AN IMPROVEMENT IN DRILLS FOR SOWING SEEDS AND DEPOSITING MANURE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Armitage, of Bury, in the County of
Huntingdon, Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN DRILLS FOR SOWING SEEDS AND DEPOSITING
MANURE."
Sealed the 12th January 1866, and dated the 18th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Armitage at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th July 1865.
I, JAMES ARMITAGE, of Bury, in the County of Huntingdon, Agricultural
Implement Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN DRILLS FOR SOWING SEEDS AND DEPOSITING MANURE,"
to be as follows :-
This improvement consists in the addition to drills for sowing seeds and
depositing manure of a pair of crushing rollers beneath the compost hopper.
These rollers have pinions on their outer ends, to which motion is given by a
toothed wheel on the travelling wheel of the machine. As these rollers
revolve they crush and deliver the compost, which falls into the ordinary
delivery hopper, and is deposited with the seeds in the usual manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said James Armitage in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ARMITAGE, of Bury, in the County of Huntingdon, Agricultural Implement
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Armitage, Her special licence that I, the said James
Armitage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Armitage, 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN DRILLS FOR SOWING SEEDS AND DEPOSITING MANURE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Armitage, 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 James Armitage, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This improvement consists in the addition to the manure box of drills, for
sowing seeds and depositing mauure, of a pair of crushing rollers beneath the
compost hopper. These rollers have pinions on their outer ends, to which
motion is given by a toothed wheel on the travelling wheel of the machine.
As these rollers revolve they crush and deliver the compost, which falls into
the ordinary delivery hopper, and is deposited either alone or in conjunction
with seeds in the usual manner.
And in order that the manner of performing my said Invention may be

page_text: clearly understood, reference is had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the following description thereof, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of so much of a drill as is necessary to
show the mode of performing my said Invention.
A is the manure or compost hopper of any convenient form and size,
beneath the lower opening of which is placed two parallel rollers B, C, either
plain or grooved, running the whole length of the hopper box. These rollers
may be in one continuous length, as shown at Figure 2, or they may consist
of a series of short rollers adjustable on parallel spindles corresponding to
the openings in the hopper box, as shown in Figure 3. These rollers revolve
together by means of pinions on their outer ends set in motion by a toothed
wheel on the travelling wheel of the machine. As the rollers revolve the
compost is crushed and pulverized, and falls into the usual delivering apparatus
by which it is deposited as required. In order to clean the rollers and
prevent their becoming clogged, scrapers are placed at d and e. When
manure and seeds are to be deposited together, the manure and seed hoppers
are conveniently mounted for that purpose one before the other. By the
employment of crushing rollers, as herein-before described, the compost manure
can be delivered uniformly in small or large quantities in a pure state (or
nearly so) without requiring the addition of ashes or other foreign matters.
By making the rollers adjustable the quantity of compost to be deposited in a
given space can be regulated at pleasure.
What I claim as constituting my said improvement in drills for sowing
seeds and depositing manure is the employment of rollers for crushing and
delivering the compost substantially as herein-before described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Armitage, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES ARMITAGE. (L.S.)