IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Corbett, of Wellington, in the County
of Salop, Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS."
Sealed the 21st March 1873, and dated the 14th October 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Corbett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th October 1872.
I, SAMUEL CORBETT, of Wellington, in the County of Salop, Agricul-
tural Implement Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of improvements applicable principally to the
potato raising ploughs and ridge ploughs described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to me, bearing date 9th March, 1872, No. 731.
My improvements are, however, applicable to other ploughs, such for
example as ploughs used for cleaning land.
My improvements are as follows:-In place of mould boards con-
sisting of a solid plate I use mould boards having [parallel longitudinal

page_text: slots or divisions in them, extending from the front to the rear or hind
end of the said mould boards. The said mould boards may either be
made of a series or set of parallel or nearly parallel bars joined together
at their front ends, the said mould board being fixed to the front of the
plough foot by the junction piece connecting the bars together. Or the
mould board may be formed by bars of iron passed through holes in the
foot of the plough, and bent on either side the said foot at the required
angle and fixed by welding. Or the said bars may be fixed to the front
of the plough foot by screwing or otherwise.
When the plough foot is made by casting, I form by the casting 1
process the holes through which the bars are passed, and also guide
slots into which the heated bars are by the forging process made to
enter, and by which they are firmly held in the required positions.
Potato raising ploughs constructed according to my Invention allow
the loose soil and potatoes to fall between the bars as the plough moves 1
along. The potatoes are unbruised and are spread very regularly on the
surface of the land.
A ridge plough constructed according to my Invention effectually
loosens up the soil and leaves the ridge more open than an ordinary
ridge plough. The weeds and refuse are left very open and effectually 2
exposed to the air. In damp weather the soil does not clog the mould
board as it does ordinary mould boards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Corbett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CORBETT, of Wellington, in the County of Salop, Agricultural Im-
plement Manufacturer, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our 3
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Samuel Corbett, Her special license that I,

page_text: the said Samuel Corbett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Samuel Corbett, my executors, administrators,
and 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 Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Corbett, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Corbett, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of improvements applicable principally to the
potato raising ploughs and ridge ploughs described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to me, bearing date March 9th 1872, No. 731.
My improvements are however applicable to other ploughs, such for
example as ploughs used for cleaning land.
My improvements are as follows:-In place of mould boards consisting
of a solid plate I use mould boards having parallel longitudinal slots or
divisions in them extending from the front to the rear or hind end of
the said mould boards. The said mould boards may either be made of
a series or set of parallel or nearly parallel bars joined together at their
front ends, the said mould board being fixed to the front of the plough
foot by the junction piece connecting the bars together, or the mould
board may be formed by bars of iron passed through holes in the foot of
the plough, and bent on either side the said foot at the required angle,
and fixed by welding or forging. Or the said bars may be fixed to the
front of the plough foot by screwing or otherwise.
When the plough foot is made by casting I form by the casting.
process the holes through which the bars are passed, and also guide slots

page_text: into which the heated bars are by the forging process made to enter, and
by which they are firmly held in the required positions.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in side clevation,
and Figure 2 in plan a portion of a potato raising plough, the mould
boards of which are constructed according to my Invention, my improved
mould boards being represented in combination with rotating forks or
pulverizers of the kind described and represented in the Specification of
Letters Patent granted to me on the 9th March 1872, No. 731;
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the mould board detached; Figure 4 is
a horizontal section of the same; and Figure 5 is a portion of the same.
The mould boards consist of a plough foot a fixed in the ordinary way
to the plough beam b, the said foot having connected to it on either side
a set of parallel longitudinal bars c, c, the said bars c, c, extending back
from the foot a to a distance about equal to the length of an ordinary
mould board, the parts thus combined together constituting a slotted or
open mould board as represented.
In making the slotted or open mould board I form in the foot a a
series of horizontal holes d, d, and opening into the said holes are guide
slots c, c, on either side the said foot (see Figure 5). These holes and
guide slots d, e, may be made in the foot by the casting process when
the said foot is made by casting. Bars or rods of iron of the proper
length to form the parallel bars c, c, of the double mould board being
raised to a forging heat at their middle are passed through the holes d, d,
in the plough foot a, and bent on either side the said foot at the required
angle, and forged and fixed in the guide or side slots e, e, of the said
The several bars of the
foot, as represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
slotted or open mould board are thus held in the required positions.
The manner in which the bars are passed through the plough foot,
bent at their middle, and fixed in the side or guide slots is best seen in
Figure 4.
Figure 6 represents in side elevation and Figure 7 in horizontal section
a slotted or open mould board made in a different way from that already
described.
Figures 8 and 9 represent the two parts of the mould board detached.
In this double mould board the parallel bars c, c, of each mould board
are combined with a junction plate f, the said bars c, c, and plate f
being made in one piece by the casting process. On cach side of the

page_text: back of the plough foot a, a recess 9 is cast for receiving the junction
plate f. The combined parallel bars c, c, and junction plate f is con-
nected to the plough foot by fitting the plate f in the recess g, and
fixing it thereto by the screw bolts (see the horizontal section, Figure 7).
Each mould board is fixed in this way to the plough foot. Or instead
of connecting the parallel bars to a junction plate the front end of each
bar may have an enlargement upon it, the said enlargement taking into
a corresponding recess in the plough foot, and being fixed by a screw,
but I prefer the methods of construction already described.
Although I have described the slotted or open mould board as being
made of parallel bars yet I prefer to make the said bars, as illustrated in
the Drawings, slightly inclined to one another, their back open ends
being a little wider apart than their front connected ends; and although
I have described and represented the best methods of which I am
acquainted of constructing the slotted or open mould boards, yet I do
not limit myself thereto, as the said mould boards may be constructed
in other ways with the same effect; for example, the plough foot and
parallel bars may be cast or forged in one piece, or parallel wrought iron
bars may be cast in the foot.
In applying my Invention to ridge ploughs and ploughs for cleaning
land and to other ploughs I construct the mould boards substantially in
the manner described with respect to the mould boards of potato raising
ploughs.
Potato raising ploughs constructed according to my Invention allow
the loose soil and potatoes to fall between the bars as the plough moves
along; the potatoes are unbruised and are spread very regularly on the
surface of the land.
A ride plough constructed according to my Invention effectually
loosens up the soil and leaves the ridge more open than an ordinary
ridge plough; the weeds and refuse are left very open and effectually
exposed to the air. In damp weather the soil does not clog the mould
board as it does ordinary mould boards.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvements in ploughs

page_text: herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say, constructing the mould boards of potato raising ploughs,
ridge ploughs, ploughs for cleaning land, and other ploughs having a
mould board on cach side of the plough foot, with parallel or nearly
parallel longitudinal slots or divisions in them, the said slots or divisions
extending from the front to the rear or hind end of the mould boards
for the purpose and substantially as described and illustrated, whether
the said slotted or divided mould boards be made in the ways described
or otherwise made.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Corbett, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
GEORGE W. CORBETT,
Wellington,
Salop.
SAMUEL CORBETT. (L.s.)