IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF GREEN CROPS
Year: 1873

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LETTERS PATENT to Marcus Eustace, M.D., of Highfield, Drum-
condra, in the County of Dublin, Ireland, and James Kennan and
Thomas Kennan, Engineers, both of No. 19, Fishamble Street, in
the City of Dublin, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF GREEN CROPS."
ealed the 26th August 1873, and dated the 27th June 1873.
.
PROVISIONAL “SPECIFICATION *left by the said Marcus Eustace,
James Kennan, and Thomas Kennan, at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th June-1873.
We, MARCUS EUSTACE, M.D., of Highfield, Drumcondra, in
County of Dublin, Ireland, and JAMES KENNAN and THOMAS KENNAN,
Engineers, both of No. 19, Fishamble 'Street, in the City' of 'Dublin,
Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF GREEN CROPS," 'to be'as
follows:-
In'a Provisional Specification filed by the said Marcus Eustace on the
14th day of March. 1873. No. 943. was described on imnuated on se

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of a number of blades or hoes fixed to a framing having curved sides or
guides which could be drawn across the drill with a wave-like motion, so
as to clear off each drill widths of plants, leaving tufts standing between
the tracks of the hoes.
This Invention relates to modifications and improvements in apparatus
of this kind whereby its construction is simplified and it is rendered
more effective:
Some of these modifications apply to the construction and arrange-
ment of the guides, which, being drawn across the drills and intervening
furrows, regulate the depth at which the hoes are caused to enter the
soil under the plants to be removed. When these guides are of curved
form as described in the Provisional Specification above referred to, they
may be made of bent bars of iron secured to the framing at each end
and curved down to the desired form between.
As drills and furrows vary in width requiring these guides to be altered
we prefer to make each such guide in pieces secured together and to the
frame by bolts passing through slotted holes, so that the length of each
curve and its position on the frame in relation to the other can be readily
adjusted to suit the width of drill and furrow.
In order to simplify such adjustment, one of the guides may be made
straight, so as to require no adjustment, the other being curved and
adjustable, and the wave motion of the hoes being imparted by the rise
and fall of the one guide.
And farther the curvature of the guide may be reduced by interposing
it between the straight guide and the hoc, so that a small amount of up
and down motion of the guide imparts a greater vertical movement to
the hoe.
Straight guides may also be employed; the hoes in this case having no
vertical movement, but being adjusted at such a level relatively to the
guides that they remove the plants with a portion of the soil from the
tops of the drills.
Also, instead of guides as described drawn along the surface, wheels or
rollers may be employed so as to diminish the friction of the draught,
and such wheels-or rollers- may be mounted in bearings attached to the

page_text: frames in such positions that the peripheries of the wheels or rollers act
instead of portions of the curvature of the guides, or these wheels or
rollers, instead of being mounted in fixed bearings, may be mounted in
swinging frames provided with adjustable stops, so that they give as
5 much as may be desired to the inequalities of the soil.
Some of the modifications, to which the present Invention relates
apply to the blades or hoes. On each side of each blade or hoe we prefer
to fix a vertical coulter or mount a cutting disc, which entering the soil
a little in advance of the hoe makes vertical cuts in the soil at the tops
of the drills, which have the effect of separating the portions to be
removed by the hoe from those which are to be left between them, and
thus render the cut of the hoe more clean and definite without any
dragging of the plants left standing.
Another method of attaining this object is to make the hoe in two
parts, inclined in opposite directions, of which the one part may be set a
little in advance of the other. The first part entering the soil of the drill
makes an inclined cut on the one hand and the other makes an inclined
cut on the other hand, the two cuts having the effect of forming a hollow
between the standing tufts without any dragging of the latter.
Instead of making the hoes as blades with a straight edge parallel to
the drills, they may be made with edges inclined or spear shaped, or
combed or serrated, and placed vertical or inclined, as may be found best
suited to the soil and crop to which the apparatus is applied.
In drawing. the apparatus across the soil it is of advantage to lighten
the load in front. For this purpose we attach draw chains, straps, or
cords to the front part of the framing, and others farther back at or near
the middle, and we bring both sets of chains, cords, or straps together
to one ring towards the front to which is linked the draw bar. By
adjusting the length of the front set of chains, cords, or straps extend-
ing downwards from the ring the weight of the front part of the
machine may be more or less relieved while the draught is carried back
to near the middle of the machine, thus rendering the guiding of it
casy.
:
In applying this system of hoeing to soil which is not laid out in
drill and furrow, but which has the plants growing in rows uniformly

