IMPROVEMENTS IN DIBBLING CORN AND SEEDS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
BRADSHAW, of Dean, near Kimbolton, in the County of Bedford, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twelfth day of May, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Peter Bradshaw, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Peter Bradshaw, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Peter Bradshaw, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DIBBLING CORN AND SEEDS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Peter
Bradshaw, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with said proviso, I, the said
Peter Bradshaw, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described

page_text: "
and ascertained in and
the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to modes of adapting and combining mechanical
instruments and apparatus so as to produce machines for sowing corn or seeds
at intervals, as will be hereafter described. In dibbling corn as at present
practised it is usual for one person to make holes at intervals in the land, and
other persons follow and drop into the same several grains of corn or seed;
and in some instances the person in sowing seeds at intervals takes a few
grains at a time between the finger and thumb, and forces them into the land.
And it has been lately proposed to apply valves to the lower parts of drills,
which, being alternately opened and closed in place of trailing the corn or seed
continuously in lines, to drop the grains of corn or seed only at intervals.
And there has been other machinery proposed for planting corn and seeds at
intervals by means of a series of revolving hollow spokes forming a wheel, by
which it is proposed to plant corn and seeds at equal intervals apart; and such
means of sowing seed is called dibbling, in contradistinction to what is called
"broadcast," or indiscriminately throwing or casting seeds on to the surface of
the land by hand; and also to "drilling," in which case a machine is so
arranged as to sow seed in continuous rows by means of trailing tubes with
hoppers, into which the seed is thrown or dropped by revolving instruments.
Now, according to the first part of my Invention, I produce a machine
which is capable of making a series of holes at intervals apart by suitable
instruments, and then by means of certain apparatus to drop into each of such
holes the number or quantity of grains of corn or seed desired, the dropping
of the corn or seed following accurately at intervals the formation of the holes.
And, secondly, by my Invention I am enabled to produce a machine which
is capable of forming a series of continuous furrows or channels, and by
means of certain apparatus to drop at measured and regulated intervals the
required quantity or number of grains of corn or seed with certainty and
simplicity of action. And, in order to give the best information in my power,
that my Invention may be most readily carried into effect, I will proceed to
describe the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which the same letters or
figures of references are used to indicate similar parts wherever they occur.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a side section of a machine constructed according to
my Invention. Figure 2 is a back view of the same machine. a, a, are the
wheels which carry the machine. These wheels move on axes affixed to levers,

page_text: as hereafter explained. 6, 6, are toothed wheels affixed to the wheels a, a;
and it is by means of such toothed wheels b, b, that motion is communicated
to the various working parts. c, c, is a frame to which the shafts for a horse
are affixed, as is clearly shewn in the Drawings. d is a shaft or axis turning
in bearings e, e, affixed to the frame c, c, as is shewn. On each end of the
shaft or axis d is affixed a toothed wheel f, which takes into and is driven. by
its respective toothed wheel b. On the axis d is also affixed a toothed wheel
9, which takes into and drives the cog wheel h, affixed on the axis i, such axis
i moving in bearings j, carried by the standard frames affixed on the frame
On the axis are affixed a series of
c, c, as is clearly shewn in the Drawing.
excentrics k, each of which works one of the instruments for forming holes at
intervals for the reception of grains of corn or seed. I, l, are a series of frames,
which are worked up and down by the excentrics k. The nature of these
frames is clearly shewn in the Drawings, the upper parts of each frame.
embracing one of the excentrics j, and is retained on its excentric by there being
a groove formed around the excentric, into which a screw or screws enter,
which pass through the circular portion of the frame 1, as is well understood
by machinists. m, m, are a series of rods, one to each excentric, each of such
rods having an enlarged and pointed end, which, being caused to enter and
leave the land, produces a hole. But it is important to state that the simple
entry and leaving of the ground by such an instrument would be liable to have
the soil adhere to the surfaces, and thereby not produce a complete and well-
formed hole, but would rather produce a broken surface to the land; and, in
order to ensure there being a well-formed hole, each time a pointed end of a
rod m enters and leaves the land, each of the rods m, in addition to being
caused to be pressed into and taken from the land, is caused to rotate partly
round as an axis when in the soil, by which means the hole produced (by the
entrance of the pointed instrument) will be left complete, and the soil at the
sides of the hole will not be lifted by the rising of the instrument out of the
hole it has formed. The rods m pass through holes formed in their respective
frames 1, 1, as is shewn; and there is a spring n, n, to each, by which the rods
are retained in their places; and the springs I prefer to be of such a strength
that they will not be overcome by the simple pressure in causing the pointed
ends of the rods m to enter the earth, the springs being intended simply as a
provision to prevent any prejudicial action taking place should the pointed end
of a rod m come in contact with a stone, the spring n in such case giving way
to allow of the particular rod m receding, thus prevent its being injured. o is
a bar fixed across the machine, on which are affixed guides or rings p. p,
through which the rod can rise and fall freely; and the upper and under

