IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS FOR SOWING GRAIN AND SEEDS WITH OR WITHOUT MANURE, AND ALSO FOR SOWING OR DISTRIBUTING MANURE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Newzam Nicholson, of Newark-upon-
Trent, in the County of Nottingham, Agricultural Engineer, and
George Black, of Grantham, in the County of Lincoln, Mechanic,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS FOR
SOWING GRAIN AND SEEDS WITH OR WITHOUT MANURE, AND ALSO FOR SOWING
OR DISTRIBUTING MANURE."
Sealed the 4th March 1870, and dated the 10th September 1869.
Patents, with their Petition, on the 10th September 1869.
We, WILLIAM NEWZAM NICHOLSON, of Newark-upon-Trent, in the
County of Nottingham, Agricultural Engineer, and GEORGE BLACK, of
Grantham, in the County of Lincoln, Mechanic, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS
FOR SOWING GRAIN AND SEEDS WITH OR WITHOUT MANURE, AND ALSO FOR SOWING
OR DISTRIBUTING MANURE," to be as follows, that is to say:-

page_text: lessen the weight and cost of such drills, simplify their construction,
and render them less liable to get out of order in use, and reduce the
cost of repairs, and lessen the waste of seed.
By this means the whole
First. We substitute for the revolving barrel and cups, as hitherto
used, rectangular boxes with reciprocating notched slide bars working
therein and delivering the seed, grain, or manure at each end of the said
boxes into a pipe or tube for conducting the same to the soil or furrow
in rear of the coulters. Each box can be made to supply one or two
drills. The reciprocating notched bars are connected to a cross bar and
worked forwards and backwards by a slotted crank, which receives its
motion from the travelling wheels. The crank being slotted or per-
forated allows the stroke and speed of the reciprocating bars to be
regulated so as to sow or distribute any quantity of seed or grain that
may be required. The grain, seed, or manure is placed in a hopper, the
bottom of which we make in the ridge and valley form, the apices of the
ridges being closed, and the bottoms of the valleys where the rectangular
boxes before mentioned are attached open.
of the grain, seed, or manure will run out
regularly and uniformly fed to each drill box.
hopper, above the apices of the ridges, we place a board so as to form a
horizontal division, for the purpose of relieving the slides from the
weight and pressure of the superincumbent grain. This board has
openings along both edges of capacity sufficient to allow the requisite
quantity of grain, seeds, and the like to pass to the slide bars, which
openings may be partially or wholly closed if necessary. In order to
prevent the grain or seed from being crushed we place under the hopper
openings a strip of leather, vulcanised india-rubber, or other flexible
material attached to a piece of wood or metal to stiffen it and act as a
"strickle." This strickle is slotted and is fitted with screws in order
that it may be raised or lowered more or less to suit the different kinds
and sizes of seed.
of the hopper, and be
Near the bottom of this
Secondly. Instead of the usual coulter bars, levers, and weights, we
use a moveable double coulter bar or frame, to which the coulters are
fitted, and which is raised and lowered bodily by means of a lever
attached thereto near the centre. The coulter frame is fitted with guide
rods, which slide in sockets in the main frame for keeping it in position
when raised or lowered by the lever.

page_text: Thirdly. Instead of the rigid coulters we introduce spring coulters,
which will rise and fall sufficiently to produce uniform furrows when the
surface of the ground is uneven.
According to one plan we form the improved coulter with a shank,
round which we fit a coil spring, and to the coulter frame or box we
fix for each coulter a slotted bar or socket. In this slot we fit a stud,
which we screw into the shank of the coulter to act as a guide thereto
or prevent it from turning in the socket. Immediately below the spring
we fix a metal hoop for holding the coulter tins or boots, so that the
whole rises and falls together.
According to another plan we adopt levers and coulters resembling
those of the ordinary kind, but instead of using weights we give the
requisite pressure by a volute or bar spring attached to or forming part
of the fixed end of the lever.
Fourthly. We make the travelling wheels by preference of wrought
iron with a cast-iron nave of rather large diameter, which forms a box
upon or within which is fixed the cog wheel or other contrivance that
gives motion to the reciprocating notched bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Newzam Nicholson and George Black
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
NEWZAM NICHOLSON, of Newark-upon-Trent, in the County of Not-
tingham, Agricultural Engineer, and GEORGE BLACK, of Grantham, in
the County of Lincoln, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Newzam Nicholson and George
Black, Her special licence that we, the said William Newzam Nicholson
and George Black, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said William Newzam Nicholson and George Black,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS FOR SOWING GRAIN AND SEEDS WITH OB WITHOUT
MANURE, AND ALSO FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Newzam Nicholson and George Black,
our executors, or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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 we, the said William Newzam Nicholson and
George Black, 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, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to seed drills for agricultural purposes, and
consists,―
First. In the substitution of notched or perforated slide bars in place
of the revolving barrels and cups ordinarily used, such notched slide
bars working in rectangular boxes with a regular or varying recipro-
cating movement, and delivering the grain at each end of the said boxes
into tubes or other contrivances for conducting the same to the soil.
These reciprocating slide bars are actuated by a slotted adjustable crank
receiving its motion from the travelling wheels, which allows the stroke
and speed of the slide bars to be varied so as to sow a greater or less
quantity of seed, thus dispensing with the necessity of change wheels
ordinarily used. There are contrivances for relieving the slide bars
from the superincumbent weight of the seed, and for causing it to be
regularly fed to the slide bars without being crushed.
Secondly. In the use of a double coulter bar or frame sliding in
guide rods or sockets attached to the framing of the drill, which frame
is made to carry all the coulters and can be raised or lowered bodily
at pleasure.
Thirdly. In the use of coulters provided with springs instead of the
alinam mothed

