AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CULTIVATING SOIL
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cooke at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th January 1883.
JOHN COOKE of Richmond in the County of York " AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR CULTIVATING SOIL
37
My invention relates to apparatus for cutting by continuous action a certain
depth of soil, raising the soil displaced and tossing it down behind the apparatus,
thereby effecting the disintegration and loosening required for cultivation. For
this purpose, on a rapidly revolving horizontal shaft, I fix at intervals apart a
number of cutting discs, and between these discs, I fix a number of cutting blades
or prongs curved forwards in the direction of revolution. The shaft revolves in
bearings on a frame which can be raised or lowered and which is mounted on a
truck'so that it, with the cutting apparatus, can be moved across the field. The
shaft of the cutting apparatus is connected to the wheels of the truck or to the
engine or other power that effects the traction, by gearing such that the cutters
revolve rapidly in the direction opposite to that of the travelling wheels, so that
they enter the soil in a forward direction and effect their cut forwards and
upwards, carrying up the separated soil and throwing it backwards behind the
cutting apparatus. In some cases, I attach to the frame a presser which travels
along the surface of the soil immediately in front of the cutters, forming a moving
abutment against which they act in cutting the soil. The cutting apparatus may
be attached to the rear part of a traction engine, which carries it along the field
and at the same time causes it to revolve. Or it may be attached to a truck
drawn by horses or oxen or by a traction rope worked by engine or other suitable
power. In order to avoid turning the machine round at the headlands, it may be
made in duplicate, one cutting apparatus being mounted at one end of a swing
frame, and an oppositely working apparatus being mounted at the opposite end of
the frame, so that, when one is depressed and acting on the soil in the one direction
the other is elevated clear of the soil, but can in its turn be depressed and brought
into action when the direction of travel is reversed.

page_text: the whole width. In operation, the apparatus while it advances in the direction of
the arrow g is made to revolve rapidly in the direction of the arrow h Fig. 2, so as
to cut in under the upper layer of soil, raise portions of it and toss them over
behind the apparatus, which may be mounted and worked in various ways, some of
which are shewn by the other figures of the drawing.
Fig. 6 shews the rotary cultivator A attached to a truck and driven from its
travelling wheels. The cultivator A is in this case mounted on a lever so that it
can be raised or lowered by a hand screw B. The truck can be drawn by horse
power or by a traction rope, and a winch motion C worked by hand can be used
for working the cultivator A, the gear for working it from the travelling wheels
being unclutched.
Fig. 7 is a side view and Fig. 8 a plan shewing the rotary cultivator worked by
a portable engine which may be drawn by horse power or otherwise. A is in this
case raised or lowered by spur or worm gearing acting on a segmental rack B. The
engine may be arranged, not only to work the cultivator A, but also to give the
forward travel as a traction engine, as shewn by the side view Fig. 9 and plan
Fig. 10. When a stationary engine is used to work a traction rope, as in steam
ploughing, the cultivator may be arranged as shewn by the side view Fig. 11 and
plan Fig. 12. In this case a pulley C is employed to impart rotation to the
cultivator and the upper frame carrying the cultivator and gearing is mounted
on a perch pin so that it can be turned rund on the truck to work in either
direction.
The hauling engine and guide pullies for the driving rope may be arranged as
shewn by the plan Fig. 13, the pullies being arranged on a platform D, on which
the cultivator can be drawn for advancing it along the headland.
Having thus described the nature of my invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim :-
Apparatus for cultivating soil, consisting of cutting discs fixed in combination
with forwardly curved cutting blades on a shaft caused to revolve rapidly while it
advances, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
In Witness whereof I the said John Cooke have hereunto set my hand and
seal this Fourteenth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three
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