IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO STEAM CULTIVATION
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Howard, Agricultural Engineer, and Edward
Tenney Bousfield, Engineer, both of Bedford, and Thomas Phillips,
Foreman at the Britannia Iron Works, Bedford, for the Invention of
IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO STEAM CULTIVATION.
Sealed the 10th October 1862, and dated the 11th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Howard, Edward
Tenney Bousfield, and Thomas Phillips, at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 11th April 1862.
We, JAMES HOWARD, Agricultural Engineer, and EDWARD TENNEY
BOUSFIELD, Engineer, both of Bedford, and THOMAS PHILLIPS, Foreman at the
Britannia Iron Works, Bedford, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO STEAM CULTIVATION," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improvement in windlasses for hauling
ploughs or other cultivating instruments, whereby the power used in driving
them may to a certain extent be economised.
It has been found that this class of windlasses, when constructed with two
winding barrels which severally pay off and take up the rope alternately,
require the application of a brake to check the too rapid paying off of the rope,
but the use of the brake blocks hitherto used have entailed a material loss of
power, and that without having fully effected the object for
applied, namely, keeping the slack rope clear of the ground.
which they were
Now in order to

page_text: avoid the defects of the brake block, we propose to substitute therefor a pair
of revolving discs or rollers which we apply in such a manner that on the
throwing of the barrels in and out of gear, that barrel which for the time is to
give off the slack rope shall when it falls out of gear bear upon its disc or
roller. The barrels we propose to construct with annular recesses on their
inner or adjacent ends, and to use the sides of these annular recesses as
friction surfaces for the discs or rollers to bear against, which discs or rollers
may rotate independently of each other, or may be keyed to a short shaft
carried by a bracket pendent between the windlass barrels. By keeping both
discs or rollers simultaneously in contact with their respective barrels (one
being in contact with the inner, and the other with the outer surface of their
respective annular recesses,) the driven barrel will cause (by friction of contact
with its roller) the roller of the slack rope barrel to regulate the speed of its
barrel, and allow it to rotate only at a given relative speed by reason of the
friction of contact between this roller and the loose barrel.
The second part of our Invention relates to an improvement in the con-
struction of travelling anchors, the object being to avoid the defect now
experienced when using them in short fields where (the lateral traverse of the
anchor depending on the length of rope run over the pulley) the automatic
traverse of the anchor is not found sufficient to enable the plough or -other
implement properly to enter new ground. When constructing anchors that
are to be propelled by the friction of the wire rope on the pulley of the anchor
we propose to mount such anchors on a pair of wheels having transverse ribs
or projections on their periphery, and furnished with two rings or sets of cogs
or teeth, the one set with internal teeth, and the other with external teeth.
On the axle of the anchor pulley is fitted a cog or worm wheel which is
connected by suitable gearing with the ribbed travelling wheels. The object
of having two rings of teeth is to provide for the propulsion of the anchor by
means both of the taut and slack rope. The anchor is held in position by
blades which are forced into the ground by screwed rods or other mechanical
contrivance. In order to steer the anchor the gearing is so arranged that
either of the travelling wheels can be driven independently of the other.
A further improvement relates to the construction of rope porters or rollers
which are used for carrying the wire rope above the ground. We propose to
mount the roller or pulley at the end of a lever bar, which bar is mounted upon
an iron frame and is secured when in use by a catch or other suitable
holdfast. As the plough approaches the rope porter, the porter boy has simply
to take hold of and release the long end of the two lever bar from the catch
when the weight of the rope lowers the pulley fixed at the short end of the

page_text: lever. The rope is now immediately released and the frame drawn sideways
upon its wheels to allow the plough to pass. Hitherto the pulleys have been
fixed to a frame without the lever movement just described, and in order to
release it from the rope, the framework required to be turned over, or the
rone had to be lifted off the pulley.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of tlie Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Howard, Edward Tenney Bousfield, and Thomas Phillips
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HOWARD, Agricultural Engineer, and EDWARD TENNEY BOUSFIELD, Engineer,
both of Bedford, and THOMAS PHILLIPS, Foreman at the Britannia Iron Works,
Bedford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said James Howard, Edward Tenney Bousfield, and Thomas Phillips,
Her special license, that we, the said James Howard, Edward Tenney Bous-
field, and Thomas Phillips, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said James Howard, Edward Tenney Bousfield, and Thomas
Phillips, our 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE
TO STEAM CULTIVATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
James Howard, Edward Tenney Bousfield, and Thomas Phillips, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and scal of
one of us, 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 Edward Tenney Bousfield, on behalf
of myself and of the said James Howard and Thomas Phillips, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by

