AN IMPROVED COMBINED CULTIVATOR AND DIGGER
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James William Barclay, M.P., of Aberdeen, in the County
of Aberdeen, and Robert Sellar, of Huntly, in the said County, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVED COMBINED CULTIVATOR AND DIGGER."
Sealed the 20th February 1877, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor,
and dated the 24th July 1876
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James William Barclay and
Robert Sellar at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th July
1876.
JAMES WILLIAM BARCLAY, M.P., of Aberdeen, in the County of Aberdeen, and
ROBERT SELLAR, of Huntly, in the said County. "AN IMPROVED COMBINED
CULTIVATOR AND DIGGER."
This Invention relates to the construction of an improved implement wherein a
cultivator and digger are combined, great advantages being thereby attained as
compared with ordinary ploughs and cultivators.
The implement which forms the subject of this Invention is intended to supersede
the ordinary plough in ploughing stubble and clean or fallow land, and also to
supersede the ordinary cultivator or grubber in pulverizing and cleaning land for
turnips or other green crops.
The implement is constructed with two, three, or more skifes or tines, to which
are fixed shares of the ordinary kind, the same being also provided with digging
breasts or "fingers," or the digging breasts or "fingers" may be fixed to the skifes
or tines. The skifes or tines with their attachments are fitted on a framework, so
that each operates on a required breadth of land consecutively in a diagonal line, as
in the case of a double or triple furrow plough.
The framework of the implement is by preference formed of one bar of iron with
lateral studs at the fore and after parts. On the said studs the first and third
skifes or tines (which are made with eyes or sockets) are fitted so that they can be
adjusted and fixed at any required width by means of cotters or pinching screws, the
second or middle skife or tine being fixed on the main beam of the implement.
As modifications of these arrangements the first and third skifes or tines can be
arranged so as to radiate from a centre, the centre being the middle skife or tine;
or the skifes or tines may be fixed "dead" in any convenient way on a suitable

page_text: framework, which framework may be constructed so as to be capable of being
expanded and contracted as may be required, as will be well understood.
The skifes or tines may be constructed of various forms. To the shares or to the
skifes or tines, as may be found expedient, two, three, or more bars forming a
digging breast or fingers are fixed at an angle from the line of draught, and when
the implement is at work the lower bar or bars (which may or may not be pointed
as required) stir, pulverize, lift, and mix the subsoil, whilst the upper bar which is
broader than the others is placed so that it raises and turns over the upper part of
the soil.
The angle, curve, breadth, and length of the bars may be varied and modified so
as to suit different soils, and to effect the objects sought to be attained by this
Invention, that is to say, the pulverizing, mixing, and turning over the soil, as
before mentioned.
The framework of the implement is mounted on three wheels, one at the front
part, and two at the rear or after part thereof; but if desired a greater number of
wheels may be used. The front wheel runs in the furrow made by the third skife
or tine of the implement in its previous turn, and guides or partly guides the line
of progress of the implement. The other two wheels are mounted on an axle which
is placed across the implement, and the three wheels together carry the machine
and regulate the depth of the digging parts thereof in the soil as may be desired,
the regulation of such depth being effected by the axles of the three wheels forming
a crank which is turned by a lever and secured on a segment in the usual way.
The fore wheel is provided with a crank axle which is suitably connected with
the other wheels on the lever which raises the same, and by means of which all the
wheels are raised and lowered together, but as the fore wheel runs in a track which
is partially cleared out, when the implement is at work it will usually be only
about 3 inches above the level of the shares, when the height of the other two
wheels corresponds with the depth at which the implement is working (say for
instance eight inches). The motion given to the fore wheel in the act of raising or
lowering is therefore made proportionately less, in order that when the implement
is raised at the headlands the shares may be respectively clear of the ground.
Provision is also made for adjusting the height of the fore wheel to the height of
the other wheels.
The skifes or tines may be also raised or lowered by the heads thereof being
fixed in mortices in the framework, and passed up or down through such mortices.
The implement which forms the subject of this Invention does not require stilts,
but a long rod which is connected with the fore wheel in the usual way is provided
so that the attendant can exert such guidance as is required.
For the purpose of traction, two, three, or more animals may be employed
according to the number of skifes or tines used, and the depth to which the same
are allowed to enter the ground.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and
of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said James William Barclay and
Robert Sellar in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th February 1877.
JAMES WILLIAM BARCLAY, M.P., of Aberdeen, in the County of Aberdeen, and
ROBERT SELLAR, of Huntly, in the said County. "AN IMPROVED COMBINED
CULTIVATOR AND DIGGER."
Our said Invention relates to the construction of an improved implement wherein
a plough and cultivator are combined, and by means of which great advantages are
attained as compared with ordinary ploughs and cultivators.
The implement which forms the subject of our said Invention is intended to
supersede the ordinary plough in ploughing land, and especially stubble and clean

page_text: or fallow land, and also to supersede the ordinary cultivator or grubber in
pulverizing and cleaning land for turnips or other green crops..
"
The implement is constructed with one, two, or more "skifes," to which are fixed
shares of the ordinary kind, the same being also provided with digging breasts or
fingers," or the digging breasts or "fingers" may be fixed to the skifes. When
two or more furrows are to be cultivated at once the skifes with their attachments
are fitted on a framework, so that each operates on a required breadth of land con-
secutively in a diagonal line, as in the case of multiple furrow ploughs.
The skifes may be constructed of various forms, and may be fixed
dead" in any
convenient manner on a suitable framework or attached thereto so as to be readily
movable either laterally or vertically, according as it is desired to vary the width or
depth of the furrow.
"
In place of a plough breast of the ordinary form fixed on the "skife," there are
fixed on each skife or attached to each share as found convenient at angles some-
what similar to the angle which the ordinary plough breast forms with the line of
draught two or more iron bars or plates with spaces between which form a
digging breast.
One end of the bars or plates forming the breast is fixed on the
skife or attached to the share, the bars or plates being placed above each other but
not necessarily in the same plane, and their ends may not necessarily be in a
straight line, and the bars or plates project backwards either horizontally or at an
angle either upwards or downwards, as may be found expedient, but always with a
lateral angle to the line of draught. When the implement is at work the lower bar
or bars (which may or may not be pointed, and may or not be twisted to form
a cutting edge in the line of the draught as may be found most suitable for
different kinds of soils) cuts the furrow slice longitudinally and pulverises, lifts, and
mixes or cut the furrow slice longitudinally, and pulverise, lift, and mix the soil of
lower part of the furrow slice, while the upper bar, which is usually broader and
longer than the lower, is placed so that it raises and turns over the upper part of
the furrow by an action similar to that of the common plough.
The angle, curve, breadth, length, and twist of the bars or plates may be varied,
and the lower bar or bars or plate or plates may be set or twisted to cut the furrow
slice diagonally in the line of traction at different angles, and may be modified to
suit different soils so as to effect the objects sought to be attained by our said
Invention, that is to say, the cutting, pulverizing, and mixing the lower portion of
the furrow slice, and the turning over of the upper portion thereof.
As a modification.in the method of constructing the breasts they may be formed
in one piece divided into two or more segments or bars, as before described.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be used and constructed, we would observe in conclusion
that what we consider novel and original, and therefore claim as being the Inven-
tion secured to us by the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
construction of the breasts of such implements as aforesaid, substantially as and for
the purposes herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James William Barclay, on behalf of myself
and the said Robert Sellar, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
´eight hundred and seventy-seven.
JAMES W. BARCLAY. (L.S.)