IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING LAND
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Beards, of Stowe, in the County of Buck-
ingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING
LAND."
Sealed the 6th April 1863, and dated the 6th October 1862..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Beards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
October '1862.
I, THOMAS BEARDS, of Stowe, in the County of Buckingham, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
CULTIVATING LAND," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cultivating
land. For these purposes a-frame, by preference of iron, is employed mounted
on two pairs of wheels (one pair at each end). Each pair of wheels is
arranged to be capable of being alternately used as fore and hind wheels.
Provision is made for the pair which are for the time being acting as the fore
wheels having a locking motion to enable the machine to be steered thereby,
whilst the pair of wheels for the time being acting as the hind wheels are
retained from locking. To each end of the frame above mentioned there is a
frame or set of bars hinged having arrangements for receiving two, three, or.
more grubbing or scarifying or other forms of tines, or for receiving ploughs
applied thereto. The two end frames or sets of bars are each arranged to be
lifted or lowered by means of a windlass or barrel. and chains on the main
frame, so that both sets of implements may be raised away from the land or

page_text: either set of them lowered to the land whilst the other set is lifted from the
land. The machine when in use is drawn along the land by a wire rope and
is steered by a man sitting on the machine, there being a seat on each end
of the hinged frame for the purpose, and the steering is accomplished by the
locking of the wheels, which for the time being are the fore wheels, there!
being suitable levers and apparatus applied to the wheels for this purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Thomas Beards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BEARDS, of Stowe, in the County of Buckingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Beards, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Beards,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Beards, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING LAND," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Beards, executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under , 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Beards, 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, that is to say :--
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for cultivating
land, and consists in combining with a rigid running frame two rising and
falling end frames carrying ploughs, grubbers, and cultivators by which the

page_text: several operations of ploughing, grubbing, and cultivating may be separately
performed. The combined machine consists of a skeleton framework of iron
mounted upon four wheels; these wheels are made to lock like the fore wheels
of a waggon. At each end of this running main frame, upon a rising and
falling bar hinged upon a shifting centre at one end, and adjustable at the
other end by a verticle screw, the plough, grubber, or cultivator beams,
as the case may be, are hung, these latter frames are suspended from the
main frame and are made to rise and fall, as required, when at work. One set
is in the ground and the other lifted by the suspension chain or rope either by
levers or wheel and pinion. The man in charge of the machine has a seat at
each end of these rising and falling frames, and having made the wheels at
one end of the main frame rigid he guides or steers the whole by moving the
fore or loose wheels at the other end by the levers or wheel and pinion herein-
after described, and on arriving at the headland he dismounts, raises the imple-
ments in work out of the ground and lowers the other set into work; the hind
part of the frame now becomes the fore part, and the bind wheels being
made rigid and the fore ones released, the implement is propelled in the
opposite direction, the attendant takes his seat at the end of the frame just
lowered, from whence he steers the machine, as before explained. When it'
becomes necessary to change the operation the ploughs are detached and
grubbers or cultivators take their place, the rising and falling frames being so
formed as to carry the implements required; and when a large breadth of land
is intended to be cultivated a larger set or number of cultivators, which are
fixed by an independent frame, can be used, taking a width of 6 feet or 8 feet,
or more or less, as required.
The second part of my Invention consists in improvements in the mechanism
for propelling the combined machinery above described, and which are more
particularly described in the following explanation of the Drawings by which
the said Invention is illustrated.
EXPLANATION OF DRAWINGS.
α, α,
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine with plougs fitted thereto.
is the main frame, which is made in skeleton form about 4 feet in length,
16 to 20 inches in height, and from two to three feet in width. In forming
this frame I propose to use light angle iron. b and 6' are wheels, upon
which the centre frame is mounted; c, c, moveable axles placed under the
ends of the centre frame, capable of being partially turned upon the centres
d, d, which are forged solid therewith or fixed thereto, and which work in
suitable bearings midway along the ends; the wheels turn upon these-moveable

