IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL POWER TO PLOUGHING AND OTHER FIELD OPERATIONS OF AGRICULTURE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Atkinson Longridge, of 17, Fludyer Street,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL POWER TO PLOUGHING AND
OTHER FIELD OPERATIONS OF AGRICULTURE."
Sealed the 30th December 1856, and dated the 1st July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Atkinson Longridge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1856.
I, JAMES ATKINSON LONGRIDGE, of 17, Fludyer Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL POWER TO PLOUGHING AND
OTHER FIELD OPERATIONS OF AGRICULTURE," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in the application of motive power to the
field operations of agriculture, consist in the application of a screw, somewhat
similar to the well-known screw propeller, to the propulsion of a locamotive
carriage over land for agricultural purposes. The motive power being
placed on the carriage, which moves on broad wheels, while some portion of
the weight rests on the said screw propeller, which is partially immersed
in the land.

page_text: The motive power is applied to the rotation of the screw, which advances
and propels the carriage over the ground.
The implements of culture may either be affixed to the same carriage or
attached to another frame or carriage impelled by the locomotive screw
carriage. By this means a great amount of haulage power may be obtained
and applied to dragging implements of agriculture.
•
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Atkinson Longridge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ATKINSON LONGRIDGE, of 17, Fludyer Street, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
L
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Atkinson Longridge, Her special licence that I, the said James
Atkinson Longridge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL POWER TO PLOUGHING AND
OTHER FIELD OPERATIONS OF AGRICULTURE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, 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 James Atkinson Longridge, 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
following statement:-

page_text: My Invention of improvements in the application of mechanical motive
power to the field operations of agriculture, consist in the application of
screw, somewhat similar to the well-known screw propeller, to the propulsion'of
a locomotive carriage over land for agricultural purposes. The motive power
being placed on the carriage, which moves on broad wheels, while some portion
of the weight rests on the screw propeller, which is partially immersed in the
land. The motive power is applied to the rotation of the screw, which advances
and propels the carriage over the ground. The implements of culture may
either be affixed to the same carriage or attached to another frame or carriage
impelled by the locomotive screw carriage. By this means a great amount. of
haulage power may be obtained and applied to dragging implements of
agriculture.
My Invention has for its object to obtain a sufficient amount of haulage
power or tractive force in locomotive machines, whereby the power of steam or
other mechanical motive power may be applied to the traction of ploughs and
other implements of culture which require more or less tractive force to
produce the desired effect on the soil, but which is principally adapted for the
traction of ploughs or other implements for inverting the soil, in which a great
amount of tractive force is required; or it may be adapted to implements for
trenching or subsoiling, or for draining purposes, that is to say, for laying down
and introducing 'drain tiles or other medium for draining the land, or for the
formation of ducts for that purpose. For the purpose I employ a screw, which,
as before mentioned, is somewhat like the screw propeller of a ship, but which
would consist of one or two whole turns of the screw, instead of the short
section usually employed in ship propelling; or, instead of one or two turns of
the thread being used, a short section may be employed, in which case a con-
siderable number of threads or blades must be employed in order that a portion'
of the screw will at at all times have sufficient hold of the earth for the purposes
of propulsion. I believe, however, that one or two threads of the screw to be
best adapted for the purpose, as affording a better hold of the ground, and
offering less resistance in cutting into the ground, and therefore absorbing less
power in its action. The propelling screw may be cast or otherwise suitably
formed, but in all cases must be thin and with sharp edges, to offer as little
obstruction on entering the ground as possible; it is mounted on a horizontal
axis, and travels in the direction of the length of such axis. The axis is
suitably supported in bearings in the carriage, and in such position that about
one-third of the diameter of the screw will be inserted in the soil. This insertion
of the screw may be fixed and rigid, being kept down by the whole weight of
the carriage in whatever kind of soil it may be working, or the axis of the

page_text: screw and its bearings may be so fitted as to be held down with a given amount
of force, either by weight or spring, so that on coming in contact with any hard
object it may have the power of receding. This may either be effected by
having a separate frame or carriage for the screw jointed to the main carriage
conveying the power, or the bearings of the screw may have sufficient play to
rise and fall in the main carriage; in either case, the engine or driving power
must be so connected to the axis of the screw to drive and propel during such
rising or falling of the screw. The rake or pitch of the screw will depend on
the rate it is desired to travel as compared with the driving power. The screw
may be about three or four feet in diameter, and about four or five feet long,
in such cases as where it is in a separate frame jointed to the principal; if of
smaller diameter at the ends than at the middle of its length, it will be of
advantage. When so fitted, the frame carrying the screw bearings will rest
entirely on the screw, and may be of the proper weight, or loaded to sink the
screw. In this case the screw should be furnished with a long boss of one-
third or one-fourth its whole diameter, on which it would rest, and prevent its
sinking too deep in the earth. Instead of this boss the screw frame may have
auxiliary wheels for the same. purpose, which wheels will rest on the ground
when the screw is inclined to sink below the proper depth.
The steam carriage or other power may be supported on broad wheels or
rollers, or carried by other suitable wheels or surfaces adapted for travelling
over soft land, or in any other suitable manner, and may have the implements
of culture attached to and carried by such main carriage, or such main carriage
may contain the motive power alone, with the implements of culture, simply
attached to and dragged by such main carriage. If the propelling screw is
fitted in a separate frame, the implements of culture may be attached direct to
that frame. In all cases I suppose the implements of culture to be of the
ordinary or any other suitable kind, and to be controlled in the ordinary manner,
so far as regards their action on the soil; the tractive force alone to be obtained
from the screw, actuated by suitable motive power. The screw also drags the
main carriage supporting the steam engine and boiler, or other apparatus
supporting the motive power, or the motive power carriage may produce its
own locomotion by the rotation of its wheels.
Instead of employing the steam power directly to drive the propelling screw,
steam power may be stationary, and used only, in the first instance, to condense
air into suitable reservoirs, which reservoirs travel on the main carriage and
actuate an air engine for driving the screw, or such travelling air engine may
be supplied by means of a flexible pipe from a stationary reservoir and air-
condensing apparatus.

page_text: Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as my
Invention is, the application of a screw, as herein-before described, to which
rotary motion is communicated by any suitable mechanical motive power, for
the purpose of hauling or exerting the tractive force required for propelling
ploughs or other implements or apparatus for performing the field operations
of agriculture.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
JAS. A. LONGRIDGE. (L.s.)
JAS. A. LONGRIDGE. (L.B.)