IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CUL- TIVATING LAND AND SOWING SEED
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CUL-
TIVATING LAND AND SOWING SEED." A communication from abroad by
David Dunham Stelle, of New Brunswick, in the State of New
Jersey, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th September 1868, and dated the 5th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th March 1868.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
CULTIVATING LAND AND SOWING SEED," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for drilling or distributing corn
and harrowing and hoeing land.
The frame of the machine is supported on the axle of a pair of running
wheels, one of which carries on its inner side a cog wheel for imparting

page_text: through suitable gearing rotary motion to a tine shaft or rotary
cultivator. This shaft is mounted on the pendent end of a rocking frame
having for its fulcrum the axle of the running wheels. This axle is
provided with a pair of tappet cams which serve to give an endway
motion to a pair of horizontal sliding rods that are coupled to forked
rocking arms pivoted to the main frame. These arms embrace the
pendent tubes or spouts of the hoppers containing the seed to be sown,
and they each carry a pair of slides which work in slots at different
levels in the tubes, and thus alternately open and close the discharge
passages for the corn so as to effect an intermittent discharge of the corn.
The spouts are situated in the line of progress of the running wheels, so
that the wheels must pass over the furrow containing the dropped corn
and press the earth upon it. The spouts are fitted with a kind of plough
for turning the soil, and the spouts are shaped to cover the seed with
the loose earth. A cross beam fitted to the rocking frame is intended
The teeth or blades of the
to carry stationary harrows or tines.
revolving harrow are set in hubs or collars and secured therein by set
screws. These collars may be slipped off or on as may be deemed
necessary by the operator, so as to enable the machine to straddle a row
of corn and cultivate the land on either side thereof. To prevent the
clods as they are being broken from falling on and danaging the tender
plants two sheet iron discs may be fitted to the cultivator shaft and
brought one on either side of the row.
If the machine is required for hoeing and not for harrowing the
harrows should be taken out of their collars and hoes introduced instead.
The revolving and stationary hoes or tines are set so as to cut in
intermediate lines.
There is no particular limit as to the number of harrow or hoe teeth
to be used, nor is it necessary to have the harrow, tines, or hoes
on a continuous shaft, but they may be arranged on a divided shaft
suspended on the rocking frame. The object of dividing the harrow or
hoe shaft is to enable the machine to straddle a row of corn so that the
ground may be cultivated on both sides of that row.
In order to convert the machine into a broad cast sower the hoppers
above mentioned should be removed and replaced by a long hopper
having a perforated longitudinal slide at bottom. This slide will be
worked by one of the sliding rods used to operate the drills, it being
connected therewith by a bell-crank lever. The end of the sliding rod

page_text: that is next to the cam on the main axle is hinged so as to reduce the
friction as much as possible.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENT'S SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by H
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said-Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis
trators and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING LAND AND SOWING SEED," being a com-
munication to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-

