IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND.”
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edward Ransome, of Ipswich, in the.
County of Suffolk, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edward Ransome
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st June 1871.
I, JAMES EDWARD RANSOME, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND," to be as
follows:-
:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in double-furrow
ploughs, and relates more especially to certain improved means for the
adaptation to such ploughs of a subsoiling skife in place of the front
body, and for facilitating the lowering and raising the skife into or out of
work. I attach the subsoil skife by a pin joint to a socket which slides
upon the furrow side beam of the plough, and may be fixed by a clamp

page_text: screw in any required position in the length of the beam. To a point in
the skife a suitable distance above the beam of the plough I attach a rod
the other end of which is connected with a hand lever within reach of
the attendant at the rear end of the plough. To a point on the skife
below the beam I attach a chain, the other end of which is connected
with the plough beam at a point some distance in advance of the skife;
this chain takes the strain upon the skife when in work.
It is well known that a subsoil skife in order to properly loosen the
soil must have the point which penetrates deepest into the ground some-
what in advance of the part immediately above it, and for this purpose
the skife usually has a curved form, and when such skives are lowered
into work the back of the curve will touch the ground while the point
is still some distance above it, and force must be employed by levers or
other contrivances to cause the point of the skife to engage and enter
the ground. Now I entirely remove this difficulty by forming at the
back of the skife a claw or projection in such a position that on first
lowering the skife by the hand lever the said claw or projection im-
mediately engages the soil and causes the point of the skife also to
engage the soil and draw into its working position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Edward Ransome in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDWARD RANSOME, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Edward Ransome, Her special
license that I, the said James Edward Ransome, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Edward Ransome,
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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING AND TILLING LAND," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Edward Ransome, 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 Edward Ransome, 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 Invention has for its object improvements in double-furrow
ploughs, and relates more especially to certain improved means for the
adaptation to such ploughs of a subsoiling skife in place of the front
body, and for facilitating the lowering and raising the skife into or out
of work. I attach the subsoil skife by a pin joint to a socket which
slides upon the furrow side beam of the plough, and may be fixed by a
clamp screw in any required position in the length of the beam. To a
point in the skife a suitable distance above the beam of the plough I
attach a rod the other end of which is connected with a hand lever
within reach of the attendant at the rear end of the plough.
То а
point on the skife below the beam I attach a chain the other end of
which is connected with the plough beam at a point some distance in
advance of the skife; this chain takes the strain upon the skife when in
work.
It is well known that a subsoil skife in order to properly loosen the
soil must have the point which penetrates deepest into the ground
somewhat in advance of the part immediately above it, and for this
purpose the skife usually has a curved form, and when such skifes are
lowered into work the back of the curve will touch the ground while the
point is still some distance above it, and force must be employed by
levers or other contrivances to cause the point of the skife to engage
and enter the ground.
Now I entirely remove this difficulty by forming at the back of the
skife a claw or projection in such a position that on first lowering the
skife by the hand lever the said claw or projection immediately engages

page_text: In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood I will
proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan of a double-furrow plough fitted in accordance with
my Invention with a subsoil tine or skife on the right-hand beam in
place of the front ordinary plough body. Figure 2 is an elevation of
the same shewing the tine in working position, and also by a dotted
line showing the position of the tine when being dropped into work.
Figure 3 is another elevation shewing the plough lifted out of work
for turning at the headland, and also the point of the tine raised still
further to clear the ground. Figure 4 is a partial side elevation;
Figure 5 is a partial plan, and Figure 6 is a partial end view shewing
the method of attachment of the tine to the beam, the bearing carrying
the axle to which the tine is attached, and also a portion of the upper
end of the tine; Figure 7 shews a subsoil tine formed in the ordinary
manner without a claw, so that until force is applied it skids along the
surface without entering the ground.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3, A and A' are the beams of a double-furrow
plough adjustable to different widths by the screws B, B; C and D are
the ordinary plough bodies for use for double-furrow ploughing. C, the
front body, is shewn by a dotted line, and it is removed when the subsoil
tine T is required to be worked. To this tine is attached an axle or
pin E by preference arranged with a clamp socket R so that the depth
of the tine T in the ground may be varied at pleasure. This axle E
works in a bearing in the block F and can be set in any desired position
on the beam by means of two bolts G, G. The axle is by preference
placed under the beam, the tine T is free to move in any position around
the axle E. To the lower end of the tyne I attach a chain H leading
up to the fore part of the beam I of the plough. This chain supports
the tine T when in work and takes the principal part of the strain off
the centre of the right-hand beam of the plough A. This chain H may
be lengthened or shortened as required by taking up one or more links.
on the hook J so that the working position of the tine T may at all
times be maintained. As the chain H takes the greater part of the
strain off the tine a lighter plough and beam may be used for subsoiling

page_text: than is possible when the strain of the tine comes directly on the centre
of the beam. To the upper end of the tine T I attach a connecting rod
or chain K, to the other end of which is connected a hand lever L close
by the handles M, M, at the rear of the plough and within reach of the
ploughman when at work. When it is desired to work as a subsoiler
the lever L is released from the catch N on the handle M. The tine T
is curved forward at the bottom to carry the point or share O, and to the
back of the tine T and near its lower extremity I attach a claw or
projection P. When the handle L is released as above described the
tine T drops by its own weight on to the pan of the furrow cut by
the hind body D in the previous bout. The claw engages the soil and
causes the point of the share also to engage the soil, drawing it into a
working position. When the point O has come into working position
it is lower than the claw P, and therefore protects the claw from wear.
By the addition of the claw P the great evil which would otherwise be
caused by the back part of the tine T when made in the ordinary form
slipping on the top of the pan of the furrow is avoided. On arriving
at the headland the tine T is raised out of work by means of the lever L
and connecting rod K acting on the upper extremity. A tine provided
with a claw and turning on an axis to rise out of the land as above
described is not necessarily used. In conjunction with a plough it may
be usefully employed in implements known as cultivators and in other
such like implements.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would remark that I am aware that
subsoil skifes or tines have before been applied in place of the ordinary
front body of double-furrow ploughs and that such skifes or tines have
been made to adjust in depth. I am aware in single-furrow ploughs
subsoil tines have been attached in a similar relative position with the
body of the plough, and that such tines have been arranged to lift out
of work by being turned on a centre at the upper end, and have been
lifted out of work by means of a very similar arrangement of handle
and connecting rod attached to the upper extremity of the tine which
is also worked on a joint. I am also aware that in single-furrow ploughs
subsoil tines have been added behind them and the draught taken
through a chain attached to the lower extremity. Therefore I do not
claim any of these things, but what I claim is,-
1st. The combination, substantially as described, of a plough with a
subsoil tine hinged on a joint attached to the beam to the right and in

page_text: advance of the plough body, with a chain leading from the front part
of the beam to the lower extremity of the tine.
2nd. The construction of the tine with a claw or projection to bring
the tine into work by the onward motion of the implement, substantially
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Edward Ransome, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 29th day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
JAMES EDWARD (L.S.) RANSOME.