IMPROVE. MENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING AND CULTIVATING THE SOIL, AND IN BOILERS FOR SUPPLYING STEAM TO ENGINES FOR DRIVING THE SAME, WHICH LATTER IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO BOILERS GENERALLY, AND ESPECIALLY DAWERS AR TRACTION ExGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Leach, of Britannia Mills, Leeds, in the
County of York, Cloth Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING AND CULTIVATING THE SOIL, AND IN
BOILERS FOR SUPPLYING STEAM TO ENGINES FOR DRIVING THE SAME, WHICH
LATTER IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO BOILERS GENERALLY, AND ESPECIALLY
DAWERS AR TRACTION ExGINES."
Sealed the 10th December 1861, and dated the 14th June 1861
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Leach at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
June 1861.
I, GEORGE LEACH, of Britannia Mills, Leeds, in the County of York,
Cloth Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING AND CULTIVATING THE SOIL, AND IN
BOILERS FOR SUPPLYING STEAM TO ENGINES FOR DRIVING THE SAME, WHICH LATTER
IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO BOILERS GENERALLY, AND ESPECIALLY TO BOILERS
OF TRACTION ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My improvements in implements for tilling and cultivating the soil consist
in mounting upon a shaft, and at an incline plain or toothed discs, the teeth
being formed in a piece with the disc, or made separate therefrom, and fixed
thereto. Rotary motion is communicated to the shaft, and consequently
to the discs, which cut or break up the soil, pulverize it, and turn it over. I
denominate my improved implement "the steam mole."
My improvement in boilers consist in the employment of scries of upright
water tubes let into cases at top and bottom, those at bottom forming water

page_text: spaces and at top water and steam spaces opening into a steam dome. The
fire-place is surrounded by the tubes; between every or some of the series of
tubes I place baffle plates of fire-brick or iron. These baffle plates are pierced
with holes either circular or elongated, and through these holes the gaseous
products and heat pass. Against the baffle plates duplicate plates are fixed,
also pierced with holes. The duplicate baffle plates are made movable, so
that the apertures may be slidden opposite, or so as to cover any required area
of those in the main or fixed baffle plates. By this means, and by arranging
the series of holes in each baffle plate so as to suit the intensity of the fire or
the velocity of the current or draught, the heat is caused to act upon any
portion of the tubes, or to flow in any required direction between one series of
baffle plates and another, either in a zig-zag or straight direction in passing
from the fire to the chimney. I form the chimney, by preference, in the
shape of an elongated square, and divide the same into three or more com-
partments. I cause the blast or waste steam to pass through either one,
two, or all of the said compartments so as to diminish the noise, and thus
not frighten horses when travelling on the high roads. By opening a trellis
which I fix at the front of the fire, an additional quantity of air can be
admitted to maintain combustion with a softer and less noisy blast. I
surround the furnace with water tubes, but leave sufficient space between
one pair of tubes to gain access to the-interior thereof when necessary. I
feed the fire from the top through a chamber or hopper fitted with two
slides, which act in a similar manner to the slides in a shot pouch, and I
surround the tubes composing the boiler excepting in front of the fire with
jacket, through which I cause the feed water to pass, and thereby become
more or less heated before entering the boiler. For the purpose of cleansing
the tubes, I make the top plate of the upper water and steam space remov-
able, so that each tube can be thoroughly swept or scoured out.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Leach in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LEACH, of Britannia Mills, Leeds, in the County of York, Cloth Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Leach, Her special licence that I, the said George
Leach, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Leach, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR TILLING AND CULTIVATING THE SOIL,
AND IN BOILERS FOR SUPPLYING STEAM TO ENGINES FOR DRIVING THE SAME, WHICH
LATTER IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO BOILERS GENERALLY, AND ESPECIALLY TO
BOILERS OF TRACTION ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Leach, 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 1, the said George Leach, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, first, in mounting upon a shaft and at an incline
a plane or toothed discs, the teeth being formed in a piece with the disc, or
made separate therefrom, and fixed thereto. Rotary motion is communicated
to the shaft, and consequently to the discs which cut or break up the soil,
pulverize it, and turn it over. I denominate my improved implement the
"steam mole." Similar effects may be produced by mounting toothed discs
at right angles upon a shaft, and while the same are rotating upon the shaft
lateral oscillating motion is given to the shaft and discs equal to the distance
the discs are set asunder, by which means a breadth of land may be cut up or
cultivated equal to the distance between the extremity of the traverse of the
two endmost discs upon the shaft. By having a drum, and mounting or
bolting upon the periphery thereof single teeth, or segments of more than
one, two, or any other number of teeth, such teeth may be made of any
desired shape or form best adapted to the soil to be operated upon.
S
My improvements in boilers consist in the employment of series of upright

