IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI- NERY AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING LAND
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Platt, of Gloucester, in the County of
Gloucester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI-
NERY AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING LAND."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Platt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd November 1863.
I, JAMES PLATT, of Gloucester, in the County of Gloucester, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING LAND," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates chiefly to improvements in the apparatus used for
hauling ploughs or other cultivating implements by steam power, and more
particularly to that class of apparatus where a windlass, windlasses, or clip
pulley or pulleys are placed on a self-moving carriage driven by a portable
steam engine, and both made to move along the headland as the work pro-
gresses. The method at present ordinarily adopted is to have the windlass on
a carriage having disc wheels or shares to cut into the ground to resist the
strain of the hauling rope, and moved by a portable engine connected to the
windlass carriage by a connecting bar or rod. The power is transmitted by a
chain belt (or equivalent means) such as "Clissold's" Patent, (No. 1266, 22nd
May 1860), bevilled edged driving belt which is not affected by any variation
in the position of the two driving shafts. The carriage is provided with a

page_text: small drum for taking on a rope or chain to haul the carriage and engine
along the headland as the work progresses, and it is found necessary to make
the carriage very heavy or give it considerable weight by placing the water
tank or other available weight upon it, to cause the disc wheels to sink and
hold in the ground.
The present Invention, which is intended to obviate these and other objec-
tions, is as follows:-I employ a carriage or framework on wheels to receive
the drum, drums, or clip pulley on which the rope is wound or over which it
passes. And I so construct it that a portable engine can be placed or run
upon it longitudinally or transversely, so that the weight of the engine will
enable it to resist the strain of hauling the implement; this will be found suffi-
cient in most cases, if not, shares or discs, or other suitable anchoring
apparatus can be used. A windlass, carriage, and engine may be employed
on each headland; the wheels of the carriage should be constructed so that
each or all of them can be moved, turned, or locked to any desired angle with
the, carriage, so as to guide it along a crooked, irregular, or angular headland,
and so keep the axis of the druni or drums at right angles with the furrow.
The power of the engine may be transmitted to the drums by means of a chain,
belt, or gearing, and the carriage may be moved along the headland in the
usual manner when performing any of the operations of cultivating land.
The disc wheels or shares usually employed for anchoring steam cultivating
apparatus are placed so that they sink or cut, vertically into the ground, and
the strain of the hauling rope being above the ground, has a tendancy to draw
out or lift the back shares or discs; to prevent this considerable weight has to
be placed upon them or the carriage, causing much labour and delay; it is
also desirable to be able to move the strain of the headland rope, so that it may
draw opposite to the point of most resistance. Instead thereof I place all, or
some of the disc wheels or shares at an angle, so that the strain will tend to
draw them deeper into the ground (as in the case of an ordinary ground
anchor), and thereby only requires a light frame. Broad wheels should be
used as is now done to prevent them going too deep. I fit the drum of the
headland rope on a bollow shaft placed horizontally across the frame, with a
slot along it and an internal screw working in a nut fixed in the eye of the
drum (or some other mechanical equivalent therefor), so that the drum can be
traversed along the shaft to direct the strain of the headland rope to any
desired part of the frame. The drum may be driven by a worm and wheel or
other gearing from the pulley round which the hauling rope passes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Platt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PLATT, of Gloster, in the County of Gloster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Platt, Her special license that
I, the said James Platt, executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Platt, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and 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' AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING
LAND," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Platt,
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 James Platt, 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 fol-
lowing statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say:-
This. Invention relates chiefly to improvements in the apparatus used for
hauling ploughs or other cultivating implements by steam power, and more
particularly to that class of apparatus where a windlass, windlasses, or clip
pulley or pulleys are placed on a self-moving carriage drawn by a portable steam
engine, and both made to move along the headland as the work progresses.
The method at present ordinarily adopted is to have the windlass on a carriage
having disc wheels or shares to cut into the ground to resist the strain of
the hauling rope, and moved by a portable engine connected to the windlass
carriage by a connecting bar or rod. The power is transmitted by a chain
belt, or equivalent means, such as "Clissold's" patent bevilled edged driving

