A SEED AND DUST DISPERSER, WHICH IS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO THE FREEING OF CORN AND OTHER PLANTS FROM INSECTS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HALL, of Cambridge, in the County of Cambridge, Grocer and Draper, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fourteenth day of January, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Hall, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Hall, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Hall, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion
of Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A SEED AND DUST DISPERSER, WHICH
IS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO THE FREEING OF CORN AND OTHER PLANTS FROM
INSECTS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said

page_text: Joseph Hall, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Hall, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully specified and set forth
in the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, marked Figure 1 to Figure 13 inclusive; that is to say:-
The said Invention consists of a machine or apparatus, adapted either for
the dispersion of seed alone, or of dust alone, or of the one combined with the
other; and, first, to describe the said machine in its simplest form.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a framed carriage, mounted on a pair of
wheels. To the nave of one of the wheels A is affixed a spur wheel b. C is
one of two iron plates fixed on the lower-side rails of the framing, for the
purpose of attaching the shafts in the manner to be hereafter described.
D is a screw working through a nut plate e, and supporting the gudgeons f
of the dust and seed box, when the machine is used as a seed disperser.
Figure 2 shews the framing of the opposite or near side of the carriage,
with the screw D supporting the cross bar and gudgeons f, f, and also two
guide rods g, g, which work in the upper and lower stiles of the framing when
used as a dust disperser only. A case containing a large pair of bellows,
shewn in Figure 8, is placed crossways in the front part of the carriage and
the dust box. Figure 4 is placed behind the former. H (Figure 3) is the
working flap of the bellows; I, the receiver or wind chest, which is compressed
by two springs k, k, furnished with small antifriction wheels, which roll on
two plates of metal on the upper board of the wind chest. The bellows are
worked by the lever L, from which two jointed rods m, m, descend to the
working flap. M is the fulcrum, shewn separately in Figure 5 as standing on a
cross bar, at the extremity of which are two side irons for attaching the
fulcrums to the sides of the bellows case.
Figure 6 is the dust box, furnished with six or any other approved number
of descending tubes or feeders n, n, n. This box is suspended on the side
stiles of the framing by iron straps and bolts, as shewn in the Drawings. A
cranked axle o, o, passes through the centre of the dust box, working in
suitable bearings, and having at one end a pinion P, which takes into the
spur wheel b on the nave of the running wheel A. Six slight iron rods r, r,

page_text: (that is, one to each feeder, whatever the number may be) are suspended
from the cranked shaft, and have inserted into them pieces of stout wire, bent
into a form resembling the figure 8, or some other suitable projecting pieces,:
for the purpose of agitating and disturbing the dust as it passes down the
feeders. At the lower part of the feeders there are two openings, directly.
opposite to each other, the one for attaching the wind pipe from the bellows,.
the other for the insertion of the disperser or nozzle, as shown more clearly
in Figure 7, where s represents the wind pipe, attached to the wind chest
of the bellows by a union joint at t, and by a second union joint to the
feeder; V is the nozzle or disperser, of a conical or other approved form, and
terminating in a short tube upon which a male screw is cut. A socket, with
a female screw cut in it, is soldered or otherwise attached to the feeder, and.
by screwing the socket of the nozzle or disperser V a greater or lesser distance
into the feeding tube, the quantity of dust driven out by the action of the wind,
and the force' with which it is ejected, may be regulated at pleasure. The
mode of attaching the shafts is shown in Figure 8, where it will be seen that
two bolts W, W, pass through the side irons C, while an iron strap a connects
the extremity of the plates with the shafts. When thus fitted, the machine
may be drawn by men or horses.
Figure 8 shews the machine fitted up complete as a dust disperser, and the
manner in which motion is communicated to the machinery. The bellows is
worked by means of a small wheel or pinion y gearing into the intermediate
wheel y', which receives its motion from the spur wheel b. A crank pin on
the rim of the pinion y communicates a reciprocating vertical movement to a
connecting rod attached to the bellows lever (L, Figure 3), and thereby
works the bellows. At the same time the pinion p, on the crank shaft of
the agitators within the dust box, also receives motion from the wheel b,
by all which means the lime or other suitable dust in a light state within the
feeders is acted upon by a strong current. of wind, and impelled in an.
upward direction against the under surfaces of the leaves or plants growing on
the ground traversed by the machine with such force as to remove or destroy.
any insects which may be thereon. When the machine is to be used as a dust
and seed disperser or drill, the dust box and bellows are removed from the
carriage frame and a dust and seed box fitted in their place.
An internal end view of the dust and seed box is represented by Figure 9.
There are two axles parallel to each other, upon which six or any other ap-
proved number of scoops or cup wheels a³, a³, are arranged at regular intervals.
The lower portion of this box beneath the axles is divided into a number
of narrow cells, within each of which one of the scoops a revolves. The box

