A NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENT FOR HOEING, DIGGING, OR CULTIVATING THE SOIL
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cleland Davidson, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Ireland, Gentleman, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
IMPLEMENT FOR HOEING, DIGGING, OR CULTIVATING THE SOIL."
NAAL 10170
Jain 02-d Danamba 107
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cleland Davidson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd December 1877.
SAMUEL CLELAND DAVIDSON, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland,
Gentleman. "A NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENT FOR HOEING, DIGGING, OR
CULTIVATING THE SOIL."
My Invention consists of a new or improved implement by means of which the
soil or ground can be hoed or lightly digged or cultivated, and which is more par-
ticularly intended for use between rows of plants or shrubs.
The implement consists of a horizontal or approximately horizontal knife or
cutter having teeth or projections on its upper surface. This knife is carried at one
end of an arm or shaft (or a pair of arms or shafts), to which is fitted at or near the
same end a pair of wheels or rollers for regulating the depth to which the knife may
penetrate the soil. The opposite end of the arm or shaft is provided with a handle
by means of which the implement is drawn or pushed along; or the arm or shaft
may be arranged so that an animal may be yoked thereto. As the implement is
drawn or pushed along with the knife or cutter in the ground, the said knife, as it
were, slices off the surface of the soil which in passing over the knife comes in
contact with the teeth before named, and is thereby broken up.
The position of the wheels or of the knife is made adjustable in any ordinary
manner in the end of the arm or shaft, so that the depth to which the knife enters
the soil may be regulated as required.

page_text: •
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Samuel Cleland Davidson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st June 1878.
SAMUEL CLELAND DAVIDSON, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland,
Gentleman "A NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENT FOR HOEING, DIGGING, OR
CULTIVATING THE SOIL."
My Invention consists of a new or improved implement by means of which the
soil or ground can be hoed or lightly digged or cultivated, and which is more par-
ticularly intended for use between rows of plants or shrubs.
The implement consists of a horizontal or approximately horizontal knife or
cutter having teeth or projections on its upper surface. This knife is carried at one
end of an arm or shaft (or a pair of arms or shafts), to which is fitted, at or near the
same end, a pair of wheels or rollers for regulating the depth to which the knife
may penetrate the soil. The opposite end of the arm or shaft is provided with a
handle, by means of which the implement is drawn or pushed along; or the arm or
shaft may be arranged so that an animal may be yoked thereto As the implement
is drawn or pushed along with the knife or cutter in the ground the said knife, as it
were, slices off the surface of the soil, which in passing over the knife comes in
contact with the teeth before named, and is thereby broken up.
The position of the wheels or of the knife is made adjustable in any ordinary
manner in the end of the arm or shaft, so that the depth to which the knife enters
the soil may be regulated as required.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the annexed Diawings represent one modification of my
new or improved implement, Figure 1 being a vertical section through the pro-
pelling handle, arm, and knife, with side elevation of the wheel; Figure 2 a per-
spective view of the knife or cutter; and Figure 3 a horizontal section through the
wheels, with plan of the handle, arms, axles for wheels, and knife.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 are views corresponding respectively with Figures 1, 2, and 3
of another modification of the implement.
The saine letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
u, a, ale armis carried by the handle h, to which they are secured by a pinching
screw b, or by any other convenient method of attachment, & is the knife or cutter,
and c, c, are the teeth or projections thereon; c, d, are uprights on the knife, which
are fastened to the aims a, a, by bolts and nuts m, m. The uprights are formed
with slots 8, 8, so that the position of the bolts and nuts m, m, may be regulated, and
the height of the knife thereby adjusted as required; n, m, are projections on the
arms a, a, to which the uprights d, d, are fastened; e, e, are the wheel axles on the
extremities of the arms a, a; and w, w, are the wheels mounted loosely on these
axles; the peripheries of the wheels are of V form to prevent the soil sticking much
to them, but wheels with flat peripheries or rollers may be used.
The arms a, a, may be of any convenient shape that will carry the uprights d, d,
upon an approximately direct line between the wheels. The number of the
uprights d, d, and of the teeth c, c, and their position on the knife may be varied
according to the size and requirements of the implement, and in some cases where the
uprights & alone sufficiently break up and disturb the soil as it passes over the
knife, the teeth c, c, may be dispensed with. The uprights may also be of round or
of rectangular form instead of flat, as shewn, and in lieu of the means shewn for
adjusting the height of the knife in relation to the arms a, a, any other suitable
adjusting arrangement may be employed, such, for example, as bosses and pinching
screws. The knife may also be used with only one upright & rising from the
centre of it, in which case the knife would be shorter than shewn in the accom-
panying Drawings; and for small implements one such would be sufficient, while
for larger implements several might be used in an approximately direct line
between the wheels, and the attachment for which to the arms a, a, would be

page_text: similar to that described for the uprights of the knives in the modification
shewn in Figures 4, 5, and 6.
Other obvious modifications in the details of the implement may also be made
In Figure 1 the knife is shewn as set for working by being drawn by the handle h,
and in Figure 4 it is set to be pushed by it, but in either case the knife by being
reversed makes the implement workable either way.
To work the implement adjust the knife k so that it may project as much below
the outside rim of the wheels as it is desired that the knife may penetrate the soil, and
firmly secure it by means of the bolts and nuts m. By turning the implement so that
the knife is on the upper side it can be easily run along to the place required; then
turn it over again into its working position, and accordingly as the knife has been
fixed, either diaw or push it along the ground to be operated upon. The knife will
at once slice into the soil, but only as deeply as the wheels will permit it, and the
soil in passing over the teeth c and past the upright bars d on the upper surface of
the knife gets broken up, and is left as if it had received a light digging or
hoeing up.
When the implement is required for deep cultivation the knife on being adjusted
to the requisite depth should be set so as to work as shewn in Figures 4 and G, and
it is intended that the implement should then be drawn in front of the handle by
animal or other draught power, the yoke for which can be hooked on or fastened in
any convenient way to the arms a, a, and the handle h is then used for guiding the
implement.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,—
The general arrangement and construction of the implement for hoeing, digging,
or cultivating the soil, as herein-before described, and I claim as a particular part of the
novelty therein the knife or knives or cutters being carried horizontally or approxi-
mately so at the end of an arm or arins between a pair of wheels or rollers fitted
to these arms, which wheels or rollers are for the purpose of preventing the knife
or knives penetrating any deeper than they have been adjusted for into the soil,
while the other end of the arm is fitted for guiding, drawing, or propelling the
implement along
I also claim as another particular part of the novelty in the implement, the knife
formed with teeth or projections upon its upper surface, for the purpose of breaking
up and disturbing the soil as it passes over it, all substantially as herein-before
described, and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
I give to my improved implement the name of the "wheel hoe"
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cleland Davidson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-eight.
S C. DAVIDSON. (L.S.)