page_text: belt, Specification No. 1266, dated May 22nd, 1860, which is not affected
whilst at work by any ordinary variation in the position of the two driving
shafts. The carriage is provided with a small drum for taking on a rope or
chain to haul the carriage and engine along the headland as the work
progresses, and it is found necessary to make the carriage very heavy or give
it considerable weight by placing the water tank or other available weight
upon it, to cause the disc wheels to sink and hold in the ground.
The present Invention, which is intended to obviate the objections attaching
to previously employed descriptions of apparatus used for the same purposes,
consists as follows:-I employ a carriage or framework on wheels to receive
the drum, drums, or clip pulley or pulleys on which the hauling rope is wound
or over which it passes, and I so construct it that a portable engine can be
placed or run upon it longitudinally or transversely, so that the weight of the
engine will enable it to resist the strain of hauling the implement; this will
be found sufficient in most cases, but if not shares or discs, or other suitable
anchoring apparatus can be used in combination therewith, thus an ordinary
moving anchor pulley may be used on the opposite headland, or a windlass
carriage, or a windlass carriage and engine may be employed on each headland
to work either separately or combined. The wheels of the carriage should be
constructed so that each or all of them can be moved, turned, or locked to any
desired angle with the carriage, so as to guide it along a crooked, irregular,
or angular headland, and keep the axis of the drum or drums at right angles
with the furrow. The power of the engine may be transmitted to the drum
by means of a chain, belt, or gearing, and the carriage may be moved along
the headland in the usual manner when performing any of the operations of
cultivating land.
The disc wheels or shares usually employed in moving anchors for steam
cultivating apparatus are placed so that they sink or cut vertically into the
ground, and the strain of the hauling rope being above ground has a
tendency to draw out or lift the back shares or discs; to prevent this, con-
siderable weight has to be placed upon them or carriage, causing much labour
and delay; it is also desirable to be able to move the strain of the headland
rope, so that it may draw opposite to the point of greatest elevation.
Instead of the arrangement just described, I place all or some of the disc
wheels or shares at an angle, so that the strain will tend to draw them deeper
into the ground (as in the case of an ordinary ground anchor). I am thus
enabled to dispense with the necessity for heavily weighting the shares, and a
light frame only is required. Broad wheels should be used, as is now done,
to prevent them going too deeply into the ground, and I prefer to so mount

page_text: these wheels that the axles thereof may be allowed to rise and fall to suit the
irregularities of the ground. I fit the drum around which the headland rope
is coiled on a hollow shaft placed horizontally across the frame, with a slot
along it, and an interval screw working in a nut fixed in the eye of the drum
(or some other mechanical equivalent therefore), so that the drum can be
traversed along the shaft to direct the strain of the headland rope to any
desired part of the frame. The drum may be driven by a worm and wheel or
other gearing from the winding drum.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings I have shown an arrangement of
apparatus constructed in accordance with my Invention, Figure 1 being a
plan view of the several parts of my apparatus, the portable engine for working
the same being shown in position, and is indicated (as also in Figures 2
and 3) in outline only, by way of distinction, as such engine, although there
shown, forms no part of my Invention.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus, and Figure 3 is an end
elevational view thereof; Figure 4 is a detached view illustrative of a
means I employ for allowing the carriage wheels to rise and fall with the
irregularities of the ground.
Figure 5 is a detached sectional view of the telescopic shaft G, with its
drum D', and the clutches F, F, showing the method of coupling the drums
together, and communicating motion to them; this mode of connecting the
two hauling drums together is necessitated when the steam engine has not a
driving pulley of suitable size and suitably disposed on each end of the crank
shaft, as is seldom the case in portable steam engines for agricultural
purposes.
In the several Figures the same letters of reference are employed to denote
like or corresponding parts in each.
A is the carriage and framing for receiving the engine and containing the
winding and manoeuvring apparatus for performing the cultivating operations;
B is the portable engine, which may be of any convenient kind or description,
for working the cultivating apparatus; C, C,, are drums, to which the
cultivating implements are attached; D, D¹, the driving pulleys; E, a chain
belt for transmitting the power and motion of the engine from the driving
pulley or drum to the winding drums; F, F, are clutches for engaging and
disengaging the tooth pinions, gearing into corresponding teeth in the winding
drums; G is a telescopic shaft, carrying the pulley D' and clutches F, F;
H, H, H, H, the wheels of the carriage or framing of the apparatus con-
structed according to this Invention, for supporting or carrying the engine or
source of power, and the gearing for transmitting the requisite motions for the