page_text: side of each ring or guide p being formed bell-mouthed, the rod m can assume
an angular position, which is necessary for its proper action, owing to the
onward movement of the machine on the wheels a, and the movement up and
down caused by the excentrics, as will clearly be seen on examining the
Drawings. And, in order to obtain the requisite rotatory motion of the rods
m, that their pointed ends may leave the holes formed thereby without causing
the ground to be broken up, I apply projecting arms q, q, one to each
rod m; and to each arm q I apply a connecting rod r by a pin joint, as
is shewn, such connecting rods moving in front on axes s; hence it will
be evident that, in the movement of the rods up and down by the excentrics,
and the angles they consequently take in respect to the guides or rings
p, will, by means of the connecting rods r, cause the pointed ends of the
rods m to perform a portion of a rotation in entering the ground, and also in
leaving the ground, which is most favorable to the producing finished well-
formed holes. I would, however, here remark, that although I prefer to use
excentrics for raising and lowering the rods m, and the means I have described
for giving to the rods a partial rotation, I do not confine myself thereto, as
the same motions may be obtained by substituting equivalent mechanical
instruments for obtaining like movements. t is a box in front to contain
corn or seed, and may be used as a driving seat; but I prefer, when at work,
that the driver or person attending the machine should walk behind, and have
the reins long enough to drive from behind when walking. By this means he
is enabled to see to the proper working of the machine, as well as to drive the
horse. u, u, are side frames descending from and affixed to the frame c, c, and
to these frames u are affixed the box v, containing the corn or seed. This box v
is as wide as the machine; its shape is shewn in the Drawings. At the lower
part of this box v is an opening in which a roller w works, its axes turning in
bearings at each end; and it will be seen that the roller w closes the opening
in the lower part of the box v; hence, no corn or seed can fall out from the
box; and in order to cause grains of seed to fall into the holes made by the
instruments m, there are recesses formed around the roller at such distances
apart as to cause seed to be dropped exactly over the holes formed successively
by each of the rods m; and as the rods do not go down all at one moment,
but succeed each other, owing to the manner of placing the excentrics, the
holes in the roller w are not in a direct line, but succeed each other, to corre-
spond with the working of a particular rod m; and it will be seen that the
roller w is brought very low down towards the ground, and has nothing
between it and the ground; hence, when one of the recesses x, containing
grains of seed passes beyond the box, the seed will drop immediately to the

