IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Randall and John Randall, both of
Linslade, in the County of Bucks, Engineers, for the Invention of
DO"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Randall and
John Randall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 7th October 1870.
We, SAMUEL RANDALL and JOHN RANDALL, both of Linslade, in
the County of Bucks, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS," to be as
follows:-
Our improvements in agricultural drills are as follows:-Instead of
the ordinary coulter stalks consisting of solid levers of wood or iron with
separate canisters attached we make them tubular, and at the same time
forming pipes for conducting the corn, seed, or manure to the soil.
These pipes are joined to the corn or manure box by means of tubes
of india-rubber or other flexible material and are attached to the axle

page_text: of the road or travelling wheels in a manner similar to that now adopted
for attaching them to a separate cross beam or lever bed, so that they
can be shifted along the axle as required, or some of the pipes may be
attached to a separate cross beam. At the back of the machine and
between the two frames a cross bar is fixed carrying the segment of a
ratchet wheel. The pawl and its lever carry the scale beam, lever irons,
and risers from which the coulters are suspended at some convenient
distance from the axle to which they are attached.
to the ratchet segment by means of a pin or bolt.
passing through the lever carries a universal joint
beam hangs, or we fix a worm over and to the cross beam aforesaid, and
suspend the scale beams from a segment gearing into the said worm
wheel. On turning the worm by means of a handle or hand wheel the
segment, and consequently the scale beam and coulters, are raised or
lowered.
The lever is attached
Another pin or bolt
from which the scale
In seed or corn drills the feed is effected in the following manner :-
Instead of the ordinary cups or rollers we lay a tube along the bottom
of the seed box In this tube a spindle works, having a series of screws
or worms fixed on it. This spindle is worked by means of suitable
wheel gearing from one of the travelling wheels. The speed of the
worm spindle may be altered by change wheels or clutch gear. The
feed is also regulated by means of slides working and adjustable in the
bottom of the tube and fitting round the lower half of the worm spindle.
The tube is in two halves; the upper half has partitions corresponding
with the slides; the lower half has partitions which divide the tube into
different compartments. For every worm or between each two worms
the spindle has fans or vanes which distribute the corn or seed on to
the worms. The steering is effected from the back by the attendant
there. The guiding of the fore carriage is accomplished by a chain on
each side. These chaines are fastened to or passed round a chain wheel
to which a worm wheel is fixed; a worm gears into it and is worked by
means of a chain pulley on its spindle; chain pulleys, one on each side,
communicate motion to the aforesaid chain pulley on the worm spindle
by a handle or hand wheel on each spindle. By turning either of these
spindles according as the attendant happens to be on one side or the
other of the machine the fore carriage is guided.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Randall and John Randall in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
RANDALL and JOHN RANDALL, both of Linslade, in the County of Bucks,
Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Samuel Randall and John Randall, Her special
licence that we, the said Samuel Randall and John Randall, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Samuel Randall and John Randall, 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 DRILLS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Randall and
John Randall, 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 Samuel Randall and John Randall,
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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is
to say :-
Our improvements in agricultural drills are as follows:-Instead of
the ordinary coulter stalks consisting of solid levers of wood or iron
with separate cannisters attached, we make them tubular and at the

page_text: same time forming pipes for conducting the corn, seed, or manure to
the soil. These pipes are joined to the corn or manure box by means
of tubes of india-rubber or other flexible material and are attached
to the axle of the road or travelling wheels in a manner similar to
that now adopted for attaching them to a separate cross beam or lever
bed, so that they can be shifted along the axle as required, or some of
the pipes may be attached to a separate cross beam. At the back of the
machine and between the two frames a cross bar is fixed carrying the
segments of a ratchet wheel. The pawl and its lever carry the scale
beam, lever irons, and risers, from which the coulters are suspended, at
some convenient distance from the axle to which they are attached.
The lever is attached to the ratchet segment by means of a pin or bolt.
Another pin or bolt passing through the lever carries a universal joint,
from which the scale beam hangs, or we fix a worm over and to the
cross beam aforesaid and suspend the scale beams from a segment
gearing into the said worm. On turning the worm by means of a
handle or hand wheel the segment, and consequently the scale beam
and coulters, are raised or lowered.
°
In seed or corn drills the feed is effected in the following manner :—
Instead of ordinary cups or rollers we lay a tube along the bottom of
the seed box. In this tube a spindle works, having a series of screws
or worms fixed on it. This spindle is worked by means of suitable
wheel gearing from one of the travelling wheels. The speed of the
worm spindle may be altered by change wheels or clutch gear. The
feed is also regulated by means of slides working and adjustable in the
bottom of the tube and fitting round the lower half of the worm spindle,
or they may be arranged under the tube. The tube is in two halves,
the upper half has partitions corresponding with the slides; the lower
half has partitions which divide the tube into different compartments.
For every worm, or between each two worms, the spindle has fans
or vanes, which distribute the corn or seed on to the worms. The
steering is effected from the back by the attendant there. The guiding
of the fore carriage is accomplished by a chain on each side. These
chains are fastened to or passed round a chain wheel to which a worm
wheel is fixed; a worm gears into it and is worked by means of a chain
pulley on its spindle; chain pulleys, one on each side, communicate
motion to the aforesaid chain pulley on the worm spindle by a handle

page_text: or hand wheel on each spindle. By turning either of these spindles,
according as the attendant happens to be on one side or the other of the
machine, the fore carriage is guided.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation with one
of the hind wheels removed in order to show the parts more clearly of
an agricultural drill constructed according to our Invention; Figure 2
is a plan of the same; and Figure 3, Sheet 2, is a back view of the
machine.
Figure 4 is a plan view of the feed regulating arrangement; and
Figure 5 is a vertical cross section through the feed tube and seed
box.
a, a, are pipes for conveying the seed or manure to the ground; a¹, a¹,
are the flexible portions, which are fastened to outlet tubes cast on the
bar v¹ (which is fixed under the seed or manure box 6), and secured at
the bottom to the pipes a, a, which latter are hinged to or are free to
move or rock on brackets c, c, free to slide when required on the main
axle d of the drill, so that the distance between the furrows may be
altered. The shares e, e, we prefer to make as shewn, that is reversible,
and when one side is worn they may be turned over. The pipes a, a,
are suspended from lever irons ƒ and g by chains or rods, the latter
The
preferred, the lever irons again hanging from the scale beam h.
cross bar i, which connects the two side frames of the machine, carries
the double ratchet wheel segment j, the centre pin k of which forms the
fulcrum for the lever 1, to which is connected the ratchet lever m by
means of a pin m¹. Another pin or bolt / carries a universal joint n of
usual construction, and from the same the scale beam h is suspended. The
bottom of the seed box is formed by a tube o, in which works a spindle p
having a series of worms p¹ fixed to it; for wheat and smaller seed we
prefer to fit the edge of the worms with bristles, as shewn, or with
leather or felt or other soft yielding material. The spindle is worked by
a chain passing round the chain wheels q and q³. In one with or
attached to the latter is a tooth wheel r, which gears into a wheel r¹ on
the nave of one of the road wheels. The wheels and q' work on a
stud on the hand lever s, turning on the fulcrum t on the side frame,
and by raising the said lever the wheels and are thrown out of gear
with each other and the feed spindle p put at rest.

page_text: And fifthly. The arrangement of steering gear by means of chains,
chain pulleys, worm wheel, and worm, all substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Randall and John Randall,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
SAMUEL RANDALL. (L.S.)
JOHN RANDALL.
(L.S.)