page_text: is divided longitudinally by a moveable wooden partition 63, from which tin or
iron plates descend to the bottom of the box, conforming to but not touching
the peripheries of the scoop wheels. The sides of the box above the scoop
wheels, which form receptacles for the seed, &c., have inclined partitions C³,
which turn up by means of hinge joints towards the outer sides to allow the
axles and scoop wheels to be taken out and replaced. There are a series
of openings in the inclined partition, one immediately over each of the scoop
wheels, which are closed or partially opened by a slide. The seed is placed in
.one of the receptacles e, and the dust with which it is required to be mixed in
the act of sowing in the other receptacle f. In front of each scoop wheel,
and affixed to the lower partition, there is a vertical pipe, in which an oblique
funnel or receiver is fitted for receiving the seed or dust from the scoop wheels;
and conveying it into a series of suspended cups d², d, which convey it into
the ground. When the supply of seed or dust is to be discontinued, the pro-
jecting sides of the funnel is turned away from the wheels, when the seed will
fall down again into the cell from which it was lifted by the cups of the scoop
wheel. One of the axles fitted with its scoop wheels is shewn detached in
Figure 10.
Figure 11 is a side elevation of the machine complete, when fitted as a sced
disperser. g*, g³, are two spur wheels fitted on the axles of the scoop wheels,
one of them gearing into the spur wheel b, the other connected with it by an
intermediate wheel h³. The dust and seed box is supported on moveable
gudgeons, which can be raised or lowered by means of the screw D, as before
described, so as to bring the toothed wheels into contact. There is à lever I³ at
the hinder part of the machine suspended from the upper stile by an iron strap
pierced with holes, so as to be hung at any required elevation. This lever is
for the purpose of raising the dust and seed box so as to throw the machinery
out of gear when it is desirable to suspend temporarily its operation, as in
turning round or in crossing roads and footpaths. When the machine is thus
employed as a dust and seed disperser, the carriage is fitted with a wrought-
iron swing frame, consisting of two semicircular sides, connected together at
a distance corresponding with the width of the machine by bolts. This swing
frame is pierced all round with square holes for connecting it with the several
parts hereafter described. At the lower part of the segment a heavy cast-iron
roller, formed of three parts lengthwise, is fitted by a bolt passing through it
and through the sides of the swing frame, and secured by a nut or other suitable
fastening. In front of this roller, and fitted upon similar rods, there are six
coulters, fixed at intervals corresponding with the distance of the scoop
wheels; these coulters are wedge-shaped, with an opening in the hinder part of

page_text: the wedge through which the tube of the last suspended funnel is inserted, so
as to deposit the dust and seed in the furrow prepared for it by the coulter.
A corresponding number of rakes m² are placed between the coulters, which
turn over the ground and cover up the seed as it is deposited. The swing
frame, rollers, coulters, and rakes are shewn detached from the carriage. In
Figure 12 n, n², is a piece of scantling, which being continued, forms the
shafts of the machine; 02, 0%, is a shorter piece connected with the former, so
as to allow the iron frame to play freely between them. A bolt is passed
through the farther end of the scantlings and through one or other:of the
holes p³, while a long bolt with nuts and projecting ends is inserted in one or
other of the holes ; these projections come down upon the shafts and stop
the frame at any required inclination. The swing frame being thus attached
to the shafts, the latter are fastened to the carriage by bolts passing through
the side irons C, as shown in Figure 11. The frame being thus drawn from
the further extremity, the coulters and rakes are forced into the ground to
any required depth, which is regulated by the position of the stops ². The
coulter is attached to the shafts by a chain p³, so that if the carriage is backed
the coulters and appendages are drawn out of the ground, and the chain being
hooked on to the frame they will-remain suspended, when the machine is
again moved forward.
Figure 13 is a detached view of one of the coulters, showing how it is
fixed on its shoulder, and also the manner in which the seed and dust funnel
is inserted. On removing the dust and seed box, the carriage with the
rakes m² forms a powerful harrow and scarifier, or, with the rakes and part
of the coulters removed, it may form a convenient scarifier and roller. When
used as a scarifier or harrow only, the central portion of the roller ought to be
removed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as new is,
the machine or apparatus herein-before described, consisting of parts (such as
the framework) which are common to it under all circumstances, and of others
which are in duplicate, the one or the other being made use of according as
the machine or apparatus is employed for the dispersing of seed only, or for
the dispersing of dust only, or for the dispersing of both conjointly. And I
declare, that though I have specified several useful purposes to which it may,
with certain modifications, be applied, besides the dispersing of seed and dust,
I claim only the exclusive use thereof as a seed and dust disperser, and more
particularly its application to the freeing of corn and other plants from insects.
And such my said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,

page_text: Inrolled the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-one.