IMPROVEMENTS IN DISCHARGING OR SCATTERING POWDERED SUBSTANCES ON PLANTS OR TREES IN ORDER TO DESTROY INSECTS OR PARASITES THEREON, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Year: 1871

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Duncan Macfarlane, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DISCHARGING OR SCATTERING POWDERED SUBSTANCES ON PLANTS OR TREES IN
ORDER TO DESTROY INSECTS OR PARASITES THEREON, AND IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR." -A communication from abroad by
Peter Spohn Van Wagner, of Saltfleet, in the County of Wentworth,
in the Province of Ontario, Canada.
Sealed the 24th May 1872, and dated the 30th November 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Duncan Macfarlane
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th November 1871.
I, DUNCAN MACFARLANE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DISCHARGING OR SCATTERING POWDERED SUBSTANCES ON PLANTS

page_text: OR TREES IN ORDER TO DESTROY INSECTS OR PARASITES THEREON, AND IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR,” to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to a novel arrangement or construction
of apparatus to be employed in discharging or scattering powdered
substances, such as hellebore, sulphur, ashes, snuff, or any other
powdered substance used to destroy insects or parasites on plants or
trees, consists of a box or hopper in which the powdered substance to be
discharged is placed. At one side of the box a driving wheel with two
sets of teeth is situated; one set of the teeth gears with a pinion on a
shaft carrying a fan, which as the driving wheel is rotated revolves with
a considerable velocity. The other set of teeth on the driving wheel
actuates a wheel or pinion or one or more wheels and pinions, to one of
which a screw creeper situated inside a tube is attached. The driving
wheel as it is rotated acts upon an agitator, which distributes the
powdered material in the lower part of the hopper, and shakes it into the
tube so that it may be fed to the forward end of the apparatus by means
of the screw creeper, and at which end a lip is situated whose angular
position is variable by means of a thumb lever and connecting rod, so
that it may be at any moment adjusted by the operator to the angle
required. A handle is placed on the driving wheel by which the
operator puts the apparatus into action, and another handle is situated
at the rear part of the hopper by which the apparatus is held.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Duncan Macfarlane in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DUNCAN
MACFARLANE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one,
in the 35th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Duncan Macfarlane,

page_text: Her special license that I, the said Duncan Macfarlane, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Duncan Macfarlane, my executors, administrators, or 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 DISCHARGING OR SCATTERING
POWDERED SUBSTANCES ON PLANTS OR TREES IN ORDER TO DESTROY INSECTS OR
PARASITES THEREON, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR,"
a communication to me from abroad by Peter Spohn Van Wagner, of
Saltfleet, in the County of Wentworth, in the Province of Ontario,
Canada, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Duncan
Macfarlane, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 Duncan Macfarlane, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:―
My said Invention, which relates to a novel arrangement or con-
struction of apparatus to be employed in discharging or scattering
powdered substances such as hellebore, sulphur, ashes, snuff, or any other
powdered substance used to destroy insects or parasites on plants or
trees, consists of a box or hopper in which the powdered substance to be
discharged is placed. At one side of the box a driving wheel with two
sets of teeth is situated; one set of the teeth gears with a pinion on a
shaft carrying a fan which as the driving wheel is rotated revolves with
a considerable velocity. The other set of teeth on the driving wheel
actuates a wheel or pinion or one or more wheels and pinions, to one of
which a screw creeper situated inside a tube is attached. The driving
wheel as it is rotated acts upon an agitator which distributes the