page_text: purposes required; I, I, (Figure 4,) are vertical sockets working in spindles
placed in bearings on the frame A to receive the stud axles of the wheels
H, H, H, H, and so allow of their rising and falling vertically, and also of
accommodating themselves to the irregularities of the ground; K, K, are the
levers for locking the H, H, H, H; L is the drum, around which the head-
land rope is wound; M is the hollow shaft, on which the drum L traverses,
to ensure the fair leading of the headland rope.
I have not in the accompanying Drawing illustrated the mode which I have
herein-before described for using disc wheels or shares for the purpose of
mooring or assisting in resisting the hauling strain, as it is so self-evidently
simple as to render any drawing or illustrative figure unnecessary, and more-
over I do not intend to make any claim for the said arrangement. Although
I have shewn the steam engine as being placed longitudinally, this being the
arrangement which I prefer to employ, yet the main carriage or framing
carrying the engine may be so constructed as to receive the steam engine
with its length in the direction of the headland along which the carriage is
to travel, in which latter case case the carriage or framing would have to be
lengthened, and the position of the hauling drums correspondingly changed,
or bevil gearing be introduced for the purpose of changing the direction of
motion between the engine shaft and the winding drums. In all steam
power and mechanical apparatus to be employed for the cultivation of the
soil, the soft nature of the ground, and. its irregularities of surface, renders
it important to combine the requisite amount of power with the least dead
weight to be moved, and with the utmost simplicity and fewness of the parts
of the gearing and mechanical apparatus employed, combining facility of
manoeuvre with easy transport, and at the same time to construct the
mechanical cultivating apparatus that it may wholly or in part be employed
for several purposes, whether agricultural or otherwise.
Having addressed myself to the attainment of those objects by my present
Invention, I have preferred to so arrange a wheel carriage combining facilities
for ready transport and manoeuvre as to contain within itself (as part thereof),
as shown in the accompanying Drawing, the means of hauling the implements
back or forth or back and forth at pleasure, and of so moving at intervals
along the field as to enable, as far as possible, the entire area to be operated
upon by the implements, whilst the steam power and motion requisite for
these purposes is. obtained from a portable or locomobile engine of any
ordinary and suitable construction, which after, onto, or upon the platform of
the wheel carriage, (after the latter is at the headland or otherwise in posi-
tion) when suitable provision is made for receiving it, and securing it in its

page_text: proper place, its power and motion is communicated to the mechanical
apparatus or gearing contained within the framing of the carriage; and when
the work is done in the field, or when the portable steam engine is required
for other purposes than field cultivation, it is disconnected, and run off
the platform, when each part of this apparatus can be more readily removed
from the field.
.
+
For the purpose of practically setting into action in a field the apparatus
shewn in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, I have the wheel carriage
and its framing (or there may be two such working in combination) in the
field, and when intended to be used alone, place it in position; the hollow
connecting shaft G being removed, the portable or locomobile steam engine B
is then brought up, and run on to the platform of the wheel carriage A
between the framings and the drums C, C; when the engine is secured in its
place, the hollow connecting G is introduced below the barrel of the boiler,
and between the fore and hind wheels of the engine; the shaft G is then
extended so that the clutch connection can be effected, as will be readily
understood by reference to the detached view, Figure 5. Where, however,
the engine is provided with a crank shaft sufficiently long, and having two
pulleys or drums thereon instead of one, the hollow shaft may then be
dispensed with.) The driving pulley D on the engine, and the pulley D' of
the apparatus to be driven, are then connected by means of a chain or band,
and thus the winding drums are caused to revolve, and the plough, ploughs,
or other implements being attached, the work is proceeded with. The entire
apparatus is moved step by step by means of the headland rope, which is
wound on to the headland drum L, and an adjustment of the line of draught
is readily effected with relation to the line of furrow by the drum L being
caused to slide along the shaft, and the spur wheel O is geared into a long
pinion P rotated by a worm Q and worm wheel R, which also receive their
motion from the engine through the shaft of the winding drum, (directly or
indirectly,) and connected or disconnected by means of a clutch. The con-
struction and arrangement of the apparatus being so, an ordinary moving
"anchor pulley" may be used on opposite headlands, or a windless carriage
may be employed on each headland, to work either separately or combined.
Having now described my Invention and the manner of putting it into
practice, and having in the accompanying Drawing illustrated an arrangement
of parts such as I prefer to employ in practice, I wish it to be understood
that what I claim as my Invention, is,-
First, the arrangement of apparatus and mode of driving or working and
.

page_text: manoeuvring the same as herein described, and as illustrated in the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings..
Second, the combination of a portable or locomobile, with a windlass
frame or carriage by placing it thereupon for the purposes herein set forth.
Third, the mode or method herein described of traversing or regulating the
position of the headland drum so as to direct the strain in the manner and
for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, 1, the said James Platt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES PLATT. (LS.)