IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DRILLS TO Sow OR DEPOSIT CORN, SEED, AND MANURE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Josiah Smyth, of Peasenhall, in the County
of Suffolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
DRILLS TO Sow OR DEPOSIT CORN, SEED, AND MANURE."
Sealed the 7th October 1864, and dated the 23rd April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Josiah Smyth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1864.
I, JAMES JOSIAH SMYTH, of Peasenhall, in the County of Suffolk, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF DRILLS TO Sow OR DEPOSIT CORN, SEED, AND MANURE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of drills
to sow or deposit corn, seed, and manure. In drills of the ordinary construc-
tion a roller is employed to raise the coulter levers when it is desired to lift
the coulters off the land; each lever has a chain attached to it, and the other
ends of the chains are connected to the roller, so that by turning the roller.
the chains are wound up and the levers lifted. The same roller also serves
when turned in the contrary direction to press down the levers to cause the
coulters to bear more heavily on the land. The roller is connected by chains
to vertical irons, which act on bars turning on centres at each side of the
machine, and a horizontal rod passes from one bar to the other over the
levers. When the chains of the vertical irons are wound upon the roller theso.
irons are pressed down, and the horizontal rod is so caused to bear on the
coulter levers. In order to turn the roller there are usually band levers fixed

page_text: on its axis; these, however, are inconvenient, as they require considerable
exertion in their use, and besides which the arrangement of the machine is
such that they come inconveniently near the road or carrying wheels.
Now one part of my Invention consists in gearing the roller with an axis
at an angle to it. I prefer to mount a worm wheel on the roller, and to gear
the same with a worm on an axis having a crank handle at its end; by this
arrangement the roller is readily turned, the handle also becomes more
conveniently placed.
Another part of my Invention relates to the means of conducting the corn,
seed, or manure to the coulters. In order to supply the corn, seed, or manure
to the coulters it is usual to employ a series of funnel-shaped conducting tins,
but they are inconvenient, as not unfrequently earth or dirt will enter and stop
the passage.
According to my Invention I make the conducting tins or tubes parallel or
nearly so and telescopic; the upper part of each tin or tube enters within the
lower, which it fits as nearly as is consistent with perfect freedom of motion
of the two parts in sliding in and out; this middle joint is covered by an
exterior tube of metal or other suitable rigid material, which again fits as
closely as is consistent with freedom of motion; this covering tube serves
effectually to keep dirt out of the middle joint. The lower portion of each
telescope tin or tube I joint to the coulter (or it may be to the lever or other
part connected therewith), and I make the joint tight without interfering
with the freedom of play in every direction which is required, by forming a
portion of a ball or sphere on the one part, and a socket on the other;
the two parts of the joint are held together, by preference, by means of
a vulcanized india-rubber spring. The jointing the lower portion of the
conducting tin or tube at its lower end to the conlter, or to the lever or part
connected therewith, in place of as heretofore jointing it at its upper end to
the lever, allows close joints to be made, as above explained, which cannot
practically be done when the lower tin or portion of the conducting tube is
jointed to the lever at its upper end.
by the said James Josiah Smyth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JANES
JOSIAH SMYTH, of Peasenhall, in the County of Suffolk, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Josiah Smyth, Her special licence that I, the said James
Josiah Smyth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
J, the said James Josiah Smyth, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DRILLS TO SOW OR DEPOSIT CORN, SEED,
AND MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Josiah Smyth, 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 James Josiah Smyth, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of drills
to sow or deposit corn, seed, and manure. In drills of the ordinary construc-
tion a roller is employed to raise the coulter levers when it is desired to lift
the coulters ofl' the land; each lever has a chain attached to it, and the other
ends of the chains are connected to the roller, so that by turning the roller
the chains are wound up and the levers lifted. The same roller also serves
when turned in the contrary direction to press down the levers to cause the
coulters to bear more heavily on the land. The roller is connected by chains
to vertical irons, which act on bars turning on centres at each side of the
machine, and a horizontal rod passes from one bar to the other over the
levers. When the chains of the vertical irons are wound upon the roller these
irons are pressed down, and the horizontal rod is so caused to bear on the
coulter levers. In order to turn the roller there are usually band levers fixed
on its axis; these, however, are inconvenient, as they require considerable
exertion in their use, and besides which the arrangement of the machine is
such that they come inconveniently near the road or carrying wheels.

page_text: Now one part of my Invention consists in gearing the roller with an axis
at an angle to it. I prefer to mount a worm wheel on the roller, and to gear
the same with a worm on an axis having a crank handle at its end; by this
rrangement the roller is readily turned; the handle also becomes more
conveniently placed.
. Another part of my Invention relates to the means of conducting the corn,
seed, or manure to the coulters. In order to supply the corn, seed, or manure
to the coulters it is usual to employ a series of funnel-shaped conducting tins,
but they are inconvenient, as not unfrequently earth or dirt will enter and stop
the passage.
According to my Invention I make the conducting tins or. tubes parallel or
nearly so and telescopic; the upper part of each tin or tube enters within the
lower, which it fits as nearly as is consistent with perfect freedom of motion
of the two parts in sliding in and out; this middle joint is covered by an
exterior tube of metal or other suitable rigid material, which again fits as
closely as is consistent. with freedom of motion; this covering tube serves.
ellectually to keep dirt out of the middle joint. The lower portion of each.
telescopic tin or tube I joint to the coulter (or it may be to the lever or other
part connected therewith), and I make the joint tight without interfering
with the freedom of play in every direction which is required, by forming a
portion of a ball or sphere on the one part, and a socket on the other; the
two parts of the joint are held together by means of a vulcanized india-rubber
spring or otherwise. The jointing the lower portion of the conducting tin on
tube at its lower end to the coulter, or to the lever or part connected there-
with, in place of as heretofore jointing it at its upper end to the lever, allows
close joints to be made, as above explained, which cannot practically be done
when the lower tin or portion of the conducting tube is jointed to the lever at
its upper end.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a back view, and Figure 2 a portion of a side view of a drill
arranged according to my Invention.
u, a, is the roller used to raise and depress the levers and coulters; a¹ is a
worm wheel fixed at the end of this roller, and gearing with the worm b. on

page_text: plan of one of these levers with its coulter f and weights g, and other parts
connected therewith, is shown at Figure 3. h, h, are other chains attached to
the roller by hooks a³, and passing around it in a direction opposite to that
taken by the chains d; the other ends of the chains h are connected with the
upright bars i, and these at their lower ends are jointed to the bars or radius
arms k, to which the rod 7, passing over the top of the coulter levers, is fixed,
thus by turning the handle c the levers e with their coulters can be raised or
depressed; the handle can be locked in the position required by a catch m
dropping into a notch in the catch wheel n. As respects the supplying seed
or material to be sown, to the coulters o is the seed box, from which by the
ordinary means the seed or material is in measured quantities supplied at
regular intervals through the nozzles o'; it falls in each case into a telescopic
tube made in two parts p' and på, which deliver it to the passage f' in the
coulter f, and it is thus conducted to the ground; the upper part p¹ of each
telescopic tube enters the lower part p² and is able to slide therein, and the
joint between the two parts is covered by a tube p³, as is shown. The tubes p'
have a flange or rim at the top and drop into the tubes p³, and these latter
are held up to the nozzle of the seed box by chains q, q, or it may be by india-
rubber springs, which pass round lugs on the tube p³, and also round lugs on
the under side of the seed box. The tubes p² are each supported at their
lower ends by a conical socket, which fits on to a hollow metal ball 7, the stem
of which passes through an eye in the lever e, and is there secured by a set
screw. The hollow stem of the ball enters between the cheek plates of the
coulter, which spring in and clip it closely. The conical socket is kept on
the ball r, by preference, by a lip turned inwards at its lower edge, as is shown,
or a spring of vulcanized india-rubber may be used to keep the conical socket
down upon the ball r.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Josiah Smyth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES JOSIAH SMYTH.
L.S.)