IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL APPARATUS FOR THINNING TURNIPS OR OTHER ROOTS OR PLANTS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hanson, of the Bush, in the County
•
of Antrim, Ireland, and Thomas Hunter, of Maybole, in the
County of Ayr, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AGRICULTURAL APPARATUS FOR THINNING TURNIPS OR OTHER ROOTS OR
PLANTS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hanson and
Thomas Hunter at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 26th April 1873.
We, JOHN HANSON, of the Bush, in the County of Antrim, Ireland,
and THOMAS HUNTER, of Maybole, in the County of Ayr, North Britain,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AGRICULTURAL APPARATUS FOR THINNING TURNIPS OR OTHER ROOTS OR.
PLANTS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the construction of light and casily
worked implements which can be used in a convenient and effective
manner for thinning turnips and other roots or plants.
The improved apparatus comprises a light cast-iron body frame with
wrought-iron rods proceeding to a hake in front, and with wrought-iron

page_text: rods extending behind to form handles. The frame is supported on
a pair of wheels fixed on an axle and running in two adjacent furrows
so as to have a drill or ridge between them, and they can be fixed at
different points of the axle to suit different widths of furrow. Within the
frame there is loose on the axle a bevil wheel which is in gear with a bevil
wheel on the front end of a longitudinal shaft passing through a tubular
bearing to the back of the frame and having fixed on its back end a
wheel centre on which the hoes or other thinning parts are fixed. The
bevil wheel on the axle is put into gear therewith by a clutch, the lever
connected with which is centered on the front of the frame and extends
back to the rear of the implement, being bent to pass clear over the
thinning wheel. The handle rods are also bent to clear the thinning
wheel, being connected by a rod or rods behind it so as to form an open
frame within which it works. When the implement is drawn along
and a single horse will be sufficient for this purpose, the hoes or thinners
revolving in a changing plane at right angles to the drill throw out the
roots at intervals, and the quantities thrown out may be varied by using
broader or narrower hoes or thinners, and the intervals may be made
nearer or further apart by fixing different numbers of hoes on the wheel
centre. A transverse bar is fixed in a socket formed on the under side of
the frame, and carries a pair of paring coulters or small shares which
are adjustable both as to width apart and as to height, and are of
advantageous use in paring or slicing the sides of the drill and reducing
it to a suitable width. The hake is fixed to one side so that the horse
may walk along the furrow on one side of the drill that is being thinned,
and the handles are also set to the same side so that the agriculturist
may follow in the same furrow. A light wheel is fixed adjustably to
one of the handle bars and running at the side of the drill serves to
regulate the depth at which the thinners work, whilst the implement
cán be easily rocked or tilted on the carrying axle to clear any,
obstruction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hanson and Thomas Hunter in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 25th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN 3
HANSON, of the Bush, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, and THOMAS

page_text: HUNTER of Maybole, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said John Hanson and Thomas Hunter,
Her special licence that we, the said John Hanson and Thomas
Hunter, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said John Hanson and Thomas Hunter, 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 AGRICULTURAL APPARATUS FOR THINNING TURNIPS OR OTHER ROOTS OR
PLANTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Hanson and Thomas Hunter, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said John Hanson and Thomas
Hunter, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement in writing, reference
being had to the accompaning Drawing, that is to say :-
Our said Invention has for its object the construction of light and
easily worked implements which can be used in a convenient and
effective manner for thinning turnips and other roots or plants.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, we hereunto append a Sheet with
an explanatory Drawing to be herein-after referred to, and representing
a turnip thinning implement as made with our improvements, the
Drawing being a plan view of the implement.

page_text: <
. Our improved apparatus comprises a light cast-iron body frame 1, 2,.
with wrought-iron rods 3, proceeding to a hake 4 in front, and with:
wrought-iron rods 5, 6, extending behind to form handles. The frame
1, 2, is supported on a pair of wheels 7 fixed on an axle 8, and arranged
to run in two adjacent furrows so as to have a drill or ridge between
them, and they can be fixed at different points of the axle to suit
different widths of furrow. Within the frame 1, 2, there is loose on
the axle 8 a bevil wheel 9 which is in gear with a bevil wheel 10,
fixed on the front end of a longitudinal shaft 11 passing through a
tubular bearing 1 formed in the frame 1, 2. This shaft 11 has fixed on
its back end a wheel centre or disc 12 on which the hoes 13 or other
thinning parts are fixed. The bevil wheel 9 on the axle 8 is put into
gear therewith by a clutch 14, the lever for moving which, indicated by
dotted lines 15, is centred on a stud 16 at the front of the frame 1, 2,
and extends back to the rear of the implement, being bent to pass clear of
the thinning wheel 12, 13. The handle rods 5, 6, are also bent to clear
the thinning wheel 12, 13, being connected by a rod or rods 17 behind
it so as to form an open frame within which it works. When the
implement is drawn along, and a single horse is sufficient for this
purpose, the hoes or thinners 13 will revolve in a progressing plane at
right angles to the drill and will throw out the roots at intervals.
The quantities thrown out or removed in this way. may be varied by
using broader or narrower hoes, or thinners, and the intervals may be
made nearer or further apart by fixing different numbers of hoes 13 on
the wheel centre 12. A transverse bar 18 is fixed in a socket formed
on the under side of the frame 1, and has attached to it a pair of paring
coulters or small shares 19 which are adjustable both as to width apart
and as to height, and are of advantageous use in paring or slicing the
sides of the drill and reducing it to a suitable width. The hake 4 is
fixed to one side so that the horse may walk along the furrow on one
side of the drill that is being thinned, and the handles 6 are also set to
the same side so that the agriculturist may follow in the same furrow.
A light wheel 20 is fixed adjustably to one of the handle bars 6, and
running at the side of the drill serves to regulate the depth at which
the thinners 13 work, whilst the implement can be easily rocked or
tilted on the carrying axle 8 to clear any obstruction. With the thinning
wheel 12, 13, placed at right angles to the drill as shown in the
Drawing, the combined action of rotation and progression will make the
hoes 13 cross the drill at a slight inclination, and this is preferred by

page_text: some agriculturists, but if it is wished to have the hoes crossing as
nearly as possible at a right angle, all that is necessary to that end is
to place the shaft 11 at a slight suitable horizontal inclination to the
longitudinal centre line.
The machine may be modified in a very simple manner so as to act
simultaneously on two drills, namely, by setting the wheels 7 far
enough apart to run in the outermost of three furrows, and by
arranging on the framing two thinning wheels with driving gear, one
wheel being placed a little behind the other so that the hoes of the two
may not interfere. This modified implement may be drawn by one or
two horses, according to circumstances.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, we have to state that we do not
restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated,
but that what we believe to be novel and original and claim as
the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
1. The arranging and combining together of the parts of agricultural
apparatus for thinning turnips or other roots or plants substantially in
the improved manner herein described and delineated.
2. The fitting of the implement with an adjustable wheel (20) at the
rear, as and for the purposes herein-before described.
'
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hunter, on behalf of the
said John Hanson and myself, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
THO³. HUNTER. (L.S.)