IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND BY STEAM
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, junior, of Havering, in the County of
Essex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND BY STEAM."
Sealed the 17th February 1857, and dated the 8th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th September 1856.
I, JOHN FOWLER, junior, of Havering, in the County of Essex, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND BY STEAM," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery or apparatus
for ploughing and tilling land by steam, and such improvements apply, firstly,
to the guiding of ploughs drawn by stationary steam power. The ploughs are
arranged suitably for being moved to and fro from headland to headland,
without turning, by reason of each ploughing machine consisting of a lever
frame, mounted on a central axle with wheels, there being several ploughs or
tilling instruments at each end of the lever fram as was described in the
Specification of a former Patent granted to me, one set of ploughs or instru-
ments going out of action as the other comes into action; and the present
improvements consist of applying a "locking" motion to the central axle and
wheels, so as to cause the ploughing machine to be guided, and such guiding

page_text: is accomplished by the ploughman who accompanies the machine giving
motion to a screw or other convenient apparatus acting on the central axle, so
as to cause it and the wheels thereon to perform the requisite locking motion.
It is preferred to employ a screw, which is put in motion from either end of
the machine by a shaft and handle.
Secondly, the improvements are applicable to obtaining progressive move-
ment to the anchoring carriage or apparatus described in the Provisional
Specification of a former Patent granted to me. For this purpose, the axle of
the pulley carried by such carriage, and around which the draft rope passes, is
caused to give motion, by intermediate gearing, to the axle or axles of the disc
wheels on which such anchoring carriage moves, by which means the draft
rope put in motion by a steam engine, in addition to moving the ploughs or
tilling instruments, gives motion to the anchoring carriage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fowler in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FOWLER, junior, of Havering, in the County of Essex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth 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,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND BY STEAM," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Fowler, my executors 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Fowler, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery or apparatus
for ploughing and tilling land by steam, and such improvements apply, firstly,
to the guiding of ploughs drawn by stationary steam power. The ploughs are
arranged suitably for being moved to and fro from headland to headland,
without turning, by reason of each ploughing macbine consisting of a lever
frame, mounted on a central axle with wheels, there being several ploughs or
tilling instruments at each end of the lever frame, as was described in the
Specification of a former Patent granted to me, one set of ploughs or instru-
ments going out of action as the other comes into action; and the present
improvements consist of applying a "locking" motion to the central axle and
wheels, so as to cause the ploughing machine to be guided, and such guiding
is accomplished by the ploughman who accompanies the machine giving
motion to a screw or other convenient apparatus acting on the central axle, so
as to cause it and the wheels thereon to perform the requisite locking motion.
It is preferred to employ a screw, which is put in motion from either end of the
machine by a shaft and handle.
Secondly, the improvements are applicable to obtaining progressive move-
ment to the anchoring carriage or apparatus, described in the Provisional
Specification of a former Patent granted to me. For this purpose, the axle
of the pulley carried by such carriage, and around which the draft rope
passes, is caused to give motion, by intermediate gearing, to the axle or
axles of the disc wheels on which such anchoring carriage moves, by which
means the draft rope put in motion by a steam engine, in addition to
moving the ploughs or tilling instruments, gives motion to the anchoring
carriage.
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.

page_text: metal frame c, c, and this is attached, by the vertical axis or pin d, to the
exterior frame e, which is carried by the wheels f, f¹; these wheels are
mounted on studs g, g, which are capable of sliding up and down in grooves
formed on the sides of the frame e; and in order thus to move the studs g, 9,
screws h, h, are employed, which pass through nuts at the top of the frame e,
and are connected at their lower end with the said studs. In this way the
depth to which the land is ploughed is adjusted, and as the wheelf has to run
in the furrow, while the wheel f runs on the land, the wheel f is made
larger than the wheel f¹. i, i, are draft bars, having hooks to which the wire
rope to draw the plough is attached; j, j, are small wheels, to support the
ends of the frame while ploughing; k, k, are steering wheels, one at each end
of the frame a, a, they are connected by universal joints to the screw I, on
which is a nut m; this nut has on it pins or projections, which are embraced
by a fork at the end of the arm n, keyed to the pin or axis d; o is a seat, on
which the steersman rides, and it will be seen that, by means of the apparatus
described, he can place the wheels f, f, at an angle to the frame a, a, and by
so doing he directs the motion of the plough.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section; Figure 5 is a plan of a carriage with
disc wheels, such as I employ to anchor the pulley which traverses along the
headland as the ploughing progresses.
This carriage is similar to that described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to myself and William Worby, and dated the 10th July 1856. But
the present Invention consists in the additions which I have made to the
carriage there described, by which the rotation of the pulley, caused by the
rope running over it, is made available for giving motion to the carriage and
causing it to traverse on the headland. a is the pulley, round which the rope
passes, it has on its axis the bevilled pinion b, which drives another bevilled
pinion c, on the axis d. On this axis is also the worm d', taking into and
driving the worm wheel e, on the face of which bevilled teeth e¹, e¹, are
formed, which drive the bevilled pinion f; g is a pinion on the same axis
as the pinion f, and driving the pinion h, on the axis of which the drum i
is mounted, so as to be capable of turning freely thereon; k is a ratchet
wheel, fixed on the same axis, and is a pawl on the end of the drum i.
Thus it will be seen that the motion is communicated from the pulley a to
the drum i, so as to cause it to wind up the rope m, and so to draw the
carriage forward.
And in order that the motion of the carriage may not
continue after it has travelled the required distance, a space is left in the
screw wheel e, and when the worm d¹ comes to this space, it runs out of gear
and the carriage stops until the plough again comes up to it, and then the

page_text: pawl is (by hand) lifted out of the ratchet k, so as to free the train of wheels,
which are then revolved until the worm d¹again gears with teeth on the screw
wheel e.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fowler, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
JOHN FOWLER, J. (L.S.)