page_text: powdered material in the lower part of the hopper and shakes it into
the tube, so that it may be fed to the forward end of the apparatus by
means of the screw creeper, and at which end a lip is situated whose
angular position is variable by means of a thumb lever and connecting
rods, so that it may be at any moment adjusted by the operator to the
angle required. A handle is placed on the driving wheel by which the
operator puts the apparatus into action, and another handle is situated
at the rear part of the hopper by which the apparatus is held.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood
I now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or
manner in or under which the same is or may be used or practically
carried into effect, that is to say :-
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended, Figure 1 is a side
clevation shewing a part in section of my improved apparatus for dis-
charging or scattering powdered substances on plants or trees in order
to destroy insects or parasites thereon; Figure 2 is a plan thereof, whilst
Figure 3 is an end elevation of the same. As shewn by Figures 1, 2,
and 3, the apparatus consists of a box or hopper A, at one side of which a
driving wheel B carried on one extremity of a horizontal shaft C is
placed. The horizontal shaft C passes through and is supported in
bearings in the sides of the box or hopper A. The driving wheel B is
provided with two sets of teeth a and b, respectively shown more parti-
cularly at Figures 2 and 3 of the Drawings; the teeth a gear with a
pinion D carried on one extremity of a second horizontal shaft c, which
revolves in suitable bearings in the ends of a casing E; situated on the
horizontal shaft c is a fan F, shewn in section at Figure 1, which
revolves at a considerable velocity within the casing E. The other set
of teeth b on the driving wheel B actuate a spur wheel G, which revolves
on an axis formed at the inner end of a handle H, which is attached to
the rear part of the box or hopper A, and by means of which the
apparatus is held while being actuated. The spur wheel G gears with
a pinion I fixed on an axis d, which revolves in a suitable bearing
formed in the end of the box or hopper A. Attached to the inner
extremity of the axis d is a screw creeper e (shewn in dotted lines at
Figure 2) situated inside a tube K. Placed within the box or hopper A
is an agitator L, which is actuated by means of an eccentric staple f
which passes through the shaft C. The agitator L is suspended on a pin

page_text: g projecting from the side of the box or hopper A, and as the shaft C is
revolved by means of the driving wheel B, the eccentric staple fis
brought in contact with a cam i, shown in dotted lines at Figure 1,
formed on the agitator L, whereby a swinging motion is. obtained,
which disturbs the powdered material in the lower part of the hopper A
and shakes it into the tube K through the feed opening x, so that it may
be fed to the forward end of the apparatus by means of the screw
creeper e. The feed opening a, shown at Figure 2, is so arranged that
the distribution of the powdered material is regulated as required by
means of a screw r situated at the lower part of the apparatus, which
on being loosened releases the tube K, and allows of its being slightly
turned so as to decrease the size of the opening for the admission of
powdered material into the tube K. At the forward end of the apparatus
a movable lip M is situated, which is connected by a rod N to one
extremity of a thumb lever O, which is centred on a stud / fixed on the
side of the box or hopper A. By means of the connecting rod N and
thumb lever O, the operator can at any moment adjust the lip M to the
required angle, corresponding to the direction in which the powdered
material is to be discharged or scattered on the plant or tree, and to
throw it upwards under the leaves as is frequently necessary in order to
destroy insects lodged thereon. The driving wheel B is provided with a
handle P, by means of which the operator actuates it.
In applying any powdered substance, such as hellebore, sulphur, ashes,
or snuff, in order to destroy insects or parasites on plants or trees, it is
first placed in the box or hopper A. The operator then holds in one
hand the apparatus by means of the handle H, whilst with the other
hand he turns the driving wheel B by means of the handle P, thereby
conveying motion through the spur wheel G and pinions I and D to the
screw creeper e and fan F. The blast of air caused by the fan F
discharges or scatters the powdered substance as it issues from the tube
K, the angle of the lip M regulating as herein-before described the
direction to be taken by the powder when discharged from the tube K.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the system,
mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may be used or
practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what
I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―

page_text: First. The general arrangement and construction of the improved
machine for scattering or discharging powdered matter upon plants and
trees, as herein-before described and illustrated by the appended
Drawings.
Second. The arrangement of agitator and operating the same by
an eccentric staple for discharging the powdered material into the
tube containing the screw creeper, as herein-before described.
Third. The use of a screw creeper inside a tube for conveying the
powdered material from the box wherein it is contained to the discharging
end of the apparatus, as herein-before described.
Fourth. The movable lip operated in the manner herein-before
déscribed, for regulating the direction in which the powdered material is
discharged.
In witness whereof, I, the said Duncan Macfarlane, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
DUNCAN MACFARLANE. (L.S.)