IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Hornsby, junior, of Spittlegate, Grantham,
in the County of Lincoln, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PLOUGHS AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 13th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Hornsby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th May 1861.
J, RICHARD HORNSBY, junior, of Spittlegate, Grantham, in the County of
Lincoln, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PLOUGHS AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS," to be follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in ploughs and other
agricultural implements. In the construction of lever neck ploughs it is
usual to make the lever neck in one piece of wrought iron. Now, according
to my Invention, I make the head of the lever neck, or the part thereof which
enters the socket of the share of cast metal, and by preference I cast the
head on to the wroughtiron part of the lever neck, the wrought irou being laid
As the
in the mould for the head, and the liquid metal run in upon it.
wrought iron part of the lever neck is necessarily kept near the land side of
the head thereof,(the head when well proportioned not being thick enough
through from top to bottom to give sufficient strength for the joint at any
other part between the wrought and cast iron,) I increase the strength of the
head on the land side by forming a lump on it, and the face of this lump is
brought up, flush with the face of the slipe and the land side of theshare. The
shares to fit the lever neck so formed are notched out,in order to receive thie,
D977

page_text: lump on the head, this notch comes at the back of the land side of the share
and intermediate between its top and bottom surfaces; thus the land side of
the share between the top and bottom surfaces terminates (as will be seen
when the share is in its place on the head) before arriving at the back of the
head, whereas, heretofore, the land side of the share has always terminated at
the back of the head. The notching away the centre part of the back of the
land side of the share is advantageous, irrespective of its adapting the share
for use with lever necks constructed as above described, as it lightens the
share, whilst the part cut away is one on which no wear falls when the share
is in use. In order that ploughs with fixture heads may take shares con.
structed as above described, I either forma lump on the land side of the head
to come up flush with the land side of the share, or I continue the slipe beyond
the back edge of the head. The wheels of ploughs commonly require to be
adjusted both in a vertical and horizontal direction; such wheels are commonly
mounted at the lower ends of stems or bars, and these stems or bars pass up
through sockets or guides formed at the ends of other bars placed horizontally;
the vertical adjustment of the wheel is obtained by sliding the stem carrying
the wheel upor down in the socket or guide on the horizontal bar, and clamping
it in any required position; the horizontal adjustment is obtained by sliding
the horizontal bar carrying the socket in one or other direction in another
socket or guide usually on the beam of the plough. The wheels of other
agricultural implements requiring both a vertical and horizontal adjustment
are frequently similarly mounted. The horizontal bar with the guide or
socket at its end is called a "wheel slide," and has heretofore been made of
wrought iron.
According to this Invention I form the bar or stem of the
wheel slide of wrought metal, and fix a cast socket or guide to its extremity,
the said socket or guide being by preference cast onto the wrought metal.
In ploughs having wrought iron beams and sockets or guides to receive
"wheel slides" fixed on the beam, such sockets or guides have heretofore
been made in wrought iron, being indeed usually forged as part of the beam.
Now,according to my Inventi.n, I make such sockets or guides of cast metal,
and fix them by rivets, or otherwise, to the beam; when the beam of the
plough is of wood, "wheel slides" have not heretofore been used in connection
therewith, but the vertical adjustment has usually been obtained by means of
a vertical stem sliding in a guide or socket on the beam, and the horizontal
adjustment by causing the axle of the wheel to slide to and fro through a
guide or socket at the lower end of the vertical stem. According to my
Invention I combine a "wheel slide" with a wooden beam, the socket or
guide for the said slide being of cast metal,and fixed to the beam. When a

page_text: wooden beam has heretofore been employed, the handles have also been of
wood; now, such handles are weak and liable to breakage and decay.
According to my Invention I make the handles of iron, and bolt or fix them
to the wooden boam. Heretofore when ploughs have been made with a frame
or body of cast or wrought iron made in a separate piece from the beam, the
fore part of the frame has been made with a head to receive the share, or has
been fitted to receive a lever neck. According to my Invention I make the
fore part of the frame or body of such ploughs to enter a socket in the slipe,
and I form the front of the slipe with a head to receive the share, or I fit it to
receive the lever neck. The wheels of ploughs and other agricultural imple-
ments are in stiff soils very liable to clog; to avoid this I make the centre
portion of the wheel of two plates or discs of wrought iron or other material
fixed at a suitable distance apart, and surround them with a tyre of wrought
iron or other material. This wheel having no spokes, and no recess or hollow
above the tyre, the soil is much less liable to accumulate around it than it is
around an ordinary wheel. The naves of the wheels of agricultural imple-
ments, and the pins or axes on which the wheels revolve become rapidly worn,
and when the nave of an ordinary plough wheel wears, it is necessary to replace
the wheel by a new one. According to my Invention I apply a bushing to
the stem which carries the wheel, and I attach the axis or pin about which
the wheel revolves to the wheel itself. The following is the arrangement I
prefer: The pin or axis is secured to the centre of the wheel, and projects from
one side of it, & it is arranged so that it can be readily removed and replaced
by a new one when necessary. At the lower end of the stem the bushing is
fixed also, so that it can be readily removed and replaced when it becomes
It consists of tube, through which the pin or axis of the wheel passes.
The end of the pin which projects out of and beyond the bushing is secured by
a cap or a washer and pin, or in other convenient manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Hornsby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HORNSBY, junior, of Spittlegate, Grantham, in the County of Lincoln, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reigu,did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Hornsby, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Hornsby,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,the said Richard
Hornsby, 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, nse, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS AND
OTHER AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Richard Hornsby, my exccutors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Richard Fornsby, 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 ploughs and other
agricultural implements. In the construction of lever neck ploughs it is
usual to make the lever neck in one piece of wrought iron. Now, according
to my Invention, I make the head of the lever neck or the part thereof which
enters the socket of the share of cast metal, and by preference I cast the
head on to the wrought iron part of the lever neck, the wrought iron being
laid in the mould for the head, and the liquid metal run in upon it. As the
wrought iron part of the lever neck is necessarily kept near the land side of
the head thereof (the head when well proportioned not being thick enough
through from top to bottom to give sufficient strength for the joint at any
other part between the wronght and cast iron,) I increase the strength of the
head on the land side by forming a lump on it, and the face of this lump
is brought up flush with the face of the slipe, and the land side of the share.
The shares to fit the lever neck so formed are notched out in order to receive
the lump on the head; this notch comes at the back of the land side of the
share and intermediate between its top and bottom surfaces, thus the land
side of the share between the top and bottom surfaces terminates (as will be
seen when the share is in its place on the head) before arriving at the back
of the head, whereas heretofore the land side of the share has always

