IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR PULVERIZING AND CLEANING LAND
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Marsden, of Handley Wood, in the County
of Derby, Agriculturalist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
IMPLEMENTS FOR PULVERIZING AND CLEANING LAND."
Scaled the 11th November 1856, and dated the 2nd June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Marsden at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd June 1856.
1, EDWARD MARSDEN, of Handley Wood, in the County of Derby, Agricul-
turalist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN IMPLEMENTS FOR PULVERIZING AND CLEANING LAND," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in constructing implements which take up,
pulverize, and cleanse land at one operation. They first take up a certain
breadth of land upon a share, and then bring to bear thereon, according to the
land being in a wet or dry state, mauls or rollers to pulverize or reduce it.
The land next passes between rollers, and again between other rollers or
drums with teeth, in order thoroughly to disintegrate the land and remove
twitch, weeds, or roots therefrom, which twitch, weeds, or roots are carried by.
a helt into a receiver. At the same time that the twitch is removed the
machine takes up all stones above a certain size, which are either deposited in
a receiver or thrown back upon the land, as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Marsden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
MARSDEN, of Handley Wood, in the County of Derby, Agriculturalist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Iler reign,
did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
the said Edward Marsden, my
Edward Marsden, Her special licence that
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Marsden, 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
IMPLEMENTS POR PULVERIZING AND CLEANING LAND," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Marsden, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the sail 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 Edward Marsden, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say:-
My improvements consist in constructing implements which take up.
pulverize, and cleanse land at one operation. They first take up a certain
breadth of land upon a share, and then bring to bear thereon, according to
the land being in a wet or dry state, mauls or rollers to pulverize or reduce it.
The land next passes between rollers, and again between other rollers or
drums with teeth, in order thoroughly to disintegrate the land and remove
twitch, weeds, or roots therefrom, which twitch, weeds, or roots are carried by
a belt into a receiver. At the same time that the twitch is removed the

page_text: machine takes up all stones above a certain size, which are either deposited in
a receiver or thrown back upon the land, as required.
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is a plan of a machine constructed
according to my Invention; and Figure 2, a side elevation thereof, with the
framework removed.
A. A, is the general framework of the machine, supported by wheels B, B,
the front ones and axles of which are free to swivel on a pin or centre B', to
allow the machine to turn easily; the wheels are either fixed or not to axles
C, C, working in bearings in the frame A; D is a share, which I make either
solid or of a series of prongs of a width suitable to the machine and to the quan-
tity of earth required to be raised; E, E, are mauls or mallets, jointed at b, b,
tixel to the arms F, F, attached to the axle c, and working in bearings in the
frame of the machine. These mauls revolve and pulverize the land as it is
raised by the share. Instead of mauls or mallets, I sometimes use a roller or
rollers G, shewn at Figure 3 in plan, and Figure 4 end view, having on their
periphery spikes, chisels, ribs, bars, or grooves c', c', running across the roller
or obliquely, according to the nature or state of the soil to be operated upon,
or I use a plain roller or a series of rollers armed with chisels, ribs, &c., or
not, as desired; or I employ a drum or drums, on the periphery of which I
hinge chisels or spikes, which are capable of being removed and other breakers
or mauls substituted, according to the nature and state of the soil. To use
these rollers I place a second share D¹ in the machine, so that the soil after
being pulverized by the roller is raised by the share D¹ on to an endless webb
II; a view of this roller with the additional share is given at Figure 5.
.
The roller shewn at Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 may either roll by frictional
contact with the earth, or they may be supported in bearings driven by suitable
gear. I is the endless chain or belt, composed of several chains or wires, or
other suitable material with wires or rods fixed transversely thereon. This
belt works round rollers d, d, and receives the earth from the share; the
pulverized earth falls through the interstices or spaces between the wires, and
the twitch, weeds, or roots and stones are carried along the chain, and finally
deposited, by means of a spiked roller, into two separate receivers.
Between the frame A, I fit another frame, in which I mount two rollers d",
on which I place a travelling web or band to revolve at right angles to the
endless belt H. The upper part of the web passes between the upper and
lower portions of the endless belt. This web carries the earth which has
fallen through the interstices of the belt to the opposite part of the frame, and-
deposits it in ridges instead of being level, as in ordinary work. This frame,
the rollers, and webs may be placed at any side of the machine, as it is not

page_text: intended that it shall extend across it unless necessary. This part of the
machine is only to be used when desired to throw up the pulverized earth into
ridges. I sometimes fix spikes d¹ on the endless web or chain H, to assist in
pulverizing the earth and carrying along the twitch, weeds, and stones. This
modification is seen in Figure 5; I is a roller or crusher, revolving upon its
own axis and supported by the lever e, connected to the axle f. The pressure
on the roller I can be regulated by the position of the weight g on the lever h,
attached to the crusher I. This crusher is driven in a similar manner to the
toothed roller J, herein-after mentioned. J is a toothed roller, on the peri-
phery of which I fix spikes, prongs, or pickers r, r, the ends working close to
the endless chain H, or at any distance suitable to the work to be done. This
toothed roller is driven by the cog wheel K, keyed on the axle k, working in
bearings in distinct frames hung on a fixed rod, and free to vibrate in the
frame A of the machine; to the toothed roller I attach a weighted lever L,
which regulates the pressure on the roller J. M is a twitch roller, which
revolves in a contrary direction to, and at a much slower speed than the
toothed roller J; or they may, if desired, be made to revolvo at equal speed.
I employ at times a series of twitch rollers. N is a pitching roller, revolving
in the direction indicated by the arrows, which throws the twitch into the
box O, and the stones being of greater specific gravity are thrown into the
receiver P. I employ a fan Q at the top of the receiver, which causes a
current of air to flow into the box, and thereby separates the twitch or roots
from the stones. The pitching roller N is sometimes employed to raise the
stones from the ground without the mould first passing through the machine.
I also employ it detached from the machine, and use it as an apparatus for
collecting stones and twitch. Instead of the pitching roller, before described,
I sometimes substitute a plain drum, a view of this drum or roller is given at
Figure 7.
The machine is worked by suitable gearing, and driven by steam, horse, or
other prime mover, and operates as follows:-The shares D enter the ground
and raise the earth, twitch, roots, &c.; the mauls E, E, break the clods therein;
and the endless chain II carries forward so much of the pulverized earth as
does not fall between the interstices therein, the twitch and roots beneath the
roller I, and between the toothed roller J, and twitch roller M; the twitch at
this point is separated from the soil, the clods are entirely broken, and the
earth thoroughly pulverized has passed through the endless belt; the twitch
and stones are still carried forward until they reach the pitching roller N, when
they are deposited in the receivers O and P, as before described.
Although I have represented in the Drawings, and described the best mode

page_text: of constructing this machine, yet I do not confine myself to the preciso
arrangement, for it is evident the same can be varied without departing from
the essential features of my Invention.
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, first, the pul-
verizing and cleaning of land simultaneously by the means and in the manner
herein-before described.
Second, the pulverizing of earth and the separating of twitch and other
weeds and stones therefrom, or either pulverizing the earth or separating the
twitch, weeds, or stones therefrom separately by means of the machinery
herein-before described.
And, third, I claim the raising of the soil from its ordinary level, the
carrying of the same above that level, pulverizing and cleansing it while so
raised, and returning it to the land in a cleansed and pulverized state, either
in ridges or at its ordinary level.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Marsden, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
EDWARD MARSDEN.
(L.8.)