page_text: brought to bear upon the coulters, and no additional weights are required,
these springs allowing the coulters to rise and fall where necessary so as
to ensure uniform depth in sowing.
Fourthly. In constructing the carrying wheels of drills with cast-
iron nave boxes or centres of large diameter, the spokes being by pre-
ference of wrought iron, upon or within one of these nave boxes is cast,
or otherwise fastened the cog wheel which gives motion through one
or more carrier pinions or excentric wheels to the slotted crank that
actuates the slide bars.
Figure 1 on the Drawings annexed is a side elevation, partly in
section, of our improved drill; Figure 2 is a plan of the same, also partly
in section; Figure 3 is an enlarged plan of the notched slide bars, and
the adjustable slotted crank and connexions; Figure 4 is an enlarged
plan, Figure 5 a side elevation, Figure 6 an end elevation, and
Figure 7 a transverse section of the rectangular boxes in which the
slide bars work; Figures 8 and 9 are transverse and longitudinal
sections of part of the seed hopper shewing the position and arrange-
ment of the flexible strickles for preventing the seed being crushed;
and Figure 10 is a plan of the same; Figure 11 is a side elevation of
a pair of coulters fitted with spiral springs, shewing the method of
their attachment to the double coulter bar or frame; Figure 12 shews
a coulter fitted with a bar spring; Figure 13, a coulter fitted with a
volute spring with attachments capable of sliding upon a bar fixed by
suitable brackets to the framing of the drill.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, a is the carrying, travelling, or
driving wheel with the actuating cog wheel fixed to the same; b is a
pinion driven by the said cog wheel and fastened upon a shaft, upon
the other end of which is fixed the slotted crank or disc c; d is a
forked connecting rod by which a reciprocating motion is imparted to
the bar e, to which the notched or perforated slide bars f, f, f, are
attached; g, g, g, are the rectangular boxes in which the notched slide
bars work; is a worm actuated by a cranked handle, through which
by means of a worm wheel and rack the double coulter bar or frame is
raised or lowered; j, j, shows a pair of coulters provided with spiral
springs for giving the necessary pressure and also with a tube for con-
ducting the seed to the soil.
of
Figures 8, 9, and 10, are transverse and longitudinal sections and a plan
part of the seed hopper, in which h, k, shews a board and the method

page_text: of its application for preventing the pressure of the grain upon the
slide bars, and 1, l, shews the slides or strickles provided with leather,
india-rubber, or other flexible facing for preventing damage to the grain,
and causing the slide bars to be fed regularly and evenly.
In Figure
11, j, j, are the coulters; m, m, the double coulter bar or frame to which
they are fixed; n, part of the rack actuated by the worm and wheel, by
means of which the coulter bar or frame is raised or lowered; o, o, are
spiral springs by which the pressure is given to keep the coulters at any
desired depth in the soil.
In Figures 12 and 13, j, j, are the coulters with their feeding tubes;
p is a bar spring, and q, a volute spring attached to sockets, sliding on a
square bar and giving pressure to the coulters as aforesaid.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and certain
methods in which the same may be performed, we declare we do not
confine our claim to the precise methods herein shewn, as they are
capable of being varied without materially departing from the nature or
principle of our Invention; but what we claim is,―
Firstly. The use of reciprocating notched or perforated slide bars con-
nected with or coupled to an adjustable crank, disc, or excentric and
actuated by the carrying wheels of the machine for sowing grain or
seed and for varying the quantity of grain or seed sown.
Secondly. The method described of constructing the hopper and the
use of flexible strickles in connexion with slide bars.
Thirdly. The method described of attaching the coulters to a frame
which can be raised or lowered bodily by means of levers, screws, or other
contrivances.
Fourthly. The use of spiral, bar, volute, or other form of springs for
giving or imparting pressure to the coulters in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Newzam Nicholson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy,
on behalf of myself and the said George Black.
WILLIAM NEWZAM NICHOLSON. (L.S.)