IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN STEAM CULTIVATION
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Aveling, of Rochester, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, and Thomas Lake, of Tong, in the County of Kent,
Farmer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN STEAM
CULTIVATION."
Sealed the 29th November 1864, and dated the 6th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Aveling and Thomas
Lake at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,.
on the 6th June 1864.
We, THOMAS AVELING, of Rochester, in the County of Kent, Engineer,
and THOMAS LAKE, of Tong, in the County of Kent, Farmer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED
IN STEAM CULTIVATION," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to economise the labour of the attendants
required in carrying on the operation of steam ploughing. Hitherto stationary
pullies or rope porters have been employed to prevent the draft ropes from
trailing on the ground, and at every shift of the tilling implement the atten-
dants have had to shift these rope porters to suit the new line of draft. In
place of this system of operation, we propose to make the rope porters travel
with the draft ropes; they will then require to be shifted only when they have
arrived at the end of the field.
A simple and efficient construction of travelling rope, porter, or apparatus
to prevent the trailing of draft ropes will be a beam or frame carried by a

page_text: pair of wheels. Upon the beam or frame is mounted a hand lever supported
on a raised fulcrum. Pendent from the forward end of this lever is a rod
which carries a hook or eye for lifting the rope, and holding it up in contact
with a V friction piece affixed to the under side of the beam near the forward
end thereof. Near the hinder end is a guide through which the rope is led,
and on the upper side of the beam is a catch for securing the hand lever in
position when it has lifted the rope.
Other arrangements of travelling clamp might readily be devised, but we
prefer this construction as it is both simple to construct and will admit of
being instantly detached from and reattached to the rope so often as the
shifting of the tilling implement is required to be effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Aveling and Thomas Lake in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 6th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
AVELING, of Rochester, in the County of Kent, Engineer, and THOMAS LAKE,
of Tong, in the County of Kent, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, hearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One.
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Thomas Aveling and Thomas Lake, Her special license that we,
the said Thomas Aveling and Thomas Lake, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Aveling and Thomas
Lake, our 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED
IN STEAM CULTIVATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Thomas Aveling and Thomas Lake, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particu-
larly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Aveling and Thomas Lake,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained.
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say)
.
The object of this Invention is to economise the manual labour required
in carrying on the operation of steam ploughing. Hitherto, the practice
in steam ploughing has been to plant stationary pullies or rope porters in
the line of draft to prevent the draft ropes from trailing on the ground, and
at every shift of the tilling implement the attendants have had to shift these
rope porters and reset them to suit the new line of draft.
In place of this system of operation we propose to effect a temporary
attachment of the ropes to the rope porters and to enable the rope porters
to travel with and hold the ropes suspended until they severally reach the
headland or fixed tension pulley, when they may be instantly disengaged
from the ropes and offer no obstruction to the progress of the tilling.
operation.
⑆
In order to render a travelling rope porter efficient we have found it
necessary that it shall be enabled to pick up or assist in picking up the rope
as it lies extended on the ground, and not require the rope to be hoisted up
and placed upon the carriage. To this end we construct our travelling rope
porter in the manner-shewn in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1:
represents the apparatus in side elevation, Fig. 2 in plan view, and Fig. 3 in
front elevation.
A, A, is a beam, carried by a pair of running wheels B, the axle of which
is cranked and forms the fulcrum on which the beam is free to rock. At its
rear end this beam terminates in a handle, it forms therefore a hand lever and
is capable of being rocked to depress or raise its forward end for the purpose
to be presently explained. At its forward end this lever carries a hook or eye
a for lifting the rope from the ground. When the rope is caught in this hook
it will be held up in contact with a V friction piece 6 affixed to the under side
of the beam, near the forward end thereof, which friction serves to bite the
rope, and effect a secure. temporary coupling of the rope and rope porter.
Near the hinder end of the beam or hand lever is a guide through which the
rope is led in order that the rope may have no tendency by a jerk or other-
wise to free itself from the grip of the V piece b. This guide is shewn
detached, and on an enlarged scale at Fig. 4. It consists simply of a double
flanged collar c surrounded by a loose clip d, which is weighted to make it take

page_text: and retain a vertical position. The collar is made with a transverse V-shaped
indentation, which is prolonged horns, for guiding the rope into the recess,
and the clip is similarly provided with horns. .The collar is keyed to the beam A
with the V-shaped indentation downwards. In order to introduce the rope
into the guide the clip is turned to bring its opening into coincidence with the
groove or indentation of the collar, and when the rope is raised into the groove
the clip is let go, when it will swing round and secure the rope in the groove.
From this explanation it will be understood that the rope porter will admit
of being instantly detached from and reattached to the rope as often as the
shifting of the tilling implement is required to be effected. In order to pre-
vent the travelling porter which follows the tilling implement, and assists in
supporting the back rope free of the ground from following, as its tendency is,
in the line of the back rope, and thus running on the cultivated land, we
provide the porter with locking gear which will cause it to run at an angle to
the back rope. This locking gear consists of a rigid rod e which is jointed to
the beam A near the head thereof, and at its rear end it is fitted with pin
holes, into which a pin is dropped, in order to connect it with the axle of the
running wheels; this rod is intended so to fix the axle of the running wheels
relatively to the bar that the travelling porter will run obliquely to the line of
that bar; for this purpose it is necessary to couple the bar to the axle by
the intervention of a turn plate or locking plate which will admit of the bar
turning slightly so that it may be held fast in an oblique position by means
of the rod e. The end of the rod e is furnished with a handle for shifting its
position.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of improved apparatus
to be employed in steam cultivation, and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent we claim the means above described for suspending
the ropes employed in steam cultivation clear of the ground.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Aveling and Thomas Lake,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Third day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
four.
THOS. AVELING. (L.S.)
THOMAS LAKE.
(L.S.)
THOS. AVELING. (L.S.)
THOMAS LAKE. (L.S.)