IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Skelton, of Lostwithiel, in the County of
Cornwall, (Smith,) for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Skelton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th January 1865.
I, JOSEPH SKELTON, of Lostwithiel, in the County of Cornwall, (Smith,) do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PLOUGHS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of ploughs,
whereby I am enabled to shift either of the mould plates free of the land side
or furrow by the simple turning of a turn-wrest handle either to the right or
left, or by any other mechanical contrivance, such as a lever or screw shaft;
while by the same action the other plate is thrown forward, together with the
greeter for commencing the return furrow. The turn-wrest handle is fixed
between the two plough arms or directors; it actuates a shaft, at the end of
which a pinion or toothed wheel is fixed, gearing with a horizontal segmental
rack or quadrant set on a vertical axis, and connected to the two mould plates.
It is therefore obvious that by winding the turnwrest handle in the required
direction, one or other of the plough moulds will be shifted free of the furrow
as first stated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Skelton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SKELTON, of Lostwithiel, in the County of Cornwall, Smith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Skelton, Her special licence, that I, the said Joseph Skelton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Skelton, 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 Ire-
land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PLOUGHS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Skelton, 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 Joseph Skelton, 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 following
statement:-
My Invention relates to improvements in the construction of ploughs, whereby
I am enabled to shift either of the mould plates free of the land side or
furrow by the simple turning of a turn-wrest handel either to the right or left,
or by any other equivalent mechanical contrivance, such as a lever or screw
shaft, while by the same action the other plate is thrown forward together
with the greeter for commencing the return furrow. The turn-wrest handle is
fixed between the two plough arms or directors, it actuates a shaft, at the end
of which a pinion or toothed wheel is fixed, gearing with a horizontal seg-
mental toothed rack or quadrant set on a vertical axis, and connected to the
two mould plates; it is therefore obvious that by winding the turn-wrest

page_text: handle in the required direction, one or other of the plough moulds will be
shifted free of the furrow as first stated.
In order that my said Invention may be completely understood, I annex a
Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents a side view of the plough;
and. Fig. 2 a view of the mould plates detached, similar letters denoting
corresponding parts in each Figure.
A is the turn-wrest handle by which the mould plates B, B, are moved by
the aid of the rack F and pinion C; D, D, D, D, are the fastenings of the
mould plates; E is the greeter.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion, that I
do not limit myself to the precise details and configuration of parts I have
specified, as the same may obviously be varied or modified without in any way
departing from the principle thereof, but what I claim as my Invention, and
desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is, the
method of shifting either of the mould plates free of the land side or furrow,
substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Skelton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
JOHN COLLINS BLEWETT,
Surgeon,
Lostwithiel.
JOSEPH SKELTON. (L.S.)