AN IMPROVED DOUBLE-ACTION ROTATING HARROW
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Marritt, of Sutton, in the County of York,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED DOUBLE-ACTION ROTATING HARROW."
Sealed the 13th March 1860, and dated the 14th September 1859. "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Marritt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
September 1859.
I, JOHN MARRITT, of Sutton, in the County of York, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED DOUBLE-ACTION ROTATING
HARROW," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in employing two or more circular harrows attached
by vertical shafts in their centres to a connecting bar above. On the upper
part of the vertical shafts are affixed short bent arms, the extremities of which
also reach the bar, and are secured by pins or bolts passing through holes
formed in the bar for the purpose of forcing either one side or the other of the
harrows deeper into the ground, thereby causing them to revolve in whichever
direction they may be required. The spikes may be formed in two or more
rows towards the centre, which will break the clods of earth, and reduce them
to the required state in a more speedy and efficient manner than harrows of
the ordinary construction.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Marritt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MARRITT, of Sutton, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Marritt, Her special licence that I, the said John Marritt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Marritt, 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
IMPROVED DOUBLE-ACTION ROTATING HARROW," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Marritt, 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 John Marritt, 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,, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in employing two or more circular harrows attached
by vertical shafts in their centres to a connecting bar above. On the upper
part of the vertical shafts are affixed short bent arms, the extremities of which
also reach the bar, and are secured by pins or bolts passing through holes
formed in the bar for the purpose of forcing either one side or the other of
the harrows deeper into the ground, thereby causing them to rotate in which-
ever direction they may be required. The spikes may be formed in two or
more rows towards the centre, which will break the clods of earth, and reduced
them to the required state in a more speedy and efficient manner than harrows
of the ordinary construction.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now

page_text: arrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference
marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 exhibits a plan view of the upper side of a harrow, built upon my
construction; and Figure 2, a front elevation of the same.. Similar letters of
reference are placed upon and denote corresponding parts in so far as such
parts appear or can be seen at each of such said Figures respectively.
a, a, are the circular harrows, rotating upon their centre axes b, b, and are
connected by a horizontal bar c, the ends of which pass on to the shafts b, b.
Two bent arms d, d, are also attached to the shafts b, b, and are formed with
holes in them, into which pins or bolts are placed; said pins or bolts passing
through a hole in the bar c for the purpose of lifting either one side or the
other of the harrows from the ground, or forcing the opposite sides deeper
into the ground; so it will appear evident that the harrows a, a, can be made
to rotate in whichever direction they may be required by adjusting the arms
d, d, to the bar c, or by keeping the harrows perfectly horizontal they will be
drawn along without rotating. A pair of forked draft bars e, e, are attached
to the shafts b, b, and a horse-treef is hooked thereon, the same being adjusted
by holes, as shewn. The draft bars e, e, Fig. 3, are curved downwards at the
ends, and are supplied with holes for the purpose of raising or lowering the
horse-tree according to the height of the horse. The harrow a, a, can also
be made to rotate by bringing the ends of the draft
or opening them wider as shown. One of the draft bars e is made a little
longer than the other, so as to bring one harrow slightly in advance of the
other, so that the whole surface of the soil shall be cut up. The coupling
bar c and braces d, d, may be made in one piece, as at Fig. 4, having the
same effect as if separate, and before described.
bars e, e, closer together,
Having now fully described the nature and object of my said Invention of
"An Improved Double-action Rotating Harrow," together with the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion that I
do not confine or restrict myself to the precise details herein described and
shown in the accompanying illustrative Sheet of Drawings, as many slight
modifications may be made therein without in any way departing from the
principle of my Invention, more than two harrows being used when necessary;
but what I claim as my Invention, intended to be secured to me by the herein
in part recited Letters Patent is, the mode of making harrows rotate in the

page_text: manner shewn in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings and herein described,
for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said: John Merritt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN MARRITT. (L.S.)
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE, Patent Agent,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.