AN ARRANGEMENT OR ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM USEFUL FOR FACILITATING THE REPAIRING ROADS AND WAYS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE TILLING OF
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fincham, of Beck Row, Mildenhall, in the
County of Suffolk, Machinist, for the Invention of "AN ARRANGEMENT
OR ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM USEFUL FOR FACILITATING THE REPAIRING
Sealed the 28th November 1862, and dated the 3rd June 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fincham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd June 1862.
1, JOHN FINCHAM, of Beck Row, Mildenhall, in the County of Suffolk,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
ARRANGEMENT OR ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM USEFUL FOR FACILITATING THE
REPAIRING OF ROADS AND WAYS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE TILLING OF LAND,"
to be as follows:-
I have a frame composed of bars of iron or other metal or material
forming a square or other given figure, and I provide the same with guides
for the pins or studs to travel in hereafter, mentioned. To the above described
frame I attach a bar or shaft, with tines or prongs secured thereto, forming a
rake, and nearer to the handle than to the said rake I have scrapers so set or
placed as to follow the said rake and scrape together the stones, road stuff, and
the like. These may be caused, by levers, chains, or otherwise, to make any
required angle, scraping the filth from off the roads. Such angular movements
being provided for by the aforesaid parts, being by means of centre pins secured

page_text: free to turn to the before mentioned frame, as also by having thereon pins or
studs which work in the guides first mentioned, thus to steady and keep the
same secured to the aforesaid frame. For tilling land the scrapers can, if
required, be removed, and proper hoes, rakes, harrows, or scarifiers may be
substituted for the prongs or tines aforesaid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fincham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FINCHAM, of Beck Row, Mildenhall, in the County of Suffolk, Machinist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me the said John Fincham, Her special licence, that I, the said John
Fincham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Fincham, 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 "AN
ARRANGEMENT OR ARRANGEMENTS OF MECHANISM USEFUL FOR FACILITATING THE
REPAIRING OF ROADS AND WAYS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE TILLING OF LAND," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Fincham, 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 John Fincham, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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:-
A frame is constructed composed of bars of iron or other metal or material,
the said frame having the form of a square or other convenient figure, such

page_text: frame being provided with guides for the purposes hereafter described, the
whole being mounted upon wheels, (three being the number preferred), the
axle of the front wheels forming part of or being properly secured to the said
frame, and the hinder wheel being secured as hereafter described. To the
front part of the above-named frame is attached, as hereafter described, the
after mentioned rake arrangements, and nearer to the back or handle part of
the machine than to the rake there are arrangements of scrapers provided to
follow the said rake when in use, and scrape together the stones, road stuff,
and the like. To make the connection between the said rake arrangements
and the frame aforesaid, long pins or slide bars are used, which work in the
guides above mentioned, these guides crossing one another at right angles or
nearly so, by which arrangements the said scrapers may (within the limit of the
guides) be moved to a greater or less angle, as may be required, scraping the
filth from off the roads and allowing the angle of the scrapers to be reversed
for levelling the roads. The said pins or slide bars being provided with such
screws, nuts, or heads as shall keep the scraper arrangements steady and
secured to the frame aforesaid, but with capability of travelling in the guides.
when desired. Handles or levers being attached to the said scraper arrange-
ments for lifting, and also for pressing the same down upon the road.
For:.
tilling land the scraper arrangements and the rake arrangement can, if..
required, be removed, and agricultural hoes, rakes, harrows, or scarifiers be,
substituted in the place of the rake aforesaid, and thus this machine may be
rendered also applicable to the tilling of land.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and incidentally
stated in what manner the same is to be performed, I will now, in order, the.
better to exemplify the same, refer to the accompanying illustrative Drawings.
by the words, figures, and letters following, that is to say:―
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, a plan view; Figure 2, the scraper arrangements, shewn as if,
detached from the frame; Figure 3, front view of hinder wheel; Figure 4;
end view of scraper; Figure 5, front or elevational view of the front guide.
or cross bar of the frame; Figure 6, front or elevational view of the bent axle
of the front wheels.
At these Drawings A denotes the axle of the front wheels A*; B, side bars.
of the frame, each of which is double, the open space or slit along the same.
forming a guide for the purpose hereafter described; B*, hinder bar of frame;
C, cross guide, secured by screws and nuts or otherwise to the said frame; D,.
entre guide, crossing the guide C at right angles, or nearly so, and secured to

