IMPROVE- MENTS IN LAND ROLLERS AND CLOD CRUSHERS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic James Utting, of Wisbeach, in the County
of Cambridge, Engineer and Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LAND ROLLERS AND CLOD CRUSHERS."
Sealed the 23rd October 1855, and dated the 24th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic James Utting
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th April 1855.
I, FREDERIC JAMES UTTING, of Wisbeach, in the County of Cambridge,
Engineer and Ironfounder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAND ROLLERS AND CLOD CRUSHERS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for crushing and rolling land, whereby the two opera-
tions of clod crushing and levelling or rolling are effected by one implement.
The improvements consist in the combination of a series of cutting rings or
wheels having sharp edges, with another series of rings or wheels formed with
flat or nearly flat edges or rims, for the purpose of regulating the depth to which
the cutting rings shall penetrate into the ground, and for rolling or levelling
the same. These two series of rings revolve upon separate spindles, and are
so arranged that the rings of one set shall revolve partially between the rings
of the other set. The spindles carrying the two series of rings or wheels are
carried by a pair of moveable brackets, or by two separate pairs, one or both
being moveable. When a pair of brackets are used, they turn on a fixed centre

page_text: in the main framing. A portion of each bracket may be perforated to receive
the ends of bent spring levers, or any other suitable arrangement may be
adopted for holding the brackets in any desired position. By turning these
brackets in one direction or the other, the relative positions of the two sets of
rings or wheels will be altered; that is to say, either the sharp cutting rings
alone may be brought in contact with the ground, or they may be elevated
therefrom and the flat-edged rings brought into action only; or they may both
be brought into action together, when the action of the implement will be
twofold; as it will first break or cut the clods by the aid of the sharp rings,
and then further reduce them and level them by the action of the flat-edged
rings, which also serve to keep the cutting rings clean from dirt (one set of
rings cleaning the other), and prevent them from penetrating too deeply into
the ground
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick James Utting in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
JAMES UTTING, of Wisbeach, in the County of Cambridge, Engineer and
Ironfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick James Utting, Her special license that I, the said Frederick
James Utting, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Frederick James Utting, 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 therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Chanuel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LAND ROLLERS AND CLOD CRUSHERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick James Utting, 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
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.
1.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick James Utting, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to an improved construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for crushing and rolling land, whereby the two opera-
tions of clod crushing and levelling or rolling are effected by one implement.
The improvements consist in the combination of a series of cutting rings
or wheels having sharp edges, which may be either plain or serrated, with
another series of rings or wheels formed with flat or nearly flat edges or
rims, for the purpose of regulating the depth to which the cutting rings shall
penetrate into the ground, and for rolling or levelling the same. These two
series of rings revolve upon separate spindles, and are so arranged that the
rings of one set shall revolve partially between the rings of the other set.
The spindles carrying the two series of rings or wheels are carried by a pair
of moveable frames, or by two separate pairs, one or both being moveable.
When a pair of frames are used, they turn on a fixed centre in a bracket
bolted to the main framing of the implement. A portion of each frame may
be perforated to receive pins, or any other suitable arrangement, for holding
the frames in any desired position. By raising or lowering the main shafts of
the implement and inserting the regulating pins in the proper holes, the rela-
tive positions of the two sets of rings or wheels may be altered; that is to say,
either the sharp cutting rings alone may be brought in contact with the ground,
or they may be elevated therefrom and the flat-edged rings brought into
action only; or they may both be brought into contact with the ground
together, when the action of the implement will be twofold; as it will first
break or cut the clods by the aid of the sharp rings, and then further reduce
them and level them by the action of the flat-edged rings, which also serve
to keep the cutting rings clean from dirt (one set of rings cleaning the other),
and preventing them from penetrating too deeply into the ground.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall refer
to the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same letters
of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout both Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a plan and partial section of my
improved clod crusher and land roller, and Figure 2 is a side elevation of the
same: A; A, are a set of cast-iron rings or wheels, having sharp edges for
the purpose of cutting or dividing the clods, and made either plain or

page_text: serrated, but I prefer the form shewn in the Drawing, the long teeth a
having their edges sharp in the direction of the periphery, and the short
ones 6 having their sharp edges at right angles to those of the long teeth.
These rings or wheels work freely on the spindle B, and are made to work
in the intervening spaces between the second series of cast-iron rings or
wheels C, C, which are made with flat peripheries, for the purpose of still
further pulverizing and levelling the soil, as well as to prevent the cutting
edges from sinking too deeply into the ground. These rings or wheels work
freely on the spindle D. The two spindles B and D are carried by the
semicircular frames E; E, which turn freely on centres at F in the brackets G,
which are bolted to the under side of the main framing H of the implement.
These moveable semicircular frames E, E, have a number of holes formed
in them at J, and the fixed brackets G have a single hole made in them, corre-
sponding to the holes in the moveable frames. In order to adjust the relative
position of the two sets of rings or wheels A and C to the surface of the
ground, it is simply necessary to raise or lower the shafts K, and insert suitable
regulating pins into the proper holes required. It will thus be obvious that
either the cutting rings A may be alone brought into contact with the ground,
when the implement will act as a clod crusher only, or the flat rings C may be
brought in contact with the ground, when the implement will serve as a land
roller; or both sets may be worked simultaneously, the rings C serving not
only to pulverize and level the soil, but also to clean the clod crushing rings,
and to regulate the depth to which they penetrate into the ground.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without devi-
ating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction and arrangement of clod crushers and land
rollers, as herein-before described.
Second, the combination of one series of serrated or plain cutting rings with
another series of rings having flat or nearly flat rims, for the purposes herein-
before described.
Third, the combination of two sets of rings in clod crushers and land rollers
in such a manner that one implement may be used either as a plain roller or
as a clod crusher, or as both combined, as herein-before described.

page_text: Fourth, the combination of two sets of rings, of whatever form the edges may
be, for the purposes herein-before referred to, arranged in such a manner that
their relative positions with respect to the surface of the ground can be altered
and adjusted at pleasure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick James Utting, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
FREDC J. UTTING. (L.S.)