IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR, DIGGING OR WORKING LAND AND REMOVING ROOTS OR PLANTS THEREFROM
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hanson, of Doagh, Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Ireland, Land Agent and Farmer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR, DIGGING OR WORKING LAND AND
REMOVING ROOTS OR PLANTS THEREFROM
"
Sealed the 29th February 1856, and dated the 29th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hanson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
August 1855.
I, JOHN HANSON, of Doagh, Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland,
Land Agent and Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DIGGING OR WORKING LAND
AND REMOVING ROOTS OR PLANTS THEREFROM" to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to various mechanical arrangements to be used for
effecting agricultural operations, more particularly the disintegration and
working of the soil. The machinery adopted for this purpose is mainly based
upon
the mechanical contrivance, for which I have already made application
for British Letters Patent, under the title of "improvements in machinery or
apparatus for digging potatoes," that contrivance consisting of an open frame
carried upon wheels, the wheel movement being in connection with a set of
rotatory forks or diggers. Under the present arrangements, however, the

page_text: actual potatoe digging apparatus is replaced by other rotating parts, capable of
effecting the further operations now contemplated. These operations are,
digging the soil as a substitute for ploughing, clod breaking, turnip and root
thinning, and hoeing. The actual working parts in ploughing or digging are,
knives or slicers so arranged as to cut up, turn, and work the soil, to produce
a result generally similar to that attained by ploughing and harrowing in the
ordinary manner. In hoeing, the rotatory forks are dispensed with, and the
throwing up of the earth is produced by a share. The general details of
the framing, wheels, and gearing are obviously modifiable in various ways, to
suit the special operations to be performed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hanson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HANSON, of Doagh, Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, Land Agent
and Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Hanson, Her special license that I, the said John Hanson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Hanson, my executors, administrators, or 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 MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR DIGGING OR WORKING LAND AND REMOVING ROOTS OR PLANTS
THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Hanson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Hanson, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to various mechanical arrangements to be used
for effecting agricultural operations, more particularly the disintegration and
working of the soil. The machinery adopted for this purpose is mainly based
upon the mechanical contrivance, for which I have already obtained British
Letters Patent, under the title of "Improvements in machinery or apparatus
for digging potatoes," and bearing date on or about the Thirtieth day of July,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, that contrivance consisting of an
open frame carried upon wheels, the wheel movement being in connection
with a set of rotatory forks or diggers, arranged to rotate in a plane at right
angles to the traverse of the implement. Under the present arrangements,
however, the actual potato digging apparatus is replaced by other rotating
parts, capable of effecting the further operations now contemplated. These
operations are, digging the soil as a substitute for ploughing, clod breaking,
turnip and root thinning, and hoeing. The actual working parts in ploughing
or digging are, knives or slicers so arranged as to cut up, turn, and work the
soil, to produce a result generally similar to that attained by ploughing and
harrowing in the ordinary manner. In hoeing, the rotatory forks are dis-
pensed with, and the throwing up of the earth is produced by a share. The
general details of the framing wheels and gearing are obviously modifiable in
various ways, to suit the special operations to be performed.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I have
hereunto appended, and shall now proceed to describe, two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings, representing an arrangement or arrangements of
apparatus constructed according to my said Invention.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of the said Drawings is a side elevation, Figure 2 on
the same Sheet is a plan, and Figure 3 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings is an end
elevation, of one modification of my improved land-cultivating apparatus as
arranged for breaking up the soil by means of the rotatory sliceing or cutting
details, combined with a share for raising up the soil to the cutters to be acted
upon by them. Figure 4 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings is a side elevation of the
back end of the improved apparatus as arranged for hoeing, or for effecting
similar operations. The operating details are carried upon or connected to a
long rectangular wooden framing A, which runs upon three wheels, a single
central front wheel B of large size, and two smaller hinder wheels C.
The wheels C are carried upon separate cranked axles D, capable of being
adjusted independently of each other by means of the lever handles E and