page_text: spaced on flat ground, we substitute for the guides above referred to
polygonal wheels or axles mounted on the framing, from which arms or
spokes project, having feet jointed to them which can rest on the soil
without sinking therein. The lengths of these spokes and their spacing
round their axles are adjusted to the width between the successive rows
of the crop, so that as the machine is drawn forward across the rows,
each foot comes successively into one of the intervals between them.
The polygonal form of the wheel or the polygonal arrangement of the
feet of the spokes imparts an up and down motion to the framing as it
advances, and the hoes attached thereto are thereby caused to dip down
into the soil at intervals and to rise out of it. And thus by properly
adjusting the position of the hoes on the framing they are made to dig
out of the even soil portions of the rows of plants leaving tufts
standing.
In the several forms of apparatus above described it is convenient to
attach a tracer which may be a coulter or cutting disc, or a drag chain, so
arranged that when the machine is drawn across the field it makes a
mark which serves as a guide for its next traverse.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Marcus Eustace, James Kennan, and Thomas
Kennan, in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 12th November
1873.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MARCUS
EUSTACE, M.D., of Highfield, Drumcondra, in the County of Dublin,
Ireland, and JAMES KENNAN and THOMAS KENNAN, Engineers, both of
No. 19, Fishamble Street, in the City of Dublin, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Marcus Eustace, James Kennan, and
Thomas Kennan, Her special license that we, the said Marcus Eustace,
James Kennan, and Thomas Kennan, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Marcus Eustace, James Kennan,

page_text: and Thomas Kennan, our exccutors, 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 APPARATUS USED IN THE CULTIVATION OF
GREEN CROPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Marcus Eustace, James Kennan, and Thomas Kennan, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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 Scal 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 Kennan, on behalf of
myself and the said Marcus Eustace and Thomas Kennan, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
In the Specification to Letters Patent granted to the said Marcus
Eustace on the 14th day of March 1873, No. 943, was described an
improved apparatus to be used for the cultivation of green crops, such
apparatus consisting of a number of blades or hoes fixed to a framing
having curved sides or guides, which could be drawn across the drills
with a wave-like motion, so as to clear off each drill widths of plants,
leaving tufts standing between the tracks of the hoes.
This Invention relates to modifications and improvements in apparatus
of this kind, whereby its construction is simplified, and it is rendered
more effective.
Some of these modifications apply to the construction and arrange-
ment of the guides, which being drawn across the drills and intervening
furrows, regulate the depth at which the hoes are caused to enter the:
soil under the plants to be removed.

