CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR DRILLING LAND OR SOWING GRAIN AND SEEDS OF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of January, in the second year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Newton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Newton, my executors, admors, assigns, and such
others as I, the said William Newton, my executors, adññors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times 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, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR DRILLING LAND OR SOWING GRAIN AND SEEDS OF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS,"
being a communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, communicated to me by a Foreigner residing abroad, is
a machine for drilling or sowing grain or seeds in ploughed land, one
peculiar novelty of which is considered by the Inventor to consist in the
sowing wheel, whereby the seeds, without the risk of bruising them, may be
taken one by one and conducted with uniformity and precision into the furrow
made by the progress of the machine as it passes over the land.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a horizontal view of the
machine; Fig. 2 is a section taken vertically through the same; a, a,.are the
side frames or carriage of the machine;. b, b, transverse rails connecting the
sides together; c, c, are the two running wheels on which the machine passes
over the ground; these are.fixed upon an axle d. A pulley e (or several
distinct pullies) of different diameters is to be fixed on the axle d, but capable
of being slidden sideways upon the axle for adjustment. Over this pulley an
endless band or chain f, f, is passed for the purpose of giving rotary motion to
the sowing wheel g. The sowing wheels are thus described by the Inventor:
These wheels are formed of two parts united together; they are scooped out in
the circumference in the manner represented in Fig. 1, and in the detached
sectional Figure 3. A metallic partition placed between the two portions of
the sowing wheel, and extending to the height of the outer periphery of the
wheel prevents the seeds in the channel of one from dropping into the other.
On the largest diameter of each of these portions of the wheel are placed
at suitable distances apart (according to the seed to be sown) small hands of
tin, or other suitable material. These take up the seeds one at a time from
the box below as the wheel revolves. When the endless chain or band ff, is
driven by the largest pulley e a greater number of seeds are distributed over a
given space of ground than when the chain is worked by the lesser pulley, and
a still smaller quantity will be distributed when the smallest pulley drives the

page_text: chain or band. The pulley is made to slide on the axletree in order that
either of the different diameters may, when required, receive the chain or band
which must preserve a rectilinear direction with the pulley o, on the axle of
the sowing wheel, and when so placed must be fixed by a key or screw, or any
other well-known and convenient method. The pulley, as seen in Fig. 2, sets
in motion only two sowing wheels, but a greater number fixed on the same
axle might be driven in the same way. The machine is to be drawn from a
staple in front, either by horse or manual labour, the handles at the back part
being for directing the machine. Two rollers h, h, at the back are for sup-
porting the hinder part of the machine, and pressing the earth when the
nature of the seeds sown may require it; i is an iron or wooden colter to push
out of the way such lumps of earth as might be' injurious to certain seeds;
this colter may be dispensed with when not found necessary; j, j, represent
frames of harrows or rakes for harrowing the earth after the seed has been
deposited in the furrow. These harrows are supported by a transverse bar at
the hinder part of the carriage, and may be made with any suitable number of
teeth; k is a ploughshare opening the furrow which is to receive the seed;
It has two wings or ears beliind, which guard the distributing tube, and
hinder the earth from falling in before the seed is deposited. The drilling
machine being drawn by men or horses, according to the number of furrows
or ridges it is intended to make and sow' at once, the runing' wheels c; c, will
turn with their shaft or axle, and the pulley being fast on the said axle,
as described, it will cause the endless chain fif, to travel round, and' thereby
to give rotary motion to the sowing wheels. As these wheels revolve the
small hands which project from their circumference will take up the seeds'
deposited in the bottom of the box w, and passing by the small brush r, will be
carried along by the revolution of the wheel until they have arrived at the
point a, where the small hand begins to descend, and to drop the sceil into the
recess formed in the wheel, where they are confined by the segment m, and
the spring n. When by the revolution' of the sowing wheel the seed shall
have been carried to the extremity of the segment it will be enabled to drop'
into the distributing tube q, and be thus deposited in the ridge or furrow traced
by the ploughshare k, the harrow j then fills up the furrow opened by the plough-
share, and covers over the seed, and the rod i pushes aside the lumps of earth
or stones, if any, and the rollers h, h, level the ground, when the operation is
completed. It might be necessary to certain seeds, such as rape and the like,
to diminish the friction caused by the segment m, which covers the grooved
chambers of the sowing wheels. In that case the said segment m should be

page_text: internally lined with leather. The proper thickness of the sowing wheels is
determined by the quality of the seed they are to sow.. They may be made
either in wood or metal; they must be fixed on the shaft p, which is driven by
the pulley o by means of the endless chain or band ff; and the small brush r;
of flexible. hair, is to be fixed on a sliding. plate, the object of such brush
being to drive out of the hands any extra seed that might have got into them.
The sliding plate affords the means of withdrawing the brush r when that is
not deemed necessary. The hopper s, for the supply of the seed, is placed behind
the sowing wheel, from which it is separated by a partition v.
This hopper
has an opening at the lower part for the delivery of the seeds which is to be
taken up by the small hands. The delivery from the hopper is regulated by a
sliding register raised and lowered at will, according to the required quantity
of the seed. For larger seed the register must give a greater aperture at the
bottom of the hopper. A graduated index is marked on the partition v, for
the purpose of indicating the depth to which the register must be driven,
according to the various kinds of seeds. The box w, w, surrounding the
sowing wheels is opened at top by means of a cover, seen closed in Fig. 2;
several sowing wheels might be contained in the same box. It may here be
remarked, that the diameter of the sowing wheels should be almost always the
same for agricultural purposes, though for horticultural purposes they might be
made smaller. The size of the small hands and that of the curved cuts on the
periphery of the wheel should be varied, according to the grain or seeds to be
sown. The machine represented in the annexed Drawings is calculated to
sow at once two ridges. It is for that purpose provided with two sowing
wheels, two ploughshares, two distributing tubes, two harrows or rakes with
four teeth, and two rods or colters, for driving the lumps of earth out of the
way. In order to sow at once a greater number of ridges the above pieces are
increased in due proportion. The pullies e must be modified according to the
extra work they are called upon to execute. One or several tension pullies w
serve to tighten to a proper degree the chain or band ff; these pullies and
their use being well known need not be further described. The drawing
wheels c, c, may be placed inside or outside the frame, as found most con-
venient...
In witness whereof, I, the said William Newton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
WILLIAM (L.8.) NEWTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of July, in the
third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said William
Newton came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Tenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
nine.