AN IMPROVED DIBBLING MACHINE
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DALRYMPLE
CRAWFORD, of Stratford-on-Avon, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date.
at Westminster, the Seventh day of August, in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Dalrymple Crawford, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Dalrymple
Crawford, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Dalrymple Crawford, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention for "AN IMPROVED DIBBLING MACHINE;" in which said Letters Patent.
is contained a proviso that I, the said Dalrymple , shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Dalrymple Crawford, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and by
the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My said Improved Dibbling Machine may be constructed so as either to be
worked directly by hand or through the medium of wheelwork. When worked
directly by hand, it is made in the manner represented in Figures 1 and 2 of
the said Drawings, Figure 1 being a front elevation of it partly in section, and
Figure 2 a side elevation. A is a wooden staff which terminates at bottom in
a solid metal point B, which may for loose and friable soils be made of a
blunt cylindrical form, as represented in the Drawing, or where the soil is stiff
and tenacious be made more or less tapering and pointed. C is a cup with a
hole in the bottom through which the point B is moved up and down, as
herein-after explained; and D, D, are two upright arms by which this cup C
is attached to two slides E, E, which move up and down in grooved bearings
against the two sides of the staff. F, F, are two plates which are attached to
the staff at front and back, and are made a little broader than the staff in
order that they may prevent the slides E, E, from diverging to either side.
J is a seed box fixed to the front of the staff, which is divided into an upper
and under compartment m and n by a false or shifting bottom l, l. In this
false bottom there is a seed hole a, and in the fixed bottom w of the box a
similar seed hole d, and each of these holes is opened or closed by means of
two slides Hand I, which move to and fro on the top of l'and wo respectively,
(each slide projecting considerably through both sides of the box J), and have
holes b and c in them to coincide with the holes a and d. Plans of 1, H, and I,
are given separately in Figures 3, 4, and 5. On one side of the upper division
m of the seed box J there is a broad metal spring M, the fast end of which is
attached to the side of the box, and the other or free end is curved backwards
against a projecting shoulder of wood q; against the under face of this spring
the slide H passes when it is pushed inwards. O is an angularly inclined side
piece in the under compartment n, which serves to deflect the seed from under
the aperture a towards the discharge orifice g. G, G, are two angle pieces
attached to the arms D, D, which, as these arms are moved up and down,
press against the edges of the slides H and I, and cause them to move from
side to side. Q, Q, are two tubes attached to the sides of the staff imme-
diately above the slides E, E, and enclose rods R, R, which are connected to
spiral springs P, P, in the tops of the tubes, and exert an elastic pressure on
the slides E, E, and through them on the seed-depositing cup C. T, T, are
pegs or stops which serve to keep the slides H and 1 in their places. K is a
hopper from which the seed box J is supplied. The dotted lines x, x, denote

