IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES AND MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN TILLING LAND
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Greig, Robert Burton, and Frederick Parker,
of the Steam Plough Works, Leeds, in the County of York, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES AND MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN
TILLING LAND."
Sealed the 26th July 1867, and dated the 2nd February 1867.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said David Greig, Robert
Burton, and Frederick Parker at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 2nd February 1867.
We, DAVID GREIG, ROFERT BURTON, and FREDERICK PARKER; of the Steam
Plough Works, Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES AND MACHINERY EMPLOYED
IN TILLING LAND," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in engines and machinery
employed in tilling land. For these purposes when employing thejoint action
of two traction engines, and where each of such engines is fitted with only
one winding barrel or drum and coiling apparatus, in place of such winding
barrel or drum being situated forward of and between the front and the
hinder wheels of the traction engine the barrel or drum is fixed or applied
under the smoke box end of the steam boiler of the traction engine behind
the hinder wheels, by which the rope may be more conveniently paid out
from and wound on to the barrel or' drum.

page_text: Another part of our Invention consists in applying the fly wheel of a traction
engine employed in tilling land to its shaft by a friction holding in place of its
being absolutely fixed by being keyed thereto. This mode of applying a fly
wheel to the shaft of a traction engine may be somewhat varied, but it is
preferred to fix a key or cone on the shaft, and to form a corresponding conical
hollow in the nave or boss of the fly wheel, and by means of a strong spring to
keep the two conical surfaces in contact. By thus connecting the fly wheel
with its shaft by friction holding, should the agricultural implement be
subjected to a strong check which cannot be overcome, the gearing and rope
as well as other parts will not be put to unnecessary strain, as the fly wheel
by its momentum will move separate from its shaft.
Another part of the Invention is applicable to the turning of an agricultural
implement by the movement of the traction engine after the implement has
been drawn up to the engine and has completed its bout. For this purpose
a short chain or drag attached at one end to the engine is by its other end
attached to the outside corner of the implement where the connection is
such that the end of the chain will hold to the implement until by the moving
forward of the traction engine the implement has been moved round and
made to take new ground when the connection between the traction engine
and the implement will be severed by the sliding off of the end of the chain
from the part of the implement where the attachment was made, and then
the implement will be in a position to be moved back by the other traction
engine to the other headland.
Another improvement is applicable to the steering frame, and the means of
attaching implements thereto, and consists in connecting the implements to
the frame by vertical pivots or axes in such manner that they may follow
the steering frame, their forward parts moving on the pivots or axes in a
somewhat similar manner to that in which castor wheels act.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Greig, Robert Burton, and Frederick Parker in the 3
Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DAVID
GREIG, ROBERT BURTON, and FREDERIOK PARKER, of the Steam Plough
Works, Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said David Greig, Robert Burton, and Frederick Parker, Her special
licence that we, the said David Greig, Robert Burton, and Frederick Parker,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, thesaid David
Greig, Robert Burton, and Frederick Parker, our 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 Mau, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES AND MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN TILLING
LAND," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said David Greig,
Robert Burton, and Frederick Parker, our executors or administrators, by
an instrumentin writing under or or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, 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 David Greig, on behalf of myself and
the said Robert Burton and Frederick Parker, 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 engines and machinery
employed in tilling land. For these purposes when employing the joint action
of two traction engines, and where each of such engines is fitted with only
one winding barrel or drum and coiling apparatus, in place of such winding
barrel or drum being situated forward of and between the front and the hinder
wheels of the traction engine the barrel or drum is fixed or applied under the
smoke box end of the steam boiler of the traction engine behind the hinder
wheels, by which the rope may be more conveniently paid out from and wound
on to the barrel or drum.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 is a plan, both partly in section, of a
traction engine arranged according to this part of our Invention. The boiler
and steam engine mounted thereon may be of any ordinary construction, and
therefore no detailed description thereof is necessary. The arrangement also
for steering the machine, and that for communicating the motion of the crank
shaft to the main carrying wheels when it is required that the machine should

page_text: move forward, form no part of the present Invention, and will be clearly
understood on reference to the Drawings.
a is the smoke box of the boiler, it has bolted to it at the bottom a strong
socket b into which the axis c is keyed; d is a winding drum capable of
turning upon this axis, it has a ring of teeth formed upon it at d', d¹, they
gear with a pinion on the upright axis e; and e¹ is a bevilled wheel at the
upper end of this axis, it gears with a similar wheel f¹ clutched on the crank
axis fof the engine. Below the winding drum d a frame g is mounted upon
the axis e so as to be able to turn upon it; to it there is jointed the inner end
of the forked lever h, and this lever at its outer end carries a frame i which is
able to turn upon it on a vertical pivot; 1, 2, are pulleys carried by the
frame i, and between them the winding rope is led as it passes to the drum d
The frane i has a slow up-and-down movement communicated to it in order
that it may distribute the rope evenly upon the drum d by means of an
inclined wheel k which is able to turn upon the boss of the frame g; this
wheel has a guide groove in its periphery, and into it a friction pulley h¹
carried by the frame h is fitted. The wheel k is caused to rotate slowly by a
spur wheel k¹ formed upon it gearing with a pinion / mounted so as to be able
to turn freely upon an arm d² forming part of the drum d; m is another
pinion formed in one piece with or fixed to the pinion 7, it gears with a toothed
wheel n which is somewhat larger than the toothed wheel k', and is fixed upon
the axis c. By this arrangement it will be seen that at each revolution of
the drum d the wheel is caused to make a small portion of a revolution
consequent on the small difference in the diameters of the wheels k¹ and n
and so the frame h receives a small upward or downward movement about
equal to the thickness of the rope at each revolution of the drum d, and in
this way the rope is evenly laid upon the surface of the said drum.
Another part of our Invention consists in applying the fly wheel of a traction
engine employed in tilling land to its shaft by a friction holding in place of its
being absolutely fixed by being keyed thereto. This mode of applying a fly
wheel to the shaft of a traction engine may be somewhat varied, but it is
preferred to fix cones on the shaft and to form a corresponding conical hollow
in the nave or boss of the fly wheel, and by means of a strong spring to keep
the conical surfaces in contact. By thus connecting the fly wheel with its
shaft by friction holding, should the agricultural implement be subjected to a
strong check which cannot be overcome, the gearing and rope as well as other
parts will not be put to unnecessary strain, as the fly wheel by its momentum
will move separate from its shaft; this method of mounting the fly wheel is
shewn at Figure 2, and also on a larger scale at Figure 3.. The crank shaft f
"

