THE IMPROVEMENT OF DRILLS OR MACHINES USED FOR DEPOSITING SEEDS, EITHER WITH OR WITHOUT MANURE OR LIQUIDS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Webb King, of Everleigh, in the County
of Wilts, Gentleman, for the Invention of "THE IMPROVEMENT OF
DRILLS OR MACHINES USED FOR DEPOSITING SEEDS, EITHER WITH OR WITHOUT
MANURE OR LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 20th October 1871, and dated the 9th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Webb King at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th May 1871.
I, JOHN WEBB KING, of Everleigh, in the County of Wilts, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE IMPROVEMENT
OF DRILLS OR MACHINES USED FOR DEPOSITING SEEDS, EITHER WITH OR WITHOUT
MANURE OR LIQUIDS," to be as follows:―
This Invention has for its object improvements in machines com-
monly known as drills or drop drills, and consists, first, in an improved
method of constructing a box or trap in conjunction with the present
system of drill levers, coulters, and tins; or, secondly, such an im-
proved arrangement may be used without the above arrangements,

page_text: such improvements depositing the seed or manures, or both, in heaps
on or in the ground at variable distances.
These improvements consist in constructing a box or trap into which
the sced or manure (either together or separate) passes, such box or trap
being connected with a lever or series of wheels and levers, or parts of
the same connected with a spring, and acted upon by a tappet wheel
or other suitable arrangement. The tappet wheel receives motion from
the travelling wheels of the drill, either by cog wheels or connecting
When the drill is set
rods, or parts of either, or other suitable means.
in motion the tappet wheel or other suitable arrangement receives
motion by the before-mentioned cog wheels or connecting rods or other
means, and acting on the springs and levers causes the box or trap to
be emptied of its contents of sced or manure, the spring permitting the
box or trap to resume its former position to be filled, is again emptied
by the next projection on the tappet wheel.
The distance at which the manure or seeds or liquid is deposited may
be varied by using different size cog wheels.
As this improvement causes the seed and manure to be deposited in
-the-exact-places-in-which_it_is_required, instead of in continuous rows,
as is now the case with ordinary drills, a great saving is effected in seed
and manure, and also in hoeing the crop.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Webb King in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 2
WEBB KING, of West Everleigh, in the County of Wilts, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto the said John Webb King, Her special licence that he,
the said John Webb King, his executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as he, the said John Webb King, his executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, 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 "THE IMPROVEMENT OF DRILLS
OR MACHINES USED FOR DEPOSITING SEEDS EITHER WITH OR WITHOUT MANURE OR
LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that he, the said John
Webb King, his executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under his, 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 Webb King, 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 statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hiereunto annexed, and to the letters and numbers marked thereon, in
each of the Figures of which said Drawings the same letters and
numbers of reference indicate similar parts :-
This Invention relates to an improvement in drills or machines for
depositing seeds, with or without manure, and to that class of drills
known as drop drills, and consists in the attaching to the drill of a trap
or box and apparatus connected therewith, which trap or box is filled
with the seed or manure or other substance passing from the drill, and
when such trap or box is emptied it deposits its contents in heaps or
bunches on the ground at distances which can be varied if required.
This apparatus may be used either in conjunction with the present
system of levers, coulters, and tins, or with any other suitable arrange-
ment. The trap or box is actuated by means of a lever or springs
receiving motion from a tappet wheel or other suitable arrangement,
which tappet wheel is driven by the ground or travelling wheels of the
drill, through cog wheels or other suitable connection, so that when
the drill is put in motion the tappet wheel or other suitable contrivance
receiving motion through the cog wheels from the travelling wheels
imparts such motion to the levers or springs connected with the trap
or box and so moves it as to empty it of its contents and so deposit
the contents upon the ground. A spring or other suitable means in

