IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF LAND AND FOR ARHHS Danean
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jeffrey Hopkins, of Sansome Lodge, in
the City of Worcester, Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF LAND AND FOR
ARHHS
Danean "
the City of Worcester, Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF LAND AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 28th February 1871, and dated the 19th December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Jeffrey Hopkins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th December 1870.
I, WILLIAM JEFFREY HOPKINS, of Sansome Lodge, in the City of
Worcester, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF LAND
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in machinery or
apparatus for cultivating the soil, picking or digging up roads, and with
It consists
certain modifications for distributing grain and seeds.
mainly of a series of picks, spades, forks, coulters, or other implements
arranged in a spiral or other form upon a roller or barrel, supported upon

page_text: suitable framework so that it can be rotated thercon to produce the
desired effect.
I prefer to so place the implements that only one of them shall be in
operation at one time; their shape will be such that the earth after
being lifted shall fall through or from them in a disintegrated or broken
state in order that the manure or other material shall become mixed
therewith. In some cases a screw blade or sections of screw blades may
be arranged on the barrel alone or in combination with any of the above
implements.
The barrel has a progressive movement given to it either continuously
or intermittently by suitable apparatus connected to or leading from the
prime mover; or a separate apparatus may be employed for the
purpose.
The roller is preferably of skeleton form to enable the implements to
be bolted on from the inside. It can be lifted or removed from the
frame with ease if required, so that it can be used for sowing or dis-
tributing purposes; and this could be accomplished by removing the
diggers or tines when the bolt holes would allow the seeds or the manure
to fall or pass through them into the furrows or channels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Jeffrey Hopkins in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JEFFREY HOPKINS, of Sansome Lodge, in the City of Worcester,
Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Jeffrey Hopkins, Her special
licence that I, the said William Jeffrey Hopkins, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Jeffrey
Hopkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time

page_text: 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 THE CULTIVATION OF LAND AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Jeffrey Hopkins, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 William Jeffrey Hopkins, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My improvements in machinery for the cultivation of land consist
of a series of picks, spades, forks, coulters, or other implements arranged in
a spiral form upon a roller or cylindrical drum, the same being supported
upon suitable framework so that it can be rotated thereon to produce
the desired effect. In some instances a screw blade or section of screw
blades being used alone or in combination with any of the above
instruments.
The barrel has a progressive motion given to it either continuously
or intermittently by suitable apparatus connected to or leading from
the prime mover, or a separate apparatus may be used for the purpose.
The roller is preferably of skeleton form, whereby the instrument
can be bolted on or removed at pleasure. At the back of the cylinder
can be attached any ordinary sewing or drilling machine, so that the
operations of cultivation and sowing may be performed at the same
time.
To prevent when desirable the friction of the spades or other imple-
ments against the earth during the continuous or intermittent motion
of the machine the implements can be so adapted as to be made
to slide inwards. The friction of the spades or other cultivators is
by this means greatly diminished. A still greater diminution of the
friction of the implements against the soil while passing through it is

page_text: effected by the spades or cultivators being made to balance cach other
by balance arms and friction rollers or rack work.
The spades and forks are made of a peculiar form, being hollowed
at the back and extended backward, so as more effectually to ensure
the raising and upheaval and reversal of the soil acted upon.
When the machine is used for steam cultivation with a locomotive
the cylinder or framework to which the cultivators are attached is
mounted at the back of the engine upon two iron beams, or beams
of other material with rack work and lever or any other suitable
apparatus for raising and lowering the same at pleasure. At every
revolution of the cylinder the locomotive is made to pass over the
land to be cultivated a few inches, according to the "graft" required.
This progressive motion is effected either directly from the locomotive
or indirectly from the revolving cylinder by means of wheelwork or
any other ordinary mechanical contrivance, by which latter arrangement
the motive power is first used exclusively in causing the cylinder
to revolve and perform its work, and then in causing the progressive
motion of the engine. The space passed over by the engine at every
revolution of the cylinder being the width of the graft, that is to say,
when the cylinder is turned by the motive power employed, the whole
power of the engine is used, first, in driving the cylinder to which
the cultivators are attached and then indirectly to the progressive
motion of the travelling wheels. The cultivators are affixed to the
cylinders or framework to suit the nature of the work to be done.
When the land is light the spade may be used, when heavy the screw
blade forks or picks. The great advantage of the peculiar arrangement
of the implements upon the cylinder is that one spade only can enter into
the ground at the same time, and the power is more equally distributed.
To prevent the stoppage that would be otherwise caused by any blade
or cultivator being embedded in the soil during the forward motion
of the locomotive or travelling wheels, the shafts of such cultivators
are made to slide inwards, and afterwards pressed back again into their
places by means of springs or otherwise.
The shafts of the spades are passed through the cylinder, cross
bars or bearing shafts, and it is preferable for some purposes that
they should be made to assist in balancing each other by means of
levers or iron rack work, which tends to prevent friction, whilst they

page_text: pass through the soil.
Friction rollers can also be used where the
shafts of the spades pass through the cross bars, whilst the circular
portion works in a hole formed in, or in conjunction with, the central
shaft of the cylinder. When the cylinder is used with steam power,
but without a locomotive, I mount the cylinder on travelling wheels
and attach a rope or chain around a box or boxes connected with the
cylinder and attach the other end of the rope or chain to another
cylinder connected with the motive power. The travelling wheels are
then placed upon a movable tramway formed of planks placed or fixed
upon the ground having a notched arm plate against one of which
notches the wheels rest whilst one revolution of the cylinder is made
projecting pins at the side of the cylinder at every revolution press
against the notched iron plate and allow the wheels to progress the
distance of the required graft when the wheels are again stopped
by the next notch, and the operation is repeated until the length of
the rope is expended. The motion of the cylinders is then reversed
so as to allow of the rope or chain being again coiled upon its box
or recl. When the length of one plank has been traversed another
is placed in front, and so the operation is continued across the space
to be cultivated.
The accompanying Drawings represent how I carry my Invention
into effect. Figures 1 and 2 are respectively an elevation and a plan
of a locomotive engine, such as is used for agricultural purposes with
a cylinder or drum a, furnished with spade blades b, b, for acting upon
the carth, in the manner before explained. The spade blades are
arranged in a spiral order upon the periphery of the drum, so that one
only is in operation at one time, as shown in the detached view, Figure 3,
the stems or arms c, c, of the blades being at a distance apart to
permit of the earth falling through at the back, which it will do by its
own weight after it has been lifted high enough. The stems c c, may
be firmly bolted to the longitudinal bars or skeleton framing of the
drum, or the stems may pass through the bars and be secured to the
central bar d, by springs or other appliances so that they can yield
when the edges enter the ground and absorb the blow so to speak
without causing injury to the working parts, should the ground be of
a hard nature the springs finding an abutment against the shoulders e,
of the stems and the central bar as represented in the view, Figure 4.
In some cases the stems would terminate in straps or transverse plates f,
as shown in Figure, 5, and these may act as guide plates only, while

page_text: the stem or bar g, which is connected to the centre of the strap serves
for the spring to encircle in the manner shown in Figure 6.
Figuro 7, shows several of the spade blades on the drum, and without
springs, while Figure 8 represents a spring arranged in a kind of box h,
fastened on the inner face of one of the longitudinal bars.
Figure 9, represents a portion of a drum with a series of forks
arranged upon the longitudinal bars in a similar manner to the spade
blades before referred to, to act upon the ground for the purpose of
breaking it up, and disentegrating it for cultivation or otherwise. I
do not in all cases make the drum of skeleton form, as for certain kinds
of work it can be made solid in appearance, as shown in Figure 10, to
which a series of picks are bolted or otherwise secured in a manner
similar to either of the before mentioned plans, that is rigid or with a
springy action. When the springs are employed the bars or stems may
pass through a socket containing friction rollers, and the inward thrust of
each tool as it comes into action may cause another bar to turn, as
represented in the perspective view, Figure 11. Any number of the
drums can be arranged upon a central axle, as in Figure 18, and the
starting pick or tool of each of them can be at or about the same part
of their respective cylinders, so that they can all be brought into action
about the same time, but this arrangement can be varied to suit
circumstances. The drums or cylinders can be driven in any convenient
manner, either by horse or other power; if steam is employed I prefer
to place the drum or drums behind the engine and cause the engine
to move forward through the drum gearing, and then only at fixed
intervals of time so that the ground is completely broken up by the
tools before a next movement takes place, and for this purpose I drive
the drum direct by the piston or its connecting rod, from the steam
cylinder, and the traction force is obtained from a pinion or other
appliance in any suitable manner. In the Drawings I have shown
how I propose to work the drum by the traction mechanism, that is,
through cogged bands upon the back bearing wheels, gearing into
pinions which operate upon the drums through the toothed wheels on
its ends, by this means the tools travel round in the same direction
as the bearing wheels of the engine, and in their action leave the earth
with a serrated or roughened surface, and with the under crust loosened
so that the air can penetrate and mellow it. The manner in which
the surface of wet, loamy, or boggy land can be operated upon is also

page_text: shown in the same Figures 1 and 3. Here it is shown with "grafts"
or slice lines which divide the sods into separate pieces and lay them
upon one another at a different part of the field from which they were
taken, the distance being governed by the travel of the engine or the
speed at which the tools revolve.
It is not in all cases necessary to employ tools which have a digging,
forking, or picking action, as a continuous spiral blade can be used,
such as I have shewn in Figures 12 and 13, and this spiral may be
continued from one end to the other of the drum, or of a number of
blades, by this means a transverse groove or recess can be operated upon
corresponding to the width of the drum.
For some purposes a temporary tram could be laid to prevent the
wheels sinking into the surface, and thus prevent its progress, and in
order to move it intermittently, I propose to fit one or more pins or
studs on one of the faces of the wheels which abut against chocks
of raised pieces on the tram, as shown in Figure 14, at each revolution,
and thus cause the engine to move forward a distance corresponding
to the length of or the distance of one chock from another. I fit a
raising and lowering apparatus to the drum so that the depth the tools
shall penetrate can be determined at will. This is mainly a rocking
lever and a chain actuated by a winch handle.
Figure 15 represents a drum or cylinder furnished with crank
handles, so that it can be worked by hand, the ends of the cylinder
have a cord or chain connected to them, the opposite ends being
fastened to a similar cylinder or to a stake at the other end of the field.
As the drum is rotated the cords or chains become wound upon the
ends which are grooved like reels so that the drum moves forward
at the same time. The drum is mounted upon wheels to run upon
the tram in a similar manner to the engine wheels. The tram may
be, as it were, double so that springs can be placed between them to
case the motion and to reduce friction.
Figures 16 and 17 are views of one the boxes through which the
central bar with its turned collars passes to keep it in position.
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,
the general construction and arrangement of machinery for cultivating
the soil in the manner herein-before described and shown.

page_text: Secondly. The modifications of the machinery or apparatus sub-
stantially as described and shown.
Thirdly. I claim picking or digging up roads and other places by
means of picks or tools arranged spirally upon a drum or cylinder
substantially as hercin-before described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jeffrey Hopkins, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of Junc One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
W. ALLEN COOMBS.
WILLIAM JEFFREY HOPKINS. (L.S.)