IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING LAND BY STEAM POWER
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Fritz Brütschke, of Berlin, in the Empire of Germany,
Friedrichstrasse, 133, Engineer, for an Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING LAND BY STEAM POWER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Fritz Brütschke at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th January 1881.
+
FRITZ BRÜTSCHKE, of Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, Friedrichstrasse, 133,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING
LAND BY STEAM POWER."
My Invention relates to the method of and apparatus for cultivating land by
steam power; it has for its object a more rational utilization of power, a saving
of time, and the uninterrupted tilling of variously shaped or sized lands, together
with reduced cost of manufacture.
For this purpose I construct a locomotive capable of being used in the same
shape either alone or in conjunction with another locomotive, and having the.
peculiar feature that the whole superstructure, viz. -Vertical boiler, steam engine,
and vertical hauling drums, water tank, and coal box is secured to a common
frame capable of being lifted off the wheels. The motive power is transmitted
from the crank shaft by means of tooth gearing in such a manner that alternately
either one of the hauling drums or the hind carrying wheels serving for the
propulsion of the engine are set in motion. Under the engine and between the
two carrying axles are situated the horizontal guide pulleys for the hawling ropes.
The two machine system is formed by placing two machines as described opposite
each other, the ropes being guided in such a manner that one rope of each machine
is carried to the agricultural implement direct, while the other rope passes to the
latter over a guide pulley attached to the opposite machine, by which arrangement
both machines act simultaneously on the same agricultural implement. To prevent
the return rope from being run over by or entangled with the agricultural
implement an arm is applied to the axle of the wheel of the said implement, said
arm holding a guide roller movable in a plane perpendicular to the direction of the

page_text: plough, and over which runs the return rope. To reversing implements this arm
is so applied as to turn 180° on the implement being reversed, and to always
occupy such a position during the reversal that a crossing of the rope can never
occur. For the single machine system the application of an anchor and a rope
pulley is necessary.
The former consists of three or more tines which converge to or end at the front
in a common hook, while at the back they are free to turn on a shaft, which is
provided at its ends with two arms each having a wheel, and at or near the centre
with a long lever rigidly secured to the shaft, said lever serving to lift the anchor
out of the earth and upon the wheels for facilitating its transport.
The rope
pulley turns between two bars of flat iron, which also hold the axle of a small
drum capable of being set in revolution by the rope pulley by means of tooth and
chain gearing. Upon this drum is wound a flat rope which can be attached to or
detached from the anchor. By means of a hand lever the drum can be placed in
three fixed positions, so as to be either immovable or capable of turning loose on
its axle, or forced to share the motion of the rope pulley. To facilitate transport
the whole is placed on wheels.
The apparatus works as follows:-On one side of the field (the headland) stands
the engine, while on the other side a workman attends to two anchors placed
side by side, and to the rope pulley. By means of the rope carried over the latter
the engine hauls the agricultural implement to and fro. When the latter has
arrived near the anchor the workman disengages the anchor from the rope pulley.
by placing the anchor drum in the position where it can revolve loose on its axle; he
attaches the flat rope to the hook of the adjoining anchor.and.causes it to be wound
up by letting the rope pulley act on the drum. After winding up he places the
drum back to its original position. Anchor and rope pulley are now in close
proximity, and the hauling rope has been shifted parallel with itself as much as
the breadth of the plough. While the plough runs back the workman lifts the first
anchor out and carries it to the other side of that anchor which is connected with
the rope pulley in order to repeat the operation.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Fritz Brütschke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st July
-1881.
FRITZ BRÜTSCHKE, of Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, Friedrichstrasse, 133,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING
LAND BY STEAM POWER."
My Invention relates to the method of and apparatus for cultivating land by
steam-power; it has for its object a more rational utilization of power, a saving
of time, and the uninterrupted tilling of variously shaped or sized lands, together
with reduced.cost of manufacture. For this purpose I construct a locomotive
capable of being used in the same shape either alone or in conjunction with another
locomotive, and having the peculiar feature that the whole superstructure, viz.,
vertical boiler, steam-engine, and vertical hauling drums, water-tank, and coal-box,.
