AN IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL MACHINE, WHICH I CALL THE ARCHIMEDEAN AGRICULTURAL MACHINE
Year: 1852

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Denis John Murphy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th December 1852.
-
I, DENIS JOHN MURPHY, of Cork, County Cork, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
AGRICULTURAL MACHINE, WHICH I CALL THE ARCHIMEDEAN AGRICULTURAL
MACHINE," and for which I obtained provisional protection under the
Protection of Inventions Act, 1851, to be as follows: The Archi-
medean Agricultural Machine, on my first invention of it, and in its
original form as displayed in the model presented to the British
public and the visitors of all nations at the Grand Exhibition of
1851, Class 9, No. 38, B, consisted of only one cylinder, armed
with cutters for the purpose of cutting, turning up, and pulverizing
the soil; but 3 other cylinders were also presented, all armed differ-
ently, so as to act upon the various soils it might have to encounter.
Subsequently, however, I found on trial that by converting the shanks
of the cutters into screws and nuts any position could be given to
them, so that one armed cylinder was only necessary to effect this
object; and as an illustration of this improvement I beg to refer to

page_text: the accompanying lithograph of the original conception. This
shape I therefore term the Single Action Archimedean Agricultural
Machine. I now claim the still further improvement, founded on
the same principle, of the Double Action Archimedean Agricultural
Machine, which consists of two cylinders, armed as before, worked at
the same time and by the same power, whether that may be steam
or horse power, or even by manual labour alone, according to the size
and dimensions of the machine employed. The first cylinder cuts the
soil at any required depth in a direct line with the motion given.
The second cylinder cuts it at right angles to the first cutting, and
turns up the earth to be crushed by the clod bruiser attached to the
carriage by a toothed rack and wheel, and finally it is pulverized
by the common harrow, which is also connected to the machine by
chains, so that the whole process of preparing the ground from its
lea or bown state into a condition for the reception of the seed
will be effected in the one operation, heretofore only to be accom-
plished by the use and employment of various implements at different
periods and with numerous hands. The saving of time, labour,
and expense must therefore prove of vast importance and ad-
vantage to all classes of agriculturists, as admitted on an inspection
of the Single Action Archimedean by a writer in that highly
scientific periodical the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review
of July 1851. The same principle, that of an armed cylinder of
reduced dimensions, may also be adapted for manual labour in the
shape of the common wheelbarrow used in gardens, and which I
intend to apply as an implement to be employed at the diggings in
Australia and California, instead of the pickaxe, by its being
enabled to turn up with superior facility a greater extent of ground.
On the whole I claim to be the sole and original Inventor of the
new principle of employing, with either steam or horse power and
also by manual labour, an armed cylinder or cylinders for cutting,
turning up, and pulverizing the ground at any required depths
for agricultural or other purposes. As an exhibitor at the Grand
Exhibition of 1851 my claims and rights were then manifested and
admitted, and they are,
in common with all other exhibitors on that

page_text: occasion, protected from piracy until the 1st of February 1853,
under the Exhibition Acts of 1851 & 1852, unanimously passed by
the legislature, owing, I presume, to the benignant suggestion of
His Royal Highness Prince Albert. I therefore trust and hope that
the Commissioners will confirm the gracious intentions of the Prince
and Parliament by granting me a Patent for this useful Invention
under the Act of 15th & 16th of Vic. c. 83, on paying the usual fees
in such cases.
I annex two Drawings of the Double Action Archimedean,
together with a reference to their respective parts.
Fig 1, is a ground view of the Archimedean Agricultural Machine,
and Fig. 2, a side view of the same; A, the cylinders; B, the cutters;
C, the toothed cog wheels for accelerating the motion of the
cylinders; D, the arms for regulating the depth of soil to be turned
up; E, the carriage; F, the wheels; G, the clod bruiser with its rack
& wheel to adjust its elevation and depression according to the
size of the sods so turned up.
THE FOLLOWING CIRCULAR, ACCOMPANIED BY THE FIGURES AT THE
HEAD OF THE ANNEXED SHEET OF DRAWINGS, WAS FILED WITH
THE PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
To the Scientific and Agricultural Portions of the Population of the
British Empire. One of the best equivalents or substitutes for legisla-
tive protection.-The Archimedean Agricultural Machine, of which
the model is here lithographed, and is now under inspection at the
Great Exhibition of 1851, was invented for the purpose of cutting,
turning up, and pulverizing the soil, so as to prepare it, in the one
operation, for receiving the seed, and thereby abridging, to a consider-
able extent, the amount of human labour employed, and economising
much of the expense heretofore incurred, and time occupied, by
the exclusive use of that old, clumsy, and cumbrous implement―the
plough. This model is prepared on a scale of one and an half inch
to the foot, and represents the machine, which is entirely constructed
of cast and wrought iron, with one of its cylinders in working order,

