HORSE- HOEING LAND
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hawkins Nicholls, of Bedford, in the
County of Bedford, Gentleman, for the Invention of "HORSE-
HOEING LAND."
Sealed the 2nd April 1853, and dated the 15th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hawkins
Nicholls at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th October 1852.
I, ROBERT HAWKINS NICHOLLS, of Bedford, in the County of Bed-
ford, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"HORSE-HOEING LAND" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of means being given by mechanical arrange-
ment for turning the points or cutting parts of the hoes in the land
during the progression of the implement, and of thus guiding them by
simple and easy means, and with great accuracy, between the rows of
growing crops; and also of an improved mode of draught, by which
means the varying motion of the horses is prevented from being either
so suddenly or so sensibly communicated to the machine while in
motion as by the ordinary method of draught.
The mechanical arrangement of my Invention is as follows:-The

page_text: hoes are made each with a round stem, which is placed in a socket in
which it can be turned. The sockets containing the hoes are fixed by
screws or other simple means to an horizontal bar, on which they cau
be moved so as to be set to pass between the rows of growing crops at
any necessary distance; the upper parts of the stems of the hoes arc
cranked at right angles, to admit of a bar or connecting rod being
placed upon them, parallel with the horizontal bar to which the hoes
are fixed. The bar or connecting rod above described has sockets to
receive the cranked stems of the hoes, and is placed upon them,
coupling them together. Two levers, which act as handles to the hoc,
are fixed, each by a pivot, to the horizontal bar, and, passing under the
bar or connecting rod in which the cranked stems of the hoes are
placed, are fastened to it, each by a pivot, thus connecting the hoes to
the levers or handles of the implement; the handles will then act as
levers to the hoes, and will enable the operator to turn them in the
land while the implement is in motion, and to guide them with
accuracy between the rows of growing crops. Having described the
hoeing part of the machine, I proceed to describe the mode by
which it is drawn when in work. An axle, having shafts and wheels
in the ordinary manner, or having wheels made and fixed to it like the
guiding wheels of a Bath chair, to be placed on the horizontal bar
containing the hoes, is connected to the horizontal bar of the hoe by
two connecting rods, each working upon a pivot; the connecting rods
are then crossed over each other near to the centre of the axle, and
are fixed to it in that position, each by a pivot, at given points on each
side of the centre; by this arrangement steadiness of draught is given
to the implement. The improvements effected by my Invention are,
an improved mode of guiding the hoes between the rows of growing
crops, by turning their points or cutting parts in the direction in which
they are required to move in the land, instead of the means at present
adopted, that of lifting the hoes sideways or otherwise, either by
mechanical means or by hand; and also an improved method of
draught, by which the varying motion of the horse is neither so sud-
denly nor so sensibly communicated to the machine while in motion
as by the ordinary mode of draught.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Hawkins Nicholls in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 13th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ROBERT HAWKINS NICHOLLS, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Hawkins Nicholls, Her special license that I, the said Robert
Hawkins Nicholls, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Robert Hawkins Nicholls, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 "HORSE-HOEING LAND," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Hawkins
Nicholls, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Robert Hawkins Nicholls, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
My Invention has for its object the guiding of the hoes of the
implement between the rows of growing crops by turning them and
the points or cutting parts and the guiding wheels in the land while
the machine is moving forward. I also attach to the implement a
new mode of draught, by which the varying motion of the horse is
prevented from being either so suddenly or so sensibly communicated
to it while in motion as by the ordinary method of draught.

page_text: Figure 1, in the accompanying Drawing is a plan of the upper part
of the machine, and consists of the handle or lever for guiding the
hoe of the framework, and of the shafts connected to the framework,
by my improved means of draught.
Figure 2, is a plan of the hoes and guide wheels arranged as for
working.
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, are various kinds of hoes and points
arranged to suit the requirements of various kinds of work.
a, Figure 1, is a double horizontal bar to which the hoes points and
guide wheels are attached by means of stems in sockets, in which they
turn each on its own axis. b, b, b, b, are cranks connected at one end
to the tops of the stems of the hoes over their sockets (attached by
nuts and screws), and at the other end by pivots let into sockets
(attached by nuts and screws) to a second horizontal bar e, parallel to
the double bar a. The handle c, turns on a pin in the bar a, and
connects at its extremity, by means of another pin, to the bar d, which
passes along and over the cranks, and is attached to the bar e, by two
pins ff. The motion of the handle is thus communicated to the
cranks by the bar e, which moves laterally in slots in the framework of
the machine. g, g, are two rods attached to the double bar a, by rings
or loops, and to the bar j, by hinges or pins. The connected ex-
tremities of the bars n, n, move in a slot o, in the bar j.
Figure 2, shows the double bar a, with the stems b, b, b, b, and
sockets, r,, r, in which they turn. p, p, p, p, are the hoes points
and cutting parts of the machine; and 7, 9, are the guide wheels.
These hoes points, cutting parts, and wheels are adjustable in the
stems by sockets and set screws 1, 20, 21, 21, 21, 20²
Figure 7, is an arrangement by which the triangular part of the hoe
may be easily fixed or removed for the purpose of change or repair.
The stem passes through a slit in the hoe, which rests in the cavity of
the stem, and is retained by a pin through the spur: the pointed
extremity of the stem thus also acts both as a guide and cutting point
in one and the same piece.
Having described the hoeing part of the machine, I proceed to
describe the mode by which it is drawn when at work. The shafts i, i,
are connected to the bar j, by two rods m, m, which cross each other,

page_text: and are hung by rings or pins to allow of their motion as the horse
varies in the draught. The axle or bar j, having wheels attached to it
by vertical stems and moveable clutches, is connected by the rods g, g,
with the bar a, by pins or rings.
Having now fully described the nature of my Invention, I do not
confine myself to the precise details as herein described, so long as the
peculiar character and principle be retained.
I claim, First, the axial motion of the hoes and guide wheels by
the moveable bar e, substantially as described, or by any other suitable
means.
Second, the use of the turning points or cutting parts, cither as
forming a part of the hoe, as Figure 3, or as a separate instrument (as
Figures 5, 6, and 7), and for turning in the land on an axis, or by
other means.
Third, the improved means of draught as herein described, or any
other substantially the same.
I do not confine myself to any specific arrangement of the parts, but
claim the application and combination in any suitable manner of the
within-described machine for hoeing land.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hawkins Nicholls, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April.
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.