page_text: thus render the cut of the hoe more clean and definite, without any
dragging of the plants left standing.
Another method of attaining this object is to make the hoe'in two
parts, inclined in opposite directions, of which the one part may be set
a little in advance of the other. The first part entering the soil of the
drill makes an inclined cut on the one hand, and the other makes an
inclined cut on the other hand, the two cuts having the effect of
forming a hollow between the standing tufts, without any dragging of
the latter.
Instead of making the hoes as blades with a straight edge parallel to
the drills, they may be made with edges inclined, or combed, or serrated,
and placed vertical or inclined, as may be found best suited to the soil
and crop to which the apparatus is applied.
In drawing the apparatus across the soil, it is of advantage to lighten
the load in front. For this purpose we attach draw chains, straps, or
cords to the front part of the framing, and others farther back at or near
the middle, and we bring both sets of chains, cords, or straps together to
onc ring towards the front, to which is linked the draw bar. By
adjusting the length of the front set of chains, cords, or straps extending
downwards from the ring, the weight of the front part of the machine
may be more or less relieved, while the draught is carried back to near
the middle of the machine, thus rendering the guiding of it easy.
In applying this system of hoeing to soil which is not laid out in drill
and furrow, but which has the plants growing in rows uniformly spaced
on flat ground, we substitute for the guides above referred to polygonal
wheels or axles mounted on the framing, from which arms or spokes
project, having feet jointed to them, which can rest on the soil without
sinking therein. The lengths of these spokes and their spacing round
their axles are adjusted to the width between the successive rows of the
crop, so that as the machine is drawn forward across the rows, cach foot
comes successively into one of the intervals between them. The poly-
gonal form of the wheel or the polygonal arrangement of the feet of the
spokes imparts an up-and-down motion to the framing as it advances,
and the hoes attached thereto are thereby caused to dip down into the
soil at intervals, and to rise out of it; and thus, by properly adjusting

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the position of the hoes on the framing, they are made to dig out of the
even soil portions of the rows of plants, leaving tufts standing.
+
In the several forms of apparatus above described it is convenient to
attach a tracer, which may be a coulter or cutting disc, or a drag chain,
t
so arranged that when the machine is drawn across the field it makes a 5
mark, which serves as a guide for its next traverse.
781
even soil portions of the rows of plants, leaving tufts standing.
"'
In the several forms of apparatus above described it is convenient to
attach a tracer, which may be a coulter or cutting disc, or a drag chain,
t
so arranged that when the machine is drawn across the field it makes a
mark, which serves as a guide for its next traverse.
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a side view; Fig. 2, an end view; and Fig. 3, a plan
of the machine, with its guides constructed and arranged according to
the modifications first referred to above.
.
In order to render the machine as light as possible only two sets of
guides A1, A2, are provided to a series of five-hoe blades F. The guides
are secured to connecting bars A³, extending the whole length of the
machine, which bars may be conveniently made of two thin metal or
wooden side cheeks, connected together by distance pieces, as shewn.
The guides A1, A2, are constructed of bent metal plates secured to the
bars A³ by screw bolts passing through slotted holes in the bars, so that
the guides can be adjusted nearer to or farther from each other to suit
ridges of different widths. The length of the guides themselves is also
made adjustable by forming them each of two separate pieces, secured
together at a by screws fixed in the one piece, and passing through a
longitudinal slot in the other, so that the guides can be drawn out or
shortened at the joint. The bars As are fixed in an adjustable manner
by means of strap bolts (as shewn in the separate detail, Fig. 1ª) upon
the transverse bar B, to which are attached also in an adjustable manner
the bracket F, carrying the hoe blades F, so that the bars A and the
blades can be set nearer together or farther apart on the transverse bar B
to suit the spaces at which the crop requires to be thinned. Packing
pieces of varying thickness may be inserted between the bars A³ and B
(as shewn at B¹, Fig. 1") in order thereby to regulate the depth to which
the hoes project. D are the draw chains, and E are the guiding stilts.
Q is a drag chain attached to an adjustable bar projecting outwards from
B, which marks a line on the ground, serving as a guide to the driver for
the next traverse of the machine.
When the ridges are not sufficiently even to allow of all the hoe
**
F
blades being arranged
on one bar we employ the construction shewn