page_text: +
the said frame in the manner just stated; E, the hinder wheel secured to the
frame by means of the upright *, *, the divided portion of which has the
bearings for the axle of the said wheel, the upper part of the said upright
being threaded, and having beneath this threaded part a shoulder at *, *, so
that the threaded part being passed into the guide D, as shewn in plan view
Figure 1, the shoulder being brough close under the guide D, then upon the
nut E being screwed on the portion of the upright, which goes through
the guide D, the wheel will be secured in position, but so that the. position
niay be changed so as to bring this wheel nearer the front wheels, by turning
the nut by the handle attached. The upper bar a of the rake arrangement is
connected by means of pins a*, inserted into the said axle A, the heads of
which pins have eyes or orifices for the upper bar a of the rake to pass
through, the bar ends being secured by screw nuts; this upper bar a is con-
nected by the right line slanting bars 6, b, and the curved slanting bars c, c,.
to the rake bar'd, d; provided with tines or prongs; F, F, are chains securing
the end of the upper bar of the scraper arrangements to the ends of the axle
A G, the aforesaid upper bars' of the said scrapers. secured to the guide C by
upright rods e, which pass up into the said guide; each secured by a nut,
screwed on to the top thereof as at ex, the uprights e being free to be moved
in the said guide C; f, other uprights for securing the scraper arrangements
to the side bar B of said frame, same passing through the guide as shewn, and
each having a collar, or nut, or otherwise, the said uprights, as also the uprights
marked e, being each connected to each of the bars G by a ring or eye
through which the said bar G is free to slide when the scraper is to be moved
to any different angle. The top of each upright f has a projecting arm, which
arm is above the part of frame marked B, to the end of which arm the lever
handle g is centred, one end of this lever handle having a chain h (see
Figures 1 and 2) secured thereto, the other end of such chain being secured to
a hook in the middle of the scraper as shewn, by which lever handle the lifting
of each scraper arrangement can be effected when it is required to pass
obstructions or otherwise; (Figures 1 and 2) is another lever handle fixed at
top (ix) of the stay rods at back of scrapers, the inner end of which is centred
by a collar in the inner end thereof which loosely embraces the bar G, as
shewn. This lever is for pressing the scrapers on to the road when required;
K denotes an upright which passes through the junction ends of the two scraper
arrangements, that is, the right and the left one (the two junction ends being
lapped and drilled for the purpose); this upright being secured by screws and
nuts as shewn,) the upper part of the said upright being in the guide D. The
scrapers are constructed, as shewn at Figure 2, of several panelled boards x, y, z,

page_text: secured to the bar G, by the stay irons l, m,
as shewn, the ends of
(see Figure 1).
the one scraper being loosely fitted to the other as thus
In applying this Invention to the tilling of land, the screw nut ³ is removed by
turning the same by the small handle thereof, similar to the handle of the nut
shewn at Figure 3. Such handles being attached to the nuts ex, c, k², and
that of the hinder wheel, when the upright K can be detached, the bars G
disconnected by being slipped out of the rings or eyes on the lower ends of the
uprights e and f, and on the upper ends of and m, thus disconnecting the
scrapers from the frame. Then the bars G may have agricultural hoes,
harrows, or scarifiers hooked on and secured by the two bars G, G, being
connected at the junction ends as when the scrapers where used; thus, when in
use the implements may be made to work fine or course, according to the
angles used. The rake arrangement, which will also have to be removed, can
be disconnected by removing the nuts at the ends of the part a aforesaid. The
cross guide C before described being secured by screw and nut c' with handle,
can be shifted when desired for shifting the handles of the scraper arrange-
ments. And the rake before described may have weights fixed at top as
desired. The draft shafts of the machine connected by a bar made to turn
upon a swivel joint, for facilitating the steering, are marked I, I.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare
that I claim the arrangement or arrangements of mechanism, comprising the
adjustable scraper arrangements, also the rake arrangement aforesaid. The
application as described of the said arrangement or arrangements or part
thereof, to tilling land; also the general arrangement of the machine herein
described. But I do not claim in severalty the constituent parts of the said
arrangements when not used according to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fincham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this 29th day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
JAMES CLIFT, Farmer,
Beck Row, Mildenhall,
Suffolk.
JOHN FINCHAM. (L.S.)