Improvements in Machinery for Cultivating and Cleaning the Land.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 16th May, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 16th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 16th May, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Cultivating and Cleaning
the Land.
I THOMAS COOPER of The Elms, King's Lynn, in the County of Norfolk,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference to agricultural engines which are provided with
forks or diggers for cultivating and tilling the soil, such as are described in the
Specification accompanying the Letters Patent granted to me, September 4th 1893,
No. 16616.
The invention covered by the above Patent was partly directed to the
maintenance of an even working depth for the diggers, while the engine worked
over uneven or irregular surfaces, and to that end a motor was provided for raising
and lowering automatically the digger shaft, as the engine advanced, the initiative
for starting and stopping the said motor being derived from a feeler following the
ground surface.
My present invention is also directed to the maintenance of an even working
depth, but by different means, and it likewise relates to the arrangement of the
diggers whereby the cleaning and tilling of the land, particularly if it be light and
friable, can be effected in one operation by the breaking up of the soil, and throwing
out the twitch and other weeds, ready for raking off.
According to the present invention, the digger shaft is, as in the case of the
Patent above referred to, mounted in bearings carried by arms arranged radially of
the intermediate driving wheel, which gears with the spur wheel of the digger
shaft, so that the raising or lowering of the said shaft does not disengage the
gearing which drives the diggers. The digger shaft is, according to this invention
suspended elastically, so that the forks, when the digging mechanism is not at
work, are held normally clear of the ground. The driving gear, however, for the
digger shaft, is arranged in such manner, that, when running, it overcomes the
elastic suspension springs, forces downwards or depresses the digger shaft, and with
it the diggers carried thereby.
To avoid undue depression, and to keep the diggers at an even working depth,
a stop is provided in the form of a roller running in contact with the ground, which
stop assists the springs, or other suspension device, to raise the diggers when
passing an elevation, and prevents the forks burying themselves too deeply in the
ground.
For cultivating and cleaning light friable soils, I prefer to employ three rows of
forks arranged tandem-wise; that nearest the engine breaks up the ground, and those
behind, being curved, comb the loosened soil, so as to leave the twitch and other
weeds on the surface, ready for removal by raking or otherwise.
In carrying out this part of my invention, I employ a digger shaft carried and
driven as described in the Specification of the Patent above referred to, and to the
main bearings in which this shaft works, are attached brackets, which I extend
backwards a suitable distance, and at the outer ends of which I fit bearings for a
second shaft having cranks to correspond in position and length of stroke with the
main digger shaft cranks. The two shafts are coupled together by bars, so as to
work in unison, and to the underside of the said bars are fixed the forks for digging
and cleaning the land. Both shafts of what may conveniently be termed the
digger frame, may, if not too far apart, he suspended from the same carrying

page_text: shaft; if, however, circumstances require it, separate provision may be made for
supporting and carrying the backward end of the said frame.
Dated this 16th day of May 1895.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Machinery for Cultivating and Cleaning
the Land.
I, THOMAS COOPER of The Elms, King's Lynn, in the County of Norfolk,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention has reference to agricultural engines which are provided with
forks or diggers for cultivating and tilling the soil, such as are described in the
Specification accompanying the Letters Patent granted to me September 4th 1893,
No. 16616.
The invention covered by the above Patent was partly directed to the
maintenance of an even working depth for the diggers, while the engine worked
over uneven or irregular surfaces, and to that end a motor was provided for raising
and lowering automatically the digger shaft, as the engine advanced, the initiative
for starting and stopping the said motor being derived from a feeler following the
ground surface.
My present invention is also directed to the maintenance of an even working
depth, but by different means, and it likewise relates to the arrangement of the
diggers whereby the cleaning and tilling of the land, particularly if it be light and
friable, can be effected in one operation by the breaking up of the soil, and throwing
out the twitch and other weeds, ready for raking off.
According to the present invention, I provide for the maintenance of an even
working depth in the following manner:- -The digger mechanism is suspended
elastically, so that the forks, when the digging mechanism is not at work, are held
normally clear of the ground. The driving gear, however, for the digger
mechanism, is arranged in such manner that, when running, it overcomes the elastic
suspension device, forces downwards or depresses the digger mechanism, and with it
the diggers carried thereby.
To avoid undue depression, and to keep the diggers at an even working depth,
a stop is provided in the form of a shoe or roller sliding or running in contact
with the ground, which stop assists the springs, or other suspension device, to raise
the diggers when passing an elevation, and prevents the forks burying themselves
too deeply in the ground.
For cultivating and cleaning light friable soils, I prefer to employ three rows of
forks arranged tandemwise; that nearest the engine breaks up the ground, and
those behind, being curved, comb the loosened soil, so as to leave the twitch and
other weeds on the surface, ready for removal by raking or otherwise.
In the accompanying drawings I have shewn a portion of an engine embodying
my improvements.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, &
Fig. 2 is a back view.
A is the driving wheel for the digger mechanism, which driving wheel is suitably
mounted, and receives its rotation in the direction indicated by the arrow, by any
convenient train of gearing, from the engine crank shaft.
Pivotted on the outside of the engine tender, in a position radial to the driving
wheel A, are arms B B. The extremities of these arms B B¹ carry the bearings

