A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPREADING OR DISTRIBUTING MANURE OR OTHER SUBSTANCES, EITHER SOLID OR LIQUID, OVER THE GROUND
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Willacy, of Penwortham Priory, near
Preston, in the County of Lancaster, Land Agent, for the Invention
of "A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPREADING OR
DISTRIBUTING MANURE OR OTHER SUBSTANCES, EITHER SOLID OR LIQUID,
OVER THE GROUND."
Scaled the 29th December 1874, and dated the 2nd July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Willacy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1874.
I, ROBERT WILLACY, of Penwortham Priory, near Preston, in tho
County of Lancaster, Land Agent, do hereby declare the nature of my
said Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
SPREADING OR DISTRIBUTING MANURE OR OTHER SUBSTANCES, EITHER SOLID on
LIQUID, OVER THE GROUND," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates partly to the apparatus for spreading or distri-
buting manure, stones, or other substances over the surfaces of land or

page_text: roads, for which Letters Patent were granted to mo, June 21th 1873,
No. 2198; and consists in the use of two revolving discs for the purpose
of delivering artificial manures or seeds, sand stones, or liquids from a
cart.
.
The discs may be used either in conjunction with the endless travelling
web described in the Specification of my said Patent, or the travelling
web may be dispensed with; and the material to be distributed, in licu
of being passed along by the travelling web, may be carried in the cart
in sacks and emptied by hand into the hopper described in my former
Specification as required, or such material may be carried in a tub or
barrel in a liquid state.
The discs are placed at the roar of the cart beneath the hopper or
water tub or barrel, and are set in motion by a connection with one of
the running wheels of the cart or waggon.
The discs revolve in opposite directions, and are provided with a
suitable number of radial projections, by means of which any substances
falling on their surface are thrown off in an outward direction, and are
spread on the ground over a much greater range than the width of the
cart.
The speed of the discs will of course be regulated by the size of the
heale and the fauce
до
19
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patont,
filed by the said Robert Willacy in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WILLACY, of Penwortham Priory, near Preston, in the County of Lan-
caster, Land Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Ifer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord :
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the 38th year of. Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Willacy, Her special license that I, the said
Robert Willacy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such

page_text: others as I, the said Robert Willacy, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF
AND APPARATUS FOR SPREADING OR DISTRIBUTING MANURE OR OTHER Substances,
EITHER SOLID OR LIQUID, OVER THE GROUND," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Willacy, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
¡ Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Willacy, 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 accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say :-
My said Invention relates partly to the apparatus for spreading or
distributing manure, stones, or other substances over the surface of land
or roads, for which Letters Patent were granted to me, June Twenty-
; fourth, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three (No. 2198), and
consists in the use of two revolving discs for the purpose of delivering
artificial manures or seeds, sand, stones, or liquids from a cart or waggon.
The dises may be used either in conjunction with the endless travelling
web described in the Specification of my said Patent, or the travelling
web may be dispensed with, and the material to be distributed in lieu
of being passed along by the travelling web may be carried in the cart
or waggon in sacks and emptied by band or by any suitable mechanical
means into the hopper described in my former Specification as required;
or such material may be carried in a tub or barrel in a liquid state.
The discs are placed at the rear of the cart or waggon beneath the
hopper or the water tub or barrel, and are set in motion by a con-
nection with one of the running wheels of the cart or waggon,

page_text: The discs revolve in opposite directions, and are provided with a
suitable number of radial projections, by means of which any substances
falling on thoir surface aro thrown off in an outward direction, and aro
spread on the ground ovor a much greater range than the width of the
cart or waggon.
The
spoed of the discs will of course be regulated by the size of the
wheels, and the force with which the material is projected will be in a
measure depondont upon the speed of the cart or waggon.
5
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that 1
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a longitudinal section of a cart fitted
with my improved apparatus for distributing manure, seeds, stone, 1
gravel, or other substances or material over the surface of land or roads;
Figure 2 is a corresponding plan, and Figure 3 is a back view of the
same.
A is the body of the cart into which the material to be distributed is
introduced, such material when of a dry or semi-dry nature being 2
placed either loose in the cart or contained in sacks, as shown, or in any
other suitable receptacle disposed within the cart; B is a hopper,
which is fitted at the rear end of the cart, and into which the manure
or other material is fed as required either by hand or by any suitablo
_mechanical contrivance. Beneath the outlet or lower mouth of the 2
hopper B there is suspended a trough or spout C by means of chains a, a,
which pass over and are attached to pulleys & carried on the spindle c.
This spindle is capable of being rotated in either direction by means of
a key or handle fitted on to the end thereof for the purpose of adjusting
the distance of the trough or spout C from the mouth of the hopper B, 3
such trough or spout being maintained in any adjusted position by a
ratchet wheel and detent e, and the discharge of the material from the
said hopper being thereby regulated at will. The trough or spout O
conducts the material from the hopper B to a pair of crushing
.rollers D, D', one of which D' is carried in an adjustable frame for the 3
purpose of regulating the degree of fineness to which the material is to

