An Improved Contrivance for Training Growing Hop Plants upon.
Year: 1889

page_text: The decision of the Comptroller-General, of the 8th day of February 1895, allowed,
under Section 18 of the Patents, &c. Act, 1883, an Amendment of this
Specification.
Date of Application, 12th June, 1889
Complete Snarification Loft 20th Sant 1980 Accented 2nd Nov
1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Contrivance for Training Growing Hop Plants upon.
I, JAMES ADAMS PARTRIDGE of Woodston House near Tenbury Worcestershire,
farmer & hop planter, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows --
A device for training the growing hop plant by means of string, cord, wire or other
similar material applied in one continuous length by a person standing on the ground
thus dispensing with the cutting of the material into short lengths and also with the
use of ladders or other erections for fixing the same overhead.
I propose to effect this object by the following means.
Over each line of hop roots at a suitable height (13 feet or thereabouts) from the
ground I stretch two strong wires running parallel from end to end of the hop yard
about three to four feet apart being supported upon strong wooden (or iron) upright
posts with cross pieces or strong transverse wire or otherwise as may be found most
convenient.
At intervals that is immediately over each hop plant I lay upon these parallel wires
a light crosspiece of wood or iron & fix it securely.
This cross piece must be of such a length & so fixed that each end projects at least
two inches beyond its supporting wire.
I then fix firmly into the ground near to each hop plant a peg with a projecting
hook.
I then make a loop at one end of a ball of indefinite length of string cord wire or
other material on which it is proposed to train the hops and by means of the imple-
ment known in hop growing districts as a stringer fix it securely to one of the pro-
jecting ends of the cross pieces mentioned above. I then pass the cord under the
hook in the ground. Then with the aid of the stringer I pass it overhead round the
opposite end of the saine cross piece to which the first loop was fastened & secure it
thereto by a single hitch or other knot that will not slip.
Then without breaking the cord I pass it on and secure it to the end of the next
cross piece in order, then beneath the next hook in the ground as before, and so on
to the end of the row.
The light wood cross pieces before mentioned are merely of use as a means for
securely looping the cord overhead, & the same object may be effected by using barbed
instead of plain wire for the parallel wires & by other means.
Dated this Tenth day of June 1889.
JAMES ADAMS PARTRIDGE.

page_text: An Improved Contrivance for Training Growing Hop Plants upon.
I. JAMES ADAMS PARTRIDGE, of Woodston House, Tenbury, Worcestershire,
Farmer, and Hop Planter, 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:-
My invention relates to an improved contrivance for training growing hop plants
upon string, cord, wire, or other similar material. The main feature of the invention
consisting in the fact that the said string, cord, or wire, can be applied in one con-
tinuous length by a person standing on the ground, thus dispensing with the cutting
of the said material into short lengths and with the use of ladders or other erections
for fixing it overhead.
In the accompanying three sheets of drawings, Fig. 1 represents a plan of a portion
of a hop yard with my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a perspective side elevation
to an enlarged scale of a single row; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional elevation of the rows,
and Fig. 4 a plan of same. Fig. 5 is a plan shewing a slight modification in the
arrangement of the string; and Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively perspective side
elevation and plan shewing a further modification. Figs. 8 and 0 represent the
instrument described as a stringer" for applying the string or other like material.
Similar letters of reference denote similar parts throughout the drawings.
Over each line or row of hop roots, I stretch two strong wires A A, at a suitable
height from the ground (say thirteen feet or thereabouts) these wires run parallel
from end to end of the hop yard, and are placed about three or four feet apart from
each other. Strong wooden or iron posts B, are placed at suitable intervals, and
carry horizontal cross-pieces or strong wires C, upon which the wires A A are
streiched and supported, but any other suitable arrangement may be employed for
supporting the wires A-A.
At intervals, that is to say immediately over each hop plant D, light cross-pieces E
of wood, iron, or cane are laid and fixed securely on the parallel wires A A at right
angles thereto, see Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. These cross-pieces are of such a length and
so fixed that each end projects about two inches beyond the wires A A, as shewn
clearly in the plan Fig. 4. A peg F, having a projecting book at the upper end, is
fixed firmly in the ground, near each hop plant D. The apparatus is then ready for
the application of the continuous string, wire, or other like material, which is arranged
and fixed in the following manner :—
"
The said string or wire, represented by the lines H, being wound in a ball or on
a reel, and carried by, or unwound before the person who applies it, has a loop formed
on the end, and by means of the "stringer," see Figs. 2 and 0; this loop is fixed
securely to one of the projecting ends of one of the aforesaid cross-pieces E. The
string is then passed under the hook of the peg F, and by the aid of the " stringer
round the opposite end of the same cross-piece É to which the loop was fastened
and secured thereto by passing it from the inward side of the wire A round the
projecting end of the cross-piece E and then bringing it back to the inward side
of A, or by a single hitch or other knot that will not slip. Then without cutting
or breaking, the string is passed diagonally across to the end of the next cross-
piece E, then down to the next hook in the ground as before, and so on to the
end of the row.
In the modified arrangement shewn in Fig. 5, the cross-pieces. E are arranged
diagonally on the wires A A, the strings going down to the hooks F being necessarily
also diagonal, while the string passes from each cross-piece to the next one at right
angles to the wires A A.
4

