IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, AND IN APPA-. TT BY SA Downn
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, junior, of Cornhill, Robert Burton, of
Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex, David Greig, of New Cross, in
the County of Kent, and Jeremiah Head, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, AND IN APPA-.
TT
BY SA Downn"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler, Robert
Burton, David Greig and Jeremiah Head at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 24th January 1859.
We, JOHN FOWLER, junior, of Cornhill, ROBERT BURTON, of Kingsland, in
the County of Middlesex, DAVID GREIG, of New Cross, in the County of
Kent, and JEREMIAH HEAD, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS,
AND IN APPARATUS USED FOR HAULING AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS BY STEAM
POWER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in agricultural implements
and in apparatus used for hauling agricultural implements by steam power.
In order to haul ploughs and other agricultural implements, we employ a
wire rope and a winding drum so constructed as to hold the rope firmly and
draw the implement steadily forward, notwithstanding that the rope only passes
partially round the said drum. For this purpose the drum has mounted on it,
round its periphery, a series of levers or instruments turning on centres or
axes; these levers are so placed that as the rope comes up to the drum, it rests

page_text: on the ends of the levers or instruments, and the pressure of the rope tends to
cause their ends to move in towards the centre of the drum. Now, imme-
diately beyond the ends of the levers or instruments a flange is formed on the
drum, and the axes on which the levers or instruments turn being nearer the
centre of the drum than the point at which the rope enters on the drum, the
motion of the levers or instruments caused by the strain on the rope, as before
mentioned, causes the rope to become jammed between the ends of the said
levers or instruments and the flange on the drum, and in this manner a
sufficient hold is obtained on the rope. The nipping instruments around the
drum may be modified in form, the nipping parts being caused to act other-
wise than by the pressure of the rope on them, or the rope may be nipped
between two loose flanges. Part of our Invention, however, consists in
furnishing the drum with nipping parts, which hold the rope for a time, and
then liberate it so as to obtain a sufficient bite on the rope by passing it only
partly round the drum.
In some cases we employ a winding drum, round which the hauling rope
takes several turns, and then passes away from it. When employing a single
winding drum in this manner, in order to prevent the rope surging and
running off the end of the drum (as it has a tendency to do), we form the
surface of the drum on which the rope is wound with moving parts, and these
by their motion while the winding drum is at work carry the coil or rope
which passes on at one end of the drum progressively to the other end thereof;
thus the rope always passes on to the drum, and from it at the same points,
and each coil occupies at all times its proper position. This we accomplish
by composing the surface of the drum of a series of screws, the axes of which
are parallel to and all at the same distance from the axis on which the
drum revolves; and the pitch of the screws is such that the rope may enter
freely into the recesses of the thread. It will be seen that if a rope is caused
to take several coils round a drum of this construction that the coils will be
carried forward at the desired speed, if each of these screws is caused to revolve
in its bearings once for each revolution of the drum. To give this motion to
the screws there is mounted loosely on the same axis with the drum a spur
wheel, into which a piuion fixed on the head of each of the screws gears; and
there is also niounted on the axis of the drum a chain wheel, which is
stationary. Another chain wheel is mounted on the axis of one of the screws,
and a chain passes from one to the other; thus as the drum revolves the
chain is carried round the stationary chain wheel, and so produces one revo-
lution of the screw carrying the other chain wheel for each revolution of the
drum; the motion of this screw is communicated to all the others by the gearing

