Improvements in Machinery for Cultivating Land.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 17th June, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 14th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 12th May, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Cultivating Land.
I THOMAS COOPER of Great Ryburgh in the County of Norfolk, Engineer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The present invention is a development of the agricultural engine forming the
subject of my Patent dated April 8th 1891, No. 6068.
In the machinery then described, the engine or motor was arranged to be suitable
for all ordinary farm work and traction purposes, and the cultivating mechanism
was constructed so as to be easily detachable from the engine proper.
The machines constructed as described in the Specification, have proved very
successful for the purpose for which they were designed, for the use of farmers who
have their own engine and do all the various work with it, but it has been found in
practice, that it is desirable (especially for machines to be let out on hire) to have
machines of the greatest possible capacity and the least possible weight, and by
constructing the machine primarily for cultivating in the new manner about to be
described, the weight of machine is greatly reduced, the capacity increased, and the
number of parts also reduced and greatly simplified.
In constructing the present engine, I use a boiler of the locomotive type, and
place the axle for the main road wheels in front of the fire box, as before, but as it
has been found advantageous to use larger travelling wheels than can be employed
with wing plates extending from side of fire box, and arranged as described in the
Specification of Patent No. 6068 of 1891, without making the box larger than is
desirable, I carry the side plates of fire box backwards (as usual in traction
engines) a suitable distance, and, to the ends of the plates, 1 secure (transversely) a
cross plate or girder, which is made a little longer than the width, over all of the hind
road wheels, and from the ends of this cross plate are carried forwards, side plates,
which are connected to the ends of the main axle for hind road wheels, outside the
wheels. It will thus be seen, that the main axle is utilised for the forward strain
from the back girder plate, and to really form part of the framing for carrying the
cultivating mechanism, and thus a frame of enormous strength is obtained, with
very little weight.
To the extensions of fire box plates, cross girder plate, and side plates extending
to hind axle, the whole of the bearings for the crank shaft are attached, and in order
to keep the weight of engine as low as possible, I dispense with slides for the ends
of fork levers and the attendant framing, and, in their place, use radial bars centred
in such a position as to give a fork motion, as described in Specification of Patent
No. 6068 of 1891. The cross girder plate is carried sufficiently high for the
pivots of the radial bars or links to be attached to it. It will thus be seen, that the
whole of the digging mechanism is attached to the framing already described, and
over which it is only necessary to put light plates, to form a foot plate for the
engine driver. I make the outside cranks detachable, so that they can be readily
removed when going through gateways, &c., and on the road.
As the power required to propel the engine over the land is (when land is very
soft and wet) sometimes nearly as much as is required to drive the digger forks, it
is found desirable to use travelling wheels of large diameter, and it is also a great
advantage to be able to easily and quickly change the width of "spit" of earth
taken by the forks at each stroke, and also to have as few shafts and little gearing
as possible between the engine crank shaft and road wheels.
To attain these objects in a simple manner, and at same time to make it possible

page_text: to turn the engine in its own length, instead of using the compensating gear shown
in the former engine, I secure the main axle rigidly to the fire box (thus giving
additional firmness to outside plates before mentioned), and on each of the hind road
wheels, which revolve freely on this fixed axle, I fit a gear ring, with which
pinions on the ends of counter shaft engage. These pinions can be thrown in
or out of gear, while the engine is in motion, by a clutch gear, the engaging and
disengaging being actuated by holding or releasing a friction band.
In order to get the countershaft in a suitable position, it is necessary to carry it
through the boiler, and, for that purpose, above the flue tubes I rivet a tube to the
shell of the boiler, and through this the counter shaft passes, and is supported at
each side by suitable brackets and bearings. On one side, the countershaft carries
a wheel with three or more rings of gear of different sizes; on and into this wheel
or wheels, pinions of various sizes on the crank shaft engage. One ring of gear is
arranged of suitable size to give the proper speed for travelling on the road; the
others are for giving proper speed for digging, and it follows that, as altering the
sizes of these wheels and pinions will give different speeds to the road wheels, so
altering speed of latter will vary the width of spits of earth taken by digging
forks. The pinion on crank shaft can be made to slide, as in traction engines, but
are preferably removed and replaced by other size, as required.
The digger shaft is driven from crank shaft on opposite side to road gear, thus
equalising the wear on the shaft and bearings, and the bevil clutch, instead of
being put on digger shaft, as before, is put on crank shaft. As the crank shaft is
too close to countershaft to admit of an effective fly wheel being used to carry
engine shaft over dead points, and also on the ground of economy, I use a triple
expansion engine with 3 cranks.
As a further development, and especially in order to find work for the engines in
the winter, when the land is not suitable for cultivating, I replace the digging
ciank shaft by a shaft with a greater number of cranks with shorter throw (or, may
be, excentrics), and to these, in similar manner to the ordinary digging levers, an
attached lever with steel teeth, for breaking up macadamized roads prior to putting
on new materials. The levers are made adjustable by a hand wheel, and springs
are interposed to prevent breakage, if happening to strike a very large stone.
Dated this 17th day of June 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Cultivating Land.
I THOMAS COOPER of Great Ryburgh in the County of Norfolk, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
The present invention relates to improvements in steam diggers or cultivators,
whereby the same are made of a more simple and compact construction than
heretofore.
On April 8th 1891, I applied for, and subsequently obtained, Letters Patent
No. 6068, for an engine constructed and arranged to suit all ordinary farm work
and traction purposes, the cultivating mechanism being made easily detachable,
when the engine was not required for digging.
The subject of the present invention is not intended to be used as a general
purpose engine, but as a cultivator only, and to this end the arrangement and
distribution of the parts are such as to ensure a high degree of capacity and
efficiency for that particular purpose.
The main features which I desire to secure by my invention, are a decrease in the

