IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN PLOUGHING TILLING OR CULTIVATING LAND BY STEAM POWER.
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, junior, of 28, Cornhill, in the City of
London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
USED WHEN PLOUGHING TILLING OR CULTIVATING LAND BY STEAM POWER.'
Sealed the 11th January 1859, and dated the 14th July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th July 1858.
I, JOHN FOWLER, junior, of 28, Cornhill, in the City of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
USED WHEN PLOUGHING, TILLING, OR CULTIVATING LAND BY STEAM POWER," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when'
ploughing, tilling, or cultivating land by steam power, and consists, first, in an
improved method of combining winding capstans or drums with portable
steam engines. For this purpose the bearings for the axes of the two
winding capstans or drums which are vertical, are mounted at the ends of a
frame, constructed by preference of angle iron, and in the centre of the frame
between the two axes there is a rectangular opening, and this opening is of a

page_text: suitable size to allow the fire-box of the portable engine used to work the
capstans or drums to be passed down through it. The frame is furnished
with wheels, which are carried by stud axes fixed to the frame near its centre
on cach side. When the frame carrying the winding capstans or drums is to
be combined with the portable engine for work; the hinder wheels of the engine
are removed, and its fire-box end is tilted up, the frame with the capstan or
drum is then run underneath it, and the end of the engine again lowered, the
fire-box passing down through the opening in the frame; the fire-box and the
frame are then bolted or otherwise secured to one another. The engine then
rests in front on its own wheels, and behind on the wheels of the capstan or
drum frame. One of the drums is driven by a driving belt passing round the
fly wheel of the engine, and also round a pulley mounted on an axis carried
by the frame, and the capstans or drums are geared with its axis by toothed
wheels; or one of the drums may be driven by a vertical shaft descending
from the engine, when the construction of the engine is such as to render this
system of driving the more convenient.
Another part of my Invention relates to the arrangement of apparatus
carried by the plough or tilling instrument, to take up the slack of the rope
behind it when an endless hauling rope (that is to say, a rope, both ends of
which are attached to the plough or tilling instrument,) is employed as is
described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me and another,
there are two drums mounted on the plough or tilling instrument, on which a
portion of the hauling ropes is wound. From one of these drums the rope
passes direct to the winding capstans or drums, and from the other it passes
first to a pulley on the opposite headland, and then returns to the said winding
capstans or drums. According to my present Invention, in place of turning
the drums on the plough or tilling instrument by hand when it is necessary to
take up the slack of the return rope, I gear together the axes of the two
drums in such a manner, that if the hauling power is allowed to draw a length
of rope off one of the drums (which is thus caused to revolve) this drum
gives motion to the other drum, so as to wind up a greater length of rope than
is drawn off from the other-drum. For this purpose I mount loosely on each
of the axes of the drums, or on each of the axes from which the drums-receive-
motion, two pulleys, one larger than the other, and by means of ratchets the
larger pulley is caused to revolve with its axis when rope is running off the
drum, and the smaller pulley in revolving carries its axis with it when it is
turned in the direction necessary for winding up the rope. There are two
driving belts employed, which each pass from the large pulley on one axis to

page_text: the small pulley on the other, thus, when rope is running off one drum it
causes a greater length to be taken up by the other drum, in the proportion of
the diameter of the larger pulley to that of the smaller. When it is not
required to take up slack rope, the drum on which the strain of the hauling
apparatus comes is locked by a break, or in any other suitable manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fowler in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FOWLER, junior, of 28, Cornhill, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Fowler, Her special licence that I, the said John Fowler, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Fowler, 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, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS USED WHEN PLOUGHING, TILLING, OR CULTIVATING LAND BY STEAM POWER,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Fowler, my execu-
tors 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 John Fowler, do hereby declare
he nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-.
ormed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
tatement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when:

