rope pulley is fixed, and this worm drives a worm
wheel e giving motion to two other worms f, f, which act upon the
worm wheels g, g, that are keyed upon the axles of the travelling
cutting discs b, or for these discs tines may be substituted. When
the anchor is sufficiently forward along the headland, the hauling rope
coming from the implement being drawn presses against the small.
pulley which is attached to a lever i whose fulcrum is at 1. The

page_text: wedge-shaped lever k is then pressed inwards and throws the worm d
out of gear with the wheel e. When the rope ceases to press against
the pulley h the worm throws itself into gear by means of a spring
or any other contrivance.
In order to prevent the anchor from running backwards when the
pulley is turning the reverse way, that is to say, when the cultivating
implement is going away from the anchor, a catch is attached to
the under side of the rope pulley which comes in contact with the
lever m and the point m¹; being a fulcrum the lever k is pressed
inwards and throws the worm out of gear as before described.
Figure 10 is an elevation of a portion of a cultivator shewing the
hauling rope passed round the several parallel axles which carry the
tines for the purpose of raising the tines out of the ground by the
strain upon the rope. When the cam or catch wheel on the axis
around which the end of the hauling rope is wound is released by the
hand lever and ratchet the series of axles turn one quarter round
until they are stopped by the next projection on the catch wheel
coming up to the projection on the hand lever.
Figure 11 is an elevation, and Figure 12 is a plan of a portion of a
revolving harrow; there may be any number of rows of tines or teeth,
and any number of teeth upon each axle. It is not necessary that
there should be four tines at every point, but it is necessary in this
arrangement that there be one set of four teeth set at right angles
with each other upon every series or row of teeth.
When the teeth are to be cleared of weeds or rubbish the lever a is
raised, the cam 6 revolves, and the point or stop c comes in contact
with the pawl d which releases the second cam, and so on until the
whole series have revolved and pass the weeds behind them.
Figure 13 is an elevation of a similar harrow but arranged so that all
the tines revolve at the same moment when the lever releases the cam,
all the axles being connected with each other by chain gearing. In this
arrangement the tines or axles may revolve only one-fourth round if
desired, as the cam is fitted with four catches.
Figure 14 is similar to Figure 12, but the tines or axles are kept from
revolving by cast cams which form stops for each other until the lever is
raised, then the whole series of tines revolve simultaneously.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of our said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that we
claim,―
1. The arrangement of the engine which admits of its being moved
independently of the road wheels which support it to facilitate the
alignment of the driving pulleys, substantially as described in respect
to Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
2. The arrangement which admits of the engine being controlled by
the man who tends the winding drums, and who is stationed by them,
substantially as described in respect to Figures 5 and 6.
3. The arrangement which admits of the snatch blocks being set truly
opposite to the winding drums after they have been fixed on the ground,
substantially as described in respect to Figures 7 and 8.
4. The arrangement by which the pulley carriages are caused to travel
forward automically as the work progresses without overrunning or
running backwards, substantially as described in respect to Figure 9.
5. The arrangement of cultivating implements, consisting of a series of
parallel axes geared or connected together so that at pleasure they
can be liberated and allowed to rotate, or partially to rotate, either
simultaneously or in succession, substantially as described in respect to
Figures 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Perkins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of September; in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.