AN IMPROVEMENT IN PLOUGHS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dray, of Swan Lane, in the City of London,
Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN PLOUGHS."
Sealed the 24th July 1857, and dated the 31st January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dray, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
January 1857.
I, WILLIAM. DRAY, of Swan Lane, in the City of London, Agricultural
Implement, Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN PLOUGHS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to such ploughs as are provided with a share in the
form of a pointed bar, and consists in the means of pushing the bar forward
when necessary from the wearing away of the point thereof, and securing it in
its position. On one side of the bar I fit a spindle or rod, with an excentric
formed or cast thereon, which excentric moves in a recess. By turning the
spindle so as to bring the excentric against the side of the share bar it is held
tight, and by turning the excentric the reverse way, that is, into the recess, the
share bar is liberated, and may be moved forward to the extent required and
there fixed by turning the excentric against it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Dray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DRAY, of Swan Lane, in the City of London, Agricultural Implement Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto me, the
said William Dray, Her special licence that I, the said William Dray, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Dray, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT. IN PLOUGHS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Dray, 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.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Dray, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say:
My Invention relates to such ploughs as are provided with a share in the
form of a pointed bar, and consists in the means of securing the bar.in .its
position after having been pushed forward as required from the wearing.away
of the point thereof. On one side of the bar I fit a spindle or rod, with .an
eccentric formed or cast thereon, which eccentric moves in a recess. By
turning the spindle so as to bring the eccentric against the side of the .share
bar it is held tight, and by turning the eccentric the reverse way, that is, into
the recess, the share bar is liberated, and may be moved forward to the extent
required, and there fixed by turning the eccentric against it.

page_text: .
The manner of carrying my Invention into practical effect will be clearly
understood by reference to the Drawings annexed.
Figure 1 is a side view of so much of a plough fitted with a pointed share
bar as is necessary to shew my improvement; Figure 2 is a section of part of
the same through the line a, b, of Figure 1. A is the beam; B is the
coulter; and C is a casting or main frame; D is the share bar (which is of a
dovetailed shape in cross section), inserted in a dovetailed recess or groove
formed or cast in the frame C; E is a bulged part, cast or formed on the
inside of the bar F of the frame C; a recess is cast or formed in the front
side of the bulged part, and in this recess a roller or collar G, which has its
journals c, c¹, eccentric to the roller, is inserted before the share bar is put in
its place. The journals c, c¹, turn in bearings d, d, formed one on each side
of the recess, seen in Figure 3, which is a front view of a portion of the
bar F, with the roller G in its place. The recess is large enough to allow
the eccentric roller G to turn freely without touching. The projecting end of
the journal c' is made square, so as to be easily laid hold of either by an
ordinary spanner or by a key, such as is represented by the dotted lines e, e,
whereby the eccentric roller G is caused to turn until its fullest part jams the
share bar D firmly in the dovetailed groove in the frame C and bar F, as
shewn. To release the share bar, the eccentric roller G is turned into the
position indicated by the dotted lines f, when the share bar D can be regulated
as required.
Figure 4 represents the eccentric roller detached. I do not confine myself
to one eccentric roller or collar, as more than one may be used.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the construction
of ploughs which are provided with moveable share bars in such manner that
the share bars can be tightened or slackened by means of an eccentric roller
or collar, or by more than one roller or collar, as described, and represented in
the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM DRAY. (L.S.)