IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING CLODS, FOR DIBBLING AND DRILLING LAND, AND SOWING SEEDS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William East, of Spalding, in the County
of Lincoln, Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING CLODS, FOR DIBBLING AND DRILLING LAND,
AND SOWING SEEDS."
Sealed the 14th February 1853, and dated the 18th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William East
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th December 1852.
I, WILLIAM EAST, of Spalding, in the County of Lincoln, Builder,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING CLODS, FOR DIBBLING AND DRILLING
LAND, AND SOWING SEEDS," to be as follows: -
This machine stands on two or more wheels. At the tail of the
machine six or more iron circular boxes, or droppers, are fixed to
an iron shaft or beam. On the outside of each of these droppers is
a wheel with a number of dibs, every one of which twists as it
leaves the soil, thereby preventing them from clogging. At the side

page_text: of the dropper is a hole for receiving the seed supplied from hoppers
placed above them. These iron boxes contain a wheel with a number
of divisions, and a circular plate with an equal number of holes,
which will vary in size and form according to the description of seed
required to be deposited. The iron box containing the seed is
always kept half full, so that the holes in the plate keep filling as
it revolves; and, on arriving at the top, the seed is deposited into a
division in the depositor wheel. As the latter revolves, the seed is
carried onwards untill it arrives at a certain point at the bottom,
when it is deposited into the holes made for receiving it.
For the purpose of drilling, a coulter is fixed in front of the
dropper, instead of the dibbling wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William East in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM EAST, of Spalding, in the County of Lincoln, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William East, Her special licence
that I, the said William East, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William East, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING CLODS, FOR DIBBLING AND
DRILLING LAND, AND SOWING SEEDS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William East by an instrument in writing,

page_text: under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
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 William East, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and may be
ascertained in and by the following statement, together with the
accompanying Drawings lettered W. S., and explanation thereof
herein contained (that is to say):
My Invention relates to dropping machines for agricultural
purposes, and consists of an improved machine for "Crushing
Clods, for Dibbling and Drilling Land, and Sowing Seeds," the
construction of which machine is shown on the accompanying
Drawings, in which, for convenience of reference, similar letters
and numbers are applied to the same parts of the machine; so that,
wherever the same letter or number appears more than once, it still
applies to the sune part of the machine, only that the same is
shown in a different position for the better explanation of its action
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
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 William East, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and may be
ascertained in and by the following statement, together with the
accompanying Drawings lettered W. S., and explanation thereof
herein contained (that is to say):
My Invention relates to dropping machines for agricultural
purposes, and consists of an improved machine for "Crushing
Clods, for Dibbling and Drilling Land, and Sowing Seeds," the
construction of which machine is shown on the accompanying
Drawings, in which, for convenience of reference, similar letters
and numbers are applied to the same parts of the machine; so that,
wherever the same letter or number appears more than once, it still
applies to the saine part of the machine, only that the same is
shown in a different position for the better explanation of its action
and use.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1, is a plan of the machine; Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof;
and Fig. 3, is the end of back elevation; Figs. 4, 5, &c., to 10,
are enlargements, for the better explanation of the detailed parts of
the machine. A, A, are the large wheels on which the machine
runs; B, the sides, and C, the shafts. The gearing wheels are
numbered. No. 1, is the driving wheel, which is keyed on to the
nave of, and turns with, the large wheels above mentioned; N°. 2,
is the intermediate wheel, which runs on a dead pin, or stud, in the
lever or bar D, hung to the main axle. This lever is moved up or
down by means of another lever E. F, F, are endless chains; these

page_text: sitor wheel. These last mentioned pullies are so constructed as
to be thrown in and out of gear by means of short levers H, with
clutches H, hung at the point I. The lever E, is moveable at the
point K, and carries the strap L, which passes through the main
frame of the machine, and is attached to the end of the lever D.
When the lever E, is brought down under the clutch M, the inter-
mediate wheel No. 2, is lifted out of gear with the changing wheel
on the driving shaft, and the action of the droppers is stopped. The
droppers may be varied in number, as required, of one of which
droppers N, is the coulter fitting into a socket at O. This coulter
has two shoulders at the back, as shown at Fig. 4. These shoulders
a, a, keep the trench formed by the coulter open until the seed or
grain is deposited therein, and answers the purpose of the dibble,
while the sharp edge cuts the clods, and answers the purpose of a
clod crusher. For the purpose of dibbling, dib wheels P°, are
attached to the driving shaft before mentioned; in the periphery of
these wheels, a number of twisting dibbles, corresponding with the
number of chambers or divisions in the depositor wheel, are fixed.
Fig. 10, shows a plan of the dib wheel, and the means by which the
dibbles are twisted as they leave the hole at the top of the dibble,
which turns in a socket. In the rim of the wheel are four small arms
b, b. o is a long stud fixed to the bar, which carries the wheel; as
this stud passes the dibbles, it comes in contact with the arms b,
which are turned. The dibble is thereby twisted, and leaves the
hole clear; in these holes the seed is deposited by the dropper. The
wheels may be either used as clod crushers, or for dibbling, and,
when not required, can be removed from the machine altogether.
R, is the receiving box; Q, the depositor box, in which the depo-
sitor wheel, Fig. 5, revolves. a, is a small lid for emptying the
grain from the receiver when necessary. Fig. 6, shows one of
the plates attached to the depositor wheel; these wheels revolve
between the depositor box and receiving box. c, c, c, are counter-
sunk appertures, behind each of which, in the depositor wheel, are
the chambers or divisions d, d, d, to receive the seed or grain, as it
passes through the appertures when they arrive opposite the opening

