IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SOWING OR DEPOSITING SEEDS AND MANURE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Reeves, of Bratton Westbury, Wilts,
Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR SOWING OR DEPOSITING SEEDS AND MANURE."
Sealed the 16th January 1857, and dated the 1st August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Reeves at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st August 1856.
I, ROBERT REEVES, of Bratton Westbury, Wilts, Agricultural Implement
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR SOWING OR DEPOSITING SEEDS AND MANURE," to be as
follows:-
In some descriptions of machines for sowing or depositing seeds and
manures, a series of revolving coulters or pressers have to be used for making
the grooves in the soil in which the seed or manure is deposited, but these
revolving coulters or pressers have heretofore been all carried by one axis, and
are not therefore capable of adjusting themselves to the inequalities of the
ground. Now my Invention consists in mounting these coulters or pressers
on separate or independent axes, and when it is desired to deposit the seed or
manure at intervals, I so form the coulters or pressers as to make holes or
indentations in the soil at suitable intervals, and I also place studs or inclines
on the coulters or pressers, which, by acting on levers, cause the seed or
manure to be deposited into the holes or indentations. By thus causing the

page_text: coulter or presser to actuate the depositing apparatus, much greater accuracy
When it is desired to
is obtained than when it is actuated by other means.
deposit the seed or manure at intervals in a groove, and not into holes or
indentations, I so arrange the machine that the groove is cut by an ordinary
coulter, and the depositing apparatus is actuated by a wheel running on the
land at the side.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
REEVES, of Bratton Westbury, Wilts, Agricultural Implement Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Reeves, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Reebes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Reeves, my 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 MACHINERY FOR
SOWING OR DEPOSITING SEEDS AND MANURE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Reeves, 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 Robert Reeves, do hereby declaro
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 :-
In some descriptions of machines for sowing or depositing seeds and manures,
a series of revolving coulters or pressers have been used for making the grooves

page_text: in the soil in which the seed or manure is deposited, but these revolving
coulters or pressers have heretofore been all carried by one axis, and are not
therefore capable of adjusting themselves to the inequalities of the ground.
Now my Invention consists in mounting these coulters or pressers on separate
or independent axes, and when it is desired to deposit the seed or manure at
intervals, I so form the coulters or pressers as to make holes or indentations
in the soil at suitable intervals, and I also place studs or inclines on the coulters
or pressers, which by acting on levers, cause the seed or manure to be deposited
in the holes or indentations; by thus causing the coulter or presser to actuate
the depositing apparatus much greater accuracy is obtained than when it is
actuated by other means. When it is desired to deposit the seed or manure
at intervals in a groove, and not into holes or indentations, I so arrange the
machine that the groove is cut by an ordinary coulter, and the depositing
apparatus is actuated by a wheel running on the land at the side.
:
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 is a plan of a frame carrying a
revolving coulter and a dropping apparatus combined, according to my Inven-
tion. A, A, is the iron frame pin jointed at its forward end to the fork piece B,
which is carried by a bar running across the front of the sowing machine; to
this bar a series of frames (with revolving coulters and dropping apparatus
similar to those shown in the Drawing) are attached. Each of the frames
carries a pin or axis C, on which a revolving coulter D is mounted; this
coulter is a cast-iron wheel, and, as shewn in the Drawing, it has a series of
projections on its periphery, which, in running over the land produce holes or
indentations for receiving the seed or manure, but the coulter I more ordinarily
employ produces a V-formed groove in the land in place of such holes or
indentations. d, d, are a series of studs or indentations formed on one side of
the coulter D; these studs as the coulter revolves come in contact with the
end of the lever E, which is carried by a standard attached to the frame A.
From the other end of the lever E a rod F descends, and is connected at its
lower end to the short arm G, which is attached to the axis of the valve H,
which closes the box I. The seed or manure to be deposited is dropped at
intervals into the box I by any of the means heretofore employed for dropping
at intervals regulated quantities of seed or manure, and the seed or manure so
deposited in the box I is there retained until one of the studs d, d, comes in
contact with the end of the lever. K is a chain attached to the frame A, and

page_text: passing to a roller on which the chain is wound when it is desired to raise the
coulters D off the land. The end of the frame A has formed on it a series of
notches to receive a weight, which causes the coulters to sink further into the
land than they otherwise would. Sometimes in place of dropping seed into
the box I, at intervals, I use the box I as a seed reservoir, and in place of the
valve H, I, then employ a revolving cylinder placed so as to close the opening
at the bottom of the box, and having indentations on its surface, into which the
seed falls, and this cylinder has a ratchet wheel at its extremity, which receives
motion from a driver on the end of the rod F, so as to cause the cylinder to
revolve; thus the indentations on its surface become uncovered in succession
and deposit the seed which they contain in the holes or groove made by the
coulter, in place of thus giving a step by step motion to this dropping cylinder;
it may be driven continuously by a band passing from a pulley on the axis of
the coulter to a pulley on the axis of the cylinder. When I desire to sow
seed or manure in a groove, I sometimes use a fixed coulter to produce such
groove, in the place of the revolving coulter D, and then I mount a plain
wheel on an axis at the side of the frame A, and place. the studs d, d, on this
wheel, so as to cause it to actuate the dropping apparatus as before described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described, but what I claim is,―
First, the mounting revolving coulters or pressers on separate or independent
axes as herein described.
Second, the causing each revolving coulter or presser to actuate its own
dropping apparatus as herein described.
Third, the actuating the depositing apparatus by means of a wheel running
on the land and having studs formed on its side, which act on a lever com-
municating with the dropping apparatus as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Reeves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JOHN REEVES.
January 27th/57.
ROBERT REEVES. (L.s.)