page_text: water tubes let into cases at lop and bottom, those at bottom forming water
spaces and at top water and steain spaces opening iuto a steam dome; the
fire place is surrounded by the tubes. Between every or some of the series
of tubes I place baffle plates of fire-brick or iron; these baffle plates are
pierced with holes either circular or elongated, and through these holes the
gaseous products and heat pass; against the baffle plates duplicate plates are
fixed also pierced with holes. The duplicate baffle plates are made movable,
so that the apertures may be slidden opposite, or so as to cover any required
area of those in the main or fixed baffle plates. By this means, and by
arranging the series of holes in each baffle plate so as to suit the intensity of
the fire, or the velocity of the current or draft, the heat is caused to act upon
any portion of the tubes, or to flow in any required direction between one
series of baffle plates and another, either in a zig-zag or straight direction, in
passing from the fire to the chimney. But I do not confine myself to this
kind of baffle plate A plain sheet of iron may be inserted or suspended
between each or any rows of tubes, sufficient space being left as may be
required between the end of the baffle plate and the top or bottom of the
boiler to allow of the free passage or circulation of the gaseous products from
the fire to the chimney. I form the chimney, by preference, in the shape of
an elongated square, and divide the same into three or more compartments.
I cause the blast or waste steam to pass through either one, two, or all of
the said compartments so as to diminish the noise, and thus not frighten
horses when travelling on the high roads. By opening a trellis, which I fix
at the front of the fire, an additional quantity of air can be admitted to
maintain combustion with a softer and less noisy blast. I surround the fur-
nace with water tubes, but leave sufficent space between one pair of tubes
to gain access to the interior thereof when necessary. I feed the fire from
the top through a chamber or hopper fitted with two slides which act in a
similar manner to the slides in a shot pouch, and I surround the tubes com-
posing the boiler, excepting in front of the fire, with a jacket, through which
I cause the feed water to pass, and thereby become more or less heated
before entering the boiler. For the purpose of cleansing the tubes, I make
the top plate of the upper water and steam space removable, so that each
tube can be thoroughly swept or scoured out.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a vertical section of one of my
implements complete, shewing engine boiler and cultivator, and Figure 2 is a
plan of the same; Figure 3 shows in plan the cultivating discs arranged at
right angles to the shaft on which they are mounted; Figure 4 is a view of a
plain single disc with one segment of teeth bolted thereon; Figure 5 shewsa

page_text: drum fitted with discs, or thin rims or teeth forming in effect a broken
disc. The same figures of reference apply to corresponding parts in all the
figures.
In Figures 1 and 2, 1 are the discs bolted upon the shaft 2; 3b is the
chain driving the toothed wheel 3* upon the shaft 2; 4 is a toothed wheel
upon the drum shaft 5, obtaining its motion from the wheel 6 upon the
shaft 6; 7 is a cog wheel gearing into the wheel S upon the crank shaft 9;
10 is the steam cylinder; 11 is the frame forming also the tank for water;
12 are the driving drums supporting the weight of the engine; 13 is the
screw for elevating and lowering the dises into or out of the soil; 14 are
the handles for turning the same; 15 is the slide or guide in which the
block or bearing of the shaft 2 slides.
In Figure 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, are the discs fitted at right angles upon the shaft 2;
16 is a cam or eccentric groove into which the fixed pin 18 projects, so that
by every revolution of the shaft 2 an oscillating or traversing motion is given
to the shaft 3, and consequently to the discs 1, 1, 1, 1, fitted thereon. This
lateral motion may be given to the shaft 2 by cranks, screws, or any other well
known mechanical contrivance, provided the discs of metal are set either at
by preference an incline or at right angles with the shaft, so that the teeth
upon the discs may at each revolution present but a thin surface for action on
the soil separately, yet by their eccentric or diagonal action the same will cut,
cultivate, or disintegrate a width ordepth of soil equal to the distance between
the extreme point of revolution of the outside discs, as shewn by the dotted
lines 19 and 19. A similar effect may be produced by having a drum 20,
Figure 5, upon the circumference of which are formed or placed a thin rim
or projection with teeth 21, 21, 21, 21; or spikes may be placed in a diagonal
continuous direction so as to form in effect a broken disc set at an angle or
incline upon the shaft, or a broken disc set at right angles upon the shaft, and
the shaft traversed. The object of these inclined discs, besides cutting or
slicing the soil, is by their eccentric or lateral motion to invert, move side-
ways, or turn over as well as backward the soil disintegrated ground, or cut
by the revolving or crunching action of the discs. Where discs are sot at an
angle upon the shaft, I prefer to form them slightly elliptical so that their
peripheries may, in revolving, describe a perfect circle, or that the teeth may
in all positions or portion of revolution be equidistant from the shaft or axis.
Figure 4 shews plain disc with segmental tooth 25 or teeth 22 bolted
thereon; 26, Figure 1 and Figure 2, are the upright tubes of boiler; 27ª and
27b are the top and bottom water and steam spaces; 28 is the fire-place;
28 are the grate-bars; 29 are the baffle plates; 30 is the space or distance

page_text: between the baffle plates to allow of the passage and circulation of the
gaseous products; 31 is the chimney; 32 is the water jacket, and 33 is the
blast pipe or pipes; 24 are the driving wheels, which, when the engine
requires to be used as a traction engine only, can be fitted on; 35 is the
guiding wheel, and 36 is the steering handle or wheel.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, as my improve-
ments in implements for cultivating the soil, mounting upon a shaft, and at
an incline, or at right angles therewith plain or toothed discs in manner and
for the purposes herein-before described. And I claim as my improvements
in boilers, constructing them substantially in manner and for the purposes
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Leach, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, Oue thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
JAMES GLOVER.
GEO. LEACH. (L.s.)