An Improved Plough.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 20th May, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Plough.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS SHARPE, of Knowle Hill, Virginia Water, in the County
of Surrey, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
This invention, for an improved plough has for its object to provide a machine
that shall be capable of readily ploughing and cleaning foul land with the least
possible expenditure of power; and consists in a single road or ground wheel that
drives the necessary mechanism, a sleeve that carries the axle of the wheel, the
vertical guides in the two sides of the plough frame and in which the axle is
raised and lowered, a lever fulcrummed on the plough frame and connected at one
end to the sleeve and terminating at the other end just below the usual guide
handles, rack teeth on the frame, a spring bolt mounted on the lever and operated
from near the guide handle and normally taking into the rack teeth to lock the
lever and thus the sleeve in position, a share rigidly connected to the frame and
having its nose remote from the driving wheel, a moulding or guide board fixed
to the share and inclined backwards towards the driving wheel side
a distance corresponding to the width of the driving wheel, and a rotary beater
driven from the driving wheel to break up the ground and throw it in a direction
transversely across the frame towards the driving wheel side. The driving
mechanism may be arranged so that the speed of the beater can be varied. The
plough is provided at its forward end on either side with a foot so arranged that
the plough is readily turned to take into the next furrow.
By the abovementioned construction it will readily be seen that the driving
wheel serves also as a depth regulating wheel, the share being always horizontal,
and thus in its most efficient position; that the depth adjustment can be effected
from the handles and when the plough is in operation; and that the moulding
board diverts the soil completely to form a solid track for the driving wheel when
the plough is operating on the next adjacent furrow and determines absolutely the
width of the cut.
In the accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings: Fig. 1 is a plan of a plough
constructed according to this invention, Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and Fig. 3 an
end elevation of the same.
The frame of the plough comprises the two side frames or beams a rigidly con-
nected together by the cross bars b b and terminating at the front end in the
usual whipple tree a¹ and at the back in the handles a.
The road or ground wheel c serving also as the driving wheel is fixed on the
axle d mounted in a sleeve whose end remote from the driving wheel slides in
the vertical guides e on the side frames a, the boss of the wheel sliding in a similar
guide in the other side frame. The sleeve is also rigidly connected to the forward
end of a lever f that is fulcrummed on the hollow cross bar band extends backward
to near the handles a² where it terminates in the operating handle f¹. Mounted on
the lever f is a spring bolt g that takes into rack or ratchet teeth g¹ rigidly con-

page_text: nected to the frame and so locking the sleeve in position relatively to the frame
The spring bolt y can be withdrawn from the teeth g¹ when desired to adjust the
wheel e by means of the flexible connection g² and bell crank g³ mounted on the
lever just under its operating handle f¹..
The driving wheel c is fixed on the axle i just inside the one side frame a and
a chain wheel is fixed on the axle d just outside the other side frame a carrying
the guide c. The second motion shaft is mounted on the hollow cross bar and
carries at one end the chain wheel geared by the chain h¹ to the wheel h, and at
the other end the removable bevel wheel 2.
The rotary beater 7 is mounted on a shaft mounted in the bearing and
carrying on its end the sliding bevel pinion 12 gearing with the bevel wheel. In
order to vary the speed of the beater the bevel wheel is removed, a larger or
smaller bevel wheel is substituted and the bevel pinion is slid along the shaft /¹
into gear and fixed in position.
The share m is rigidly fixed to the frame with its nose m¹ on the side of the
frame carrying the guide e. The moulding or guide board n extends from 1 at
the back of the share backwards to 2 and is inclined away from the side carrying
the guide e a distance 3 to 4 corresponding to the width of the driving wheel cas
clearly shown in the plan Fig. 1.
The forward end of the plough is provided with the feet o to facilitate the turning
of the plough.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. A plough consisting of a frame, a single ground wheel, bearings carrying
the ground wheel, a lever mounted on the frame and carrying the bearings and
adapted to be fixed to the frame substantially as described.
2. A plough consisting of a single driving wheel, a share, and a moulding board
to clear a track for the ground wheel when the plough is operating on the adjacent
furrow, substantially as described.
3. A plough consisting of a single ground or road wheel adjustable vertically in
the frame, a share fixed to the frame, a moulding board on the share to clear
a track for the ground wheel when the plough is operating on the adjacent furrow
and a rotary beater mounted behind the share and driven from the ground wheel
substantially as described.
4. A plough provided at its forward end with feet splayed outwards substantially
as described for the purpose specified.
5. A plough consisting of a share, a guide or mould board, a driving wheel, a
rotary beater driven from the driving wheel and a change mechanism gearing
the wheel to the beater so that the speed can be varied substantially as described.
6. The improved plough substantially as described with reference to the
drawings.
Dated this 6th day of February 1800