page_text: ploughing, tilling, or cultivating land by steam power, and consists, first, in an
improved method of combining winding capstans or drums with portable steam
engines. For this purpose the bearings for the axes of the two winding
capstans or drums, which are vertical, are mounted at the ends of a farme,
constructed by preference of angle iron, and in the centre of the frame
between the two axes there is a rectangular opening, and this opening is of a
suitable size to allow the fire-box of the portable engine used to work the
capstans or drums to be passed down through it. The frame is furnished with
wheels, which are carried by stud axes fixed to the frame near its centre on
each side. When the frame carrying the winding capstans or drums is to be
combined with the portable engine for work, the hinder wheels of the engine
are removed, and its fire-box end is tilted up, the frame with the capstans or
drums is then run underneath it and the end of the engine again lowered, the
fire-box passing down through the opening in the frame; the fire-box and
the frame are then bolted or otherwise secured to one another; the engine
then rests in front on its own wheels, and behind on the wheels of the capstan
or drum frame. One drum only is proposed to be driven, and that sometimes
by upright shaft, sometimes by strap. One of the drums is driven by a driving
belt passing round the fly-wheel of the engine, and also round a pulley mounted
on an axis carried by the frame, and the capstans or drums are geared with
this axis by toothed wheels; or one of the drums may be driven by a vertical
shaft descending from the engine, when the construction of the engine is such
as to render this system of driving the more convenient.
Another part of my Invention relates to the arrangement of apparatus
carried by the plough or tilling instrument to take up the slack of the rope
behind it, when an endless hauling rope (that is to say, a rope, both ends of
which are attached to the plough or tilling instrument) is employed, as is
described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me and another;
there are two drums mounted on the plough or tilling instrument on which a
portion of the hauling rope is wound. From one of these drums the rope
-passes direct to the winding capstans or drums, and from the other it passes
first to a pulley on the opposite-headland, and then returns to the said winding
capstans or drums. According to my present Invention-in-place of turning
the drums on the plough or tilling instrument by hand, when it is necessary to
take up the slack of the return rope, I gear together the axes of the two
drums in such a manner that if the hauling power is allowed to draw a length
of rope off one of the drums (which is thus caused to revolve), this drum gives
motion to the other drum, so as to wind up a greater length of rope than is

page_text: drawn off from the other drum.
For this purpose I mount loosely on each of
the axes of the drums, or on each of the axes from which the drums receive
motion, two pulleys, one larger than the other, and by means of ratchets the
larger pulley is caused to revolve with its axis when rope is running off the
drum; and the smaller pulley in revolving carries its axis with it when it is.
turned in the direction necessary for winding up the rope; there are two
driving belts employed, which each pass from the large pulley on one axis to
the small pulley on the other; thus, when rope is running off one drum it
causes a greater length to be taken up by the other drum in the proportion of
the diameter of the larger pulley to that of the smaller. When it is not
required to take up slack rope, the drum on which the strain of the hauling
apparatus comes is locked by a break, or in any other suitable manner.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 is a transverse
section of winding capstans or drums mounted on a frame so arranged as to
allow of their being combined with a portable steam engine in such manner
that one of the drums may be in front of, and the other behind the fire box of
the engine. The frame of the drums is composed of an upper and lower.
ring a and a', of angle iron. They are secured together by side plates
a², and also at one end by the bracket a³, on the lower ring being bolted,
to the curved cross stay a*, of the upper; and c are the two winding drums,
the bearings of the drum bare carreed by the front part of the frame, and
those of the drum c, by cross stays a³, a; as is shown. Between the two
frames is the opening for receiving the fire-box of the engine, it extends from
the cross stay a', and the corresponding lower stay as, which is curved up and
bolted to it, to the stay a, which rises to the under side of the axle d, and is
connected with the stay as, by bolts as shewn, and on these the fire-box rests.
The axle d carries the road wheels e, e, or these wheels, may be mounted on
studs fixed to the frame, if it is preferred. The portable engine is shewn in
the Drawing in red lines in the position it occupies, its fly wheel f, drives by a
band the pulley 9 mounted on the axis h, which is carried by bearings fixed
to the top ring a of the frame. The pulley g of Figure 2, is so fixed to its
axis as to be capable of being readily changed for a larger one marked g' in
Figure 1. On the axis h are mounted loosely two bevilled pinions and j..