page_text: receives upon it the two cone rings o, o; they are able to slide longitudinally
but are prevented from turning by the key or feather f¹ on the shaft. pis
the fly wheel, its boss is bored conical in both directions from the outside
towards the centre, the taper corresponding with that of the coue rings o, o ;
the inuer cone ring o rests against a collar f2 on the shaft; and q is a ring
placed on the outer end of the shaft and pressed against the outer cone ring o
by the strong dished spring of steel r; s is a nut screwed on to the end
of the shaft and bearing against the dished spring so as to apply more or
less pressure to the outer cone ring o, as may be desired, and so as to cause
the cone rings to wedge into the boss of the fly wheel more or less tightly;
t is a key passed through the outer end of the shaft and entering a notch
in the head of the nuts so as to lock it when it has been correctly set.
Another part of the Invention is applicable to the turning of an agricultural
implement by the movement of the traction engine after the implement has
been drawn up to the engine and has completed its bout. For this purpose
a short chain or drag attached at one end to the engine is by its other end
attached to the outside corner of the implement, where the connection is such
that the end of the chain will hold to the implement until by the moving
forward of the traction engine the implement has been moved round and made
to take new ground, when the connection between the traction engine and
the implement will be severed by the sliding off of the end of the chain
from the part of the implement were the attachment was made, and then
the implement will be in a position to be moved back by the other traction
engine to the other headland.
A in Sheet 2 of the Drawings represents a traction engine, which by means
of its hauling rope B has drawn an implement C up to the headland on which
it is itself situated. The return rope D leading to the engine on the opposite
headland will then lie along by the side of the implement in the position in
which it is shewn by the Drawing, being there sustained in suitable guides
as is now practised. The implement consists of a frame with suitable steering
gear upon it, as is well understood, and carrying tines or tilling tools. To
the front of the frame are fixed the ends of a chain E, E with hooks E¹, E¹,
upon it, and this chain rests against stops upon the frame at C¹, C¹, which
prevent it dragging inwards towards the centre of the implement; F is a
chain connected with the axle of one of the wheels of the engine A, and
when it is desired to turn the implement at the headland and to cause it to
take new ground the other end of the chain F is hitched on to one of the
hooks E, and the traction engine A is then caused to move onwards along
the headland until it assumes the position shewn by dotted lines at A*;

page_text: this brings the implement into the position shewn in dotted lines at Cx,
which is such that when the engine on the opposite headland commences
to wind in its rope D it will complete the turning of the implement after
having first caused the chain E to drag the hook E¹ free of the chain F.
Figure 4 shows a general plan of the arrangement with the implement
midway between the headlands. If desired the implements may be arranged
in such manner that the strain on the rope F resulting from the onward
movement of the traction engine may be caused, before it commences to turn
the implement, to raise the tines or tilling tools out of the land. The chain E
is in this case, as is more clearly seen in the side view Figure 5, attached at
its end to levers C2, C2, after having been led through eyes C3, C3, fixed on the
steering frame. The levers C2 are fixed upon the axis of the carrying wheels,
which axis is cranked at its ends which carry the wheels, as is shewn, so that
by drawing down the levers C2 the carrying wheels are depressed in relation
to the frame, and so the tines or tilling tools are forced out of the land;
the turning of the instrument then proceeds as already described.
Another part of our Invention is applicable to the steering frame and the
means of attaching implements thereto, and consists in connecting implements
to the frame by vertical pivots or axes in such manner that they may follow
the steering frame, their forward parts moving on the pivots or axes in a
somewhat similar manner to that in which castor wheels act. This arrange-
ment is also shewn in the Drawing already described; G, G, are implements,
they may be harrows or other tilling implements attached to the steering
frame C by vertical pivots G¹, G1, in such manner that the implements Gare
compelled to follow the steering frame C truly so long as it travels in a direct
line, but the pivots allow nevertheless of the system turning much more
readily than it could if the implements G were rigidly fixed to the carriage C.
It is not essential that the steering frame C should have tines or tilling tools
upon it; it may be used simply as a means for governing implement C.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Greig, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
DAVID GREIG. (L.S.)