IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING, CLEANING, AND PULVERISING LAND
Year: 1858

page_text: I
LETTERS PATENT to Henry Ellis, of Holbeach, in the County of Lincoln,
Engineer and Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING, CLEANING,
AND PULVERISING LAND."
Sealed the 20th May 1859, and dated the 20th November 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Ellis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th November
1858.
I, HENRY ELLIS, of Holbeach, in the County of Lincoln, Engineer and
Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING,
CLEANING, AND PULVERISING LAND," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar combination of apparatus, applicable as
a land cleaner or pulveriser, which consists of a wood or iron frame, mounted
on a pair of large running or supporting wheels, the peripheries or tyres of
which are furnished with moveable teeth or spikes, which are to be taken out
when the apparatus is travelling along roads, and inserted when in use on the
land, for the purpose of increasing the bite of the wheels. A pair of ordinary
draught shafts are fitted to the frame, and the whole is drawn by one or more
horses, according to the heaviness of the land operated upon, or it may be
adapted for traction by steam power, if preferred. The actual cultivator,
cleaner, and pulveriser consists of one or more cylinders, fitted with curved
spikes or long teeth, and carried in a vibrating frame, centred so as to work

page_text: freely on the main axle as a fulerum. Suitable suspending chains are
connected to the after end of the vibrating chain, and are passed over and
overhead roller, fitted with a ratchet wheel and detent apparatus and cross
arms for the facility of elevating, more or less, the cultivating, cleaning, and
pulverising cylinder or cylinders according to the depth to which they are
required to enter the ground. A rotatory motion is imparted to the cylinders
from the running wheels by means of suitable toothed gearing, so that on
drawing the machine over the land the rotation of the running wheels will
impart a corresponding but more rapid motion to the cylinders in the contrary
direction, the teeth of which penetrating more or less deeply into the soil will
loosen and break it, and cleanse it from weeds, roots, and other similar
foreign bodies.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
ELLIS, of Holbeach, in the County of Lincoln, Engineer and Agricultural
Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Ellis, Her special license that I, the said Henry Ellis, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Ellis, 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING, CLEANING, AND PULVERISING LAND,"
upon the condition, (amongst others), that I, the said Henry Ellis, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Ellis, 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 state-
ment, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar combination of apparatus applicable
as a land cleaner and pulveriser, which consists of a wood or iron frame
mounted on a pair of large running or supporting wheels, the peripheries or
tyres of which are furnished with moveable teeth or spikes which are to be
taken out when the apparatus is travelling along roads, and inserted when in
use on the land for the purpose of increasing the bite of the wheels. A pair
of ordinary draught shafts are fitted to the frame, and the whole is drawn by
one or more horses according to the heaviness of the land operated upon, or it
may be adapted for traction by steam power, if preferred. The actual
cultivator, cleaner, and pulveriser consists of one or more cylinders fitted with
curved spikes or long teeth, and carried in a vibrating frame, centred so as to
work freely on the main axle as a fulcrum. Suitable suspending chains are
connected to the after end of the vibrating frame, and are passed over an
overhead roller fitted with a ratchet wheel and detent apparatus and cross
arms for the facility of elevating more or less the cultivating, cleaning, and
pulverising cylinder or cylinders according to the depth to which they are
required to enter the ground. A rotatory motion is imparted to the cylinders
from the running wheels by means of suitable toothed gearing, so that on
drawing the macbine over the land the rotation of the running wheels will
impart a corresponding but more rapid motion to the cylinders in the contrary
direction, the teeth of which penetrating more or less deeply into the soil, will
loosen and break it, and cleanse it from weeds, roots, and other similar
foreign bodies.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both Figures.
Figure 1, of the annexed Sheet of Drawings, represents a complete side
clevation of my improved rotatory cultivator and land cleaner, and pulveriser;
and Figure 2 is a corresponding back elevation of the same. A, A, are the
cultivating, cleaning, and pulverising cylinders, which are fitted with the
curved spikes or long teeth a, a, and are mounted loosely on an axle B, carried
by the frame C. This frame is free to rock or vibrate on the bosses or naves
of the cast-iron main supporting wheels D, D, and is capable of being raised

page_text: or lowered, so as either to lift the cylinders entirely from the ground, or cause
them to act thereon to a greater or less depth by the chains E, E, and wind-
lass F. Rotatory motion in a contrary direction to that of the supporting
wheels D, is imparted to the cylinders A by means of the spur wheels G, G,
fast on the bosses of the supporting wheels and gearing into corresponding
smaller wheels H, H, fast on the bosses of the cylinders A, so that on the
machine being drawn over the ground, the rotation of the supporting wheels
will, through the toothed gearing G and H, impart a rapid rotatory motion to
the cylinders, causing the curved teeth or tines thereof to enter and disintregate
the soil and also clear it from weeds. In order to increase the bite of the
supporting wheels, I propose to apply to the rims thereof a series of teeth
or spikes b, b, which should be removed when the machine is travelling along
roads. In this case also, I disconnect the gearing G and H, by removing the
key c, and sliding the cylinder axle down the slot in the frame C, until the
teeth of the two spur wheels are no longer in gear. I represents a pair of
ordinary shafts by which the machine is drawn by horse power, but it may
also be hauled over the land by steam or other power if desired.
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 I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what I con-
sider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the peculiar
arrangement and combination of mechanical parts, as herein-before described,
for cultivating, cleaning, and pulverising' land.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Ellis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this 17th day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-nine.
HENRY ELLIS. (L.S.)