page_text: already described. In order to obtain a better bite on the hauling rope when
an ordinary winding drum is employed than can be obtained by the arrange-
ments heretofore adopted, we place two pulleys, one on each side of the driven
drum, and we arrange the rope to make two three-quarter coils round the
driven drum, which this arrangement enables us to do, the first and the last
coils of the rope being round the driven drum, and any number of intermediate
coils may be used as before.
The portion of our Invention herein-before described is also applicable to
moving other bodies.
According to the method of connecting the hauling rope to ploughs and
other agricultural implements usually practised, it is necessary, when the
implement arrives at a headland to hitch the return rope of the next traverse
over the land to the side of the implement, so that it may not be drawn over
the newly worked land, and in doing this some time is lost; to avoid this we
so arrange the ropes that when the strain comes on either of them, it throws
the other to the side of the implement; for this purpose a bell-crank lever is
mounted on the implement, and the ropes are attached to the extremities of
its arms; then the arm to which the hauling rope (for the time. being) is
attached, naturally adjusts itself to the line of draught, and the other arm
assumes a position at right angles to this line. In order to obviate the
necessity of removing the pulleys which support the hauling rope out of the
way of the implement at each traverse by manual labour, as heretofore, we
mount on the side of the implement a rail, the two ends of which pass just
under the rope in front of and behind the implement, so that when it comes up
to a pulley, the pulley runs from the rope on to the rail, and the curve of this
rail causes it to move on the running wheels with which it is furnished out of
the way of the implement. In order to cause the power of the steam engine
acting through the hauling rope to raise the tines, cutters, or tilling instru-
ments when it is required so to do, we mount such tines, cutters, or tilling
instruments on a frame supported by wheels, the axle of which passes through
vertical slotted openings in the frame. When the axle is at one end of the
slotted openings, the tines, cutters, or tilling instruments are in their work;
but when the axle is at the other end of the openings they are raised out of
the land. On the axle is a pinion which ordinarily revolves independently of
the wheel, but which by a clutch can, when it is required to raise the tines,
cutters, or tilling instruments be caused to revolve with the wheel, and in
revolving it runs along a rack formed for it on the frame, and thus the tines,
cutters, or tilling instruments are raised.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fowler, Robert Burton, David Greig, and Jeremiah
Head in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
FOWLER, junior, of Cornhill, ROBERT BURTON, of Kingsland, in the County of
Middlesex, DAVID GREIG, of New Cross, in the County of Kent, and JEREMIAH
HEAD, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, send greeting. .
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John Fowler, Robert Burton, David Greig, and Jeremiah Head,
Her special licence that we, the said John Fowler, Robert Burton, David
Greig, and Jeremiah Head, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said John Fowler, Robert Burton, David Greig,
and Jeremiah Head, our, executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, AND IN APPARATUS USED FOR HAULING AGRICULTURAL
IMPLEMENTS BY STEAM POWER," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said John Fowler, Robert Burton, David Greig, and Jeremiah Head, 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 parti-
cularly 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 John Fowler, on behalf of myself
and the said Robert Burton, David Greig, and Jeremiah Head, 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 agricultural implements
and in apparatus used for, hauling agricultural implements by steam power.
In order to haul ploughs and other agricultural implements, we employ a wire
rope and a winding drum so constructed as to hold the rope firmly, and draw

page_text: the implement steadily forward, notwithstanding that the rope only passes
partially round the said drum. For this purpose the drum has mounted on it
round its periphery a series of levers or instruments turning on centres or
axes; these levers are so placed that as the rope comes up to the drum it
rests on the ends of the levers or instruments, and the pressure of the rope
tends to cause their ends to move in towards the centre of the drum. Now,
immediately beyond the ends of the levers or instruments a flange is formed
on the drum, and the axes on which the levers or instruments turn being
nearer the centre of the drum than the point at which the rope enters on
the drum, the motion of the levers or instruments caused by the strain
on the rope, as before mentioned, causes the rope to become jammed between
the ends of the said levers or instruments and the flange on the druin, and
in this manner a sufficient hold is obtained on the rope.
Figure 1 is a side view of a drum arranged in the manner above described,
together with a portion of the boiler of the engine on which it is mounted,
and some of the parts in connection with it. a is part of the boiler of the
engine; b, a frame bolted to it, and carrying the vertical axis c, on which the
ring or plate d is mounted: This ring or plate has cog teeth formed on its
periphery, gearing with the pinion e on the vertical axis f driven by the
engine: To the under side of the ring or plate d a number of small standards.g
are fixed, as is shown at Figure 2, which is an under side view of the plate d,
also at Figure 3, which is a portion of a similar view shown full size, and at
Figure 4, which is a portion of a vertical section of the plate d, and parts
connected with it, also shown full size. The standards 9, g, each carry a
short axis h, on which a lever i is mounted; j is the hauling rope. When
the engine is at work this rope lays between the ends of the levers i and the
As the drum
flange of the drum or under side of the plate d, near its edge.
revolves, the lips i¹ of the levers i lead the rope into its place at the ends of
the levers, and the strain on the rope causes it to become securely nipped,
the projections at the backs of the levers prevent the levers falling too low
when the rope escapes from them. Usually the rope is passed half round
the drum, but if it be desired to obtain a greater length of nipping surface
this may be done in the manner indicated in Figure 2. k is a pulley
mounted on an arm capable of turning freely on the axis c; the hauling rope
passing on to the drum at A, is caused to rest against this pulley, and the
strain on the rope keeps it in the position shewn in the Drawing, so that
the rope as it passes off the drum, being again passed round the pulley, is
brought to the position shown in dotted lines at B, and thus about three
quarters of a turn round the drum is obtained. When the drum is caused to

