CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR CUTTING OR EXCAVATING AND REMOVING EARTH
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRENT BRENT, of Gower Street, Bedford Square, in the County of Middlesex,.
Barrister-at-Law, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of June, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Brent Brent, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Bront Brent, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Brent Brent, my executors,
administrators, 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 mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR
CUTTING OR EXCAVATING AND REMOVING EARTH;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Brent Brent, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after tho
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Brent Brent, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
These Improvements in Machinery for Cutting or Excavating and Removing
the Earth are designed to facilitate the operations of forming trenches and
earthworks generally, but are particularly applicable to cutting trenches in the
ground for the construction of railways or canals.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the
machine, Fig. 2 a front or end view of the same. The machine is formed
by combining several horizontal frames one upon another, as represented in
Figures 1 and 2, one of these frames detached being shewn in the plan view
at Fig. 3. A, A, A, are longitudinal rails of timber; B, B, B, transverse
rails secured to the former, which together constitute; one of the horizontal
frames. A series of these frames are to be connected as shewn at Fig. 1,
and fastened together by vertical bolts C, C, the lower frame having brackets
attached to its under side to support the axles of rollers or running wheels D, D,
whereby the whole is made to constitute a carriage which may be drawn
forward by horses harnessed to the front rail E, E, or impelled by any other
suitable means. In each of these frames segmental lever cutters F, F, and
G, G, are mounted upon studs with springs H, H, behind them, and with
stops I, I, I, set in the frame, to limit the extent of the cutters receding
inwards. The vertical cutters F, F, F, are attached to the longitudinal and
transverse rails, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2; the horizontal cutters G, G,
to the faces of the horizontal frames, as shewn in Fig. 3.
In applying this machinery to facilitate the removal of earth, I first pass it
forward over the surface of the ground intended to be operated upon, when
by the weight of the machinery, as the carriage advances, the vertical cutters
F, F, F, are made to penetrate the ground and to cut vertical incisions therein,
as shewn by dots at K, K, K, in the section of the earth represented at Fig. 4.
In order to assist in pressing the lever cutters F, F, F, into the ground,
strong springs are placed behind them, which causes each cutter to penetrate
to the extent required. When a length of these incisions have been cut in
the ground, the spring cutters are raised for the purpose of withdrawing them
from the earth; and if required the machine may then be placed in a
transverse direction, and the ground operated upon by the like means
crossways, so as to cut the earth at right angles to the former. These cutting

page_text: operations having chequered or sliced the ground with incisions to a certain
depth, workmen with spades are enabled readily (that is, with very little
labour) to raise the earth in square portions or clods, and to remove it in
barrows or carts out of the way, or to any other place where it may be
required for constructing embankments. A trench having been thus formed
in the ground, and the earth removed to the depth to which the cutters F, F,
were by the first operation enabled to penetrate, similar operations of the
machine will cause a series of the like cuts to be made further into the ground
in the trench. When this excavating of the trench has been carried on to a
certain depth, the lateral horizontal cutters G, G, will be brought into
operation and made to cut horizontal incisions in the sides of the trench, as
shewn by dots in the section of a trench shewn at Fig. 2. In this way I
separate portions of earth by cutting incisions both vertically and horizontally,
and when that has been sufficiently effected, remove the earth in large clods
by any convenient means.
Lastly, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend to confine myself
to any particular dimensions or strength of the parts of the machine, as they
may be varied to suit different qualities of earth, and to the work intended to
be done, and according to the tractive power capablo of being brought to act
upon the machine. But that which I do claim as constituting the leading
feature of my Invention is, the construction of a machine having vertical or
horizontal cutters, either or both which, as the carriage advances, shall be
capable of making incisions in the earth, for the purpose of separating it, and
facilitating the removal of the earth for the general purposes of excavation.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brent Brent, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our Lord