page_text: the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
'annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improvement in windlasses for hauling
ploughs or other cultivating instruments, whereby the power used in driving
them may to a certain extent be economized.
It has been found that this class of windlasses, when constructed with two
winding barrels which severally pay off and take up the rope alternately,
require the application of brakes to check the too rapid paying off of the rope,
but the use of brakes as hitherto applied has entailed a material loss of power,
and that without having fully effected the object for which they were employed,
namely, keeping the slack rope clear of the ground. Now in order to avoid
the defects of brake blocks we propose to substitute therefor a pair of revolving
dises or rollers, which we apply in such manner that on the throwing of the
'barrels in and out of gear that barrel which for the time is to give off the
slack rope shall, when it falls out of gear, bear upon a disc or roller and
receive rotary motion therefrom.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, Sheet I., is an end elevation, partly
in section, of our drop barrel windlass, with the improved brake arrangement
applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a Diagram illustrating the arrangement of
gearing employed in carrying out our improvement.
A, A, are the barrels or drums for receiving and giving out the rope.
These barrels are mounted on excentrics B, B', which are loose on the shaft C,
which shaft is mounted in bearings in the side framing of the windless, and is
fitted with carrying wheels as usual. The barrels or drums it will be seen are
formed with annular recesses a, a', on their inner or adjacent ends, one side of
the recess being furnished with spur teeth and the other being left plain and
constituting a friction surface for the discs or rollers D, D'; the other ends of
these barrels also carry a ring of spur teeth b, b, as usual, into which gear
pinions c, c³, on the driving shaft E. The discs or rollers D, D', are cogged on
a portion of the breadth of their periphery, but in such a way that the teeth do
not project beyond the smooth portion of the periphery. This arrangement is
adopted to allow of the rollers alternately gearing into the ring of teeth in the
annular recess-like spur pinions, and working like friction rollers upon the
friction surface on the other side of the annular recess. The rollers D, D¹, are
keyed to a short shaft F, which has its bearing in the central bracket arm G,
through which pass at its opposite extremities the shafts C and E. It will
now be understood that if the windlass barrels are in the position shewn at
Fig. 1, the barrel A will be the winding-up barrel, it being driven by the
pinion c in gear with the teeth b on the barrel. While the barrel A is in this

page_text: position the cogged roller or disc d will be in gear with the teeth of the
recess a, and it will therefore receive an axial motion from the barrel, which
motion will be communicated to the roller D¹. As, however, the barrel A' is
out of gear it will bear upon its disc or roller D', this barrel will therefore be
driven by friction of contact with the roller D', and caused to let out the slack
rope at the requisite speed. When it is required to change the relative
positions of the barrels this may be readily effected by means of the band
levers H, H attached to the excentrics B, B'. By rocking. the lever H, the
excentric B will turn on the shaft C, and cause the barrel A to fall out of
gear (thas making it the slack rope barrel). In like manner the barrel A'
may be raised by its excentric B₁ to the position shewn in red at Fig. 2,
(thereby making that the winding-up barrel). From the above explanation it
will be understood that the driven barrel will cause (by friction of contact
with its roller) the roller of the slack rope barrel to regulate the speed of its
barrel, and allow it to rotate only at a given relative speed by reason of the
friction of contact between that roller and the loose barrel.
The second part of our Invention relates to an improvement in the con-
struction of travelling anchors, the object being to avoid the defect now
experienced when using them in short fields where (the lateral traverse of the
anchor depending on the length of rope run over the pulley) the automatic
traverse of the anchor is not found sufficient to enable the plough or other
implement properly to enter new ground.
In Sheet II. of the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our
improved anchor; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 3 is an end
view, partly in section. It consists of a rectangular frame A, in the centre of
which is mounted a horizontal grooved pulley B for receiving the wire rope,
and through the friction of which upon its periphery rotary motion is imparted
to the pulley. The spindle of this pulley carries a bevil pinion C, which gears
into a bevil wheel D, mounted on a short cross shaft D'. This shaft D¹ has
its bearings in brackets A', A¹, attached to the main framing, and either end of
this shafts is connected by toggle joints to shafts D2, D3, which are supported in
These hand levers are hinged
bearings formed in a pair of hand levers a, a.
to brackets A, which are bolted to the sides of the framing A. The several
shafts D1, D2, and D³, together form a compound transverse shaft, and commu-
nicate the motion derived from the pulley B to a pair of carrying wheels E, E,
through pinions F on their extremities, which pinions gear with rings of
teeth e, e¹, carried by the wheels E. These wheels are furnished at their
periphery with transverse leaves e³, shaped so as to facilitate their piercing the
ground by the mere weight of the anchor, their use being to bite the earth

