IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Chambers, junior, of Colkirk, Fakenham, in
the County of Norfolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURE."
Sealed the 26th September 1854, and dated the 21st July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Chambers at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st July 1854.
I, THOMAS CHAMBERS, junior, of Colkirk, Fakenham, in the County of
Norfolk, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURE" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in machinery for distributing
manure on to land. For this purpose, a hopper for carrying the manure is
mounted on wheels, and is arranged with shafts or apparatus for attaching a
horse or horses, in a somewhat similar manner to manure drills heretofore made.
Exterior of the hopper and near the bottom thereof is arranged a cylinder,
which I prefer to be composed of numerous short cylinders, each having three
or other convenient number of inclined blades protruding a short distance
from its periphery, the distance of such protusion of the blades being capable
of adjustment, in order to regulate the quantity of manure thrown off thereby.
The protruding blades of the succeeding short cylinders are not set in the same
line but at intervals apart; and the quantity of manure allowed to flow out at
the bottom of the hopper, so as to come on to a curved incline, to be acted on
by the blades, is regulated by a slide. The cylinder receives motion from a cog
wheel, fixed on one of the wheels on which the machine is carried, and the

page_text: speed at which the cylinder revolves is regulated by changing the sizes of the
wheels which are used respectively on the axis of the cylinder and on one of
the running wheels. Below the bottom of the hopper is a bar, having several
blades or projections, which pass through an opening at the bottom of the
hopper, and which by a to and fro motion ensures the lower part of the manure
being broken up near the opening out of the hopper, so that a constant flowing
out of manure will be ensured, which, falling on the curved incline over which
the cylinder revolves, will be moved and thrown off by the projecting inclined
blades on the cylinder. In order to ensure that no manure shall adhere to the
inclined blades, or the peripheries of the short cylinders of which the cylinder
is composed, a series of bent scrapers are mounted on an axis below the axis
of the cylinder, each scraper being pressed up by an adjustable weight to the
surface of the cylinder, so that each part of the cylinder, and the acting sur-
faces of the inclined blades carried thereby, will be cleansed or scraped at each
revolution of the cylinder, and this whether the manure be in a dry or a
moist state.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Chambers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CHAMBERS, junior, of Colkirk, Fakenham, in the County of Norfolk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Chambers, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Chambers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Chambers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY POR DISTRIBUTING MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Chambers, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the

