CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON PLOUGHS OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DENNIS
MAC CARTHY, of Little Compton Street, in the Parish of Saint Ann's, Soho, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
full
power,
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of
August, in the fifth-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said Dennis Mac Carthy, my exors, admors, and assigns, his especial licence,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Dennis Mac Carthy,
my exors, adñors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS ON PLOUGHS OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Dennis Mac Carthy,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of. Chancery
within six calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Dennis Mac Carthy, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
of improvements in ploughs, and the manner in which the same are con-
structed and manufactured, are particularly described, ascertained, and set
forth by the following written description, and by the Drawings and references
hereunto annexed (that is to say):-
Instead of constructing, making, using, and employing a plough and ploughs
of the make, form, and construction commonly known and used in agriculture
by farmers, machinists, manufacturers, and vendors of ploughs, I do hereby
declare that the nature of my said Invention is improvements in the form, con-
struction, and principle of ploughs of every description, which improvements
I make and use according to the different purposes and soils in which they are
to be employed; which said improvements I principally construct of cast and
wrought iron, the wheels, rollers, sledges, handles, and beams excepted, which I
occasionally make of wood, iron, and stone. I construct, manufacture, use,
and vend my improved ploughs, which have each and severally a wheel or
wheels, a roller or rollers, or a sledge or sledges, attached and affixed to the
centre and body of each and every of my said improved ploughs.
The annexed Drawing, Letter A, is a representation of what I call the body
of my said plough,. all-and every other part of the said implement being affixed
thereto. The breast part of the said body has a tennon at the bottom; which
tennon goes into a mortice in the share, where it is secured.. The breast I make
or cast hollow for lightness, which hollow or opening is on the land side, and is
covered with a hin iron plate to fit its cavity, and occasionally takes out for the
purpose of getting at the nuts or keys that fasten the screws, pins, and loop of
the mould board and arm. About the middle of breast on the above side I
sink a place to receive the end of the said arm, and in the breast, and nearly
opposite to the said sunk part (on the land side), is a long hole or holes for
loop, where the usual and known mould board or wings are fixed. On the
land side I put a circular plate of cast iron to prevent the loose ground from
getting in the front of the wheel or roller. At the top of the beam is a part I
call the chaps, which the end of beam is let into from the land side, and
one or more common screws or pins with heads which I pass through the said
chaps and end of beam at the top, and are secured with nuts or keys in the
usual manner. At the top of the said chaps, and next the ridge, arch, or
bridge of iron, is a hook for draft link or chain, and a corresponding hook at
the other extremity of the said ridge, arch, or bridge, close to the handle box.
The ridge, arch, or bridge I unite to the handle box or socket for handles, and
to the body, breast, and chops, leaving sufficient room beneath for the wheels

page_text: or rollers to act. The handle box or socket I make open on the land side, and
close it with a piece of iron which fits the same, and has a dovetail edge or
rabbit. I use two or more common screws or pins, which pass through the
whole substance of handle, box handles, and side strap or straps, and I secure
the several parts by screwing the whole up tight. At the back part of handle
box I put a scraper for keeping the wheel clean, which I affix by iron straps
sunk into the sides of the said handle box where the screws go through.
In the annexed Drawing, Letter A, is represented :-No. 1, the handle box;
No. 2, the ridge, arch, bridge, and body; No. 3, the circular part on the land
side next the wheels or rollers; No. 4, the brest; and No. 5, the tennon by
which the breast is joined to the share.
My improved ploughshare and point I make of one piece of iron, which
has a mortice in the top or instep, and has also a cross mortice, through which
I drive a common iron or wooden wedge from the land side.
In the annexed Drawing, Letter B, is represented the share and point in
one piece. No. 1, the mortice at top or instep, which admits the tennon at
the bottom of breast. No. 2, the cross mortice for receiving the wedge.
No. 3, a sunk dovetail or groove where the coulter rests and is secured.