page_text: catch or detent plates F, and the axles D are carried in bearings in brackets
G, bolted to the framing A. The rotating operating details of the apparatus
are driven by the large front central wheel B, which is furnished with spikes
H on its periphery, to insure its rotation when being drawn along the ground.
The shaft I of this wheel is fitted into suitable bearings J on the under sides
of the frame pieces A, and has fixed upon it two bevil wheels K, each of which
is in gear with a bevil pinion L, on the front end of a short longitudinally dis-
posed shaft M, carried in bearings, on brackets or cross pieces attached to the
framing A. The back ends of the shafts M carry pinions N, which are slightly
bevilled, and are arranged to gear, one or other of them, with a pinion O, on a
central horizontal shaft P. The front end of this shaft P is carried' in bear-
ings capable of turning upon a pivot, and the other end is carried in bearings
arranged to slide upon a segmental plate Q, fixed across the hinder end of the
framing A. Thus, the shaft P can be adjusted angularly in a horizontal
plane, and the pinion O is brought into gear with one or other of the pinions
N; accordingly, as the shaft is set over to one side or to the other, the bevil
wheels K being set in positions reversed to each other, the pinions N revolve
in opposite directions, and respectively drive the pinion O in opposite direc-
tions accordingly. Upon the hinder end of the shaft P is fixed the disc R,
which has bolted to it a number of radiating knives or cutting blades S.
These blades may of course be of various forms. They revolve with their
lowermost points for the time being at about the level T of the ground not as
yet operated upon, and the soil is raised up to them by means of a species of
share or
plough piece U. This share or plough piece is formed with a lifting
surface, which is horizontal or nearly so in cross section, and is gradually
inclined longitudinally up towards the rear end of the implement. The share
is in duplicate, being connected by a curved bracket V to a second share u,
and the two are jointed or connected to the plough beam Win such a manner,
that when one is operating the other is turned up out of the way, as repre-
sented most distinctly in Figure 3. The share is preceded by' the usual
coulter X; and in addition to this it is in some cases also preceded by a small
share Y, adapted for grass-grown land, and intended to plough up and turn
over a comparatively thin slice of the upper surface, so as to turn the grass
downwards. The plough beam W is formed with a T head Z on its front end,
in which are perforations to receive the joint stud pins on the ends of a pair of
chains a.
The opposite front ends of these chains are jointed to a cross bar b,
to which the tractive power for traversing the implement is applied. The
plough beam is linked at c to the framing A, but this connection is of such á
kind as to make the share U to a certain extent independent of the framing A.

page_text: The carriage or framing A is drawn along by means of the chairs a, these
passing through eyes in the lower ends of two adjustable bracket pieces d,
fitted in the front cross bar of the framing A. The chairs a are furnished with
adjustable coupling pieces e, which, being drawn up against the brackets d,
serve to transmit the tractive action through these last, and the strengthening
links to the carriage or framing A. As the implement is drawn along the
earth, the share U insinuates itself beneath the soil, and gradually raises it up,
whilst, as the soil emerges over the back end of the share, it is cut up and
disintegrated by the action of the rotating blades S, which immediately catch
it, and act upon it for this purpose. The duplicate arrangement of the share,
which is of course extended to the small surface share Y when this last is
used, and the means for reversing the direction of rotation of the cutting
blades S, are provided to enable the attendant to cause the action of the imple-
ment to take place always towards the same side of the field in whichever
direction the implement may be traversing. A species of doctor g is fixed to
the framing immediately behind the wheel B, for the purpose of throwing
down any clods which may adhere to the wheel's periphery, and the spikes H
are placed to one side of the wheel rim, to enable the doctor to act upon as
much as possible of the rim surface. A pair of seed boxes p are fitted to the
front end of the implement, and the rotatory depositing details of these seed
boxes, which may be arranged according to any of the systems in use, are
driven by means of pulleys and cords q from the axle I of the main driving
wheel B. In the modification of apparatus represented in Figure 4" (and
also partially indicated by red lines in Figure 3), for performing an operation
similar to that of hoeing or thinning the plants in turnip ridges, the rotatory
blades S and the share U, with some of the details accompanying them, are
removed, to make room for the rotatory hoer. This consists of two or more
hoeing implements h, carried by means of arms and discs i upon a horizontal
shaft j, disposed longitudinally, and carried in bearings in pendant brackets k,
bolted to the framing A. The back end of the shaft has fixed upon it a
pinion 7, in gear with a spur wheel m, fast on the end of the shaft P above,
and this shaft is driven from the main wheel or wheels of the implement, the
hoes h being by these means caused to rotate as the carriage traverses along the
field, the height of the carriage or of the back end of it being adjusted so as to
bring down the hoes h to the level suitable for acting upon the ridge o, to the
depth requisite for effecting the object in view. In this instance there are four
hoeing or thinning pieces combined in the rotating instrument, and as each comes
round during the onward traverse of the implement in thinning, it scoops or cuts
out from the ridge the plant or plants at regular intervals asunder, the extent

page_text: of the thinning being of course dependent upon the number of the hoeing or
thinning pieces, or upon the rate of the hoe's revolution.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus, or
means for effecting agricultural operations, as herein-before described.
Second, the application or mode of working land or soil for agricultural pur-
poses by means of blades or other acting details, rotating at right angles, or
nearly so, to the line of traverse of the carriage or implement, and acting alone
or in combination with a share or elevator for raising the up to them, as
herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of working land or soil for agricultural purposes
by means of rotating blades or other details, driven by the rotation of the
wheels and traverse of the carriage, upon which the apparatus is fitted up, such
acting details rotating at right angles, or nearly so, to the line of traverse of
the carriage, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the application and use of the herein-before described machinery or
apparatus for removing roots or plants from land.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hanson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
TOUN HANSON
JOHN HANSON. (..)