page_text: 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 Thomas Chambers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of improvements in machinery for distributing
manure on to land. For this purpose, a hopper for carrying the manuro is
mounted on wheels, and is arranged with shafts or apparatus for attaching a
horse or horses, in a somewhat similar manner to manure drills heretofore
made. Exterior of the hopper and near the bottom thereof is arranged a
cylinder, which I prefer to be composed of numerous short cylinders, each
having three or other convenient number of inclined blades protruding a short
distance from its periphery, the distance of such protrusion of the blades being
capable of adjustment, in order to regulate the quantity of manure thrown off
thereby. The protruding blades of the succeeding short cylinders are not set
in the same line but at intervals apart; and the quantity of manure allowed to
flow out at the bottom of the hopper, so as to come on to a curved incline, to
be acted on by the blades, is regulated by a slide. The cylinder receives motion
from a cog wheel, fixed on one of the wheels on which the machine is carried,
and the speed at which the cylinder revolves is regulated by changing the sizes
of the wheels which are used respectively on the axis of the cylinder and on
one of the running wheels. Below the bottom of the hopper is a bar, having
several blades or projections, which pass through an opening at the bottom of
the hopper, and which by a to and fro motion ensures the lower part of tho
manure being broken up near the opening out of the hopper, so that a constant
flowing out of manure will be ensured, which, falling on the curved incline over
which the cylinder revolves, will be moved and thrown off by the projecting
inclined blades on the cylinder. In order to insure that no manure shall
adhere to the inclined blades or the peripheries of the short cylinders of which
the cylinder is composed, a series of bent scrapers are mounted on an axis
below the axis of the cylinder, each scraper being pressed up by an adjustable
weight to the surface of the cylinder, so that each part of the cylinder, and the
acting surfaces of the inclined blades carried thereby, will be cleansed or scraped
at each revolution of the cylinder, and this whether the manure be in a dry or
a moist state.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
decoxibe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: Figure shows a back view, partly in section, Figure 2 a transverse
section, of the manure box and apparatus; Figure 3, a right hand side view
or elevation, and Figure 4 shows a left hand side view, of a manure distributor
constructed in accordance with my Invention. The other Figures represent
some of the parts separately. The box A, containing the manure, and the
machinery for distributing the same, are carried by two wheels B, B, moveable
on the axis a, on the nave of one of which is fixed a cog wheel C, which takes
into and drives the cog wheel D, (but for the purpose of stopping the operation
of the machine when required, the wheel D is lifted out of gear in the manner
usually practised in machinery for distributing seeds or manure); on the axis a
is placed the cylinder E, which extends throughout the machine, and is pre-
ferred to be composed of numerous short cylinders b, with discs of thin plate
iron between them. One of such short cylinders is shewn separately_in
Figure 5, and consists of a flat disc of metal, having a boss with a square or
other shaped-hole-in the centre thereof, through which the axis a is inserted,
and having on its outer edge a projecting rim c. Three or any other number
of holes or spaces d, are cut or left in the rim and disc of the form there shewn,
with serics of notches on one side of each such holes. Into each of the holes
ores d is inserted a blade e, shewn separately at Figure 6, having a pro-
jection f, fitting into either of the said notches in the short cylinders b, and
thus retaining the blades e at any desired extent of projection, and consequently
in part regulating the quantity of manure distributed by the machine. For the
purpose of shifting the said blades, the series of short cylinders 6 is loosened
in a longitudinal direction on the shaft or axis a, by means of a screw nut or
by any other suitable means, and each of the blades e may be shifted to the
desired extent by sliding each of the short cylinders 6 respectively, sufficiently
to allow the blades e to be removed out sideways from the notches d, in which
they are placed, and inscrted in other notches d, as the case may require; the
projecting portions of the blades e or the succeeding short cylinders b of the
cylinder E do not run in the same continuous line, but they are arranged to
succeed one another in action across the machine. The quantity of manure
delivered can also be regulated, by substituting for the wheel D other wheels with
a greater or less number of cogs or teeth, so as thereby to regulate the relative
speed of the entire cylinder E, and also by the action of the slide, which I will
now proceed to describe. At the back of the hopper is a slide F, to regulate
the dimensions of the opening at the bottom of the hopper for the passage of
manure. The slide F is moved by pinions kon the shaft or axis l'taking into

page_text: racks on the slide F, and the axis l receives motion by means of a crank handle
G, which is retained at any position by means of the spring catch m taking or
gearing into the ratchet sector n; hence it will be seen that the slide F may
be set and retained at any desired position. is an incline, on to which the
manure falls from the hopper. Immediately below the opening of the hopper
A, and above the incline o, is situated the stirrer p, which consists of a bar q,
moving in suitable guides, and having a series of fingers or knives & projecting
therefrom, see Figures 1 and 2; it is caused to move to and fro by means of
the crank S, on the axis of the bevilled toothed wheel H. The wheel H takes
into and is driven by the bevilled toothed wheel I, fixed on the axis a of the
cylinder E. The stirrer, in moving constantly to and fro under the hopper and
above the incline o, prevents the passage or opening at the bottom of the
hopper A from becoming blocked up, and any lumps of manure will be broken
or cut by the knives or blades r, r. h, h, are a series of scrapers moving on an
axis at u, Figures 1 and 2, and shewn separately at Figure 7; these scrapers
are weighted or pressed up to their respective portions of the cylinder E by
means of the weights W, which slide in a space formed to receive them in the
tails of the scrapers t, and they are retained in position to give any requisite
degree of pressure by means of a projection w¹, formed upon one side of the
weight W, which, catching in any of the notches which are formed on one of
the sides of the tail of the scraper, prevents the weight W from shifting. The
scrapers h, h,. are the means whereby the manure is prevented from adhering
to the cylinder E, or to the surfaces of the projections or inclined blades e.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim as new,
and desire to be protected and secured by the said Letters Patent, is, the com-
bination of the drum or cylinder E, the scrapers h, and the stirrer p.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Chambers, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the
year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
WILLIAM CHAMBERS,
Colkirk, Fakenham,
Norfolk.
THOS CHAMBERS, JUN. (L.S.)