IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND HOES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Huckvale, of Choice Hill, near
Chipping Norton, in the County of Oxford, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND HOES."
Sealed the 27th August 1853, and dated the 22nd June 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Huckvale
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd June 1853.
I, FRANCIS HUCKVALE, of Choice Hill, near Chipping Norton, in the
County of Oxford, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND HOES" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of making a hand hoe with two blades in
place of the one heretofore used. The handle is made with a fork
or branches at its lower end; on each of the branches a hoc blade
similar to those heretofore used is fixed, but in such manner that the
inclination may be varied. This hoe is to be used (in like manner
to an ordinary hoe having only one blade) by causing the blades to
penetrate the surface of the earth, and then to be drawn towards the
user in the ordinary manner of hoeing.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Huckvale in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 21st December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
FRANCIS HUCKVALE, of Choice Hill, near Chipping Norton, in the
County of Oxford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis Huckvale, Her special
licence that I, the said Francis Huckvale, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Huckvale, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND HOES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Francis Huckvale, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Francis Huckvale, 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 consists of making a hand hoe with two blades in
The handle is made with a fork
place of the one heretofore used.
or branches at its lower end; on each of the branches a hoe blade
similar to those heretofore used is fixed, but in such manner that the
inclination may be varied. This hoe is to be used (in like manner
to an ordinary hoc having only one blade) by causing the blades to

page_text: penetrate the surface of the earth, and then to be drawn towards the
user in the ordinary manner of hoeing.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the means of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, shows a blade of a hoe which is similar to those ordinarily
used, but I prefer that each blade should have a neck or axis to fix it
to the handle, but this is not absolutely necessary, as other modes of
fixing the blades may be resorted to. And I prefer to have the axis
or neck fixed towards one end of the blade, as shewn. Figure 2, shows
a handle such as I use, the lower part being forked so as to receive at
the end of each prong of the fork a blade, and by reason of the blades
being on necks or axes they can be fixed in their sockets by wedges or
by set screws at any angle desired with facility, and the blades may
be fixed either with their longer parts inwards or outwards, as is
shewn at Figures 3, and 4; when the blades are fixed with their longer
parts outwards, as in Figure 4, they leave a space between them
which allows of the hoe being used to hoe at the same time on either
side of a row of turnips or other plants, and when the longer parts
are inwards, as at Figure 3, they may be used for hoeing between two
rows of plants.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is, the construction of hand hoes with two blades, as herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Huckvale, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
FRANCIS HUCKVALE. (L.S.)
Witness, ROBERT PARSONS,
Draper, Chipping Norton.