IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMSTRONG; Junior, of Hawnes, in the County of Bedford, Farmer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS, Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Armstrong, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said William Armstrong, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Armstrong, my exors, adññiors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Armstrong,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Armstrong, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to sav

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE "DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a plough having my improvements applied thereto.
The first improvement consists of a mode of constructing the share, and part
of the frame which enters the socket of the share, whereby greater strength
may be obtained to the share. And in order more clearly to explain this point
of my Invention, I will call attention to Figures 2, 3, and 4, which represent
three views of a ploughshare of the ordinary. construction, and also the plug
or lower joint of the frame- which enters the socket of the ploughshare;
figures 5, 6, & 7, shew various views of my improved share; and Figure 8
is a side view of the plug or point of the frame of the plough which enters
the socket of the ploughshare. By an examination of the construction of these
views of the improved construction of share with the ordinary construction of
share shewn at Figures 2 and 3, the difference will readily be seen; and the
iniportant feature of novelty in the shares shewn at Figures 5, 6, and 7; and
of the point or part of the frame Figure 8, is, that the socket is formed having
a raised projecting surface a cast therein, and a corresponding concave groove
is formed or cast on the plug or projecting point b of the frame of the plough,
which enters the socket of the ploughshare. By this arrangement the share
will be considerably strengthened, and the strain be so brought to bear, that
the socket will be less. liable to give way than when the socket is of the
ordinary construction.
The second part of my Invention consists of an arrangement of apparatus
for regulating the direction of the draft. In Figure, 1, c is a rod which
takes into openings d, higher or lower, as the case or nature of the land
requires; or in place of having openings. d, the same may be a rack, as in-
dicated by dotted lines. The rod c. is connected to a chain or coupling rods,
as is shewn in the Drawing; and e is a bar which is capable of being raised up
and down, and may be retained in any position, by means of the screw f. By
this means the draft may be at all times kept at or near a parallel line with
the surface of the land; but, in case the nature. of the land is such, as to
require the bar c to be removed, then the coupling chain or links are to be
connected to the hook g. I would remark that I am aware that racks have
been before used for regulating the direction of the draft in ploughs; I. do not
therefore claim the same, unless combined with other parts of the arrangement
here described. But what I claim as the second part, of my Invention is the
niode of combining the rod c. and coupling links or chain with the bar e, and
hook g, as above explained.
The third part of my. Invention consists in a mode of affixing the coulter,
and consists in the application of cross wedges, as is shewn at. Figure 1, at h, h.

page_text: It will be seen that the socket or opening i, cast or formed with the frame of
the plough through which the coulter passes, has holes formed therein by.
which the wedges h, h, can be driven across the coulter, and cause the coulter
to be held securely in the socket i, and with greater certainty than in the
ordinary mode of fastening the coulter by driving in wedges in the socket
with the coulter, as has been heretofore practiced, the wedges in such case not
passing through the metal of the socket.
The fourth and last improvement consists in a mode of fastening the share
to the frame. j is the rod by which the share is fastened. This rod (in place
of passing through a hole in the stay or bar which connects the mould-board
to the frame of the plough) passes through a projection formed on the frame of
the plough, and in such manner that the rod j shall come close, or nearly close, to
the frame of the plough, and is consequently less liable to retain portions of the
earth, or sod, or other material than when the rod is passed through and made
fast to the bar or stay, as above mentioned, as in such case the bar j being in
position intermediate of the frame and the mould-board, as is well understood.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood, that although I have described the improvements as being all applied to
one plough, any one or more of the improvements may be used separate from
the other or others, and I do not make any claim to the other parts of a
plough shewn in the Drawing, and those parts may be varied in their
construction.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armstrong, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-eight.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1838, the aforesaid William Armstrong came before
0 our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord One