IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st March 1874.-A communication from abroad by William
Donnelly, of Calverton, New York, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PLOUGHS," а communi-
cation, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to furnish an improved attachment for
ploughs, by means of which a furrow or channel may be opened in the
soil of sufficient depth to receive potatoes or other seed to be planted, and
then cover the said seed, thus saving the time and labour usually
consumed in furrowing the ground and covering the seed.
The said Invention consists in a crank provided with one or more
plates, and secured adjustably by a set screw to a bar attached to the
mold board of a plough, as herein-after fully described.

page_text: The beam, the handles, and mold board of the plough, have nothing
new in their construction. To the upper rear part of the moldboard is
bolted the lower or inner part of a.bar, which is so bent or formed that
its outer part may project horizontally or nearly so. In the outer end of
the said bar is formed a hole to receive the arm of the crank, which is
secured in place by a set screw passed in through a screw hole in the
bar, and bearing against the arm of the crank. By this construction the
said crank may be raised, lowered, turned, or detached in an instant.
:
In the outer end of the aforesaid crank, I form a hole or holes to
receive the shank or shanks of a plate or plates, which shanks are
secured in place by nuts screwed upon their upper ends.
For opening a furrow to receive the seed a single plate is used, which
should be made larger than the covering plates, and may be curved to
move the soil to one side. In this construction by loosening the set
screw, the crank may be raised and lowered to adjust the said plate or
plates to enter the soil to a lesser or greater depth, as may be desired, and
turned to adjust the said plates to bear against the soil at a lesser or
greater angle as may be desired. This latter adjustment may also be
effected by loosening the nuts upon the shanks of the said plate or
plates. A further adjustment is obtained by inserting the plate shank's
from the other side of the crank, and passing the crank arm into the
hole in the bar from the lower side.
In using this Invention the crank with a single plate is attached to
the bar and the first furrow is ploughed, the plate opening a channel in
the furrow slice as it is turned over, in which channel a dropper places
the seed at the proper distance apart. At the beginning of the next
furrow the crank and single plate are detached, and a crank with a
number of plates is attached, which as the second furrow is ploughed
cover the seed. One or two furrows are then ploughed without the
attachment, according as the rows are to be planted at a lesser or greater
distance apart. The crank and single plate are then attached, and so on
until the whole field is planted. The cranks are shifted in an instant at
the ends of the furrows as a single turn of the screw will loosen or
secure them. The plough beam may be provided with a keeper or
bracket to carry the crank when not in use.

page_text: It is obvious that the plates may be equally well attached to the rear end
of the plough beam and with the same facility and effect as they can be
attached to the moldboard. In fact the said plates are equally efficacious
in their operation, whether they are attached to the moldboard or beam
of a common plough, or are attached to a steam plough to which one or
more plates may be attached for each furrow turned by the plough.