IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND MEANS OF PRODUCING SIGNALS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME PARTICULARLY TO STEAM PLOUGHS OR CULTIVATORS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Green, of Newtown, in the Parish of St.
Martin, in the County of Worcester, Agriculturist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND MEANS OF PRODUCING SIGNALS, AND IN
THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME PARTICULARLY TO STEAM PLOUGHS OR
CULTIVATORS."
Sealed the 18th January 1868, and dated the 15th July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Green at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
15th July 1862.
I, JOHN GREEN, of Newtown, in the Parish of St. Martin, in the County of
Worcester, Agriculturist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD AND MEANS OF PRODUCING SIGNALS, AND IN
APPLICATION OF THE SAME PARTICULARLY, TO. STRAM PLOUGHS OR CULTIVATORS," to
be as follows:-
My Invention consists in employing a cord or wire, composed of wire or
other material, through which signals from the ploughmen and anchormen
can be made to the engineer. The mode used to produce this is as
follows:-I attach. one extremity of the cord or wire to a pulley or drum,
which is secured on the engine or windlass in any suitable manner; the other
extremity of the cord or wire is fastened to the anchor or plough, and thus it
is extended from one side of the field to the other, by this means a signal
can be passed from the ploughmen and anchormen- to the one who has charge

page_text: of the engine or windlass. The cord or wire being retained at the required
tension by means of two cog wheels of suitable diameters, with corresponding
drums or pullies, which are acted upon by a weight. The latter apparatus
is fixed on the engine or windlass, and is connected with a whistle or bell, or
any such like contrivance that will attract the attention of the man in charge
of the engine or windlass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Green in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GREEN, of Newtown, in the Parish of St. Martin, in the County of
Worcester, Agriculturist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Green; Her special licence that I, the said John Green, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Green,
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 THE METHOD
AND MEANS OF PRODUCING SIGNALS, AND IN THE APPLICATION Or THE SAME
PARTICULARLY TO STEAM PLOUGHS OR CULTIVATORS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Green, 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 John Green, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment :-
:
My Invention consists in employing and so arranging a wire or a cord

page_text: composed of hemp or other material, that the ploughman and anchormen are
thereby enabled at any time to make signals to the man at the engine or
windlass. In order to effect this I attach one end of the wire to a drum or
pulley, which is secured to the engine or windlass in a suitable manner; the
other end of the wire is fastened to the anchor or other suitable frame fixed at
another side of the field intended to be operated upon, consequently the wire
is then extended from one side of the field to another. The plough or other
implement is connected with the wire by means of a rectangular-shaped frame,
(berein-after described) having two loopholes or eyes, through which the wire is
run. This frame is attached to the plough, and as that moves along the loop-
holes or eyes slide along the wire, that being extended parallel to the track of
the plough. The wire is kept tight by means of a smaller pulley or drum acted
on by a cord or weight, and as this pulley is fixed upon the axis of the drum,
before mentioned, and is connected with the latter by means of a ratchet
wheel and spring catch, it constantly tends to wind up or coil the wire round
the larger drum; when the wire is pulled a series of studs or pegs on one side
of the drum to which it is attached give motion to a lever fixed on the frame,
which communicates with a bell or whistle, or other signal. When the wiro
is let go the smaller pulley, by means of the cord and weight, brings back the
drum to its former position, and thereby tightens the wire again.
In order more clearly to illustrate the foregoing description, I have
appended to this Specification the accompanying Drawings, which are intended.
to show the best method of carrying out my Invention, it being well under-
stood that modifications of all or any of the different parts may be used to suit
Figure 1 is an elevation of that portion of my machine which is intended to
to be affixed on the engine or windlass; Figure 2 is a plan shewing the small
drum and ratchet.
It will be seen that it consists of a drum or pulley A mounted in bearings
on the frame B. This drum is formed or constructed with a deep groove,
which receives the wire or cord; the depth of this groove will be regulated by
the size of the field, as it ought to hold a sufficient length of wire to reach to
the end of it; upon the same axle on which the drum A is mounted is another
and smaller pulley C, on the side of which is a ratchet wheel D for the
purpose of preventing the pulley from revolving in the wrong direction. A.
cord passes round this last-named pulley, the extremity carrying a weight E.
This ratchet is so arranged that while it allows the weight being wound up, it

page_text: prevents it 'running down again. On the other side of the drum A are fixed. a
series of studs e, e, e, (instead of which a ratchet wheel may be used,) against
which a lever presses. This lever oscillates on a centre.g fixed on a frame,
the other extremity being connected with a cord H, which is attached to a
whistle or other signal as most convenient.
Figure 3 is a plan of the other portion of my apparatus, which is fixed or
attached to the plough or cultivator. This portion consists of, a rectangular
gimball-shaped frame, preferably of iron. The wire from the pulley A, before
mentioned, extending towards the plough or cultivator passes through the eyes
i... of the gimball, and is prolonged onwards and fastened to the anchor or
other fixed point. Another short cord communicates with the former-
mentioned wire s, s, by means of the ring m. This cord passes round the
small pulley n, which rotates on a centre in the arm o. After leaving this
pulley it passes round the pulley p fixed on the arm or shoulder of the sema-
phore signal board 9. Figure 4 is a side view of Figure 3, shewing the guard r,
which protects and prevents the signal 2 from being seen when not required:
The action of this arrangement is as follows:-The pullies and frame, as
shewn in Figures 1 and 2, are attached to the engine or windlass, which is
placed in a portion of the field; the wire from the pulley A passes on to the
gimball, which is attached to the plough, and is then prolonged to the anchor
or other fixed point at the other extremity of the field. As the plough is
drawn along between the engine or windlass at the one extremity of the field
towards the anchor at the other, the frame O and the gimball K are carried
along with it over the cord or wire 8, 8, which is kept in a state of tension by
the arrangements before described, at the drum A on the engine. When,
however, it is wished to communicate with the engineman, the ploughman
pulls the cord, which causes the wire to take the shape shewn by the dotted
lines t, t, necessarily drawing it up and causing the drum A to move round a
certain distance. This movement acts on the leverf through the medium of
the studs e, e, which motion by means of the cord h opens a steam whistle or
strikes a bell, or makes such other signal as may be arranged. The same
action upon the cord 1 causes the semaphore signal 9 to rise and become
exposed which before was covered by the shield 7. This is more fully shewn
in Figure 4. On the release of the cord the weight E, acting upon the
pulley C, brings the drum A to its normal position, thereby tightening the
signal cord, and the signal 9 returns by its own weight to its place behind
the shield r. Hence the communication between the man at the plough and
the man at the engine is rendered almost instantaneous. The anchormen can.
make a signal by pulling the wire by hand.

page_text: Fig. 5 is a similar view to the other, but instead of pulling the wire
down it is pulled horizontally by means of a bar P, P. When the cord r is
pulled round the pulley 9 it acts upon the small lever O, and causes it to
press the wire against the bar P, P, and there it is held fast, and by con-
tinuing the pull the bar moves from P towards P', and thereby the wire is
pulled; when the cord is loosed the lever O and bar P, P, are drawn back by
the cord and weight R, S. The same motion may be effected by a spring.
Fig. 6, the engine is supposed to move along the headland, and in
Fig. 7 it is stationary.
When it is thought not necessary to use the wire apparatus, the semaphore
or sight signal only can be used to great advantage, to which I attach a small
lamp when required.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is carried into practice, I wish it understood that what I
claim and wish secured by the before in part recited Letters Patent, is the
construction, use, and application of signals produced and acting by the means
and after the manner substantially as described and set forth in this Specifi-
tion, and more fully illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Green, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.