IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CULTIVATION OF LAND, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO TRACTION ENGINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Septimus Coleman and Alfred George
Edwin Morton, both of Chelmsford, in the County of Essex,
Agricultural Implement Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CULTIVATION OF LAND, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME, PARTLY
APPLICABLE TO TRACTION ENGINES."
Sealed the 14th December 1871, and dated the 21st June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Septimus
Coleman and Alfred George Edwin Morton at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 21st June
1871.
We, HENRY SEPTIMUS COLEMAN and ALFRED GEORGE EDWIN
MORTON, both of Chelmsford, in the County of Essex, Agricultural
Implement Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CULTIVATION OF LAND, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE
SAME, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO TRACTION ENGINES," to be as follows :-
Our Invention relates to improvements in the application of steam
power to the cultivation of land, and in apparatus for the same, which
improvements consist in the employment of two self-propelling steam

page_text: engines of unequal power, placed one at each side of the field for the
purpose of traversing the cultivators or implements in the following
manner-We employ two distinct cultivators or sets of implements, the
one set being employed to operate between the engine on the headland
and the middle of the field, and the other between that point and the
engine at the opposite side of the field. Each implement is connected
to both engines by wire ropes worked by independent drums on the
engines; the implements are brought into work alternately, the more
powerful engine of the two being solely employed to draw the one
implement in work towards itself, whilst the other or smaller engine
is drawing the other implement out of work back into a suitable position
for being again started by the forward draught in the direction of the
larger engine. As the draught of the smaller engine is speeded more
quickly than that of the other, the said implements are always brought
back to their right positions in time for starting. Thus the implement
cultivating the second half of the field being drawn back upon the work
left by the other implement in its previous passage remains there until
the other just passes it on reaching the centre of the field. Thereupon
the larger engine is instantly reversed, and its other drum put in gear
to start said implement and draw it in work over the second half of the
field. Meanwhile the small engine moves forward and takes up a fresh
position, and draws back the other implement out of work on the
unbroken ground close up to itself ready for the next turn. By this
arrangement the advantages of the "double engine system" are secured
at a greatly reduced cost, as the ropes may be comparatively light and
the engines small.
•
To prevent the speedy wearing out of the naves or bosses of the front
or steering wheels of the engines we key the one wheel to the axle
which revolves in suitable bearings, the other wheel being loose upon
the axle to facilitate turning, instead of the axle being fixed with both
wheels loose thereon as hitherto. This improvement is also applicable
to the steering wheels of traction engines.
The improvement in implements to be used principally for hop cultiva-
tion consists in making the wheel axle at the front part of the cultivator
cranked, and capable of being oscillated to raise or lower the implement
on the wheels by means of a lever arm on said axle connected to a lever
handle at the hind part of the implement, which may be fixed at any
position against a fixed quadrant, thereby enabling the depth of working

page_text: to be regulated by the attendant without having to pass to the front of
the implement. We also use in fastening the coulter to the frame
a doublo malleable iron clip clasping the frame top and bottom, also
clasping the coulter itself and needing only one bolt to fasten it rigidly
to the frame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Septimus Coleman and Alfred George
Edwin Morton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st December
1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
SEPTIMUS COLEMAN and ALFRED GEORGE EDWIN MORTON, both of
Chelmsford, in the County of Essex, Agricultural Implement Makers,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Henry Septimus Coleman and Alfred
George Edwin Morton, Her special licence that we, the said Henry
Septimus Coleman and Alfred George Edwin Morton, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry
Septimus Coleman and Alfred George Edwin Morton, our 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
THE CULTIVATION OF LAND AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME, PARTLY APPLICABLE
TO TRACTION ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Henry Septimus Coleman and Alfred George Edwin Morton, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Henry Septimus Coleman and
Alfred George Edwin Morton, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
Our Invention relates to improvements in the application of steam
power to the cultivation of land and in apparatus for the same, which
improvements consist in the employment of two self-propelling steam
engines of unequal power placed one at each side of the field for the
purpose of traversing the cultivators or implements in the following
manner: We employ two distinct cultivators or sets of implements, the
one set being employed to operate between the engine on the headland
and the middle of the field, and the other between that point and the
engine at the opposite side of the field. Each implement is connected
to both engines by wire ropes worked by independent drums on the
engines. The implements are brought into work alternately, the more
powerful engine of the two being solely employed to draw the one
implement in work towards itself, whilst the other or smaller engine is
drawing the other implement out of work back into a suitable position
for being again started by the forward draught in the direction of the
larger engine. As the draught of the smaller engine is speeded more
quickly than that of the other, the said implements can always be
brought back to their right positions in time for starting. Thus the
implement cultivating the second half of the field being drawn back
upon the work work left by the other implement in its previous passage
remains there until the other just passes it on reaching the centre of the
field. Thereupon the larger engine is instantly reversed, and its other
drum put in gear to start said implement and draw it in work over
the second half of the field. Meanwhile the small engine moves forward
from time to time as required, and taking up a fresh position draws
back the other implement out of work on the unbroken ground close up
to itself ready for the next turn. By this arrangement the advantages
of the "double-engine system" are secured at a greatly reduced cost, as
the ropes may be comparatively light and the engines small.
To prevent the speedy wearing out of the naves or bosses of the front
or steering wheels of the engines, we key the one wheel to the axle,
which revolves in suitable bearings, the other wheel being loose upon

