IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING SALT OR OTHER MATERIAL TO THE ROOTS OF WEEDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Reeves, junior, of Bratton, Westbury,
Wilts, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING
SALT OR OTHER MATERIAL TO THE ROOTS OF WEEDS."
Sealed the 31st December 1861, and dated the 11th July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Reeves at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
July 1861.
I, THOMAS REEVES, junior, of Bratton, Westbury, Wilts, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING
SALT OR OTHER MATERIAL TO THE ROOTS OF WEEDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for applying
salt or other material to the roots of weeds. For these purposes an instru-
ment is used, by preference a hollow cutter suitable for being forced into the
earth, and to cut or bruise the roots of weeds. This instrument or cutter is
fixed to the end of a suitable handle, and above it is applied a hopper or other
suitable form of vessel to contain salt or other material used to destroy the
roots of the weeds; and below such hopper or vessel there are two valves or
slides or plugs applied at such a distance apart that the space between them
may contain a suitable quantity of the salt or other material used, and these

page_text: valves, or slides, or plugs are connected together by being pin-jointed to pro-
jections on the upper end of a weighted lever, which, when the cutter or
instrument is out of the ground will hang in such a position as to close the
lower valve or slide, and to open the upper slide or valve, but when the
instrument or cutter is pressed into the earth, the lower end of the lever by
resting on the surface of the earth, and being resisted thereby, will cause the
lower valve or slide to open, and the upper one to close, when the salt or other
material which was previously in the space between the two valves or slides
will descend down the cutter or instrument.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Reeves in the Great Seal. Patent Office on the
11th January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
REEVES, junior, of Bratton, Westbury, Wilts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Reeves, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Reeves, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Reeves, 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 APPARATUS FOR
APPLYING SALT OR OTHER MATERIAL TO THE ROOTS OF WEEDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Reeves, my executors or adminis
trators, 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 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 Thomas Reeves, 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 :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for applying
salt or other material to the roots of weeds. For these purposes an instru-
ment is used, by preference a hollow cutter suitable for being forced into the
earth, and to cut or bruise the roots of weeds. This instrument or cutter is
fixed to the end of a suitable handle, and above it is applied a hopper or
other suitable form of vessel to contain salt or other material used to destroy
the roots of the weeds, and below such hopper or vessel there are two valves,
or slides, or plugs applied at such a distance apart that the space between
them I may contain a suitable quantity of the salt or other material, and these
valves, or slides, or plugs are connected together by being pin-jointed to pro-
jections. on the upper end of a weighted lever, which, when the cutter or in-
strument is out of the ground, will hang in such a position as to close the lower
valve or slide, and to open the upper slide or valve, but when the instrument
or cutter is pressed into the earth, the lower end of the lever by resting on
the surface of the earth, and being resisted thereby, will cause the lower valve
or slide to open, and the upper one to close when the salt or other material
which was previously in the space between the two valves or slides will
descend down the instrument or cutter.
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 an exterior view, and Figure 2 is a vertical section, of apparatus
arranged according to my Invention. a is a handle; it is made by preference
several feet in length, and is fixed into a socket formed at the upper end of
the hollow or gouge-shaped tool 6; this tool is made broad at its upper part
immediately under the socket, and at this part it is slotted to receive the
lower part of the vessel c. This vessel receives the salt or other material
which is to be applied to the roots of the weeds; it is fixed to the cutter
by lugs formed on it, which are attached by screws to the cutter b,
capable of being closed at the top by a lid b'; the vessel has a passage out of
it at the bottom, which is closed by two slides or valves d and d', these slides
or valves are pin-jointed to the lever e, which is connected by a pin or axis et
to a bracket formed at the lower part of the vessel c. The axis e¹ is inter-
mediate of the two slides, so that the weight of the lever tends, constantly to
keep the lower slide or valve closed, and the upper one open, when the appa-
ratus is used, and the cutter forced into the ground to cut up a weed, the
lever e comes against the surface of the land, and the lower slide or valve d is

page_text: opened, and the upper one d' is closed, which results in a measured quantity
of the mixture placed in the vessel c being dropped into the incision made in
the root of the weed. When the cutter is withdrawn from the earth, the
lever e again falls, and the apparatus is then ready to be again used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Reeves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
THOMAS REEVES, JUN'. (L.S.)