IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DIGGING OR TURNING UP SOIL."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Firth, of Burley, in the Borough of Leeds,
in the County of York, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR DIGGING OR TURNING UP SOIL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Firth, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
February 1862.
I, WILLIAM FIRTH, of Burley, in the Borough of Leeds, in the County of
York, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DIGGING OR TURNING UP SOIL," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of a series of picks or diggers
which are driven into the ground and drawn through and out of it by means
of excentrics, cranks, or other equivalent mechanical contrivances. The ar-
rangement of apparatus which I prefer to employ for this purpose is one in
which the picks or diggers are driven into the ground either vertically or at
any convenient angle, by means of a series of excentrics mounted upon a shaft
to which rotary motion is communicated in any convenient manner. The picks
or diggers are then either drawn or pushed through and out of the ground, by
the combined action of the before mentioned series of excentrics, and of another
series of excentrics mounted on another shaft and connected to the lower end
of the picks or diggers. In lieu of this second series of excentrics it may

page_text: perhaps be found desirable in order to save power to lift the picks or diggers
out of the ground by means of an iron bar or pin attached to the first series
of excentrics, which in that event will be so arranged as to propel the picks or
diggers through the ground. The excentrics may in either case be so arranged
on their shaft, as to cause all the picks or diggers to enter the ground simul-
taneously or nearly so, or they may be mounted on their shaft in such a manner
as to cause the picks or diggers to enter the ground in any desired order of
succession. The picks or diggers, together with the apparatus or gearing for
actuating them, may be mounted on wheels so that the machine may be moved
over the surface of the ground with facility and without the necessity of exerting
an undue amount of power. The gearing on actuating the diggers or picks
may be driven by means of a large spur wheel, secured to one of the driving
wheels so that as the latter are drawn forward, the spur wheel will cause the
excentric shafts to rotate and actuate the picks or diggers, the number of
which may be increased or diminished to any extent, which may be found con-
venient in practice and the machinery may be driven either by steam, horse,
or other motive power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Firth, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FIRTH, of Burley, in the Borough of Leeds, in the County of York, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, 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 William Firth, Her special license that I, the said William
Firth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Firth, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DIGGING OR TURNING UP SOIL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Firth, by an instrument in

page_text: writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 William Firth, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery, whereby the
operation of digging or turning up soil may be expeditiously and economically
effected.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents the improved digger in
side elevation, and Figure 2 is an end or back view of the same. It consists
of a carriage A, A, mounted upon two pairs of wheels B and B'; attached to
the framing of this carriage is a pair of L-shaped brackets C, C, which serve
to carry at their extremities two horizontal shafts D and E. The large surface
wheels B, B, I use as driving wheels for operating the diggers or picks used
for turning over or disturbing the soil. Bolted to the arms of these wheels
are. the spur wheels G into the teeth of which gear the pinions F keyed to the
extremities of the shaft E. Upon this shaft are also mounted a series of
excentrics H carrying excentric straps from which depend arms I, I. Fitted
to the lower end of these arms are the diggers J, which may be made of any
appropriate form to suit the kind of work in, hand as will be well understood
by any agricultural implement maker, the diggers or picks being inserted in
and properly secured to sockets formed to receive them; keyed to the opposite
ends of the shaft D, are pinions K of the same pitch as the pinions F, and
gearing like them into the spur wheels G.
a series of excentrics L similar in number to the excentrics H on the shaft E.
These excentrics L are severally connected by excentric straps and arms M to
one of the pendent arms I by a loose joint N, and are intended to give the
requisite backward and forward movement to the picks or diggers J, while
their up and down motion is obtained from the throw of the excentrics H.
Upon the shaft D is also mounted
By the revolution of the large surface wheels B, and consequently of the
spur wheels G, effected by the draught or propulsion of the implement over
the ground to be operated upon, the excentrics H and L are through the
pinions on their respective shafts set in rotary motion, and thus a compound up
and down, and backward and forward motion is communicated to the pendent

page_text: arms I, which carry the picks or diggers J. To facilitate the action of the
implement, I set the excentrics on their shafts D and E, so that the one pair
of excentrics H and L shall have the lead of the next adjoining and so on
throughout the series as is well understood. By this means the picks or diggers
will follow each other in their action upon the soil, as represented in the Drawing
wherein it will also be seen that while the excentrics on the shaft E are
severally giving their full stroke and forcing the picks or diggers into the
ground, the corresponding excentrics on the shaft D are making their outward
throw, whereby the picks or diggers are drawn through the soil and out of it;
at the same time lifting or displacing the soil on which they have been brought
to act:
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Machinery for Digging or Turning up Soil," 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 of parts herein
described for operating a series of picks or diggers for digging or turning
up-soil.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Firth, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Signed and sealed in the
presence of
JAS. W. HAMILTON RICHARDSON,
Solicitor, Leeds.
WILLIAM FIRTH. (L.S.)