IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING, BREAKING UP, OR PULVERIZING LAND FOR SOWING SEEDS, AND FOR THINNING OUT TURNIPS AND OTHER CROPS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lamb Hancock and Frederick Lamb Hancock,
both of Pentonville, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING, BREAKING UP, OR
PULVERIZING LAND FOR SOWING SEEDS, AND FOR THINNING OUT TURNIPS AND
OTHER CROPS."
Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING, BREAKING UP, OR
PULVERIZING LAND FOR SOWING SEEDS, AND FOR THINNING OUT TURNIPS AND
OTHER CROPS."
Sealed the 8th April 1859, and dated the 11th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lamb Hancock
and Frederick Lamb Hancock at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 11th October 1858.
We, JAMES LAMB HANCOCK and FREDERICK LAMB HANCOCK, both of
Pentonville, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING,
BREAKING UP, OR PULVERIZING LAND FOR SOWING SEEDS, AND FOR THINNING OUT
TURNIPS AND OTHER CROPS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in constructing implements, in which the tools
employed are made to act gradually upon the land, so that each tool acting
upon small portions of the soil, and each acting upon a separate portion, a
great quantity is efficiently acted upon with much greater ease than if one
tool only acted upon a quantity of soil equal to that moved by the several
tools we employ.
To an ordinary beam we connect a frame, and to this frame or directly
to the beam we attach two, three, or more sets of knives or cutters, each set
being made to cut and act upon the soil at a depth, say, at two inches, greater
than that immediately in front of it; thus, we find it convenient to cause the
first knife to act upon a depth of two inches of earth, the second upon two

page_text: inches below that acted upon by the first, and the third upon two inches below
that acted upon by the second; thus six inches of earth would be moved and
broken. To the beam behind the knives we connect an adjustable mould
board or turnfurrow, which may be set to turn a furrow of from one inch in
depth to as many inches deep as the knives have broken. In some instances
we find it convenient to fit a separate knife or cutter behind the sets already
mentioned, and between them and the turnfurrow. In front of the series of
knives we fit a disc coulter.
For sowing seeds we form an implement with two or more depositors,
which are so regulated as not to allow of more seeds being deposited from the
whole number of depositors than now takes place from every single depositor
as now constructed. For the sowing of turnip seeds this implement will be
found highly useful, as the plants, instead of coming up in one thick row,"
rendering their. subsequent weeding out difficult, will come in three or four
rows, from which the requisite number may be readily thinned without damage
to the roots of the plants to be left.
For the thinning out of turnips and other crops, our implement carries a
series of revolving discs, and between every two discs in the series we fit a
knife or cutter. By means of this implement the plants may be removed
from the drills, while the revolving dises will prevent the knives from cutting
or dragging the roots of those plants which are to remain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Lamb Hancock and Frederick Lamb Hancock in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
LAMB HANCOCK and FREDERICK LAMB HANCOCK, both of Pentonville, in the
County of Middlesex, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said James Lamb Hancock and Frederick Lamb Hancock, Her
special licence that we, the said James Lamb Hancock and Frederick
Lamb Hancock, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said James Lamb Hancock and Frederick Lamb Hancock,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 IMPLEMENTS
FOR TILLING, BREAKING UP, OR PULVERISING LAND FOR SOWING SEEDS, AND FOR
THINNING OUT TURNIPS AND OTHER CROPS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said James Lamb Hancock and Frederick Lamb Hancock, or
one of us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, or one of our or 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 we, the said James Lamb Hancock and Frederick
Lamb Hancock, do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in constructing implements in which the tools
employed are made to act gradually upon the land, so that each tool acting
upon small portions of the soil, and each acting upon a separate portion, a
great quantity is efficiently acted upon with much greater ease than if one tool
only acted upon a quantity of soil equal to that moved by the several tools.
we employ.
To an ordinary beam we connect a frame, and to this frame or directly to
the beam we attach two, three, or more sets of knives or cutters, each set.
being made to cut and act upon the soil at a depth, say, of two inches greater.
than that immediately in front of it; thus we find it convenient to cause the
first knife to act upon a depth of two inches of earth, the second upon two.
inches below that acted upon by the first, and the third upon two inches
below that acted upon by the second; thus six inches of earth would be moved
and broken. To the beam behind the knives we connect an adjustable.
mould board or turnfurrow, which may be set to turn a furrow of from one.
inch in depth to as many inches deep as the knives have broken. In front.
of the series of knives we fit a disc coulter. For the dividing and pulverizing.
of the land we sometimes use vertical knives, which are so set as to come
into action one after the other, and we set them at about two inches from;
one another laterally. Our implements may be drawn by horse, steam, or,
other suitable power.

