IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF APPLYING STEAM POWER TO THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Romaine, late of Canada West, but now of
Chapel Street, Bedford Row, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF APPLYING STEAM
POWER TO THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL."
Sealed the 4th November 1859, and dated the 18th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Romaine at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1859.
I, ROBERT ROMAINE, late of Canada West, but now of Chapel Street,
Bedford Row, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF APPLYING
STEAM POWER TO THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to the employment of an endless rope for
transmitting the hauling power of the engine (which is placed at the headland)
to the implement used for operating upon the ground, the object being to
prevent the fleeting and slipping of the rope while being coiled up by the
hauling drum, and to preserve the required line of draft from the commence-
ment to the completion of every furrow.
Secondly, to the employment of a pecuilar construction of travelling anchor,
which within a given range will be self-adjusting.
In operating with the endless rope, I use a single drum of a sufficient capacity
to coil on one half of the length of the rope; and to give the rope a holding,

page_text: I pass two or more coils around the drum. In front of the drum (which I
prefer to mount vertically in a travelling frame, and drive through suitable
gearing (by means of a portable or locomotive engine) I mount a pair of
travelling sheaves, whose office is to guide the rope on to and off the drum
while the same is rotating. The shafts of the sheaves are geared together, and
they are caused to traverse in the direction of the axis of the drum, the one
sheave laying the rope upon the drum, while the other guides off the slack.
When employing a horizontal drum (as, for example, when adapting the
Invention to the engine of my improved cultivator), I mount the drum on
a screw shaft, and cause it to move endways on the shaft while in the act of
rotating. In this case I use fixed sheaves, and thus effect the laying of the rope
on to the drum, and the guiding off of the slack, as in the vertical arrangement.
The self-adjusting anchor which I employ consists of a double headed rail or
bar, mounted on wheels for convenience of transport and for raising it a few
inches from the ground, and forming a guide for a sheave, which, by the lateral
drag of the traction rope, is caused to travel gradually from end to end of the
rail, and at every shift of the plough, or completion of a furrow, take up a
position in a line with the, work. The rail or bar is laid on its side opposite
the engine and drum, and parallel with the headland, and it is beld firmly to
the ground by stakes or otherwise; antifriction rollers, carried by metal straps
or links, embrace the bar, and bear against its opposite edges. To the roller
links a frame is jointed, which carries a sheave intended to receive the endless
rope and hold it at tension. This sheave is borne up clear of the ground by
horizontal rollers, having their bearings in the end of the sheave frame. When,
therefore, the cultivator is connected to the endless rope, and the hauling
power is set in action, there will be no fleeting of the rope on the drum, or
tendency for it to take an angle to the line of draught required; but the drum
will haul up the rope (simultaneously giving off the slack), and cause the
regular traverse to and fro of the cultivator across the field until a breadth of
land equal to the span of the anchor bar has been ploughed; the anchor will
then require to be shifted forward.
When operating upon an irregularly shaped field, which will necessitate the
placing the anchor bar at an obtuse or acute angle to the line of draught,
it will be necessary to lock the antifriction rollers to the bar; and for this
purpose I propose to provide the bar with holes to receive pegs or stop pins,
which will prevent the rollers from yielding to the lateral drag of the rope
and slipping out from the required line of draught. The same contrivance
will be required when the headland lies on a steep incline.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Romaine in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
ROMAINE, late of Canada West, but now of Chapel Street, Bedford Row, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Robert Romaine, Her special license that I, the said
Robert Romaine, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Robert Romaine, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF APPLYING STEAM POWER TO THE
CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Robert Romaine, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Robert Romaine, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
1
This Invention relates, firstly, to certain means of preventing the fleeting
and slipping of endless ropes used in steam cultivation while being coiled up
by the hauling drum, and of preserving the required line of draught from the
commencement to the completion of every furrow.
Secondly, to the employment of a peculiar construction of travelling anchor,
which within a given range will be self-adjusting.
In operating with the endless rope, I use for the purposes of a windlass a
single drum of a sufficient capacity to coil on one half of the length of the rope.;
and to give the rope a holding, I pass two or more coils around the drum. In

