AN APPARATUS FOR CLOD-CRUSHING, ROLLING, WEEDING, AND SCARIFYING, CLEARING, OR PREPARING LAND
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Antoine Fourgassié, of Castres, in the French
Empire, Banker, for the Invention of "AN APPARATUS FOR CLOD-CRUSHING,
ROLLING, WEEDING, AND SCARIFYING, CLEARING, OR PREPARING LAND."-
A communication.
Sealed the 23rd November 1858, and dated the 26th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Antoine Fourgassié
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th May 1858.
I, PIERRE ANTOINE FOURGASSIE, of Castres, in the French Empire, Banker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN APPARATUS FOR CLOD-
CRUSHING, ROLLING, WEEDING, AND SCARIFYING, CLEARING, OR PREPARING LAND,"
(communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad), to be as follows:-
This apparatus consists of a set of wheels or rollers mounted on a common
axle and provided with a double row of teeth on their peripheries, somewhat
curved and bevelled or scarfed off for better cutting into the soil. A frame
surrounding the set of rollers, and through which the axle passes, is formed
with traction guide or draught bar for conveying the apparatus from field to
field; detachable wheels (lifting the rollers off the ground) may be set on the
axle. Arms or blades entering between each pair of teeth (to divide the
earth as thrown up) are fixed to the back part of the frame, which is so
jointed or connected to the other part as to rise and fall, or accommodate
itself on meeting stones or obstructions, and folds over when not in use. The
rollers may be kept apart by collars or otherwise, and act (as it were) inde-.
pendently as they are drawn along together.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Antoine Fourgassié in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ANTOINE FOURGASSIE, of Castres, in the French Empire, Banker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Пer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Pierre Antoine Fourgassié, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre Antoine
Fourgassié, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Pierre Antoine Fourgassié, 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 "AN
APPARATUS FOR CLOD-CRUSHING, ROLLING, WEEDING, AND SCARIFYING, CLEARING,
OR PREPARING LAND," communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad;
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Antoine Fourgassić,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said Pierre Antoine Fourgassić, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to an apparatus suitable for clod-crushing, rolling,
weeding, and scarifying, clearing, or preparing land, consisting of a set of
wheels or rollers, provided with curved teeth, and combined with a set of arms
or blades, so mounted as to be free to rise and fall, and clear the carth, &c.
thrown up by the teeth on the wheels. The accompanying Drawings exemplify
an apparatus constructed according to the present Invention. Figure 1 is an
end elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of the same. h, h, are a number of wheels

page_text: or rollers (preferably of cast iron) having on their peripheries a double (or
single) row of curved teeth or tines f, f, f, bevilled off towards the outer ends,
so that they may more readily cut into the soil; these teeth may be cast in a
piece with the wheels, or may be fixed thereto by screws or other fastenings,
so as to be readily taken out and replaced, as desired; i, i, are collars, which
together with the projections of the naves or bosses of the wheels, keep the
latter at suitable respective distances apart; c is an axle, common to all the
wheels, which are so mounted thereon that each may act or do its work
independently of the others, while all are being drawn along together. The
axle is so fitted that when the apparatus is in motion it may turn freely in its
axle-box, which may be readily lubricated, thus rendering friction less than it
would be were the axle a fixture with the wheels turning round it. The
wheels are free to move in any direction with respect to the axle, but of course
only deviate when requisite, as for example in turning corners, &c. k, k, are
brackets on the outside of the row of wheels h, one on each side, supporting
a frame b, to which, when the apparatus is drawn by horse or other draft
animal, a draught bar or shaft a is fitted, with hooks for attaching the
harness, &c. Behind the brackets is a rocking frame or carrier o, firmly
secured to which are blades or arms e, c, for detaching and breaking the
earth, &c. thrown up by the teeth ff, thus keeping them clear and preventing
them from being choked or filled up. This frame o is so fitted as to be free
to rise and fall, which may be done by jointing it to the brackets, or forming it
in two parts, hinged or jointed together, as for example, by sawing through
on each side, bevilling off the edges, and reconnecting them by strong hinges d,
so that the frame may be free to rock to and fro, or rise and fall, and with it
the blades which it carries, should they come in contact with stones and other
resistance or obstructions; and by this to-and-fro action, the blades ceasing to
be tangential to the circumference of the wheels, would so act as to clear
away obstructions, &c., which might otherwise impede the work of the
apparatus. jare handles fixed to the frame o to assist the operation of the
blades.
The apparatus is especially applicable for being propelled by steam, as the
action of the hinges & would deaden shocks, thereby preventing accident and
injury to the engine. When the blades e are not required they can be re-
moved from close proximity to the wheels by raising them up against the
frame b. When the apparatus is to be used for weeding, those of the wheels
are removed which correspond to the lines of crop.
For Indian corn crops,
sown in lines, but irregularly, the two middle wheels are removed, so that two
rows may be weeded at a time; the remaining wheels are kept suitably apart

page_text: by keying through the axletree. The apparatus will serve for rolling or covering
over sown grain or seed, or rolling corn early in spring, (thereby dressing the
land, but without tearing up the growing stalks,) by causing the row of wheels
to be moved along in a reverse direction to the curvature of their teeth, thus
obtaining a more regular though less forcible action; for which purpose the
brackets and frame are just taken off in order to be reversed or turned round,
and so bring the draught bar at the opposite side, and thus alter the direction
of motion. The pressure of the implement may be increased, if desirable, by
weighting the frame on each side of the draft bar. For bringing the apparatus
to and from the fields, two carrying wheels, broader than the toothed wheels h,
are fitted to the axletree, so as to throw the weight off the ground on to such
carrying wheels. These wheels may be made, in certain cases, of wood hooped
with iron. The number of teeth or tines should of course be proportioned to
the diameter of the wheels; instead of a double row of teeth or tines, there
may be a single or several rows on each wheel. In the Drawing, twelve
wheels h are shewn, having a diameter of 12 feet, breadth of periphery 14 inches,
each fitted with 18 teeth f, 4 inches long, and the wheels being 1 inches
apart; but of course I do not restrict myself to these proportions nor to the
number of teeth or wheels shewn, as the same may be varied as desired, and
I do not restrict myself to any particular dimensions or proportions of parts,
nor even to the exact forms shown, provided the general character of the
Invention be retained.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that what I claim is, the general
arrangement and combination of parts of apparatus herein-before described,
in which a number of wheels or rollers, provided with teeth, are combined
with clearing blades or arms, the whole being moveable bodily by any suitablo
means, and operating in the manner herein-before specified and for the
purposes enumerated in the title.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Antoine Fourgassié, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
DELPECH, ainé.
P. A. FOURGASSIÉ. (L.S.)