page_text: revolve in the contrary direction, the arm and pulley swing over, and the ropes
take a corresponding position on the other side of the drum. Figure 5 is a
'side view of an engine having a drum such as is above described mounted on
it; Figure 6 is a plan of the same, and Figure 7 a transverse section. In
these views the arrangement of the framing by which the drum is carried is
clearly shown, also the position of and manner of driving the small drum in
front of the engine, which is used to wind it forward as required, and other
details of the construction. Figure 8 is a portion of a transverse section of
à winding drum, in which the nipping of the winding rope is effected in a
somewhat different manner: d is a ring or plate having cog teeth formed on
it, as in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4; it has bolted to it a cylinder 4, which carries
two sets of standards g and levers i, and when at work the hauling rope is
nipped between the ends of the levers of the upper set and the levers of the
lower set, in place of between the ends of one set of levers and the flange of
the drum as before.
Figure 9 is a portion of a side view, and Figure 10 of a transverse section,
of another modification of the drum and nipping instruments. It will be
seen that this drum has a cylindrical portion, as in Figure 8, which carries
the centres on which levers m turn in directions at right angles to the radii
of the drum. These levers have curved surfaces at their ends on which the
rope lays, and this curve is such that the space between the upper ends of
the levers and the flange of the drum is greater when these levers are in an
upright than when they are in an inclined position, and they are by any
suitable means caused to assume an upright position when out of contact with
the rope, but when the rope lays on them as soon as any slight slip takes
place, the levers are drawn into an inclined position, and the rope becomes
nipped.
The nipping instruments around the drum may also be modified in form in
other ways, the nipping parts being in some cases caused to act otherwise
than by the pressure of the rope on them; thus Figure 11 shews a vertical
section of a winding drum with nipping instruments a, turning on centres at
a', and furnished with tails, which work in the cam groove b. The nipping
instruments at their inner ends are in this arrangement all connected together
loosely by a ring, and they may be supported by suitable guides on the toothed
ring or plate.
Figure 12 is a vertical section of a winding drum arranged to nip the
hauling rope between two loose flanges or flanges capable of moving indepen-
dently of each other. The two flanges a and b are mounted on axes placed
at a slight inclination the one to the other, so that after the rope enters

page_text: between the flanges they come closer together, and nip it. Supporting
rollers c are employed to sustain the lower flange at the position where the
nip takes place. The upper flange has projections formed on it, which descend
through holes formed in the lower flange; these holes are clearly shown at
Figure 13, which is a plan of part of the lower flange. Figure 14 is a
vertical section of a drum arranged in a similar manner to that just described,
except only that the lower flange is mounted on the same axis as the upper
one, but loosely, so that it can incline sufficiently to nip the rope, as is shown
in the Drawing. Thus it will be seen that the arrangement of the nipping
parts may be much modified without departing from our Invention, which
consists in furnishing the drums with nipping parts, which hold the rope for
a time and then liberate it, so as to obtain a sufficient bite on the rope by
passing it only partly round the drum.
Of the different methods above described for carrying our Invention into
effect, we prefer that first shown and described. In some cases we employ
a winding drum, round which the hauling rope takes several turns, and then
passes away from it. When employing a single winding drum in this manner,
in order to prevent the rope surging and running off the end of the drum (as
it has a tendency to do), we form the surface of the drum on which the rope
is wound with moving parts, and these by their motion while the winding
drum is at work carry the coil or rope which passes on at one end of the
drum progressively to the other end thereof; thus the rope always passes on
to the drum, and from it at the same points, and each coil occupies at all
times-its proper position. This we accomplish by composing the surface of
the drum of a series of screws, the axes of which are parallel to and all at
the same distance from the axis on which the drum revolves, and the pitch of
the screws is such that the rope may enter freely into the recesses of the
thread. It will be seen that if a rope is caused to take several coils round a
drum of this construction, that the coils will be carried forward at the desired
speed; if each of these screws is caused to revolve in its bearings once for
each revolution of the drum. To give this motion to the screws there is
mounted loosely on the same axis with the drum a spur wheel, into which a
pinion fixed on the head of each of the screws gears, and there is concentric
with the axis of the drum a chain wheel which is stationary. Another chain
wheel is mounted on the axis of one of the screws, and a chain
passes from
one to the other; thus, as the drum revolves, the chain is carried round the
stationary chain wheel, and so produces one revolution of the screw carrying
the other chain wheel for each revolution of the drum; the motion of this
screw is communicated to all the others by the gearing already described.