page_text: terminated at the back of the head. The notching away the centre part of
the back of the land side of the share is advantageous irrespective of its
adapting the share for use with lever necks constructed as above described,
as it lightens the share whilst the part cut away is one on which no wear
falls when the share is in use. In order that ploughs with fixture heads may
take shares constructed as above described, 1 either form a lump on the land
side of the head to come up flush with the land side of the share, or I continue
the slipe beyond the back edge of the head. When a wooden beam has
heretofore been employed, the handles have also been of wood; now such
handles are weak and liable to breakage and decay. According to my Inven-
tion I make the handles of iron and bolt or fix them to the wooden beam.
Heretofore when ploughs have been made with a frame or body of cast
or wrought iron made in a separate piece from the beam the fore part of
the frame has been made with a head to receive the share, or has been fitted
to receive a lever neck. According to my Invention I make the fore part
of the frame or body of such ploughs to enter a socket in the slipe, and I form
the front of the slipe with a head to receive the share, or I fit it to receive
the lever neck. The wheels of ploughs and other agricultural implements
are in stiff soils very liable to clog. To avoid this I make the centre portion
of the wheel of two plates or discs of wrought iron, or other material, fixed at
a suitable distance apart, and surround them with a tyre of wrought iron or
other material; this wheel having no spokes and no recess or hollow above
the tyre the soil is much less liable to accumulate around it, than it is around
au ordinary wheel. The naves of the wheels of agricultural implements, and
the other pins or axes on which the wheels revolve become rapidly worn, and
when the nave of an ordinary plough wheel wears it is necessary to place
the wheel by a new one.
According to my Invention I apply a bushing to the stem which carries
the wheel. At the lower end of the stem the bushing is fixed also so that
it can be readily removed and replaced when it becomes worn. It consists
of a tube through which the pin or axis of the wheel passes. The end of the
pin which projects out of and beyond the bushing is secured by a cup or a
washer and pin or in other convenient manner.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS-
Figures 1 and 2 show two views of the wrought-iron lever before the
head is cast thereon. The form preferred for the end where the melted metal

page_text: is to run on is that shown in the Drawing, but this may be varied; Figures 3
4, and 5 show the lever after the head or end has been cast thereon, and these
Figures are of the form preferred to be given to the head; Figures 6, 7, and 8,
show the share which is used with the levers with cast heads above described
and it will be seen that the share is cast with a notch suitable to receive
the lump or projection formed on the head; Figures 9 and 10 show two
views of the lever and the share when they are combined for use; Figures 11.
12, 13, and 14, show four views of the slipe suitably formed for receiving
the lever and share above described; and Figure 1 shows the slipe and
lead with lump cast in one piece to receive share with notch; and Figure 16
shows that part of my Invention which relates to the forming of the handles
of a plough of wrought iron when using a ocam of wood; Figure 17 shows
the manner of forming the frame separately, so as to be received into my
patent slipe as shown in Figures 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15; Figure 1 shows
a section of a wheel for ploughs and other implements constructed of plates
of wrought iron so fixed to a hoop or ring of wrought-iron tyre as to leave
no recess; Figures 19 and 20 show two views of another modification of
the axle of a wheel; a is the stem, and b the bushing, which is cast in a chill
(by preference).
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,-
First, the construction of a head or end of a lever and a share suitable
therefor as described with reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
and 10.
Secondly, I claim the constructing of the slipe, with lump on land side of
the head, and the simple frame or body of a plough, as described with
reference in Figures 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.
Thirdly, I claim the forming of the handles of ploughs havingwooden beams
of iron as described with reference to Figure 16.
Fourthly, I claim the mode of constructing wheels and applying axles
thereto for ploughs and other agricultural impleinents as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hornsby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
R. HORNSBY, J
(L.S.)