AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR EXTIRPATING THISTLES, Docks, AND OTHER DEEP-ROOTED WEEDS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Alison, of Hainault Forest, Essex, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR EXTIRPATING THISTLES,
Docks, AND OTHER DEEP-ROOTED WEEDS."
Sealed the 24th June 1859, and dated the 21st April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Alison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
April 1859.
I, JOHN ALISON, of Hainault Forest, Essex, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT
FOR EXTIRPATING THISTLES, DOCKS, AND OTHER DEEP-ROOTED WEEDS," to be as
follows:-
This instrument consists of an upright stem furnished at its upper end with
a cross handle. At a short distance from its lower end, which is pointed, a
steel cutter is inserted at right angles to the stem of the instrument. The
edges of this cutter are twisted to an angle of about 37°. On pushing the
point of the instrument into the ground where a weed is growing, and turning
it round by the handle, the cutter penetrates the ground in a spiral direction,
cutting the roots of the weed at each revolution, by which means it is
effectually destroyed. On reversing the motion, the instrument is withdrawn.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Alison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ALISON, of Hainault Forest, Essex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Alison, Her special licence that I, the said John Alison,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Alison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN
IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR EXTIRPATING THISTLES, DOCKS, AND OTHER DEEP-
ROOTED WEEDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Alison, 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 John Alison, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This instrument consists of an upright stem, furnished at its upper end
with a cross handle. At a short distance from its lower end, which is pointed,
a steel cutter is inserted at right angles to the stem of the instrument. The
edges of this cutter are twisted to an angle of about thirty-seven degrees.
On pushing the point of the instrument into the ground where a thistle or
other weed is growing, and turning it round by the handle, the cutter pene-
trates the ground in a spiral direction, cutting the roots of the weed at each
revolution, by which means it is effectually destroyed.
And in order that the same may be more fully understood, reference is had

page_text: to the annexed Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:
Figure 1 is an upright view of this improved weed extirpator; s is the
stem, h the handle, and c the cutter, the opposite ends of which have the
cutting edges deflected to an angle of thirty-seven degrees, or thereabout;
Figure 2 is a view of the lower end of the stem s, with the cutter c shown
endways. Figure 3 is a plan view of the cutter; a, a, are the cutting
edges.
And I desire it to be understood that what I claim as my Invention, secured
to me by the before-named Letters Patent, is the improved instrument for
extirpating thistles, docks, and other deep-rooted weeds, substantially as
herein-before described and shown in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Alison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
A. W. GIRAude,
19, Conduit Street,
Westbourne Terrace.
JOHN ALISON. (L.S.)