page_text: either of which may be rendered fast on the axis by the sliding clutch k, which
is actuated in the usual manner by a lever handle, which, however, is no
shewn in the Drawings, the pinions i and j gear with the bevilled wheel
mounted on a vertical axis, the bearings of which are carried by the lower
ring a of the frame, and by the curved cross stay a', the lower end of the
axis of the wheel carries a spur wheel m, gearing with the tooth wheel c
fixed on the drum c, and in this manner the power of the engine is trans-
mitted to this drum. The drum b is not driven, it has mounted on its axis a
worm wheel n, which is actuated by a screw on the axis of the hand wheel o
p is a pulley fixed to the under side of the wheel n, and having fixed to its
periphery the rope q leading to the axle of the locking wheels of the engine;
thus, by the hand wheel o, the engine is readily steered, it receives its forward
motion from a rope, one end of which is fixed ahead, and which is passed
round the drum », this drum is driven by a screw s, working into the teeth
of the screw wheel on the same shaft with the screw s, but turning
loosely; on it is a bevilled wheel gearing with a bevilled pinion on the
end of the axis h. When it is desired to move the engine and winding drums
forward, the wheel t is rendered fast on its axis by the clutch , and the
drum » is thus caused to wind up its rope; v, v, are pressing rollers which are
sometimes employed to press the rope against the drums.
Figure 4 is a side view, Figure 5 is a plan, and Figure 6 is a transverse
section of an arrangement in which the drums are placed according to my
Invention, the one in front and the other behind the fire-box, but in this
arrangement that portion of my Invention, which consists in mounting stick
drums on a frame separate from the engine, is no longer followed. The
drums and c are permanently fixed to the engine, the upper end of the axis
of the drum b is carried by a bearing bolted to the boiler of the engine, and
the lower end of the axis is stepped on to the piece a, which connects the
fire-box with the frame d bolted to the boiler and passing round underneath
the drum; the axis of the drum c is carried by brackets fixed to the fire-box
of the engine. The frame d also carries the lower bearing of the vertical
shaft e; the upper-bearing of this shaft is carried by a bracket springing from
the boiler; the shaft carries at its upper end-a-bevilled-wheel, which gears
with a bevilled wheel on the end of the main shaft of the engine; this shaft e
also carries a spur wheel f, capable of being rendered fast or loose. on its axis
as may be required by the clutch f', which is worked by a lever and rod, the
centre lines of which are shewn. This spur wheel gears with a larger spur
wheel fixed on the top of the drum b, which in this manner has the power of

page_text: the engine communicated to it. g is a drum for winding the engine forward;
it is driven by the worm h, which can be caused to revolve with its axis by the
clutch i, the centre lines of which are shewn. It will be seen that the hauling
rope is arranged in this.engine in a somewhat different manner from that in
which it is shewn in the Drawings first described; it is here caused to take,
in addition to three half turns, one three-quarter turn round the driven drum,
according to the system for which Provisional Protection was granted
to me, dated 3rd November 1858, both the ropes being thus led off from the
driven drum.
Figure 7 is a side view, and Figure 8 is a plan of a plough having apparatus
arranged according to my Invention for taking up the slack of the endless
hauling rope mounted on it. I and J are two drums carried by the imple-
ment, on each of which a portion of the rope is wound; these drums have
teeth formed on their flanges which gear with pinions mounted on the axes c
and frespectively; d and g¹ are drums mounted on the axis c; d¹ and g are
similar drums on the axis f. The drums d and dare caused by means of
ratchet wheels and clicks or catches to revolve with their axes, when these
are caused to revolve by the drawing off of rope from their respective drums,
but to revolve independently of their axes in the contrary direction. The
drums g, g', on the contrary, revolve with their axes to wind rope on to their
respective drums, but run freely in the opposite direction; the action of this
apparatus is as follows:-Supposing the ploughing machine to be about to
start from the headland A toward the headland B, the man accompanying
the ploughs (who sits on the seat O when going from the headland A, and on
the seat P when going from the headland B), causing the break a to be
slackened off its wheel by means of the wheel b, hence as the draft of the
rope is received by the drum or barrel I, it will cause that barrel to move
round, and in doing so it will give motion to the axis c and the drum or
pulley d. This drum or pulley, by a strap e, gives motion to the axis f, which
drives the barrel or pulley J, such strap e acting on the pulley or drum g,
which is for the time fixed to the axis f by its ratchet wheel and clicks or
catches, and the pulley or barrel J is caused to turn so much faster than the
drum or barrel I that the slack of the rope I will be quickly taken up, when
the man attending the machine will put on the breaks, so as to stop the axis
of the drum or barrel I, moving further round. When the ploughing machine
has arrived at the headland B, the man attending it will take his seat on the
end at P, and on the engines being started in the reverse direction the draft
of the engines will bring the rope H to act first on the barrel or drum J and

page_text: its break a, being (if any slack requires to be taken up) free of its wheel on
the axis f, that axis will be caused to rotate, and it will give motion to a
drum or pulley d¹ on the axis f, which will by a strap drive a pulley g¹ on the
axis c in connection with the drum or barrel, I, and give motion thereto at a
faster rate than that at which the barrel or drum J is turned by the rope H,
the slack of that rope will consequently be wound on the barrel or drum I.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fowler, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
JOHN FOWLER, JUN. (L.S.)