page_text: "
In the arrangement shewn in Figs. 6 and 7, which represent what is known as
the Kent System," the hop plants are placed farther apart, so that there are only
half the number in each row as compared with the previous-arrangements. Each
plant is placed centrally between a pair of cross-pieces. E. The string starting
from the end of one cross-piece goes down to the hook F, then up to the other
end of the same cross-piece, then diagonally to the second cross piece, down again
to the same hook and up to the. other end of the cross-piece, then diagonally to
the next cross-piece and so on; thus in this system there are four strings going
up from each hook, instead of two as in the other arrangements. If desired, three
strings could be used in this plan by commencing to tie the cord to the peg in
the ground, and afterwards only passing it once under the hook.
The cross-pieces E, are merely of use as a means for holding and securing the
string overhead to the wires A A, the same object may be attained by employing
barbed, instead of plain wire, for the said wires A A, or by fixing hooks upon the
said wires, or any other devices may be used which will effect the desired purpose.
The "stringer shown in Figs. 8 and 9 consists of a wood or cane shaft J, having
n-head-K formed of iron of a trough section, and bent into a semicircle to receive
the string H.
Leads or rings L are fixed on the head K-to retain the string in-place in the
groove-In-Fig. 2 n reel M, on which the string is wound, is attached to the
shaft J, and in Fig. 9 a basket or case N to contain a ball of string,
I am aware that an arrangement of parallel wires, similar to A A, supported upon
cross pieces or strong wires C, carried by posts B, has been employed heretofore,
short lengths of string being tied to the wires A A upon which to train the growing
hops, and I therefore make no separate claim to the use of the posts B, cross-pieces (,
nor wires A A, nor to the use of string per se for the purpose of training growing
hop plants, but
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. An apparatus for training growing hop plants, consisting of wires A A, supported
by cross-pieces C and posts B, or other suitable arrangements, in combination with
cross-pieces E, pegs F, and string, wire, or other like material H, in a continuous
length, substantially as herein set forth.
2. An apparatus for training growing hop plants, consisting of barbed wires A A,
supported by any suitable means, in combination with pegs F, and string, wire, or
other like material H, in a continuous length, substantially as herein set forth.
3. An apparatus for training growing hop plants, consisting of wires A A, provided
with hooks and supported by any suitable means, in combination with pegs F and
string, wire, or other like material H, in a continuous length, substantially as herein
set forth.
4. In un apparatus for training growing hop plants, the combination with wires A-A,
sapported by any suitable-means, of cross-pieces E, substantially as and for the purposes
herein set forth.
5. In an apparatus for training growing hop plants, the combination with wires A A,
supported by any suitable means, of cross-pieces E, and pegs F, substantially us and
for the purposes herein set forth.
6. In an apparatus for training growing hop plants, the combination with wires AA,
supported by any suitable means, of string, wire, or other like-material I, in a con-
tinuous length, substantially as herein set forth.
4. An apparatus for training growing hop plants, constructed substantially as
herein described and shewn with reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying
drawings.
5. An apparatus for training growing hop plants, constructed substantially as
herein described and shewn with reference to Fig. 5 of the accompanying drawings.
0. 6. An apparatus for training growing hop plants, constructed substantially as

page_text: herein described and shewn with reference to Figs. 6 and 7 of the accompanying
drawings.
10. The combination with a "stringer," for applying the continuous string, wire,
or other like material H. of a reel M for holding the said material H, substantially
as herein--described and shewn with reference to Fig. S of the accompanying
drawings.
11. The combination, with a "stringer" for applying the continuous string, wire,
or other like-material H, of a basket N, for containing the said material-H, substan-
tially as herein described and shewn with reference to Fig. 0 of the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 27th day of September 1889.
AMBROSE MYALL,
21, Cockspur Street, London, S.W., Agent for the Applicant.