page_text: connection with the trap or box causes it to resume the proper position
to be again filled with seed or manure or other substance or liquid being
drilled, the said trap or box being again emptied by being moved by
the next tappet or projection on the tappet wheel or other suitable
arrangement for that purpose.
The distance at which the substance being drilled is deposited may
be varied by altering the speed of the tappet wheel by varying the
gearing or other connection between the tappet wheel and the ground
or travelling wheels of the machine.
The substances drilled being deposited in the exact places in which
they are required, instead of continuous rows as is now the case with
the ordinary drills, the seeds, manure, or other substances are deposited
at suitable distances from each other, and a great saving in sced and
manure is effected, as well as a saving of labor in hoeing the crop.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will now
proceed, by the aid of the Drawings hereunto annexed, to describe a
means of carrying my said Invention into effect by applying it to
drills, but it is evident that my said Invention may be applied to other
machines of the same class, and-that-the-details thereof may be varied.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents an end elevation of a drill of the common or
ordinary kind with my Patent arrangement attached, one of its ground
or travelling wheels having been removed in order the better to shew
the Pateut arrangement; Figure 2 represcuts my Patent arrangement
detached from the drill, and Figure 2ª represents the same when the
trap or box is open to allow the substance drilled to pass out; and
Figure 3 is a plan of the trap or box.
A is the box or receptacle of the drill to contain the seed, manure, or
other substance to be deposited on the ground; B is one of the ground
or travelling wheels, (the other one, exactly similar, being removed in
Figure I); C, C, C, are geared wheels to transmit the motion from the
ground or travelling wheels to the tappet wheel H; D is the joint or
axis fixed on the wings or side plates of the coulter G, on which the
trap or box M is mounted, and is thereby capable of reciprocating
motion. E is an ordinary form of drill lever to which the coulter G is a
attached; F, F, arc the tins or tubes for bringing the seed, manure,
or other substance from the drill box or receptacle A to the trap or

page_text: box M; G is the coulter on the wings or side plates of which the trap
or box is mounted; H is the tappet wheel, which receiving motion
through the geared wheels C, C, C, from the ground or travelling
wheels, imparts such motion to a spring or finger or projection marked I,
which gives motion to the lever or connecting rod J. This connecting
rod being connected to the trap or box by the joint L the motion of the
former moves the trap or box M forward until its bottom is moved
off the partition N, so that the contents may pass out. A piece K
(Figures 2 and 2ª), attached to the same, bearing on the tappet wheel is
acted on by each tappet as it passes the end of the finger or projection I,
and so acts on the said finger or projection I as to bring it back to its
original position to be again operated on by the next projection of the
tappet wheel. N is a partition attached to the wings or side plates of
the coulter in such a position beneath the bottom of the trap or box
as to prevent the contents of the trap or box passing out until it has
been moved by the motion of the tappet wheel and apparatus connected
therewith. It will be seen that in this arrangement the trap or box M
is constructed without a bottom, so that when it is moved off the
partition N the contents to be deposited at once fall to the ground. It
is also manifest that by varying the gearing C, C, C, or by using a
tappet wheel with a greater or less number of tappets, the distance at
which the substance being drilled is to be deposited may be varied at
pleasure.
Figure 2 represents the Patent arrangement detached from the drill
with the trap or box in position to be filled with the substance to 'be
drilled, and Figure 2ª shews the same apparatus as Figure 2, but with
the trap or box in the proper position to allow the substance being
drilled to pass out. In these Figures the apparatus which returns the
end of the finger or projection I and trap or box M after having been
acted on by the tappet is shewn, and it will be seen in Figure 2ª that
the tappet, after acting on the end of the finger or projection I, and
after it has passed it, acts on one end of the piece K, the other end of
which piece K acts on I and restores it and all the apparatus attached
to it to the original position, so that the trap or box may be filled from
the drill box or receptacle A. It is evident that a spring may be used
instead of the nione & to restore the annamatus to its animinal

page_text: Figure 3 is a plan of the trap or box M shewing its position between
the wings or side plates of the coulter.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
means of performing the same and carrying it into effect, I wish it to
be understood that I do not claim as of my Invention any of the parts
of which my apparatus is composed separate or apart from the apparatus
which I have above described, but what I claim as my Invention, and
wish to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the construction of and adaptation to drilling machines or
machines for depositing seed and manure, and to other machines of that
description, of the trap or box and apparatus connected therewith herein-
before described and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed, by
means of which trap or box and apparatus the seed, manure, or sub-
stance to be deposited on the ground is deposited thereon in bunches or
patches as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Webb King, have hercunto
lion in the vous of