page_text: For sowing seeds we form an implement with two or more depositors
which are so regulated as not to allow of more seeds being deposited from the
whole number of depositors than now takes place from every single depositor
as now constructed. For the sowing of turnip seeds this implement will be
found highly useful, as the plants, instead of coming up in one thick row,
rendering their subsequent weeding out difficult, will come in three or four
rows, from which the requisite number may be readily thinned without damage
to the roots of the plants to be left.
For the thinning out of turnips and other crops our implement carries a
series of revolving discs, and between every two discs in the series we fit a
knife or cutter. By means of this implement the plants may be removed
from the drills, while the revolving discs will prevent the knives from cutting
or dragging the roots of those plants which are to remain,
We now proceed by reference to the accompanying Drawings to shew the
manner in which we carry our Invention into effect, Figure is a side
elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of our improved implement for tilling, breaking
up, and pulverizing land in the form in which we prefer to use, A, A, is an
ordinary beam; B, B, the supporting wheels; C, D, and E, are stems bolted
at top to the beam, and carrying at bottom knives F, F, F, shewn separately
in plan at Figure 9; G, G, are vertical cutters which rise upwards from and
are connected to the upper surface of the knives F, We do not always use the
vertical cutters. It will be seen that each knife is made to act upon the soil
at a different depth, the foremost knife taking the most shallow cut; now,
although we have instanced the knives as being placed two inches below each
other in succession, we do not limit ourselves to that proportion, as, according
to the nature of the soil and other circumstances, they may be made to act
at relatively greater or less depth; in every case, however, it is essential that the
first knife in the series shall take the shallowest depth. To the rear stem E
we bolt a turnfurrow or mould board H, by means of bolts passed through the
turnfurrow, and through holes a, a, a, formed in the rear side of the stem,
which side is so flanged and turned that on nuts being screwed over the ends
of the bolts, they are held clear and free from the land, when the implement is
at work; b is a lug shewn in dotted lines at Figure 1, for supporting and as
an additional means of attaching the turnfurrow to the stem; d, d, d, are
three holes in the turnfurrow, through one of which a bolt is passed into the
lug, according to the distance at which the turnfurrow is to be kept from the
bottom of the furrow. A front view of the stem E, with its knife F, is shewn
detached at Figure 11; Figure 12 is a detached view of one of the front stems
and knives. The front of the stems is formed with a sharp cutting edge; they

page_text: are flat on the land side, and are bevelled off on the furrow side; at bottom
they terminate in a foot c; this foot is pierced with two or more holes, for the
reception of screws or bolts for connecting the knives thereto; between the
foot c and the knife we insert a washer or packing d¹, shewn separately at
Figure 10, and by placing this washer more or less forward we raise or
depress the cutting edge of the knife; Figure 8 is a detached view of a knife
intended to act upon a greater breadth of soil than that shewn at Figure 9.
By altering the height of the turnfurrow H on the stem E, it will be
obvious the depth of soil turned over may be regulated at will; although we
have only shewn a turnfurrow attached to the stem E, yet for some purposes
we attach a turnfurrow to either or both of the stems C, D, and provide for
the height thereof from the soil being adjusted as with the turnfurrow H on
the stem E. We have not shewn a coulter in the Drawing, but a revolving
disc or other coulter may be fixed to the beam in front of the first knife;
Figure 3 is a plan of two of our implements combined, so as to form one
implement; Figure 4 is a plan of a combined implement with knives made to
act on both sides of each beam. A plan of one of these knives, but without
the vertical cutters, is sbewn detached at Figure 7. Figure 5 is a modification
of the implement shewn at Figure 1. A, A, is a portion of an ordinary beam,
to which the frame B is connected; C, D, E, are horizontal knives, arranged
behind and under each other, in the manner herein-before described. Figure 6
is a plan of Figure 5; a turnfurrow not shewn in the Drawings may be fixed to
the frame B behind the last knife. Figure 18 is a plan of an arrangement
of knives for breaking up land, which may be provided with suitable wheels
and handles; A, A, is a frame; B is a diagonal bar, to which a series of stems
C, C, C, is bolted or fixed; these stems carry knives D, D, D, each fixed to
come into action after one another; they all work at an equal depth. If this
frame be fixed to a beam as an ordinary plough beam, a turnfurrow may
be employed behind the cutters to turn over the soil broken up by them.
Figure 14 is a front elevation, and Figure 15 a plan, of implement in
which three sets of our arrangement of vertical cutters for breaking up land
between growing crops are shewn combined in one implement. A, A, A, are
frames carrying vertical cutters a, b, c, d; each cutter is formed with a knife
edge at front. The cutter a is inclined laterally, and first enters the soil, say,
to a depth of two inches; then follows the cutter b, which is also inclined, and
travels in a different line, and at a depth of one or two inches greater than
the first cutter; next the cutter c, and then d, come into action, each at a
greater depth than the first cutters, and the cutter d deeper than the cutter c.
B, B, B, are weighted levers connected to the frames A, A, A, which frames

