IMPROVEMENTS IN ROOT CUTTING MACHINES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Hughes, of Norton Works, Malton, in the County
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROOT CUTTING MACHINES."
1 T
1000
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Hughes at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th July 1879.
ALFRED HUGHES, of Norton Works, Malton, in the County of York.
MENTS IN ROOT CUTTING MACHINES."
" IMPROVE-
This Invention has for its object improvements in root cutting machines.
In order to facilitate the removal of root cutting machines from place to place
on tilled land I provide cleats or bearings on two of the supporting legs of the
machine and an axle which is received into the cleats or bearings. The axle is
fitted to receive the fly wheel of the machine when the same is removed from the
spindle of the machine. The wheel is made with a broad rim, and when it is
adapted to the axle and the axle is in place in the cleats or bearings the wheel
supports the machine at one end much as a wheelbarrow is supported by its wheel.
At the other end of the machine I fix two handles, by which this end of the
machine may be lifted, supported, and pushed forward whilst the machine is
wheeled to the place where it is required for use. The fly wheel is replaced before
the machine is set to work.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions-of-the Letters Patent med vy
the said Alfred Hughes in the Great-Seal Patent Office on the 17th January
-1880.-
ALFRED HUGHES, of Norton Works; Malton, in the County of York. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROOT CUTTING. MACHINES."
This Invention has for its object improvements-in-root cutting machines. In
order to facilitate the removal of root cutting machines from place to place -on-
tilled land I provide cleats or bearings on two of the supporting legs of the machine
and an axle which is received into the cleats or bearings. The axle is fitted to
receive the fly wheel of the machine when the same is removed from the spindle of
the machine. The wheel is made with a broad rim, and when it is adapted to the
axle and the axle is in place in the cleats or bearings the wheel supports the
machine at one end much as a wheelbarrow is supported by its wheel. At the
other end of the machine I fix two handles, by which this end of the machine may
be lifted, supported, and pushed forward whilst the machine is whecled to the place
where it is required for use. The fly wheel is replaced before the machine is set to
work.
In place of the fly wheel being used for supporting the machine when it is to
be wheeled from one place to another a separate wheel might be used for the
purpose.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed I have shown examples of root cutting
inachines adapted for being wheeled about from place to place as above described,
and yet when being used for cutting roots, capable of resting firmly on the legs of
the frame.
The machine shown on Sheet 1 is constructed so that the fly wheel of the
machine may also be used as the supporting wheel when the machine is to be
wheeled from one place to another. In the machine shown on Sheet 2 a separate
wheel is provided to support the machine when it is to be wheeled from place to
place.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, shows a side view of the root cutting machine resting firmly
on four legs and prepared for work; Figure 2 shows an end view, and Figure 3 a
side view of the machine when being wheeled from place to place. The working
parts of the root cutting machine are of ordinary construction, so that it is
unnecessary to describe them. A is the fly wheel; B, the axle, received into cleats
One of the
or bearings C secured to two of the supporting legs of the machine.
cleats or bearings is shown separately at Figures 4.
When the machine is at work and the wheel A not fixed on the axle B this axle
may rest in the notches Bof_the_cleats. When the machine is to be wheeled from
one place to another the fly wheel is taken off from-the spindle of the root cutting
apparatus, and the axle B is taken off from the cleats and secured to the wheel,..
a cotter or key being provided to lock the axle in the wheel, as shown in the
separate view of the axle at Figure 5. The end of the machine is then lifted or
tilted up, and either the upper or lower notches B2, B3, of the cleats or bearings
caused to hook over the rounded ends of the axle, according to the height to which
it is desired to raise the machine, which will vary with the nature of the ground to
be travelled over. If the ground is level and there is no crop upon it the ends of
the axle may be in the higher notches, as shwn at Figure 2; but if the machine
is to be raised higher to clear growing crops the ends of the axle are made to lie
in the lower notches, as shown at Figure 3. The legs of the machine opposite to
those that carry the cleats or bearings have affixed to them handles D as shown, by
which this end of the machine may be lifted and pushed forward as a wheel
barrow.
Figures 6 to 10, Sheet 2, show views of a root cutting machine similarly arranged
to rest firmly on legs when being used for cutting up roots; and also provided with

page_text: a wheel, upon which the machine may when requisite be wheeled from place to
place. The only difference is that the cleats or bearings are formed, as shewn at
Figures 9, in such a manner that the rounded ends of the axle B cannot escape
from them unless one of the cleats or bearings is taken off from the machine; and
also that in place of using the fly wheel of the root cutting apparatus also as a
supporting wheel for wheeling the machine from place to place the axle B has
another wheel permanently fixed to it to serve for this latter purpose. Figures
and 7 shew the machine in position for being worked for cutting roots; Figure 8
shews the machine in position for travelling, the ends of the axle being in the
first notch of the cleats or bearings, or if the machine is to be raised higher they
may be brought into the second of the notches.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
means herein before described for connecting or coupling the axle B to the framing
of the machine, as the cleats or bearings for effecting this object might be otherwise
formed, but I claim,―
First. The construction of root cutting machines in such manner that the fly
wheel of the cntting apparatus may also be used for supporting the machine and
allow of its being wheeled as a wheelbarrow from place to place.
Second. Providing two of the supporting legs of the frame of root cutting machines
with cleats or bearings to receive an axle with a wheel upon it in such manner that
the machine when used for cutting roots may be allowed to rest firmly on the legs
of the frame, and when moved from place to place may be supported by the wheel
and be wheeled over the ground as a wheel barrow, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Hughes, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
A. HUGHES. (L.B.)