page_text: axles, which axles are moved from either end of the machine. The wheels b¹
are turned about by means of the crank e, the connecting rod e, and
crank lever e³, and the wheels 6 by means of the pinion or segment
and screw f¹ on the shaft f2; f is an upright bearing, by which the
shaft is supported. When the machine is being propelled in the direction
shewn by, the arrow, the wheels 6 are locked square with the frame by
dropping the pawl g (which turns upon the centre g¹) upon the end of the
axle c. The wheels 6¹ are then liberated by turning back the other pawl g³,
and in this condition the machine is steered by the mechanism e, e¹, and e³.
When the machine is being propelled in the reverse direction the wheels 6¹
are locked by dropping the pawl g, and raising the pawl 9; the wheels bare
liberated, and the machine is then steered by the mechanism f, f¹, f, f³;
h and h¹ are the rising and falling implement frames, which are respectively
coupled to the main frame at i and i¹, where they are hung upon a cross bar,
each end of which can be raised and lowered transversely by a screw or other
suitable means. These frames are raised. and lowered alternately by the
suspending rope or chain j and j', which passes over the crane pullies k and k¹
and round the drum l mounted in the frame m, m, and turned by the handles n
on each side of the machine. On the end of the handle shaft a pin o is
fixed, and this pinion gears with a spur wheel o³, which is keyed on to the
drum of the shaft, and by which the latter is turned. p is a small draw pin
or bolt, which when drawn out prevents the handle from being turned, and
serves as a support for it to rest against when either of the frames h or h¹
have been raised clear of the ground, a dropping pawl may be used; these
implement frames are also made in skeleton form, and consist of two main
or side beams adjusting cross bars and two or more intermediate beams;
to these beams the ploughs, grubbers, or cultivators are secured, either by
bolts and nuts, by socket and wedge, or otherwise. The implement frames
are so formed that they will carry either the ploughs, grubbers, or cultivators,
as the operation may require; and by the adjusting cross bars the implements
can be set to any gauge required, either longitudinally or transversely. I also
propose to have changing implement frames to obviate the necessity of
removing the implements therefrom; in the latter case the implements and
frames are removed bodily by uncoupling at i and i. In the Drawings accom-
panying this Specification the machine is shewn as fitted with ploughs, two
of which are supposed to operate at each end; their number may be increased
or diminished at pleasure by varying the dimensions of the frames, which are
adapted for ploughs of any pattern which may be preferred. k and k¹ are seats
for the ploughman or attendant regulating the operation of the machine,

page_text: which is propelled backwards and forwards alternately on the same land side,
and turns the flags all over in the same way, or to the right when going the
direction indicated by the arrow, and to the left when going in the contrary
direction.
The mode in which I propose to propel the machine is similar to that
described in the Specification of my Invention, No. 2187, A.D., 1859, -only
that I do not in this case propose to plough the ground into lands. Í attach
the two ends of a wire rope at each end of the main frame by a length of
adjusting chain, and carry the wire rope round a pulley anchored at the head-
lands at the opposite sides of the field, and thence respectively carry the two
ends to and wind them upon suitably constructed hauling drums turned by
steam or other power; this mode of propelling the implements is already
known, but in order to improve the same I propose to use intermediate
running pullies or roap carriers constructed as shewn at Figs. 3 and 4 upon
the accompanying Drawing..
a is a small frame mounted upon the wheels b, b, and at the top of two
inclined brackets c, c, I mount the guide pulleys d, in the groove of which
the propelling rope e, e, runs; f, f, are horns for guiding the rope on the
pulley when thrown by hand. By mounting the carrier pulley upon a frame
with its axis at right angles to the axes of the frame wheels, this carrier
adjusts itself to the line of rope; and in ploughing the ground into lands where
it is necessary to move the plough a considerable distance laterally at the
headlands, these carriers adjust themselves to the required line of draught.
Fig. 2 shews an improved pulley and anchor, which I propose to use as a
part of my improved machiney. a is a strong iron-pointed tang, the top
of which is notched, as shewn at b, and is driven into the ground to the
shoulder c; d is a shaft hinged to the vertical tang or limb at e, so as to
rise and fall. From this shaft at .f a hinged strut g rises, the opposite end of
which fits into one of the notches at b, and thus forms an anchor, the angle h
of which can be adjusted as required. It will be seen that an anchor thus
formed, when pulled in the direction shewn by the arrow, the whole of the
tang a can only move forward, as shewn by the dotted lines, and con-
sequently its holding power will be greatly increased. At the opposite end of
the shaft d I form an eye and jointed i hook, which is held in position by the
jointed staple or loop or split handle; which slips over it. By turning the handle
down in the direction of the dotted line the hook i is released, and the chain
attached thereto on being pulled will slip off, and in the event of any part of
the machinery in motion becoming deranged the headland pulley can be.
instantly liberated. Instead of mounting the said headland pulleys in the
=

page_text: usual way, I propose to mount them above the frame to dispense with the
upper strap to elongate the dead pin and centre boss.
Another improvement which I propose to effect in operating my improved
machinery consists in the addition of a guide wheel or pulley running loose
upon a shaft parallel with the axis of the hauling drums, so as to lay the rope
regularly and alternately from end to end of the said drums by the action of
the rope itself; this pulley may either turn upon the shaft or be keyed thereto
and turn with it, see Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shews the grubbers I propose to use, and which consist of the arm
a, fastened to the beams before mentioned, foot shoe or skeleton, frames b,
which are adapted to receive a common ploughshare c. Any convenient
number of these may be attached to the rising and falling frames, but I prefer
to use 3 at each end. The cultivators are fitted with suitable cross bars and
attached to the rising and falling frames, and may be adjusted to any width
from 2 feet to 6 feet, or more or loss, if required.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and illustrated the manner in which the same may be carried into effect in
practice, I hereby further declare that I do not restrict myself absolutely to
the precise forms and dimensions shewn upon the Drawings and herein
specified, as the machinery is capable of being modified in design and capacity
in its several details, as circumstances may require.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Beards, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three.