My improved coulter I make to fix over and upon the mould board, on the
edge next the land side, where is a dovetail or tennon on the bottom edge
along the instep part which drops into the groove or rabbit in the share. My
coulter I make from one six inches in breadth according to the nature of
the work for which the plough is constructed. I affix my coulter to the
breast, share, and top of chaps by one or more straps and common screws
or pins, and nuts or keys, which pass through the top of the breast and
beam on the mould-board side, and is secured on the land side, as before
described, a little below the upper chaps.
said
In the annexed Drawings, Letter C, is represented this coulter. The edge of
the said coulter No. 1, next the mould-board side and share, forms a hollow
that ranges with the surface of the mould board and point. No. 2, the dove-
tailed edge, and the lower end of coulter, where it joins the feathered edge
of point. Letter D represents the arm on the mould-board side that supports
and keeps the axle and wheel, or roller, in the centre and body of my
plough. This arm I fix by one, two, or more screws, &c., as before described,
which said arm I secure to the outside of handle box or socket, and keep
in that situation by the handle screws, which the holes in the said arms are
made to suit and fit. About the middle or centre part of said arm is a
round hole that admits the end of the axle, and upon which the wheel in the
centre of the said body of plough turns. I frequently fix the axle to the said

page_text: arm, on which a box wheel or roller turns, and when the axle is fixed to the arm
on this side the plough I seldom use the arms on the land side.
The annexed Drawing, Letter D, No. 1, shews the wheel and axle end;
No. 2, the extremity and shoulder of arm that I fix and secure to the body
and breast; and No. 3, the other extremity of shoulder and arm, I fix to the
handle box or socket by long screws that I pass through the whole, and
secure in the manner before described on the land side.
My Invention and improvements in fixing of the said wheels or rollers in
the centre or body part of my said ploughs I consider of great importance.
These wheels or rollers are sometimes open or solid, and hollow or blank
wheels or rollers, according to the nature of the work and soil. The wheel or
roller that runs on the land side, resembles one sometimes made use of in
common ploughs) I fix with circular or strait plates of cast or wrought
iron according with the form of the said ridge, arch, or bridge, which plates I
fix under the nuts of the screws that pass through the breast, body, and
handles; and in said plates I put a sliding groove or mortice, where the strap
or arm of the axle part of the said land-side wheel or roller slides into, and
is made to shift by a hole and pin or thumb screw about the centre and
body. The wheel or roller that I employ and affix to this side the plough
is either a blank or open wheel or roller as before described, and which I
make to travel, move, draw, and glide on, over, and upon the unbroken earth
and ground on the land side.
The annexed Drawing, Letter E, shews at No. 1 the circular arm straps or
plates of iron, which are made fast at the one extremity to the body, breast, and
chaps, and the other extremity to the handle box. The other land-side arm
is for the purpose of receiving and holding the other end of said axle of the
wheel or roller, which works in the centre and body of the said plough; one
end of this arm fixes and screws or otherwise fastens on at the top of the breast
and chaps on the land side, and the other end is secured to the handle box in
like manner as before described in fixing and securing the arm on the mould-
board side.
The annexed Drawing, Letter F, represents this arm; No. 1, the shoulder
that fixes to the body and breast; No. 2, the other shoulder that is fastened
and screws to the handle box. The upright arm which I affix to some of my
ploughs fastens from the centre of the ridge, arch, or bridge (on either side),
and is secured to the axle at the other by screws, pins, or otherwise, as before
mentioned. Another arm I also make use of and affix across the chaps on the
top of the breast on the land side to the axle.
The annexed Drawing, Letter G, represents these two additional or extra

page_text: arms. No. 1, the upright (tor either side of axle); No. 2, the arm from
chaps to axle.