page_text: the axle to facilitate turning, instead of the axle being fixed with both
wheels loose thereon as hitherto. This improvement is also applicable
to the steering wheels of traction engines.
The Invention relates also to improvements in implements to be
used principally for hop cultivation, which consist in making the wheel
axle at the front part of the cultivator cranked and capable of being
oscillated to raise or lower the implement on the wheels by means of a
lever arm on said axle connected to a lever handle at the hind part of
the implement, which may be fixed at any position against a fixed
quadrant, thereby enabling the depth of working to be regulated by the
attendant without having to pass to the front of the implement. We
also use in fastening the coulter to the frame a double malleable iron
clip clasping the frame top and bottom, also clasping the coulter itself,
and needing only one bolt to fasten it rigidly to the frame.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a diagram or plan view illustrating our improved system
of applying steam power to the cultivation of land. A is the larger
engine, of, say, 8 horse-power (nominal) placed on the headland at one
side of the field, and B is the smaller engine, of, say, 4 horse-power
placed on the opposite headland. O and D are the two cultivators
which work to and fro between the two engines. The cultivators
are similar and of ordinary construction, each consisting of a set of
ploughs or other implements attached to a frame in the usual manner.
They are both attached to engine A by ropes E, E, wound on inde-
pendent drums mounted on the engine. These drums are connected
alternately with the driving gear of the engine, whereby the one drum
is operated to wind up the one rope and draw the cultivator or imple-
ment attached thereto towards the engine A, at the same time that the
other drum is thrown out of gear and the rope thereon is free to be
unwound and permit the cultivator attached thereto to run back, which
is effected by the traction of the other engine B. For this purpose the
said engine is also provided with two independent drums, similarly
operated to those of the engine A, and provided with ropes F, F, wound
thereon and attached one to the rear of each cultivator. The imple-
ment O ploughs the first half of the field, or that nearest engine B, and
the other implement ploughs the second half, the implement C being
two courses in advance of the implement D. The engines may be self-
propelling engines of similar and ordinary construction (but of unequal

page_text: "
power), each being provided with a pair of independent horizontal rɔpe
drums.
Figure 2 illustrates the second part of our Invention, which applies to
the steerage wheels of the said engines and of engines for ploughing and
traction purposes generally in which two steerage wheels are employed.
It shows in vertical transverse section a pair of front or steerage wheels
of a self-propelling engine. The one wheel H is keyed or made fast to
the axle I by a pin J, whilst the other wheel H' is loose and revolves on
the axle when the engine is turning, a curve being secured on the axle
by an ordinary lynch pin. The axle I which connects the two wheels
H, H, as above described turns with wheel H and passes through a bar
or long bearing of cast iron K bored to receive it and fitted with brasses
or bushes at either end to reduce the wear. Separate bearings attached
to a wooden cross bar might be employed, but we prefer the single
bearing. The bearing K (or the wooden cross bar, if one be used) is:
pivoted at L to the framework of the engine, beneath which the steerage
wheels H, H³, are disposed and connected thereto and operated all in
the usual manner in such engines.
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 illustrate the third part of our Invention
relating to improvements in the construction of an implement used for 2
hop cultivation. Figure 3 is an elevation, and Figure 4 a plan of the
implement, whilst Figures 5 and 6 are detail views detached showing
our improved clip for fastening the coulters or tines to the framework.
The framework M is carried on a pair of wheels N at the forward part;
O is the axle, which is bent or cranked, the wheels being attached to the 2
cranked ends, as clearly shown in Figure 4, and the axles is so attached
to the framework M that it may be partially rotated for the purpose of
regulating the depth of action of the coulters or tines in the ground;
P is a lever arm keyed to axle O, and connected by a rod Q to a
hand lever R pivoted to the framework M towards the back of the
machine, and working against a fixed quadrant 8, being fixed thereto in
any position by a pin passing through holes in both. The rod Q is
jointed to both levers as shown, and serves when the hand lever R is
fixed against the quadrant S to hold the axle O in one position, which
may be varied for altering the relative position of the wheels and frame 3
(as shown in red lines), and consequently the depth of work by means
of hand lever R without requiring the attendant to pass to the front of
the machine. The tines or coulters T are secured to the frame M by

page_text: the double malleable iron clip U, shown in Figures 5 and 6, which clasps
the frame top and bottom, and also clasps the shank of the coulter or
tine, whereby the latter is rigidly secured against the frame by a single
bolt passing through both.
Having described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we declare that what we claim as our Invention
to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1st. The combination of a pair of engines of unequal power with
two distinct agricultural implements or cultivators drawn alternately
forward in work by the more powerful engine and alternately, backward
out of work by the other engine, substantially as herein-before described
and illustrated in the Drawings.
2ndly. Making the one steerage wheel H of ploughing or traction
engines fast to its axle I, whilst the other wheel H³ is loose thereon, the
axle turning in a bearing or bearings, substantially as and the purpose
shown and described.
3rdly. Mounting the wheels of the hop cultivator shown in Figures
3 and 4 on the cranked ends of an axle capable of being partially rotated
by means of a hand lever arranged and operating substantially as shown
and described for the purpose set forth.
4th. The construction of the clip for fixing the coulters or tines
to the framework, substantially as described and illustrated in the
Drawings.
whereof, we, the said Henry Septimus Coleman and
Alfred George Edwin Morton, have hereunto set our hands and