CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON PLOUGHS AND HARROWS
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FINLAYSON, of Munkirk, in the County of Ayr, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Fifteenth day of January, 1824, in the fourth year of His reign, gave and
granted unto me, the said John Finlayson, my exors, admors, and assigns,
His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Finlayson, my exors, adñors, and assigns, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON PLOUGHS AND HARROWS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said John Finlayson, shall
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said

page_text: John Finlayson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed (that is to say):-
My Invention of Certain Improvements on Ploughs and Harrows
consists,―
First, in a new form given to the .share of the plough, for the purpose of
enabling it to cut nearly the whole length of the mould-board, and to which
share there is attached a wing for breaking the clods in a perpendicular
direction, or more particularly for breaking the first furrow in new or
uncultivated heath or bog land.
Secondly, in the peculiar construction of the beam of a plough, designed to
prevent the plough from choaking at the colter.
Thirdly, in a mode of adjusting the draft of the plough, by which it may be
adapted to cut any required depth or breadth of furrow, and may be drawn by
a single or double team of horses.
Fourthly, in a peculiar kind of skeleton plough, designed to pass through
wet land, and which is so constructed that the earth cannot adhere to the sides.
Fifthly, in a new description of harrow, having tines so peculiarly formed
and attached, that they cannot choak, and in which there is a mode of regu-
lating the depth of its progress through the ground.
And, sixthly, a new kind of drill harrow or horse hoe.
These improvements are particularly exhibited in the annexed Drawings,
and will be fully understood by the following description (that is to say):-
Instead of making the share of the plough of an obtuse or of a curved form
on the cutting side, as heretofore, I make my improved share of an acute form,
running in a straight line on the cutting side from the point nearly to the
hinder part of the mould-board, and forming an acute angle with the land
side, as seen in Fig. 1. At the back part of this share I occasionally
introduce a triangular piece or wing a, by screwing its pin into a hole
in the share, which wing is by that means enabled to turn upon its pivot,.
accomodating itself to the way of the plough, and bringing its cutting
edge against the clods of earth, so as to cut and break them in a perpendicular
direction. In order to prevent the plough from choaking at the colter I have
two modes of constructing the beam, the first of which is shewn in Fig. 1,
and consists in curving the beam upwards, as seen at b, the colter being intro-
duced at the under side, and made fast by wedges. The other consists in
opening the beam by lattoral curves at c, c, Fig. 2, the colter being attached
by screw bolts, and rounded or cut off at top. By these means, should any

page_text: stubble or other vegatable matter accumulate in front, they would be enabled
to rise over the top of the colter without choaking or obstructing the progress
of the plough. The improved modes of adjusting the draft of a plough are as
follows:-In order to regulate the depth at which the share shall cut the
ground, the shackle by which the plough is drawn must be shifted higher or
lower at the muzzel or nose of the beam. This is done by means of a screw
d, Fig. 1, which passes through the bolt of the shackle e, and by being turned
moves the shackle higher or lower, and thereby cuses the share to be drawn
through the ground at a less or greater depth beneath the surface, as circum-
stances may require. The mode of regulating the latteral draft of the plough,
so as to give the share more or less land, and also to enable it to be drawn by
a single or double team of horses, is by the addition of a bar f, Fig. 3, to the
end of which one of the drawing shackles is. to be attached. This plough,
shewn at Fig. 8, is constructed in every respect upon the ordinary plan of
what is called the Scotch plough, the latteral bar only excepted, which, sliding
in a horizontal direction upon the muzzle plate, may be set at any angle to
the beam, and being there fixed by a bolt, will cause the plough to follow a
certain course. to which the draft, by the adjustment of the bar; will incline it:
The skeleton plough, designed for wet land, which forms my fourth improve-
ment, is shewn at Fig. 4. In this plough, instead of the usual mould-board
and land side, those surfaces are produced by bars or rods of iron cradled
together, the object of which is, that the earth shall not adhere to the surfaces,
the plough being enabled thereby to clear itself as: it proceeds.
My new harrow is shewn at Fig. 5, and is formed of bars which support a
peculiar sort of tine 9, 9, 9, (or such a tine as is shewn. detached at Fig. 6.)
These tine are made in such a curved form as will enable the stubble, roots, and
other vegetable matters to rise up over the tops of the tines, and clear them:
In order to regulate the depth at which the tines of this harrow shall penetrate
the ground the carriage of the fore wheel h is connected to a lever bar i, by
the raising or lowering of which the situation of the fore wheel is altered, the
nose of the harrow raised to any required distance from the ground, and, con-
sequently, the depth that the tines will be permitted to penetrate will by these
means be determined. The hinder wheel k, k, are also to be raised or lowered
to correspond with the fore wheel, and this is done by means of the screws l, l,
which pass through the end bearings of the frame, and into the axle of the
wheels, by the turning of which screws the hinder part of the harrow will
hence be raised or depressed. As it is frequently necessary to lift the tines of
the harrow out of the ground instantly without stopping the horses, as in

page_text: tining the bents, I have adapted at the hinder part of the harrow spring guide
m, between which the handle of the lever i slides. These spring guides con-
sist of two rods placed close together, with swells or bends forining open spaces
at several parts of the guide for the lever to rest in. When the tines are
intended to penetrate to the greatest depth in the ground the handle of the
lever i must be raised to the top of the guides, but when the tines are to be
drawn out of the ground the handle must be pressed upon, so as to cause the
lever to fall to the bottom of the guides, the elasticity and latteral pressure of
the rods allowing the leaver to be held in any intermediate situation required.
My sixth improvement is a horse hoe or drill harrow, with peculiarly formed
tines attached to the framework, as seen in Fig. 7. One of these tines is
shewn detached at Fig. 8. This peculiar formed tine is designed to permit
the stubble or other vegetable obstructions to rise up over its top, and tliereby.
to relieve the hoe or harrow from choaking. At the sides of this hoe I intro-
duce the scufflers n, n, the stems of which are formed much in the same way
as the tines of the harrow, Fig. 5. Fig. 9 shews a plough hoe of the kind
invented by Mr. Wilkie, of Uddiston, near Glasgow, in which I have intro
duced my improved scuffler tines o, o, curved in the form of those shewn in
my improved horse hoe, Fig. 7. This plough hoe, however, I do not claim,
my Invention being in this Figure limited to the improved form of the scuffler
or tine:
Now in preparing this my Specification of my Invention of "Certain
Improvements on Ploughs and Harrows," (which I believe to be sufficiently.
clear and explicit to enable any compitent workman to make the said
improvements,) I have been necessarily compelled to mention many parts and
things belonging to ploughs and harrows which are not new, and which I do
not mean to claim. It is therefore necessary that I define exactly what I
intend to claim as my Invention; and this I do by stating that my claim of
Invention is limited to and embraced by the above-recited six heads, under
which I have described generally the subjects of my Invention, and which
have been more fully explained by the details of this Specification, and the
Drawing accompanying the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Finlayson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-four.
JOHN (L.B.) FINLAYSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid John Finlayson came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-four.