My Invention and improvements in using of a sledge or sledges in place
or stead of the wheel or rollers to the centre or body of my ploughs is and
are also to give facility and ease of draught and motion to my ploughs, which
sledge or sledges I form with circular bottoms corresponding with the same
angle of a circle as the wheels or rollers present below the shoe or lower edge
of the mould board, and varies in the width of edge, as do those of the wheels
or rollers. These sledges I affix to the breast, body, and mould board,
and also the handle box upon the under side, with screws and nuts, or pins
and keys, as before stated. The mould board or wing, which is after the
usual form of mould boards and wings, I fix with a staple or hook that
passes through the breast, and is secured thercon by a pin or key in the
usual manner. The long hole or loop is the breast is made to receive the
staple or hook underneath the mould board, and which admits of the mould
board expanding, according to the usual mode of constructing them for the
aforesaid purpose.
Annexed Drawing, Letter H, represents the mould board; No. 1, the edge
that lies under the coulter, and No. 2, the part that is made to fit under the
chaps. The manner in which I put the several parts of my said improved
ploughs together is as follows:-
I first put the share on to the breast, and when the tennon at the bottom of
the breast is up close, I secure it by drawing a wedge, as before described,
through the cross mortice in the share. I then fix the handles into the handle
box or socket that unites the back end of the ridge, arch, or bridge, and next
set the scraper to the back of handle box, where I secure it by an iron strap and
wedge. I then fix the arms into the sunk parts of the breast, with the screws
or pins, as before explained, and the other extremity of the arm I secure by
the (already described) screws to the handle and loose piece on the side
of box. I next put on the wheel (if a box, wheel, or roller) to the axle
which is cast on to the arm, and fastens it with a linch pin or nut on the
land side, and when the arm is made with a hole to receive the end of an
axle fixed in the wheel or roller, then I use the arm or arms on the land side,
as before described. I then put into the chaps the beam and secure it with the
two screws that passes through the whole (this beam is made of wood I always
have turned, as is seen in the annexed Drawing, Letter J. I next put on the
mould board, as before described, and fasten it to the breast with a pin or
wedge through the loop or tongue. I then fix the tail of the mould board to the
arm by a small bow of iron in the usual way. And lastly, I put on my coulter,

page_text: across the top of which is an iron strap by which I secure and fix it with
one or more pins or screws to the top of the breast and beam, and all is then
secured and made fast.
The annexd Drawing, Letter J, represents the plough when put together.
My improved expanding 'hoeing ploughs have the wheel or roller fixed in the
centre or body, and between the wings and handles or otherwise, as above
described. The ends of the axle wheel work within the sides of the handles
in two beds or sockets; the handles at their lower extremities or ends are
made fast to the double share, breast, and body, or to either of them. The
coulter I make of the same form as before described in my single plough, and
fix it over the centre line or the double breast and expanding wings, and,
dropping it into a groove in the instep of the double share, is there made fast.
My improvements on double-furrow ploughs are constructed upon the same
principle as to the ridge, arch, or bridge, the wheels, rollers, and sledges, and
also the centre or knife, as each centre and body has a wheel, roller, or sledge
affixed to it, as before explained and described in my single ploughs.
My improvements on ploughs to be worked by men (without horses) I con-
struct upon the same principle as before described.
My improvements consist also in a double-ended plough, worked by machines
of my Invention and construction. The body part of my double-ended plough is
formed in like manner of those already described, with a ridge, arch, or bridge
from the top of the body and breast, leaving a circular part of the wheel or
roller to act and work in, but sometimes used without chaps for a beam, as is
the case in the other ploughs, instead of which the draught is taken from the
iron hooks at the top of each extremity of the ridge, arch, or bridge from
either side and from cach end of the axle as it works from furrow to furrow.
The one point and share not in use is raised clear of the land by the points not
being fixed to the breast in a straight line, but forming a curve or partial angle
at the bottom of each.
These, my improvements in the form, principle, and construction of ploughs,
by the introduction and use of wheels, rollers, and sledges affixed to the centre
and body of my ploughs, and the form and fixing of my coulter, are alike
applied by me to all and every description of ploughs used in agriculture or
otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Dennis Mac Carthy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.
D. MAC CARTHY (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1818, the aforesaid Dennis Mac Carthy came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.