page_text: respectively in side view, plan, and cross section at Figs. 4, 5, and 6, for
the purpose of affording sufficient independent vertical play to each hoe
to adjust itself to the surface of that part of the ridge upon which it is
acting, and at the same time to preserve the parallellism of the several,
frames. In this case cach hoe is provided with a separato set of
guides A', A, and connecting bar As, as above described, and though
five sets of these are shewn it may be readily understood that a greater
or less number might be combined in like manner. The guide frames II.
and IV., to which the stilts and draw chains are attached, are secured to
the transverse bars B, B, which extend across the whole of the guide
frames, and the frames I., III., and V. are kept at their proper relativo
distances by means of guide pieces I, I, secured to the bars B passing
down between the side cheeks of these guide frames A³, beneath which
they are provided with ears to prevent the frames A³ from dropping
away from the machine. It is obvious that the transverse bars B might
be arranged beneath the guide frames A³ with the guide pieces I pro-
jecting upwards. In either case the guide pieces are made of such
length as to give several inches of vertical play for the frames A³, which
are connected by a spring K or by chains or links to the bars B, so that
while they have free vertical play they are drawn forward along with
the fixed frames II. and IV. The guides A', A³, are in this case made
adjustable in length by providing them with a hinge at a and with a long
slot at a', where it is secured to the frame A³.
When the guide is to be shortened the upper curved portion a¹ can be
moved to a position such as that indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4,
its slot sliding over the holding bolt, by which it can be secured in any
intermediate position. The holes in the other ends of the guides by
which they are secured to the frame As may also be slotted, so as to
allow the guides to be shifted nearer to or farther from each other, or
such adjustment may be provided for by slotting the holes in the frame A³,
through which the holding bolts pass.
Instead of making both the guides A1 and A2 curved, one of them
may be straight, requiring no adjustment. In order that the up-and-
down movement of the hoe may be obtained without great curvature of
the one curved guide, the hoe may be placed in front of the two guides,
as shewn in Fig. 7. Also straight guides may be employed, as shown in
Fig. 8, when the soil and plants are in such condition that the wave-.

page_text: like motion of the hoe is not necessary, the hoe in this case removing
the plants with a portion of the soil from the top of the drill. In this
case it is preferred to use lateral cutting blades or coulters M in combi-
nation with the hoe, as will be presently described.
Fig. 9 shows the manner in which wheels N, N, may be substituted
for one of the curved guides, in order to lessen the friction of the draught,
these wheels being so arranged that their peripheries in passing over the
drills give the wave movement similar to that obtained from the curved
guide for which they are substituted.
Or the wheels used in lieu of guides instead of being mounted on
fixed bearings may be mounted on the ends of radius bars, as shewn in
Fig. 10. In this case each of the wheels N, N, is mounted on a radius
bar O, pivotted to the frame A³, so that it can by descending follow the
undulations of the ground; but when the radius bar rises a certain
distance it meets a stop P fixed on the frame A³, whereby the frame
becomes for a time supported by the wheel. Thus it will be seen that the
hind wheel serves in lieu of the hind portion of the guide, and the front
wheel in lieu of the front inclined portion thereof, the frame being raised
when either wheel is on the ridge, although the other wheel may be
down in the furrow. The centres of the radius bars O, and the stops P
are made adjustable to suit different widths and depths of furrows. In
order that the wheels may be clear of each other the one is mounted
between the cheeks of the frame A', and the other is made in duplicate
one on each side of the frame..
Fig. 11 shews a side view, and Fig. 12 a front view of the arrange-
ment of cutting discs L, in combination with the hoes F, such
cutting discs being held a little in advance of the hoe, one on each side
thereof, by arms projecting from the bracket of the hoe.. As these discs
enter the soil in advance of the hoe they make vertical incisions which
separate the portions to be removed from those to be left standing, and
thus render the cut of the hoe more clean and easy.
Instead of the cutting discs L, fixed cutter blades or coulters may be
employed, as shewn in Figs. 8 and 13. These coulters M are secured to
the frame A' in advance of the hoe, or they may be attached to or
formed in one with the bracket F', which carries the hoc, as shewn in