is secured to a common frame capable of being lifted off the wheels. The motive
power is transmitted from the crankshaft by means of tooth gearing in such a
manner that alternately either one of the hauling drums or the hind carrying wheels
serving for the propulsion of the engine are set in motion. Under the engine and
between the two carrying axles are situated the horizontal guide-pulleys for the
hauling ropes: The two machine system is formed by placing two machines as
described opposite each other, the ropes being guided in such a manner that one
rope of each machine is carried to the agricultural implement direct, while the
other rope passes to the latter over a guide pulley attached to the opposite
machine, by which arrangement both machines act simultaneously on the same
agricultural implement. To prevent the returning rope from being run over by or
entangled with the agricultural implement an arm is applied to the axle of the
wheel of the said implement, said arm holding a guide-roller moveable in a plane
perpendicular to the direction of the plough, and over which runs the return rope.
To reversing implements this arm is so applied as to turn 180° on the implement
being reversed, and to always occupy such a position during the reversal that a
crossing of the rope can never occur. For the single machine system the appli-
cation of an anchor and a rope-pulley is necessary. The former consists of three
or more tines, which converge to or end at the front in a common hook, while at
the back they are free to turn on a shaft, which is provided at its ends with two
arms, each having a wheel, and at or near the centre with a long lever rigidly.
secured to the shaft, said lever serving to lift the anchor out of the earth and upon
the wheels for facilitating its transport. The rope-pulley turns between two bars
of flat iron, which also hold the axle of a small drum capable of being set in
revolution by the rope-pulley by [means of tooth and chain-gearing. Upon this
drum is wound a flat rope which can be attached to or detached from the anchor.
By means of a hand-lever the drum can be placed in three fixed positions so as to
be either immoveable or capable of turning loose on its axle, or forced to share the
motion of the rope-pulley. To facilitate transport the whole is placed on
wheels.
The apparatus works as follows :—
On one side of the field (the headland) stands the engine, while on the other
side a workman attends to two anchors placed side by side, and to the rope-pulley.
By means of the rope carried over the latter the engine hauls the agricultural
implement to and fro. When the latter has arrived near the anchor the workman
disengages the anchor from the rope-pulley by placing the anchor drum in the
position where it can revolve loose on its axle; he attaches the flat rope to the
hook of the adjoining anchor and causes it to be wound up by letting the rope
pulley act on the drum. After winding up he places the drum back to its original
position. Anchor and rope-pulley are now in close proximity, and the hauling rope
has been shifted parallel with itself as much as the breadth of the plough. While

page_text: the plough runs back the workman lifts the first anchor out and carries it to the
other side of that anchor, which is connected with the rope pulley in order to
repeat the operation.
The accompanying Drawings will serve to illustrate a practical mode of per-
forming the Invention.
Figure 1 shows the locomotive machine, which can be employed without further
alteration, either alone or in connection with a second locomotive.
A square
frame A is put on wheels, and carries a vertical boiler B, the steam-machine C, the
water-tank D, E, the coal box E¹, and the vertical hauling drums F and F¹.
Underneath the water-tank are the rope-pulleys G, H, H¹; these two latter can be
rigidly secured together.
The transmission is effected from off the crank-shaft through tooth-gearing in
such a manner that alternately either of the hauling drums or the hind carrying
wheels for the propulsion of the machine are moved. The combination of two
such machines into one system is shown by Fig. 3. X and Y are the locomotives;
the course of the ropes and their fastening to the plough is indicated by arrows.
Rope I of drum I (machine X) passes over pulley Q directly to the plough, and
rope II. of drum II. is lead to pulley H¹ (machine Y), and fastened to the other
side of the plough. Ropes III. and IV, are lead in the same manner.
On both
sides of the implement are two ropes at work, and thus both machines use their
force. Supposing the plough to move in the direction of the arrows (Fig. 3) then
machine hauls by means of rope I and machine Y by means of rope IV.; in the
opposite direction the plough is hauled by means of ropes II. and III. After
having hauled the plough forward and backward the machines move on auto-
matically as far as the breadth of the plough. In order to prevent the returning
rope from being run over by or being entangled, with the agricultural implement
there are the following arrangements:-
For non-reversing implements (Figs. 5 and 6) an arm a is secured to the axle,
and on its top a fork b is binged which contains the pulley c. The pulley will
yield to any jerk of the rope by swinging aside. For reversing cultivators (Fig. 11)
the hauling ropes are connected with the extremities of angle-lever d through
short chains. The arm e bearing on its extremity, the guiding pulley c¹ is fast
connected with the chain-wheel f, and turns with it round pivot g.