page_text: for the main crank shaft of the digger mechanism. This crank shaft C, which
has keyed thereon the spur wheel e engaging with the driving wheel A, is also
supported by arms d d pendent from lever arms D D' pivotted to the engine
framing. The lever arm D carries a segment e attached by a chain e' to the
spring E, or equivalent elastic support, fixed to the engine framing. Parallel with
the digger crank shaft C, is the crank shaft F, which is broken, in the middle of
its length, into two parts, as shewn in Fig. 2, for convenience in construction, but
the two parts act practically as one shaft. The shaft F has cranks corresponding
with the cranks of the shaft C, and is coupled thereto by means of bars G, which
link together the cranks, and by bars H, the backward ends of which are merged
into the sleeve bearings h of the shaft F. The sleeves h are, moreover, supported
by two pairs of arms I', pendent from, and pivotted to, the lever arms D D above
mentioned.
The crank shafts C and F are thus connected together, so that they rotate in
unison when the shaft C is driven by the driving wheel A. engaging with the spur
wheel c on the shaft C.
JJ are stops carried by the arms B B', for preventing the undue depression of
the digging mechanism.
The digging forks are carried by the coupling bars G, and are arranged in three
rows, tandemwise, one behind the other. Row 1, viz., that next the engine, consists
of straight forks adapted to break up hard ground; the slightly curved forks of
row 2 comb the already broken soil; and the still more curved forks of row 3
further comb the soil, throwing up the weeds onto the surface, ready for
raking off.
From the foregoing it will be understood that the normal position of rest of the
digger mechanism is that indicated in dotted lines Fig. 1, in which position it may
be held by the catch K engaging with a projection on the segment e.
The catch having been released, and the engine having been started, so as to
drive the wheel A and spur wheel c of the crank shaft C in the direction of the
arrows, the digging mechanism, which is elastically suspended, as above explained,
is depressed by the action of the driving gear overcoming the power of the
suspension device. The movement of the digging mechanism is in an arc about the
axis of the driving wheel A, by reason of the radial position of the arms B B¹, so
that the engagement between the wheels A and c is properly maintained. The
depression of the diggers is arrested by the stops J J' coming in contact with the
ground. These stops, which can be either in the form of shoes or rollers, can be
adjusted as to height, so as to give any required working depth to the diggers. It
is obvious that the stops J, being in close proximity to the diggers, which are
continuously being pressed downwards by the action of the driving gear, constantly
maintain the diggers at an even working depth, assisting the elastic suspension
device to raise the diggers when the ground rises, and permitting them to be lowered
when a depression is reached.
When the driving gear is reversed or disengaged, the suspension device lifts the
digger mechanism into normal position, clear of the ground.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. A digging machine for cultivating and tilling the soil, wherein the digging
mechanism is elastically suspended, and driven in such manner that the driving
gear by its action tends to depress the digging mechanism, and hold the diggers in
position to operate on the ground.
2. The means herein before described for maintaining the diggers at an even
working depth, consisting of an elastic suspension device for the digger mechanism;
driving gear which, when in action, depresses the diggers into contact with the
ground; and a stop or stops bearing on the ground surface, to control the working
position of the diggers, as set forth.

page_text: 3. The elastically suspended digging mechanism herein before described, wherein
are arranged parallel crank shafts operated in unison, and carrying three or more
rows of digging forks of different forms, adapted to break up the soil and to clean
the weeds from the loosened ground, in a single operation, as set forth.
4. In digging machines having rows of forks mounted one behind the other, the
described arrangement wherein the first row of forks is made suitable for breaking
up the ground, while the succeeding forks are more or less bent or curved, so as to
ráke or comb the loosened soil, and bring the weeds to the surface, as set forth.
Dated this 16th day of March 1896.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.