page_text: front of the drum (which I prefer to mount vertically in a travelling frame,
and drive through suitable gearing by means of a portable or locomotive engine,)
I mount a pair of travelling sheaves, whose office is to guide the rope on to
and off the drum while the same is rotating. The shafts of the sheaves are
geared together, and they are caused to traverse in the direction of the axis of
the drum, the one sheave laying the rope upon the drum, while the other
guides off the slack. When employing a horizontal drum (as, for example,
when adapting the Invention to the engine of my improved cultivator), I
mount the drum on a screw shaft, and cause it to move endwise on the shaft
while in the act of rotating. In this case I use fixed sheaves, and thus effect
the laying of the rope on to the drum and the guiding off of the slack, as in
the vertical arrangement.
The self-adjusting anchor which I employ consists of a double headed rail
or bar, mounted on wheels for convenience of transport, and for raising it a
few inches from the ground and forming a guide for a sheave, which, by the
lateral drag of the traction rope, is caused to travel gradually from end to end
of the rail, and at every lateral shift of the cultivator take up a position in a
line with the work. The rail or bar is laid on its side opposite the engine and
drum, and parallel with the beadland, and it is held firmly to the ground by
stakes or otherwise. Antifriction rollers carried by metal straps or links
embrace the bar and bear against its opposite edges. To the roller links a
frame is jointed, which carries a sheave intended to receive the endless rope
and hold it at tension. This sheave is borne up clear of the ground by
horizontal rollers having their bearings in the end of the sheave frame.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2, a side
elevation of my improved windlass. A is a plain drum keyed to a vertical
shaft, which is mounted on a rectangular frame B, a footstep a being provided
for it at the bottom of the frame, and a journal attached to a cross piece at
the top the frame. The frame B is intended to be attached either to one end
or side of a portable engine, and it is carried by the land wheels C, C, and
when not at work may be moved from place to place by animal power, with
the addition of a pole or a pair of shafts, not shewn; D is a pulley keyed fast
to a horizontal shaft E, and driven by a strap from the engine; b, b, are a pair
of bevil pinions loose on the shaft E, capable of being thrown into and out of
gear with the large bevil wheel F, by means of the clutch and lever c and d ;
G is a large spur wheel cast in one with the large bevil wheel F,
and gearing
into a pair of spur pinions e, e, which are keyed respectively to a pair of
vertical screws f, whose pitch is arranged to suit the diameter of wire rope
employed. These screws f revolve loosely in footsteps at the bottom of

page_text: the frame B, and through journals at the top of the frame, and they are
intended to operate a vertically sliding frame I, which carries the sheaves for
laying the endless rope on the drum A. At Fig. 3 the frame I is shewn in
front view as detached from the windlass. The screws f,f, work through
nuts H, H, attached to the frame I. In this frame are mounted four small
shafts g, 9, 9, 9, to which are keyed respectively four small sheaves or rollers
h, h, h, h, whose peripheries are covered with an elastic material. These
sheaves are arranged in pairs, to receive alternately the taut rope and lay it
upon the drum A, while the other pair gives out the slack from the opposite
side of the drum. On the inner ends of two of the four shafts g are keyed
two spur wheels i, of equal size, and which gear into each other for the purpose
of ensuring the simultaneous action of the two pairs of sheaves. The upper
and lower sheaves are caused to bind the rope that is placed between them by
means of the coiled pressing springs j,j, (Figs. 4 and 6); k is the rope, which
after being coiled or wound round the drum two or more times is passed at
each side of the windlass between the pairs of sheaves h. It will be readily
seen that the action of the spur wheel and pinions G and e, e, and the screws
ff, is to traverse the frame I, with its sheaves h, h, h, h, up and down in front
of the drum, and thus bear up and guide the rope as it is wound on to or off
the drum.
By gearing the shafts of the sheaves as described, the sheaves on the
winding side (receiving motion from the endless rope as it passes between
them) will cause the sheaves on the unwinding side to pull or draw off the
slack rope from the drum, and enable a slack rope to follow the cultivating
implement across the field, while tight coils of rope are maintained on the
drum to prevent slipping or fleeting. I have shewn but two sheaves h, h, on
opposite sides geared or connected together; but when required to get more
adhesion for pulling or drawing off the slack of the rope, I may make the
whole four sheaves h, h, h, h, driving sheaves, by gearing the four shafts g, 9, 9, 9,
together with spur wheels, as shewn in Fig. 4. In this Figure it will be seen
that the drum A is set in the frame horizontally, and it is this arrangement
which I propose to adapt to the engine of my improved steam cultivator.
Fig. 5 is a plan of this arrangement, and Fig. 6 is a partial side view of the
frame B, shewing the large fixed sheaves L, L, for guiding the rope to the
small fixed sheaves h, h. K is a small drum for hauling the windlass and
engine along the headlands by anchoring a rope ahead. It is driven by a
worm or spur piuion on the driving shaft E, taking into a worm wheel
mounted loosely on the axle of the drum, and put into and out of action by
means of a clutch; M is a shaft for carrying the drum A, which in this