page_text: weight and the cost of the engine, which I obtain by reducing the number of the
working parts; a stronger support for the digger shaft; and a larger diameter of
road wheel, which I obtain by a re-arrangement of those parts.
In the accompanying drawings, I have shown just so much of a digging engine
or cultivator, as will serve to illustrate the present invention.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation,
Fig. 2 is a transverse section, on the line xx, Fig. 1, looking from the
front.
Fig. 3 is a plan shewing the digger shaft and the mode of supporting and driving
the same.
In constructing an engine according to my invention, I use a boiler of a
locomotive type, and place the axle of the main road wheels in front of the fire
box, as before.
A is the boiler, B is the axle of the main road wheels C C', which is fixed
beneath the boiler in front of the fire box D, in such a manner as to be incapable
of rotation.
The road wheels C C', which are of large diameter, and are loose on their
axle, are driven direct from the counter shaft E by pinions e e engaging with rings
of teeth ele on the road wheels. This counter shaft, in order to enable it thus to
drive the road wheels without any intermediate train of gearing, is situated within
a tube which passes transversely through the boiler, and is mounted in bracket
hearings secured to the sides of the boiler (see Fig. 2).
The counter shaft E, besides carrying the pinious ee and clutch mechanism for
locking the same thereto, carries on one side of the engine several driving wheels G,
of different diameters, keyed on the said counter shaft. This series of wheels
affords a means of adjusting the rate of travel of the engine to suit the soil under
cultivation, or the length of "spit" desired to be turned over. To drive whichever
of the wheels G is selected for use, a pinion of a proper diameter is keyed on the
crank shaft F. No pinion is shown in the drawing, but it will be understood that
according to the speed or power required, a pinion suitable for driving either 1, 2,
or 3 of the series G will be selected.
The crank shaft F, which is provided with a three-throw crank actuated by a
triple expansion engine, has, on its other end (on the opposite side of the engine to
the gear just described), a pinion H, driven only in one direction. This pinion H
engages with an intermediate wheel 1 turning loosely on the outside of the bracket
bearing which supports the counter shaft E, and engaging with another inter-
mediate wheel J, which communicates rotation to the digger shaft K by its pinion k.
The wheel J is carried on a stud axle fixed to a plate bolted to the side of the
fire box D. The fire-box also carries the wing plates ll, which, with the plates
attached to the ends of the main axle outside the road wheels, and with the
transverse girder plate, constitute the rigid frame L, which carries the bearings
of the digger shaft K, and supports the foot plate for the driver in charge of the
engine.
11
The digger shaft K has, by preference, detachable ends, to facilitate the passage
of the engine along roads and through gates. As shown in Fig. 3, the shaft has
six cranks, each of which will carry a fork. The forks are bolted to levers which
are arranged substantially as described in the Specification of my Patent before
named.
In travelling from place to place, the forks are removed from their lever
by detaching the nuts.
The clutch mechanism above referred to for locking the pinions e e to the
counter shaft E, when the road wheels are to be driven, does not form part of
the present invention, and may be of any suitable form. I have indicated in the
drawings (see Figs. 1 and 2), on either side of the engine a face wheel m, adapted
to engage with the back of the pinion e, which is permanently in engagement with
the road-wheel toothed ring e¹. A feather connects the wheel m to the shaft, so
that it can be moved in and out of gear with the back of the pinion e, as required.
A spring is arranged to effect disengagement, while a face-cam friction disc n

page_text: (fitted in duplicate to correspond with the wheels m) is used for effecting engage-
ment when held by the band break and lever N indicated in Fig. 1 of the
drawings.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have by my present invention been
enabled to dispense with a whole train of gear between the counter shaft and the
road wheels, whereby a great economy in weight and cost of construction is effected.
The arrangement and construction of frame for supporting the digger shaft gives,
without unduly increasing the size and weight of the tender, great rigidity to the
digging forks, which in action must of necessity cause a very severe strain on their
supports.
To make the engine suitable for picking up macadamized roads, it will only be
necessary to substitute suitable pickers for the forks used on the land, and arrange
the throw of the cranks accordingly.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In an agricultural engine, the construction and arrangement of parts herein
described with reference to the drawings, whereby the road wheels are driven
.direct from the counter shaft in the manner set forth.
2. In an agricultural engine for cultivating and digging purposes, the construction
and arrangement of frame for supporting the digger shaft, consisting of plates
.attached to the sides of the box, plates secured to the ends of the main axle outside
the road wheel, and a transverse girder plate connecting these plates together,
.substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
3. The arrangement of gearing hereinbefore described and shown for driving the
digger shaft, consisting of a pinion on the crank shaft, a loose intermediate wheel
on the bracket bearing of the counter shaft, another intermediate wheel carried by
a stud on the side of the fire-box, and a driving pinion keyed to the digger shaft,
substantially as set forth.
Dated this 9th day of March 1894.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.