page_text: Figure 15 is a plan, and Figure 16' is a vertical section of a drum thus
constructed. a is the body of the drum, which is keyed on to the axis b; the
part a has the lower flange a¹ of the drum cast on it, and, in this a number of
holes are bored all round to receive the lower ends of the axes c, c, of the
screws d, one of which is shown full size in side view at Figure 17, and two of
them are shown in plan at Figure 18 in their relative positions the one to the
other. The upper flange e of the drum is bolted to the body a; this flange
has teeth formed on its periphery, by which the drum is driven, and it has
holes formed in it corresponding with the holes in the lower flange to receive
the upper ends of the axes c, c; f is a toothed wheel mounted loosely on the
axis b, and gearing with the pinions g, g, on the axes c, c, of the screws; h is
a stationary chain wheel concentric with the drum, and i is a corresponding
chain wheel on the axis of one of the screws; j is an endless chain passing
round the chain wheels h and i. At h, k, are pulleys for holding the rope in the
threads of the screws as it passes on to and leaves the drum. In order to obtain
a better bite on the hauling rope when an ordinary winding drum is employed
than can be obtained by the arrangements heretofore adopted, we place two
pulleys one on each side of the driven drum, and we arrange the rope to make
two three-quarter coils round the driven drum, which this arrangement enables
us to do, the first and the last coils of the rope being round the 'driven drum,
and any number of intermediate coils may be used as before. Figure 19 is a
side elevation of a portion of an engine having a driven drum and two pulleys
mounted on it, as above described; Figure 20 is a plan of the same.
a, a, is
the engine; b, the driven drum with three grooves formed in it, which may
be carried by a frame similar to that shown in Figures 5, 6, and 7, and the
drum is driven in a similar manner to that there shown; c is a pulley mounted
on a pin or axis under the foot-board of the engine, and d'is another pulley
mounted on the pin of the fore carriage of the engine; e is the hauling rope,
which, tracing it from the point A, passes three-quarters round the drum b on
its lowest groove, then half round the pulley c, thence to the pulley d, passing
in contact with the upper groove of the drum b, and lastly it takes another
three-quarter turn round the drum b, bringing it to the point B. The rope
passes on to the drum either at the point A or the point B, according as the
drum is winding in one or other direction.
Another part of our Invention relates to the method of connecting the
hauling rope to ploughs and other agricultural implements. According to the
method of connecting the hauling rope to ploughs and other agricultural
implements usually practiced, it is necessary when the implement arrives at a
headland to hitch the return rope of the next traverse over the land to the side