page_text: This shaft is tapped with a
pitch corresponding to the
instance has a traverse motion upon its shaft M.
screw thread for about half its length, having a
thickness or diameter of the rope employed, and it is fastened at both ends to
the frame B. The drum A is made of boiler plate or other suitable material,
and carries two centre pieces or sockets t, t, which encircle the shaft M
loosely; one socket is turned plain to suit one-half of the shaft, and the other
socket is tapped to correspond with the screwed portion of the shaft M; N is
large spur wheel bolted to the drun, and driven by the long spur pinion 1,
which is keyed fast on its shaft E. In Fig. 5 the drum is shewn at one end
of the frame, and with three coils of rope wound thereon. The drum is made
of sufficient capacity to wind up during its traverse half an endless rope
suitably proportioned to operate upon a stetch of land (without the engine
being shifted) of the maximum length that may be deemed manageable by
the operator.
The action of the rope on the fixed sheaves h, h, h, h, in
Figs. 4 and 6, is precisely similar to that already described in reference to
Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The fixed sheaves L, L, are merely employed to turn
and guide the rope to the sheaves h, h, h, h. When employing a drum set
horizontally, which does not travel from end to end of the frame B, but has a
fixed axle revolving in bearings on the frame, I cause the sheaves L, L, to
travel horizontally instead of the drum by means of two screw shafts, one on
each side of the drum, similar to that shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and
driven by similar spur gearing, the small sheaves h still remaining fixed as in
Fig. 6. By providing long rollers in front of the breadth of the frame B, the
axes of the small sheaves h may be arranged vertically if required. The same
letters refer to the like parts in all the above-mentioned Figures.
Fig. 7 is a plan, and Fig. 8 a side view, partly in section, of my self-adjusting
anchor. O is a double headed rail or bar, made of any suitable material and any
suitable length; but when composed of pieces, these are fished end to end in the
manner usual with railroad bars. The rail O is pierced with holes at certain
distances apart, and supported a few inches from off the ground and moved
along the headlands on carrying wheels m, m, m, m. A pair of flanched
rollers n, n, bear against the opposite edges of the bar, and are held together
s formed on them,
by two straps or links p, p. The links p, p, have lugs
through which holes are pierced to correspond with the line of holes in
the bar. When operating on irregular shaped fields, or when the bar is set
upon a headland with a steep incline, a pin is passed through the lugs and
through a hole in the bar O, to fix the rollers in the required position on the
Each end of the bar will be anchored to the headland in the usual
manner, and while the length of the bar is traversed by the rollers (which
bar.

page_text: traverse indicates the progress breadthwise of the cultivator over the land), it
will be the duty of one of the attendants to get ready a third anchor at the
required distance ahead, so as to allow of the bar O being moved forward
(endwise), and secured at its ends during one of the bouts of the implement,
whereby the implement will be enabled to continue its operations on another
stetch of land abreast of the work which it has just completed. I would
remark, in relation to the use of a bar, that although I prefer it on account of
its rigidity, and permitting a better self-adjustment of the large sheave and
frame to the line of draught, yet, where the means are not at hand to procure
a bar, a strong rope or chain stretched tightly and anchored along the head-
land will answer the purpose of a guide for the traversing sheave. P, P, are
the upper and lower sides of the frame, in the centre of which the large
sheave Q is loosely mounted. This frame is connected to the flanched anti-
friction rollers n, n, and bar by means of two stud pins or bolts placed in the
middle of the links or straps p, p. The rollers r, r, which keep the frame P
clear of the ground, are carried in bearings formed in the distance pieces 9, 9, 9, 9,
which unite the sides of the frame together.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Means of Applying Steam Power to the Cultivation of the Soil," and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the means herein described for operating the endless traction ropes of
steam cultivators.
And, secondly, I claim the use of the tension bar, or its equivalent, in com-
bination with the self-adjusting sheave, in the manner and for the purpose
above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Romaine, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
ROBT. ROMAINE. (L.S.)