page_text: and a clod bruiser, and an ordinary harrow attached. Three other
cylinders are also exhibited, and all are armed differently, but each of
which can be occasionally substituted for any of the others, so as
to meet and overcome the difficulties arising from the cohesion,
saturation, coarseness, and other qualities of the various soils the
machine will have to encounter. In aid of this object also
each cylinder can be raised or lowered by the regulating screws to
enable the cutters, &c. to enter and turn up the earth at any depth
of from one to ten inches, which, it is presumed, will be as deep as
need be required in any ordinary case, and except where a great
depth of the sub-soil is sought to be dislodged, and even this,
if necessary, can be accomplished by a second working of the
machine; and the clod bruiser, which is likewise attached to the
body of the carriage, may also be elevated or depressed, by a
circular rack and cog wheel, to be enabled to crush the different
sized sods turned up. There is also this important and peculiar
advantage thus arising, that this machine may be reversed, and
worked from either of its ends to which the moving power will be
applied, so that the workings can be crossed and intersected,
if necessary. Under no circumstance, therefore, will the operator
have occasion to turn up more than 10 inches of the horizontal
surface, and how much less may be necessary shall depend on
his own will, judginent, and skill. But the chief superiority of
this machine is exhibited in the circumstance, that, with the
assistance of a. cheap locomotive steam engine of 4 or 5 horse
power, and one or two men to work and guide it, the machine will
equal and effectually execute in. the one progressive operation the
performance of 4 or 5 ploughs, if capable of being worked abreast,
and with the superintendence of 10 men to lead and handle them;
whilst the clod bruiser and a common harrow for pulverizing the
sods of earth that shall be turned up may be attached to it,
which cannot be employed when using the plough; therefore it can
be made more powerful than any other agricultural implement, and
will prove of immense utility in extending cultivation and pro-
ductiveness among the extensive prairies of Western America and

page_text: the vast plains and undulated surfaces of Australia, where labour
is scarce and expensive. Even for ordinary and domestic use at
home, if constructed on a limited scale, it might be made of
considerable service on all farms, should the power of draught be
proportioned to the power of resistance; and in truth the principle
evolved in its formation can in like manner, when it is reduced to
proportionate dimensions, be applied effectually for horticultural
purposes by even manual labour, like the ordinary wheelbarrow
used in gardens; thus the utility of the Archimedean Agricultural
Machine arises froin its embracing the properties of many other
agricultural machines, all working as it were simultaneously,-
such as the plough, clod crusher, harrow, &c. In fact, the power
engaged in the use of the plough arises solely and directly from a
force exercised by the draught of the horses or the machine
employed; whilst to the power given to this machine is also added
the weight of itself in entering the soil, it at the same time exhi-
biting every ingredient requisite in a new and improved inven-
tion, namely, simplicity, novelty, utility, and efficiency. For first
commencing its operations it may, however, be necessary to dig a
trench the length of the cylinder, and of the depth which will be
sought to have the earth turned up, when the machine, with the
aid of horse or steam power, shall then effectually perform its
allotted labour. It is therefore confidently put forward at this
Exhibition, it having been duly registered under the recent Act, as
claiming the patronage of agriculturists of all classes, who seek to
raise their crops at the least possible expense, and thereby cheapen
the principal food of man. Any further information will be fur-
nished on application to the Inventor, D. J. Murphy, Chamber of
Commerce, Cork, Ireland.