page_text: are hinged to the cross bar of the main frame C, which is to be mounted on
wheels, not shewn in the Drawing. It will be seen that any one of the
frames A, A, A, may be taken out of action as may be required without
interfering with the operation of the others.
Figure 16 is a side elevation, Figure 17 a plan, and Figure 18 a back view
of three of our depositors, intended to form one implement, for sowing seeds
in separate thin rows of about two inches apart, and for distributing over
three rows the quantity of seed now usually deposited in every single row,
we recommend the sets of depositors to be kept at fourteen inches apart;
each seed will thus acquire a space for itself, and as it will thereby secure a
freer circulation of air for the plant, when growing up, each plant will be
stronger and more healthy than where a number of seeds are clustered
together, as with the ordinary drills. We are aware that thin sowing has
been heretofore attempted, but then in such a manner that a good crop could
not be relied on. Now, our depositors are so arranged, that should one or
two of our thin rows happen to fail at intervals, there will be a third to rely
upon, one row out of the three being sufficient to ensure a good crop. A is
a distributing box, intended to receive seed from an ordinary drill cup supply
wheel; this box receives only such a supply as is fed into one drill funnel in
ordinary drills. The box opens into three rows of drill funnels B, B, B, and
is provided with wires or other suitable intercepting and distributing medium,
which will cause the tossing about of the seed without arresting its progress;
C, C, C, are the depositing coulters. The funnels and coulters are arranged
to work in advance of one another, and cach in a different line, as shewn at
Figure 17. The feed to the box A may be effected in any manner other than
that above mentioned, but in no case must the supply to the box exceed the
quantity now generally delivered into each separate vertical row of funnels.
The drills are to be fixed to a frame and carriage of the construction now
generally followed in the manufacture of seed drills.
Figure 19 is a plan of our implement for thinning out turnips and other
crops. A, A, is the frame of the implement; B, a revolving axis or shaft, on
which discs C, C, with cutting edges are mounted; D, D, are hoes or knives
fixed to the back bar E of the frame of the implement, and set to work between
every two dises; a space is also left between the knives and every two discs.
The implement on being drawn forward will hoe up whatever may be presented
to the knives, but those portions of the crops coming between the knives will
remain, and the roots thereof will be protected from being disturbed. F, F,
are handles attached to the bar E, for the purpose of tilting that bar, and
thereby raising the knives to free and clean them when necessary. The

page_text: number of knives, and the distances at which the discs are to be fixed apart,
will of course depend upon the nature of the crop and the quantity to be
removed.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim as our
improvements an implement for tilling, breaking up, or pulverizing land,-
First, the particular construction, arrangement, and combination of parts
and method of action of the implements herein-before described, and repre-
sented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the employment of knives or cutters arranged to act one after the
other, and each one at a greater depth than that immediately before it, all
or either of such cutters acting by themselves, or in combination with an
adjustable turnfurrow or mould board, as herein-before described with
reference to Figures 4, 5, and 6.
Third, the employment of cutters or knives made to act in advance of each
other, and all at the same depth, as herein-before described, and represented
at Figure 13 of the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth, the employment of vertical knives or cutters, arranged to act
between the rows or drills of growing crops, represented at Figures 14 and
15 of the accompanying Drawings, and berein-before described.
Fifth, the particular construction of the stem E, shewn at Figure 11.
With respect to our implements for sowing seeds, we claim combining the
depositors in seed drills in manner and for the purpose herein-before described,
and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
And with respect to the improvements in implements for thinning out
turnips and other crops, we claim the employment in such implements of a
combination of hoeing-out knives and plant protectors, in manner and for
the purposes herein-before described, and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Lamb Hancock and Frederick
Lamb Hancock, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh
day of April, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JAMES LAMB HANCOCK.
(L.S.)
FREDERICK LAMB HANCOCK. (L.S.)