page_text: hole below, and all the seed of one recess will drop to one point, and no more
seed will be delivered or dropped by the roller w, for a particular rod m, till the
onward progress of the machine has caused the next hole made by that rod m
to be below the next recess x, in the roller w. By this means there will be no
trailing of the corn or seed, as is the case with drills where hoppers and inclined
trailing tubes are introduced between the revolving instrument which supplies
the seed to the hopper and the ground; and although revolving surfaces somewat
similar to the roller w, have been before used for sowing seeds by the aid of
drills, their use and mode of action is very different, as they are not adapted
or applied in such manner as to cause the whole contents of one recess to be
deposited directly on the land at one point, and the contents of the next recess
to be deposited at another point distant from the preceding one, which consti-
tutes the peculiar character of dibbling in contradistinction to other modes of
sowing seed. y is a brush opposite each row of recesses a, around the roller
w. The object of these brushes is to prevent the grains of seed being crushed,
which might otherwise happen if there was no such brushes used, by the seed,
which might project from a recess x, coming against the edge of the box as
the roller w revolves, the brush offering an elastic resistance by which any
excess of seed in the recess is prevented, and at the same time retains the
grains of seed well into the recess x, as the recess is passing out of the box;
and it will be evident that on the size of the recess will depend the number of
a particular description of seeds delivered into one hole, and by enlarging or
reducing the size of the hole, the number of grains of a particular seed may
be changed, and I prefer to have several rollers w, with different-sized holes,
in each roller, to each machine where it is intended that the same machine
should be used for dibbling different descriptions of seeds. The roller w
receives motion in the following manner:-2, 2¹, are two wheels, one on the
axis d, and the other on the roller w, the wheel z¹ working in a recess formed
in the box; A, being an endless chain by which motion is communicated from
one to the other of those wheels, as is clearly shewn in the Drawings.
I would remark then when I desire to apply manure together with the seed
into the same holes, then I use a second apparatus in every way similar to
that described for receiving and sowing the corn or seed, and the roller is
driven in a similar manner to that at w, as is clearly shown in the Drawings, by
an inspection of which, aided by the description already given of the parts for
sowing the seed, a workman will readily understand the nature of the parts
and their mode of action. B, B, are levers to which the axes of the wheels
a, a, are affixed. These levers B move on axes C, C, affixed to the frame c, c,

page_text: 'the two levers B being connected by the bar B¹; and B2 is a handle affixed
to that bar B¹, by which the whole of the working parts can be lifted out of
action or lowered into action, as the case may be, the handle B2 being retained
down, when down, by the bolt D, and the handle B2 is retained up, when up,
by the spring catch E; all which is clearly shewn in the Drawings. By this
means the machine can be kept out or in action, according to the will of the
person attending it. Figure 3.shews a side view of a machine made accord-
ing to the second part of my Invention, in which many of the parts are similar
to those already described, and they are marked with the same letters of refe-
'rence, and work in the manner above described. It will not, therefore, be
necessary again to go over such description. In this machine the rods m, m,
and parts directly connected with the making of holes, as before described, are
dispensed with, and the instruments F, F, substituted, which are intended to
make parallel furrows or channels to receive the seeds at intervals, the instru-
ments F being cranked levers moving on axes G in front of the machine, and
H, H, are weights to cause the lower ends of the levers to penetrate to the
depth desired. The lower ends of the levers, which form the furrows or
channels, are formed in such manner that it is sharp in front to divide the
soil, and the two sides are opened out, as is shewn, in such manner as to support
the land sides of the furrow, so as to prevent the soil falling in at the point to
which the grains of seed from a recess a fall. And it will be seen that the seeds
all fall to one point, and between the two sides of the cutter which support
the land; but seeds do not fall on to the cutter; and it will also be seen that
the successive deposits of seed are at measured intervals apart, and when the
earth is closed in on to the seeds, the effect will be the same as if separate
holes had been made.
I would remark, that, although I prefer such instruments as above described
for making furrows or channels to be combined with the roller w, and the
parts connected therewith, as above described, I do not confine myself thereto,
as other instruments suitable for making furrows may be used.
In conclusion, I would remark, that I have not thought it necessary to explain
any means for covering the seeds; the same may be done by a bush harrow
and roller or other means, as is well understood, when sowing seeds in a like
manner by other machines or instruments. And I would have it understood
that what I claim is,-
First, the mode of applying the instruments m, m, to form holes in combina-
tion with suitable apparatus for dropping corn or seed into the holes so formed
as herein described..
3

page_text: And secondly, I claim the mode of dropping grain or seed at intervals apart
by means of the roller w, and its box, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Bradshaw, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty.