IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR HOEING, THINNING, OR CHOPPING OUT TURNIPS OR ANY OTHER. ROOT CROPS REQUIRING SUCH PROCESS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Edward Hall, of Meadow Lane, Leeds, in
the County of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OR
APPARATUS FOR HOEING, THINNING, OR CHOPPING OUT TURNIPS OR ANY OTHER.
ROOT CROPS REQUIRING SUCH PROCESS."
Sealed the 14th February 1868, and dated the 21st August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Edward Hall at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st August 1867.
I, CHARLES EDWARD HALL, of Meadow Lane, Leeds, in the County of
York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS POR HOEING, THINNING, OR CHOPPING OUT
TURNIPS OR ANY OTHER ROOT CROPS REQUIRING SUCH PROCESS," to be as follows:-
-
Upon a suitable frame I mount a series of hoes easy of adjustment
back wards or forwards and laterally, but which work the same as an ordinary
horse hoe upon levers and small counterbalance weights, one end running in a
guide, the other swinging from a cross bar. This enables the hoes to suit the
inequalities of surface; they are all raised out of work by a lever quadrant
with chain or any suitable means, and can further be regulated as to depth by
a main cranked axle placed in the front part of the machine. In steering the
man presses the hoes sideways, as in ordinary cases, the shape of the hoe
varying for different classes of work. Instead of the hoes being attached. to

page_text: levers they may be secured to the frame. The foregoing refers to horse
hoeing only. Combined in the same machine is the chopper out
thinner, which is done by taking out the hoes just, described and putting upon
the levers other hoes which only partly revolve on them, a pair of horse
shafts in front passing over the driving axle, and carrying a suitable crank
motion, which in steering it is necessary to move a little upon its bearings is
used. The intervention of a slide, a rocking lever, or a connecting rod is
necessary to work a cross bar, to which all the hoes are attached, and by this
means the motion is arrived at for chopping out. The chopping hoes are made
to suit the varying widths of rows, and can be raised or lowered into work as
before mentioned. This mode of crossing plants is done on the reciprocating
principle, which constitutes one of the novel features in my Invention in
contradistinction to the rotary action now used. In steering the hoes are
moved sideways, or as in the manner most usual in such machines. It can be
done by rack and pinion, or by lever. The apparatus may be worked by horse
'or other motive power. The motion is driven by toothed gearing from both
sides of the machine, and is thrown in or out of gear by a lever or worm
and wheel attached to the crank axle. The speed is altered by change wheels.
It can also be made for the hoes to centre on studs regulated in a cross bar
and not by levers, and having a steerage wheel in front. The two road wheels
are capable of adjustment on the axle to suit the width of the rows. In
front of the rocking boes it may be necessary to carry a fixed hoe or tine to
loosen the soil to facilitate chopping out.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Edward Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office
the 19th February 1868..
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
EDWARD HALL, of Meadow Lane, Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Edward Hall, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Edward Hall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles Edward Hall, my executors, administrators; and assigns,

page_text: 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
5 for "IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR HOEING, THINNING, OB CHOPPING OUT
TURNIPS OR ANY OTHER ROOT CROPS REQUIRING SUCH PROCESS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Edward Hall, 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 t
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Edward Hall, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
bé performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The object and purpose of my said Invention is the thorough incorporation
of two implements, namely, that for hoeing and that for thinning or chopping
out in one and the same apparatus, the thinning arrangements being on the
reciprocating principle, as hereafter described, enabling the crops to be thinned
on the ridge or flat, no difference in setting the hoes being required, and by
the ball-and-socket arrangement herein described it will hoe in the furrows or
on hill sides with equal precision, the steerage allowing the man to operate on
the plants instantly at will independently of the guiding of the horse. Iu
horse hoeing also by simply depressing the handles behind the man cau hoe
in the furrows or on hill sides.
.DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS, AND OF THE INVENTION THEREBY
ILLUSTRATED.
"At Figs. 1, 2, 3, A denotes a stout frame carrying axle for road and spur
wheels B and C to which shafts are attached, B being the road driving wheels
sliding.o
on the boss b' to accommodate different widths, and C spur wheels
running loose on crank axle D driving the shaft d! from both ends, and capable
of being, thrown in and out of gear by worm and segment or other suitable
means. In turning at the headlands this is necessary in order to turn quickly.
E, E, change wheels at each end of the shaft-d. F, crank stud bracket
carried on two bars f upon which it slides when steered to the right or left by
the handle O; .it being. provided with a fork working in a groove in the bevil
gear G in order to move the same on a sliding key on the shaft d'. H, crank
41

page_text: disc.with two centres to alter the stroke; I; connecting rod working slide bar K,
which has holes drilled through its whole length to shift the hoes to suit
different widths; K, the slide bar running in brackets L, through which
also passes the axle carrying the guide wheels M; these gauge the depth
of work. N, bracket on which is centred the steerage lever for hoes;
O, steerage lever; P, vertical lever steering the opposite ends of hoe levers S.
Fig. 3; thus it will be seen that by moving O backwards or forwards the
crank motion as well as the hoes are steered, and that in their proper pro-
portions; Q, brackets on which P centres; R, slide carrying hoe guides T,
caused to move backwards and forwards through the frame by the vertical
lever P; S; hoe levers swivelling from universal joint U on square bar V;
W, lifting shaft on which is keyed a segment having a chain which drops down
to the frame by turning the handle Z, which carries a suitable pall working into
a ratchet wheel, whereby the whole is lowered in or out of work; X, chopping
out hoes to thin out turnips in the rows at any suitable distance by changing
the speed and size, there being several sizes supplied; Y, ball-and-socket joint
from which the hoeing frame swings in front and from the chain behind, drag
chains being attached to the shafts may be used to keep the said fraine from
working sideways when used as a thinner.
Figs. 1 and 2, "horse hoe." (Drawing No. 2). The same letters refer to
both Drawings. This machine is for hoeing between the rows which vary in
width, the hoes being stationary and steered sideways by the handles behind,
the crank motion being detached and gearing taken off. The same lifting
apparatus is used, but the frame swings on the chain from behind, and from
the ball-and-socket joint in front, the wheels m being removed. In this case
the hoes and frame together steer sideways, swinging as before described under
the fore part of the machine. The worm and segment is not used in this case.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby
declare that I claim, the berein described "Improved Means or Apparatus for
Hoeing, Thinning, or Chopping out Turnips or any other Root Crops
requiring such Process," in which apparatus the following are principal and
peculiar or novel features, namely,-
(1.) The arrangement in turnip thinners of the reciprocating motion
centring on studs or independent levers in 'the manner set forth with universal
joint above mentioned, enabling it to steer sideways independently of ithe
frame.
(2.) Independent steerage of the hoes in the manner set forth, or any
cuitable equivalent

page_text: (3.) The ball-and-socket arrangement for the hoeing frame, which enables
the operation to be performed more effectually.
(4.) The general arrangement of the machine so as to effect two purposes
as aforesaid in an economical manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Edward Hall, have hereunto.
set my band and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
JOE MUSGRAve.
CHAS. EP. HALL. (L.S.)