& CREMATE IMPROVEMENT IN ADDARATUS FOR TRAINING HORS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Woolcot Collins, of Morris, in the County
of Otsego, and State of New York, United States of America, for the
Invention of " & CREMATE IMPROVEMENT IN ADDARATUS FOR TRAINING HORS."
Sealed the 14th June 1864, and dated the 19th December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Woolcot Collins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th December 1863.
I, FREDERICK WOOLCOT COLLINS, of Morris, in the County of Otsego, and
State of New York, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature
of my said Invention for "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR TRAINING
Hops," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in setting a short pole in each hill of hops, which
pole is of a length necessary to train the hop perpendicularly to the height at
which it will commence bearing fruit, and connecting each of these poles at
the top with each contiguous hill by means of horizontal twines, wires, or
their equivalent, in such a manner that the pole in each hill will be supported
by its fellows, and the bearing portion of the hop trained horizontally upon the
twine or wire, by which arrangement a very great saving in expense, in con-
struction, in labour of gathering, and loss of fruit by high winds is effected,
and a very large gain in the yield of the fruit realized.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Woolcot Collins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
WOOLCOT COLLINS, of Morris, in the County of Otsego, and State of New
York, United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Frederick Woolcot Collins, Her special licence that I,
the said Frederick Woolcot Collins, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Woolcot Collins, 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 "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS
FOR TRAINING Hops," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Frederick Woolcot Collins, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands, and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Woolcot Collins, 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 (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in setting a short pole in each bill of hops, which
pole is of a length necessary to train the hop perpendicularly to the height at
which it will commence bearing fruit, and connecting each of these poles at
the top with each contiguous hill by means of horizontal twines, or their
equivalent, in such a manner that the pole in each hill will be supported by
its fellows, and the bearing portion of the hop trained horizontally upon the
twine, by which arrangement a very great saving in expense in construction,
in labor of gathering, and loss of fruit by high winds is effected, and a very
large gain in the yield of the fruit realized.

page_text: :
are made
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing the
construction of my, device for training hops; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.
A, A, are the poles, which are set in each hill of hops. These poles are
of the proper length to train the hops at the height at which they will com
menice bearing, and this height will of course vary somewhat upon different
soils, and consequently no exact direction can be given which would be
applicable to all soils indiscriminately. But the knowledge of the general
growth of the hop, and of the soil upon which they a
are to be grown will be
sufficient guide to the use in relation to the length of the pole to be employed!
To the tops of these. poles. I attach cords B, B, which are firmly secured to
the top of each pole, and connect it with the top of the pole of each of the
adjacent hills, as represented in Figs. 1 & 2. This mode of connection it will
be obvious gives a stable and firm support to each pole, and secures to each
hill of hops a firm and reliable support, which is not likely to be disturbed by
high winds, or any other casualty occurring during their growth. The hops
will climb these poles till they arrive at the top, when having no further
upright support they will run out in the lines B, B, which I usually make of
good heavy twine, though wire may be used for the same purpose, but
probably not as economically. This arrangement brings the bearing portion
of the hop into a horizontal position, where it receives the good effect of the
rays of the sun to ripen the fruit, and bring it to an early maturity, while at
the same time the support is such as not to be easily affected, it being, as will
be obvious, a continual support across the whole field; the yield of hops is
therefore in consequence of the advantage gained by this mode very much
greater than by the ordinary mode of training, and the expenses of construction
are much less. In the common manner of training hops, poles of sufficient
height to train the vine wholly in an upright direction have been generally
used. As poles of that length are heavy, and now scarce, consequently the
expense is very much greater, and in many instances these poles have
necessarily to be hauled a considerable distance, as they cannot always be
found at hand. The effect of the wind upon poles of this height must
necessarily be very great, and is found in practice to be so, and the con-
sequence is, that the hops are frequently whipped about so much as to destroy
a considerable portion of the crop, and their being unsupported by each other
leaves each pole to resist independently the action of the wind, instead of
having the support of its fellows, and throws a very great leverage upon the
supporting earth in the hill of hops, thereby affecting the root as well as the
top of the plant. The great height at which the fruit is borne when trained
in this manner also makes the labor of gathering very much more considerable

page_text: than by my apparatus for training. My improvement has been found in
practice to obviate these difficulties, and furnish a cheap, economical; and
satisfactory training for the hops, of great value to the farmer, and giving a
better yield and a better quality of hops.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, I claim an apparatus for
training hops, produced by the combination of a pole in each hill of the proper
height only to support the hop to the bearing point, with cords or twines, or
their equivalent, connecting each of these poles with the pole in each adjacent
hill, substantially as and for the purpose set forth...
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Woolcot Collins, have here-
unto set my hand, and seal, this Twenty-second day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
FREDERICK WOOLCOT COLLINS. (L.s.)