page_text: the enlarged perspective view, Fig. 14, where m, m, are the cutting edges
of the coulters M.
When the ridges are very narrow, or little raised above the furrow, it is
advantageous to employ oblique hoe blades to act as indicated in the
diagram plan, Fig. 15. Such blades may be constructed and arranged on
the frame, as shewn in the side view Fig. 16, and in plan at Fig. 17. There
are two blades to cach frame, the one F inclined in one direction, and the
other F¹ inclined in the contrary direction in the rear of F. When the
hoe F enters the row of plants R it removes those in front of it out of
the ground, and pushes them towards the left, whereupon the hinder
hoc F¹ removes all in front of it towards the right. The length of the
front hoe F is made less than the width to be cleared, so that it deposits
its soil and plants in the track of the hinder hoc F, without interfering
with the plants left standing. When such inclined hoes are employed,
the guides, instead of having such a curvature as to produce an undu-
lating motion of the machine, are by preference made straight, as shewn
in Figs. 16 and 17.
Fig. 18 shews in perspective the arrangement of the draw chains,
whereby the load in front is lightened, and the guiding of the machine
by the stilts is greatly facilitated. The chain D is fastened by its ends
to about the middle of the frames A', and the chain D₁ is fastened by its
ends near the front of these frames. Both chains are passed through a .
ring S, to which the horse trace bar T is linked. When the horse pulls
the principal part of the draught is taken by the chain D, but by proper
adjustment of the length of the chain D₁ the downward pressure of the
front of the machine is more or less relieved. As the ring S is free to
move on both chains, alterations in the position of the horse as he
advances do not materially affect the driver's power of guiding the
machine by the stilts. It is obvious that pullics might be substituted for
the ring S.
Fig. 19 shews a side view of the machine arranged with polygonal
wheels, for the purpose of giving undulating motion to the hoes when
there are no drills of sufficient elevation to enable curved guides to act
for that purpose. The cross bar B, carrying the hoes F, is attached to
the longitudinal bars A³, which are provided with a wheel in front, and
are extended backwards to form stilts. Between the hoes and the stilts

page_text: :
the polygonal wheel T is mounted on an axle, so as to turn between the
frames A³, or there may be two such wheels on the one one axle, one wheel
on each side outside the frames A³. The wheel T consists of a number
of arms, so spaced and of such length, that the distance from the
extremity of the one to that of the other corresponds to the space between
the successive rows of plants on which the machine operates. At the
end of each arm is pivotted a foot U, the joint by which it is pivotted
being made with stops to prevent it from playing more than is necessary
to permit the foot to take an even bearing on the soil.
•
It will be seen that as the machine advances the hoes F have an 1
undulating motion imparted to them, as indicated by the dotted lines f,ƒ,
so that they cut into the soil as they approach the row of plants, and
having dug out a portion, they rise, allowing the soil and plants to slide
off them between the successive rows.
The machines constructed and arranged according to the several 1
modifications described above may be provided with light travelling
wheels mounted on levers or sliding bars, so that when not in action
they may be readily moved from place to place.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we claim the following improve- 2
ments in apparatus used in the cultivation of green crops of the kind
described in the Specification of Eustace's Patent, dated the 14th March
1873, No. 943, above referred to, namely,-
First. The use of adjustable guides made of jointed metal bars, so that
they can be lengthened or shortened, and can be set nearer to or farther 2
from each other, substantially as herein described in reference to Figs. 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Drawings.
Second. The arrangement of one straight in combination with one
curved guide, the hoe being mounted beyond the latter, substantially as
herein described in reference to Fig. 7. :
Third. The use of wheels in lieu of guides, substantially as herein
described in reference to Figs. 9 and 10.
Fourth. The use of cutting discs, blades, or coulters, substantially in the
manner and for the purpose herein set forth in reference to Figs. 11, 12,
30

page_text: Fifth. The use of inclined hoes, substantially as herein described in
reference to Figs. 15, 16, and 17.
Sixth. The use of polygonal wheels, substantially as herein described
in reference to Fig. 19.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Kennan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.