page_text: of the implement, so that it may not be drawn over the newly worked land,
and in doing this some time is lost; to avoid this we so arrange the ropes that
when the strain comes on either of them it throws the other to the side of the
implement. For this purpose a bell-crank lever is mounted on the implement,
and the ropes are attached to the extremities of its arms; then the arm to
which the hauling rope (for the time being) is attached naturally adjusts itself
to the line of draught, and the other arm assumes a position at an angle to
this line.
Figure 21 is a plan of a cultivator having a lever combined with it for
throwing the return rope to the side of the implement according to our
Invention. The arrangement here shown is applicable to implements which
require to be turned one-half round at the end of each traverse. Its action is
precisely that of a bell-crank lever, its form is adapted to allow the slack of
the rope being taken up on the implement without subjecting the rope to
injurious bends. The lever is formed of two curved tubes a and a', both fixed
on a boss, which is capable of turning freely on the standard of the fore wheel
of the implement. To the ends of these tubes or horns the hauling rope may
be considered to be attached, although they do,in fact pass through the tubes
to facilitate the taking up the slack of the rope, and are attached the one to
. a winding drum on which the slack of the rope is wound, and the other to the
frame of the implement, but this in no way interferes with the action of the
lever. The tubes a, a', are curved, for the purpose of avoiding the sudden
bending of the return rope, and they are slit in front to allow the rope on
which the strain is to escape as far as the point a*, otherwise this rope
5 would be bent to an injurious extent; the rope by escaping from the front
of the tube. takes the position it would occupy, were the tube or horn
straight. When the implement arrives at the end of its traverse, and the
engine being reversed, the strain comes on the return rope, the implement
is by the position of this rope assisted to turn, and in turning the rope which
was in action during the former traverse, is thrown by the lever to the side
of the implement.
Figure 22 is a plan of the frame of a balance plough with a lever com-
bined with it for throwing the return rope to the side of the implement.
This Figure shows the manner in which it is preferred to arrange the
5 lever when applied to implements which have not to turn at the end of
each traverse. a is the lever, which is somewhat bent, as is shown, and it is
centred at one side of the implement, which is equivalent to giving a
greater bend to the lever. The hauling ropes pass through rings at each
end of the lever, and are attached to the drums b, b, by which the slack-of

page_text: the rope is taken up. In order to obviate the necessity of removing the
pulleys which support the hauling rope out of the way of the implement at
each traverse by manual labour, as heretofore, we mount on the side of the
implement a rail, the two ends of which pass just under the rope in front of
and bebind the implement, so that when it comes up to a pulley, the pulley
runs from the rope on to the rail, and the curve of this rail causes it to move
on the running wheels with which it is furnished out of the way of the
implement.
Ն
Figure 23 is a plan of a balance plough, with a rail for removing the pulleys
which support the hauling rope, arranged as above described. a is the rail; it
is carried by a bracket attached to the axle of the implement, and at its ends
it is hooked on to the rope and suitably secured to it; b are pulleys, they are
supported in a suitable frame at one end of a beam ', which has for a
counterpoise a box filled with earth 63, which presses the pulley upwards, the
beam being carried by a pair of wheels and axle 3. When the implement
comes up to a pulley, the pulley passes from the rope to the rail, the ends of
the rail being under the rope, and the rail by pressing against the flanges of
the pulley, causes it first to run back out of the way of the implement, and
then again draws it forward underneath the return rope; the rail is placed at
such a level as to ensure the counterpoises b² of the pulleys being held well off
the land when the pulley is passing- the implement. In order to cause the
power of the steam engine acting through the hauling rope to raise the tines,
cutters, or tilling instruments, when it is required so to do, we mount such
tines, cutters, or tilling instruments on a frame supported by wheels, the axle
of which passes through vertical slotted openings in the frame. When the
axle is at one end of the slotted openings, the tines, cutters, or tilling instru-
ments are in their work, but when the axle is at the other end of the openings
they are raised out of the land. On the axle is a pinion, which ordinarily
revolves independently of the wheel, but which by a clutch can, when it is
required to raise the tines, cutters, or tilling instruments, be caused to revolve
with the wheel, and in revolving it runs along a rack formed for it on the
frame, and thus the tines, cutters, or tilling instruments are raised.
Figure 24 is a side view of a portion of a cultivator arranged in this
manner; Figure 21 shows the same implement in plan. a, a, is the frame
of the implement, which has slots formed in it on each side at a', and on one
side of each of the slots rack teeth are formed; b, b, are wheels for carrying
the implement; they are mounted loosely on their axle c, which passes through
the slots a', a', in the frame. On the axle c two pinions c', c', are keyed; they
lay in the slots in the frame, and gear with the rack teeth formed on the sides

page_text: of the slots; there are flanges on each side of the pinions to prevent the axle
sliding laterally in the slots; d, d, are clutches, by which the axle can be
made fast with the wheels when desired. When the clutches are brought into
action by suitable levers, the pinions c', c', turn, and the racks, together with
the frame to which they are fixed, are drawn up so as to raise the tines out of
the land; when the clutches are released the frame falls, and the tines again
enter the land.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fowler, ju"., have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JOHN FOWLER, JR. (L.S.)