page_text: The object of this Invention is to effect by the use of one and the
same machine the sowing of corn, and the harrowing and hoeing of
land. These results are obtained by means of the apparatus shewn in
several views in the accompanying Drawing.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional side elevation of the machine or apparatus
when used as a corn sower and a harrow, the section, being taken through
the line x, x, of Fig. 2, which represents the apparatus in plan view;
Fig. 3 is a detached view of the corn dropper; Figs. 4 represent the
different shapes for the teeth of the harrows; Fig. 5 represents a front
view of the cultivator; Fig. 6 is a section of the same showing the mode
of fastering the hoes to the hub; and Fig. 7 is a detached view shewing
plan the manner of dividing the harrow shaft herein-after described.
imilar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
a is a rectangular frame which rests on the axle 6 between the
wheels c, c¹. On the inner side of the wheel c the cog wheel d is bolted
and is keyed to the axle b. This cog-wheel d gears into a small wheel e
in gear with a small cog wheel f keyed to the harrow shaft g. Thus as
the machine is drawn forward the shaft carrying the harrows-h will
be caused to revolve and set the harrows in action. i, i, are tappes
fixed on the axle 6 for the purpose of striking the slides k which are
used to set the corn droppers in action. The machine is fitted with two
corn droppers for sowing two rows of corn. The slides are severally
pivotted to a cut-off lever m, which levers are pivotted to the side bars of
the harrow frame a. Between the inner ends of these levers and a cross
bar of the frame is an elastic connection formed by coiled springs n, n.
It will now be understood that as the machine is moved forward the
tappets i revolving with the axle 6 will cause a backward and forward
motion to the cut-off levers, the back motion being due to recoil of the
springs n, and the forward motion to the action of the tappets: The
corn droppers are arranged so as to drop their grain in lines over which
the wheels in passing will pack the earth. The corn dropper p consists
of a tube firmly fixed to the frame a. It is provided with two or more
slots cut on opposite sides to admit the cut-off slides carried by the
cut-off levers m; these slides run in and out freely. The amount of
grain passing these slides to be dropped into the ground may be
regulated by increasing or decreasing the space between the two cut-off
slides. The bottom of the corn dropper p is to drag sufficiently to make
a small furrow into which the seed will fall. q is an adjustable plough

page_text: which fits over the tube p and serves to bank up the earth over the seed,
and is then run over by the wheel which will pack the carth on top of
the seed. The stationary harrow teeth are set in a cross bar of iron 8,
which is secured at both ends by being bolted to the adjustable frame t,
which turns on the axle b. The revolving harrow (or hoes herein-after
mentioned) run through and are held in the adjustable frame t, and can
be raised or lowered at pleasure by means of the lever u which is secured
to the shaft, the said lever being locked in any desired position in the
rack v. The harrow teeth in the revolving harrow are set in hubs or
collars and secured in them by set screws or other suitable means.
These hubs or collars can be slipped on or off as may be deemed
necessary by the operator so as to enable him to straddle a row of
corn and cultivate the land between them when used in this manner.
Two wheels of sheet metal are slipped on the shaft g, one on each
side of the row of corn to be straddled in order to protect the tender
plants from being broken down by the clods of earth, which at times
would be tossed on them. A series of hoes is arranged in hubs or
collars in a similar manner, and this machine can be thus changed from
a harrow to a cultivator in a few minutes time. The revolving harrow
teeth as well as the. hoes are set so as to cut in a spiral form. The
revolving harrow teeth cut in between the teeth of the stationary
harrow and thus crush and cut the clods of earth leaving the whole
face of the ground where the machine may pass free from clods or
lumps, and should a stone be caught it will pass between the harrow
teeth as they will have sufficient spring for that purpose. The hoppers
may be provided with a small rod weighted at top and pendent from a
rod which runs across the hopper. This pendent rod is intended by its
trembling motion to keep the throat of the hopper from clogging up.
I do not limit myself to any particular number of teeth in the harrow
or hoes, nor do I limit myself to having the hoes or harrows on a
continuous shaft, as it is also proposed to arrange them on two separate
shafts which are hung between the beams t, Fig. 7, and are swung and
operated in a similar manner to the continuous shaft herein-before
mentioned. The object of dividing the harrow or hoc shaft is to enable
a row of corn to be straddled, and allow the ground to be cultivated
on both sides of the same.
"
In order to convert the machine into a broad cast sower, the
ano romovod and the has bannon D is pleaed (oa 'show

page_text: red outline in Figures 1 and 2) on top of the frame of the machine. The
perforated slide a in the bottom of this hopper is moved to and fro by
means of the slide K which is connected to the same by a bell crank B.
The end of the slide K which rides on the cam or tappet i is hinged as
shown in Figures 2 and 3, so as to prevent any unnecessary friction.
"Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of " 'Improved
Apparatus for Cultivating Land and Sowing Seed," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement
and construction of apparatus, above described, for sowing grain or seed,
and for harrowing and hoeing land.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.