page_text: e, in the rim f, of the depositor. In these divisions or chambers,
the required number of seeds (which is regulated by the size of the
apperture and countersinking in the plate) are kept seperate, until
they arrive at the dropping hole g, in the depositor box, when they
are dropped into the hole made by the dibble, or into the furrow or
trench made by the coulter. Fig. 7, is the receiving box, and
Fig. 8, the depositor box, between which the chambered wheel and
plate just mentioned revolve; and, in so doing, the counter-sunk
appertures gather the grain or seed, with which the receiver is kept
supplied, and carries the same up to the opening in the rim of the
depositor box, Fig. 8, letter e, where the seed or grain drops into
thic divisions or chambers in the depositor wheel, opposite each
apperture in the plate. In the receiving box, Fig. 7, there is a smaller
roller , the action or use of which (in the case of any seed or grain
getting crossways in the appertures) is to push the seed through.
The plates are attached to the wheel by nuts and screws, and are
changed as required, and are made of brass or other metal. The
receiving boxes have openings i, at the top, with lids for the
purpose of being inspected from time to time, to see that they are
properly supplied with grain or seed. The hoppers are furnished
with lids to keep out the dirt, and in the bottom of the depositor
boxes a number of holes j, are made to allow the regress of any
dust that may get into the same. The action of the machine is as
follows: The large wheels drive the wheel N°. 1, which is made
fast to the nave, and is called the nave wheel; it gears with the
intermediate wheel No. 2, which can be raised or lowered, as before
described; and the driving wheel, No. 3, can be changed, and a
larger or smaller one put on. The motion of the dropper is faster or
slower according to the size of the driving wheel used, and which
regulates the distance at which the seed or grain is dropped, while
the size of the apperture in the plate regulates the number; so that,
by changing these wheels and plates, any required number of
seeds or grains can be dropped at any required distance apart.
When the action of the dropper is to be stopped, as when turning
-

page_text: at the headlands, &c., the lever E is pressed down under the
catch, when the entire action of all the droppers ceases. When
it is required to stop the action of one or more of the droppers, the
levers H, are turned, and the pullies are thrown out of gear with
the wheel and plate, the boss of the pulley, and the boss of the
wheel and plate having grooves, which form a coupling for that
purpose; so that, in a corner or piece of land of irregular shape, the
action of any one or more of the droppers can be stopped without
the interfering with the others. When the machine is not in use,
or travelling from place to place, the whole of the droppers are
lifted off the surface by the lever T, on the square bar at the back
of the machine, to which are attached pullies and chains, which are
attached to the ends of the bars which carry the droppers. On the
square bar before mentioned is keyed the ratchet wheel U, which is
held in its place by the pawl V; the lever E, is brought down
under the catch M, and the droppers are all out of gear, and clear
of the surface.
I have now, in the best manner I am able, explained and de-
scribed this my Invention, and the manner in which the sanic
is to be performed; but, it must be understood, I do not confine
myself to the precise form of mechanism shown upon the accompa-
nying Drawings, and herein described; neither do I confine myself
to a dropper to sow or plant seed or grain only: but I claim as my
Invention, and include all such modifications thereof in form and
dimensions as may be, so long as the principle and action of the
machine are maintained. I claim the peculiar gearing shown upon
the accompanying Drawings, and herein described:- The depositor
box, with the chambered wheel for dividing the sced; the changing
plates, and roller, for preventing the seed or grain from getting
fixed in the appertures; the driving chains, and coupling pullies
and levers, as arranged, admitting the depositors fixed at any re-
quired distance along the shaft, without being thrown out of gear,
and admitting the grain to be not only deposited at any required
distance longitudinally, but also at any required distance laterelly.
I claim the twisting dibble, by which the hole is left clear; and

page_text: the form of coulter shown for keeping the trench or furrow open
till the seed is deposited.
In witness whereof, I, the said William East, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, A.D. 1853.
WILLIAM EAST. (L.S.)