page_text: an air passage made through the dibble point in order to facilitate its working.
The action of the machine is as follows:-Let it be supposed that at com-
mencing the under compartment n of the seed box contains a charge of seed
ready for delivery into the cup C, and that the upper apertures a and b are for
the moment open. On then forcing the machine downwards into the ground
the angle pieces G, G, coming into contact with the slide I move it sideways,
till its seed hole c coincides with the seed hole d in the bottom of the box, and
the seed falls through them into the cup C around the dibbling point B. The
shaft being then pulled upwards, the seed drops from the cup C into the hole
just made by the dibbling point B, while the angle pieces G, G, acting
reversely against the slides H and I, the bottom orifices c and d are closed,
and the upper orifices a and b brought to coincide, whereby a fresh supply of
seed is delivered into the under chamber n to be afterwards discharged into
the ground, by a repetition of the preceding process. Should any of the seed
not clear the holes a and b as the slide H is pushed inwards against the under
fall of the spring M, that spring yielding readily to the pressure of the
intercepted seed allows it to pass into the under compartment n, without any
cutting or bruising of it taking place. The parts l, H, and I, 'may be at any
time changed for others having apertures larger or smaller so as to suit seed
of a greater or smaller size, and it is proposed to furnish with each machine
an assortment of these parts adapted to different sizes of seed. When the
seed is of a very large sort, such as beans or peas, one thick slide with an
orifice of corresponding dimensions may be used instead of the two pieces H
and l. The cup C (if preferred) may be prolonged upwards as far as the seed
box J, as indicated by the dotted lines S, S. The dibble point may be
constructed of two pieces or halves running in the direction of the length of
the staff, one attached to the shaft and the other to one side of the depositing
cup C, as if it were a prolongation of that side of the cup. It may also have
a packing of sulphurized caoutchouc, or some other elastic substance inserted
horizontally in it, as shewn in Figure 6; or the hole in the bottom of the cup
C may have a lining or packing of the like elastic substance for the dibble
point to work through, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1. And
further, the machine may be made to deposit seed and manure alternately, by
employing two sets of the parts G, H, I, J, L, M, and O, one set being
employed to transmit the manure and the other the seed. When this machine
is to be worked through the medium of wheelwork, I prefer the employment
of an arrangement such as that represented in Figure 7, but without limiting
myself thereto, as there are many other obvious and well-known modes by
which the necessary up and down-motion may be given by wheelwork to such

page_text: a machine.
A is one of two wheels made fast to an axle B; C, a second
wheel of smaller dimensions, is made fast to the same axle inside of A'; and G
is one of a pair of shafts attached to the axle B by means of rings within
which the axle is free to revolve. D, D, are tappets or knobs, fixed at equal
distances apart on the periphery of the wheel C. F is a horizontal bar,
supported by an upright H raised from the shaft G, which bar is placed in
such a position with respect to the top of the wheel C, that as it revolves the
tappets D, D, shall come successively in contact with an inclined plane E,
.fixed on the under side of the bar F. To the near end of this bar F there is
attached a vertical shaft I, which carries at its lower end, just under the level
of the shaft G, a dibbling machine of the same construction as before described,
but modified as follows:-At K', K, there are two joints in the staff to enable
the machine to deviate a little from the perpendicular position when drawn
after the wheel frame; but in order to keep the under part of it upright when
the dibble is entering the ground, the two parts divided by the joint K³ are
connected by a long spring V on the side opposite to the joint; which serves to
counteract the tendency of the shaft to yield in the direction of the joint.
M is a tube through which the shaft I is passed; this tube has a spiral groove
cut in it into which a thread projecting from the shaft takes, so that, when the
shaft and with it the dibbling point is thrust into or raised out of the ground,
it has at the same time a rotary motion given to it which is useful in
preventing the adhesion of earth to the point. N is a counterpoise attached
to the far end of the rod, in order to raise the dibbling machine out of the
earth. O is an auxiliary wheel, which serves to support the near end of the
shaft G. Z, Z, are horizontal springs which act against the tops of the vertical
slides E, E, and are substituted in this case for the vertical spring and rods
used in the hand dibble first before described. The machine being pushed
forwards by the shafts G, the wheels A and C revolve, and every time one of
the tappets D comes in contact with the inclined plane E, that raises the rod
F, which in its turn presses the dibbling machine down into the earth from
which it is immediately after forced up again by the reaction of the counter-
poise N. Instead of only one dibbling machine being thus employed, as
represented in the Drawing, it will be obvious that a number of such machines
may be attached to a cross bar or bars fixed in rear of the wheels, and all
worked in the same way as before described; and farther, that the machine
may be used for dibbling the holes merely without depositing the seed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is the
improved dibbling machine before described, in the general arrangement and

page_text: combination of parts of which the same consists; and whether the same
is worked directly by hand or through the medium of wheel work as before
exemplified and described, and whether the auxiliary springs made use of are
placed vertically or horizontally, or in any other suitable position.
In witness whereof, I, the said Dalrymple Crawford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
5
DALRYMPLE (L.s.) CRAWFORD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of February, in
the year of our Lord, 1846, the aforesaid Dalrymple Crawford came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.