page_text: be reduced before it is received on to the distributing discs E. Those discs
'are situate immediately beneath the rollers, and aro provided with radial
projections or ribs for the purpose of spreading the material in the
manner herein-after explained. If the manure or other material to bo
distributed is of a fluid or semi-fluid nature such material is contained in
a tub, barrel, or other convenient receptacle placed within the cart, and
provided with suitable cocks or valves for discharging the contents
direct on to the distributing discs E without the intervention of the
hopper and crushing rollers herein-before described. Motion is imparted
to the discs from the running wheels H, H, of the cart in the following
manner: On the hub or nave G of the running wheel H' there is
secured a chain wheel F, which drives an endless pitch chain I passing
around it, and around a corresponding chain wheel T keyed on to the
transverse shaft K. This shaft works in bearings 9, g, bolted to the
frame L, and is also provided with a spur wheel M, which is carried
loosely on the shaft K, but is caused to rotate therewith when desired
by throwing into gear the clutch N. The spur wheel M is in gear with
and drives a pinion O keyed on to the outer end of the transverse
shaft P, which shaft also carries two bevel wheels Q, Q, gearing into
corresponding wheels Q', Q', keyed on to the lower end of the vertical
shafts R', R', of the distributing discs E. To the upper end of the
shaft R' there is connected by means of a crank pin i one end of a con-
necting rod, the opposite end of such rod being attached to the trough
or spout, C, so that as the shaft R' rotates a slight reciprocating motion
is imparted to the trough or spout for the purpose of ensuring a uniform
supply of the material to the crushing rollers D, D'. The rollers D, D',
(which if 'desired may be caused to gear together)' receive their motion
from tlie spur wheel M, herein-before mentioned, which gears into a
pinion S keyed on to the outer end of the extended portion of the axle
of the roller D. The distance between the rollers may be varied according
to the nature of the material to be distributed, the adjustment of such
distance being effected by means of the adjusting screw m, which works
in a fixed nut n secured to the frame L. By rotating the screw min
one direction or the other the frame f carrying the roller D' will be
caused to move along the guides o nearer to or further from the
roller D.
:

page_text: distributed imparts motion by means of the chain wheels F, F', and
pitch chain I to the shaft K, and through the shafts and gearing above
described to the distributing discs E, which are thereby caused to revolve
in opposite directions, as indicated by the arrows. The material to be
distributed is simultaneously supplied from the trough or spout C to the
crushing rollers D, D', whence it falls on to the discs E, where it is
caught by their radial projections or ribs k, which project it with great
force under the centrifugal action of the said discs. By these means
the manure or other material is spread or distributed over a considerable
area behind and on both sides of the track of the cart.
In some cases the crushing rollers may be dispensed with, and the
material to be distributed fed on to the discs direct by means of an
endless web arranged in the interior of the cart or waggon in a similar
manner to that described in the Specification of my Letters Patent herein-
before referred to, or by any other suitable means.
I propose in some cases to employ my improved distributing apparatus
above described in combination with any well-known or other description
of root cutter capable of being worked from the running wheels of the
cart or waggon by means of chains or other suitablo gearing.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-.
1
1
First. The application and use to and with carts or waggons for dis- 2
tributing or spreading over the surface of land or roads manure, seeds,
stones, or other substances, of revolving discs provided with radial ribs
or projections, and driven from the running wheels of the cart or
waggon, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described,
and as illustrated by my Drawings.
Second. The combination with the before-mentioned revolving dises
of an endless feeding web arranged within the cart or waggon, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose herein-before described.
3
Third. The combination with the before-mentioned revolving discs of
a hopper, tub, or other receptacle for supplying manure, seeds, stones, 9
or other solid or semi-solid substances or liquids, substantially as and

page_text: for the purpose herein-bofore described, and as illustrated by my
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Willacy, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of
December One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.