From the
ends h, h¹, of the chains a connecting chain K passes over pulleys i, ¹, around
wheel f.
Reversing the cultivator according to arrow I (Fig. 3) the rope I comes into
work. The chain K being pulled owing to the cultivator being reversed the-
wheel and arm e are turned round 180° in an opposite direction. By this
construction the rope can never be crosswise.
For applying the locomotive to the single machine-system I use the following
arrangements:-
1st. The earth-anchor, Figs. 8 and 9, has three or more tines kept by the turning
and connecting rod J in a certain distance from one another. On the extremities
of J the arms K, K¹, are mounted, intended to bear the pivots of the wheels L, L'.
The fore-part of the anchor bearing a hook is supported by pulley N in order that
the connection with the rope-pulley may be horizontal. By pushing lever O, which
is rigidly secured to J, into the position shown in Fig. 4 the anchor is lifted out of
the ground and placed upon the wheels L, L'.
2nd. Rope-pulley P is placed between two plates Q, Q¹, and transmits its motion
through tooth- and chain-gearing upon wheel R. A hauling drum S mounted on
the axle of R and supplied with gearings corresponding to the couplings T and T¹
can be placed and secured in three different positions (Fig. 8). A flat rope V is
wound round the hauling drum S and at its end has a hook W. The whole is
placed upon wheels 2, 2, 21, which adapt themselves to each direction like
pulleys.
The machine works in the following manner :-
It deposits the implement and anchor with pulley on one side of the field and

page_text: goes to the opposite end, winding off the rope. After the plough is pulled once to
and fro the machine proceeds automatically for the breadth of the plough. On the
other side of the field a man places two anchors a and B (Figure 10) beside one
another. Anchor a is fastened to pulley P by the flat rope V wound on drum S
(Figs. 8 and 9) and S is fastened by gearing into the lower tooth-coupling T.
When the plough has arrived at the anchor a the man puts drum S, by means of
the lever U, in the middle position (Fig. 8). Now the drum can turn round its
axis, the flat rope winds off, and the connection between anchor and plough is
loosened. Thereupon the man couples hook W easily to anchor B. Then he places
drum S in connection (see Figure 6) with the chain-wheel R, and through that
arrangement the turning pulley P causes drum S also to turn and the winding-up
flat rope pulls the pulley to the anchor. When that is done sufficiently the drum $
must be placed back in the lower position. Then the man takes anchor a and puts
it alongside B, as above described, and so on.
The advantages of this system are, besides lower costs, the following ones:-
1st. The forces I employ can be disposed of most perfectly and practically.
2ndly. The machine is put up and carried away in a very short time.
3rdly. The rope I want is very short.
- 4thly. Any form and extension of fields can be worked without interruption or
reversing.
5thly. The work is done with very little loss of time; the reversing of the
implements and transport of the rope-pulley can be actuated in a minimum of
time.
I claim,―
Firstly. A double machine steam plough system moving the implement through
ropes.
Secondly. A single machine steam plough system, combined with an anchor or
other firm object on the opposite side of the field through a pulley also placed
opposite the machine, the connection of the rope-pulley with the anchor being
readily untied and used for varying distances.
Thirdly. The arrangement of the pulleys G, H, H³, on the locomotive in such a
manner that the ropes pass between the two carrying axles of the locomotive, the
ropes passing parallel over the anchor for a distance equal to the diameter of the
pulley opposite to the machine.
Fourthly. For non-reversing implements. the application of the pulley c, serving
to guide the rope to the axle of one of the carrying wheels of the implement, as
described and illustrated.
Fifthly. For reversing cultivators, the application of the guiding pulley c¹ on
the extremity of a lever turning automatically round a vertical pivot by means of
the traction of the rope.
.
Sixthly. An earth-anchor formed of three or more tines turning on the crank J
of axle L, such tines being caused to penetrate into the soil by a lever O acting on
a support N by the traction of the rope.
Seventhly. The arrangement of pulley F on a wheel-cart, the transmission of
the motion through chains and tooth-gearing on the hauling drum S for connecting
the anchor with the hauling drum and for making connection with the anchor.
In witness whereof, I, the said Fritz Brütschke, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, A.D. 1881.