A NEW MACHINE FOR SEVERAL AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bell, of Inchmichael, in the County
of Perth, Scotland, Farmer, for the Invention of "A NEW MACHINE
FOR SEVERAL AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th May 1853.
J, GEORGE BELL, of Inchmichael, in the County of Perth, Scotland,
Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW MACHINE FOR SEVERAL AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES" to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the general arrangement and combination
of the parts of a machine applicable to the several purposes of harrow-
ing, manuring, drilling, and sowing. It consists of a frame supported
on a roller or wheels in front, and a roller behind, and furnished with
shafts, so as to be capable of being drawn by a horse or horses. On

page_text: this frame is suitably fixed a hopper containing the manure; and with
this hopper a set of pipes or spouts, through which the manure may be
suitably deposited in the furrows. There is also on the same frame
another hopper, intended to contain grain to be also conveyed by pipes or
spouts, and deposited behind or amongst the manure; the furrows
having been formed by coulters in front of the frame, and covered by
means of a coverer, extending from the frame. On this frame there
may be also another hopper, for grass seeds. At the back of the
frame are also fixed a set of harrows and a roller before mentioned, for
the double purpose of supporting the machine, and rolling in the
manures and seeds as they are deposited; and to the rollers or wheels
in front of the machine are connected levers or apparatus for raising
and lowering the coulters and arrows.
There may also, when necessary, be combined with the said parts of
the machine an extra shaft with boxes or pans, for containing turnip or
other seeds with similar apparatus for regulating their
tion in the furrows.
proper distribu-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Bell in the Great Seal Patent Office, on
the 4th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE BELL, of Inchmichael, in the County of Perth, Scotland,
Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give-and grant
unto me, the said George Bell, Her special license that I, the said
George Bell, my executors, administrators, and' assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Bell, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term of jears therein expressed, should and

page_text: lawfully might make, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United King
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "A NEW MACHINE FOR SEVERAL AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Bell,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 George Bell, 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 statement (that is to say):
My Invention of "A. New Machine for several Agricultural Purposes":
is intended to embody in one machine the means of performing the
several operations of manuring, depositing grain and other seeds, and
harrowing in and rolling the same, so as to carry on these operations'
successively without the necessity of employing different machines at
different times for these
purposes.
'
And in order that the precise nature of my Invention may be clearly
understood, I may here state that it consists in the combination of
certain agricultural implements or apparatus, well known as used.
separately, into one piece of mechanism, so constituted as to be capable
of performing the respective operations of such implements or appa-
ratus in their required order of succession. It will not, therefore, be
necessary for me to represent by drawings the parts of this machine, as:
the elements of which it is composed are well known, except as they:
are combined under my Invention; and, for this reason, it will "be
sufficient for me to state the mode in which such elements are com--
bined.
The whole of the mechanism is carried on or united to a strong.
frame supported on a roller, or one or more wheels in front and a roller
behind, and furnished with shafts, so as to be capable of being drawn:
by a horse or horses. This frame may be composed of wood or other|

page_text: suitable material, and be about five five feet square on the top, with
uprights of about 18 inches in height, and cross bars below, all properly
united together to form a compact frame. At the front part of this
portable frame are adapted and applied a set of coulters and pipes, for
depositing the manure and grain, with an instrument behind them for
filling in the ruts, and completely levelling the ground before the grass
seeds are deposited. This instrument is a kind of metal scoop which
is made to follow the coulters. These coulters may be raised out of
the ground when required, by means of compound levers fixed on each
side of the frame, and worked by a handle connected to a transverse
shaft. At the back of the machine there is also a handle for regulating
the depth of the harrows, and another for putting the machine in and
out of gear, and two handles or stilts at the back of the machine, which
are held by the attendant as the machine proceeds.
-
On the upper part of this portable frame or machine are fitted the
Hoppers, containing respectively the manure, grain, and grass seeds to.
be distributed by means of the apparatus connected with the hoppers.
And as the apparatus for these purposes vary, it will be necessary here
to describe them separately.
First, the hopper and apparatus for distributing manure. In this
hopper there are a number of fluted rollers (say six), mounted on a
horizontal shaft or axis, extending the whole length of the hopper; such
shaft being turned by a chain or band, or other machinery, on a pulley
or wheel on its end, driven from the driving wheels or rollers of the
machine; and at the lower part of the hopper there are spouts or pipes,
through which the manure is let fall on to the land. The quantity of
manure allowed thus to fall is regulated by apparatus consisting of a
main shaft, to which are connected a number of cranked levers (one to.
each fluted roller), by the moving of which shaft in a horizontal direc-
tion, by means of a screw at its end, the whole shutters are worked
vertically, and allows the manure to pass in any given quantity into the
delivering pipe or cavity beneath the rollers. The manure is also
agitated and made to pass down constantly upon
of an equal number of gratings or riddles placed
the rollers by means
within the hopper,

page_text: and containing prongs pointing downwards. These agitators are fixed
to a shaft which is moved slowly backwards and forwards by means of
a crank or other suitable arrangement.
Second, the hopper and apparatus for distributing grain.-This
hopper is similar to the foregoing, and has rollers in it; only that
instead of being fluted on their whole length, they are plain at the
ends. It has the same apparatus for regulating the quantity of grain
distributed, but not the agitators.
Third, the grass-seed hopper.-This, instead of the rollers, is pro-
vided with about fourteen circular brushes in a horizontal shaft, which,
by the revolution of the latter; are made to throw out the seeds in the
usual way, through apertures formed underneath them; the quantity
being regulated by a shifting plate, worked by a screw.
Behind these hoppers are mounted, on the underneath part of the
portable frame, a set of Norwegian barrows, which are made to operate
immediately before the consolidating roller at the back of the the ma-
chine, which has been already referred to as serving to support the
same. These harrows are principally used for harrowing in grass seeds.
When required, boxes for sowing turnip seeds are substituted for the
grass seed hopper, such boxes being fixed on a separate shaft, and
furnished with suitable coulters and pipes for depositing the seed; the
regulation of which is effected by handles and levers acting upon suit-
able slides or shutters.
By means of the machine thus constituted, the several operations
referred to may be performed, (that is to say,) the ground may be
opened in furrows, and suitably closed; the manure and seed deposited,
and these harrowed in, and the ground consolidated, as required. And as
the various implements or instruments which, when combined together
as described, produce this effect, are well understood separately, it is not
necessary for me to describe the manner in which they respectively
operate.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I
do not mean or intend to confine myself to the precise forms of the
parts described; neither do I claim any of those parts separately. But

page_text: what I do claim as of my Invention is the general combination and
arrangement of the parts constituting a machine in which the foregoing
operations may be successively performed as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the First day of November, in the year of our-5
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
GEORGE BELL. (L.S.)
JOHN GRIMMOND, Witness.