page_text: and effectually prevent the wheels from slipping when a driving motion is
imparted to the carrying wheels. The object of providing these wheels
with two concentric rings of teeth e, e', (as shewn at Fig. 1) is to allow for the
propulsion of the anchor by means of both the taut and slack rope. The
attendant by means of the levers a, a, throwing the pinions F into gear with
either the .ring of teeth e or e¹, according to the direction of motion for the
time being of the running rope over the pulley, the course of which rope
determines the direction of rotation of the driving gear.
position by blades G, which slide in guides formed for
and they are forced into the ground by screwed rods H, secured to fixed lugs
or by any other suitable mechanical contrivance. In order to steer the anchor
it is only necessary to throw one or other of the pinions out of action, which
can be readily done by means of the levers a, the gearing being so
arranged that either of the travelling wheels can be driven independently of
the other.
The anchor is held in
them in the framing,
Our Invention relates, lastly, to an improvement in the construction of rope
porters, which are used for supporting the wire rope clear of the ground.
Hitherto the pulleys of rope porters have been so mounted in the frame as to
render it necessary either to turn over the frame to release the rope, or to lift
it off the pulley. To avoid this operation, which involves a loss of time and
expenditure of muscular force, is the object of the improvement.
In Sheet III. our improved rope porter is shewn in side elevation at Fig. 1,
and plan view at Fig. 2. The improvement consists in mounting the roller or
pulley at the end of a hand lever bar that is capable of rocking on the frame
of a wheel carriage; when therefore it is required to release the rope from the.
pulley in order that the porter may be removed to clear the course for the plough,
it is only necesssary to tip the lever bar and depress the pulley; the rope
will then slip out of the groove of the pulley. A, A, shews the frame of the
carriage composed of two curved bars, the lower ends of which bear upon the
ground, the upper ends forming bearings for the axle B, to which the carrying
wheels are attached; C is the hand lever bar, having its fulcrum on the frame
A, and carrying at its extremity the grooved pulley D, which is surrounded by a
guide piece E. This guide piece is open at its upper end to permit of the rope
being applied to the pulley. Jointed to the frame A is a catch or holdfast F,
for maintaining the bar C in its raised position, as shewn at Fig. 1. G is a
tie rod for strengthening the frame. It will now be understood that as the
plough is approaching the rope porter the attendant has simply to release the
long end of the lever bar from the catch or holdfast F, the weight of the rope,
with little or no assistance, will then lower the pulley carried by the short end

page_text: of the lever C. The rope will by this means be instantly released, leaving
the frame free to be drawn sideways out of the track of the plough.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improved Apparatus
applicable to Steam Cultivation, and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent we claim,-
First, regulating the giving off of the slack rope of windlasses by friction
gearing, in the manner above described.
Secondly, ensuring the automatic traverse of the anchor by the action of the
taut or slack rope, in the manner above described.
Lastly, mounting the pulley or roller of rope porters on a rocking bar or its
equivalent, for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Tenney Bousfield, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
EDWARD TENNEY BOUSFIELD: (L.S.)