PLOU
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HAY, of Belton, in the County of Haddington, in Scotland, Captain in the
Royal Navy; send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by Petition' represent to Her present most Excellent
Majesty Queen Victoria, that, after considerable application and expence, I'
had invented an 'Improved Plough, which I, the said Petitioner, titled the
"BELTON PLOUGH" that I was the first and true inventor thereof, and that
the said Invention had never been practised or used by any other person or
persons whomsoever to my knowledge and belief; and therefore humbly
prayed that: Her Majesty might be graciously pleased to grant to me, my
executors, administrators; and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the sole
use, benefit, and advantage' thereof, within England and Wales, and the Town'
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
for the term of fourteen years, pursuant to the Statute in that' case made and
provided: And Her" said Majesty being willing to give encouragement to all'
arts and inventions which might be for the public good, did; by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain' and'
Ireland bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of March, Eighteen
hundred and forty, and third year of Her Majesty's reign, for Herself, Her'
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Hay, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said James Hay, my executors, admini-
strators, or assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, and by my

page_text: or their deputy or deputies;, servants or agents, or to such others as I, the said
James Hay, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
of years therein expressed, should lawfully make, use, exercise, and vend my
said Invention within that part of Her United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad; in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said James Hay,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Hay, do hereby declare that my Invention consists in constructing an
improved plough, and the improvement consists in so constructing it that the
plough so constructed may be worked in opposite directions without turning
the body. The improved construction is effected by fixing to the body itself
two mould boards on the same side of the plough, and likewise two shares, one
on each extremity of the body, whose feathers or cutting part lies on the same
side as that of the mould boards, and in fitting to the body handles, a beam,
and bridle, with the coulter, which handles, beam, bridle, and coulter may, by
the construction, be together turned in opposite directions without turning the
body. And in order more fully to explain the construction, I refer to the
Drawings which are annexed to this Specification, and which I wish to be
considered as part of the Specification, and I also give the following details in.
connection with the Drawings:-
Fig. 1 is a
The two mould boards meet, as shewn in Figs. 1, 4, and 5.
view of the furrow side, and a, a, represents the mould boards. These mould-
boards terminate, at the ends respectively towards the fore and after ends of
the plough, in the shares b, b. The two soles connected with the two mould
boards respectively are not in the same plane each other, but form an angle
of about one hundred and seventy-four degrees; though this angle, may be
varied as found convenient. Fig. 5 is a horizontal plan of the entire plough,
as seen from above; and Fig. 4 is another horizontal plan of the body only" of
the plough, as seen from above. The handles, beam, bridle, and coulter, form
together one piece of framework, revolving horizontally upon a joint or bolt

page_text: marked in Fig. 1, e in Fig. 4, and d in Fig. 5, which is fixed in the body.
Fig. 2 is a side view. of the body of the plough on the land side, the covering
plates, being removed. Fig. 3 is a view. of the same side, but having the
plates, attached thereto. In Fig. 2 the socket for the joint or bolt abovė
mentioned is represented at the letter 6, and in Fig. 3 at the letter d. Fig. 6
is a, side view, shewing a part d of the beam, body, and fastenings. In
this last Figure a, a, represents part of the beam supported by b, b, a part of
the body of the plough, which is concealed by the mould boards in Fig. 1.
In Figure 6, frepresents the bolt or joint upon which a, a, turns horizontally,
b, b, remaining stationary. Fig. 7 represents this bolt or joint in cross section,
a being the beam a, a, and b the bar, while c is the joint bolt secured into
the bar b. by. a pin. When the plough is to be drawn forward, a, a,, is
prevented from revolving horizontally by glands, which are represented in
Fig. 6 by the letters c and d. The glands are also represented in Figs. 1.
and 5 by the letters 9 and f. In Fig. 6, c is the gland nearest to the handles,
d is the gland farthest from the handles. They are connected by the. bent
rod. e, e, but the gland c turns vertically at the connecting point h on a joint
or bolt, and the gland d turns. vértically: at the connecting point g, on a
similar joint or bolt. In the same Figure P and K are bolts connecting the
after and foremost glands respectively with the rod e, e, allowing of a vertical
motion when the rod is drawn in a horizontal direction from k towards i, the
gland c being thereby thrown backward, while dis simultaneously thrown
forward, moving round their respective centres h and g, by which motion the
beam a, a, is unlocked from 6, 6. By pushing the rode in the opposite direction
the motions of the glands are reversed, and a, a, is locked to b, b. The rod
is a part of that which proceeds backwards to within reach of the ploughman.
It is jointed to eat the point i, and is exhibited in full by 1 on Fig. 5, where
the end nearest the ploughman terminates in a handle m. When the plough
man wishes to reverse. the direction of the plough he is to draw the rod
to himself, so as to unlock the two glands, and then the horses, by turning
round to the end where the ploughman stood, carry with them, by means of
the bridle, the handles, beam, bridle, and coulter, which revolve horizontally
as before described, till the direction of the revolving part is reversed, and
then the ploughman, by pushing the rod from himself, locks the glands again,
the body having remained stationary, and the plough is now ready to be
drawn in a direction the reverse of the former direction, the mould board and
shares, which were formerly in the after part, being now in the fore part and
taking the furrow, and vice versa. The mould boards do not differ from

page_text: ordinary mould boards, except in the particulars. above set, forth, but they ought
to be clasped firmly together when they meet by any of the ordinary methods.
I prefer constructing the framework of the body of the plough of wrought
iron, but other materials may be used. The bar d, d, in Fig. 2 (which
anwers to b, b, in Fig. 6) has two arms c, c, extending downwards to the sole
bar e, e, where each terminates in a palm designated by the letter g, where
they are bolted to e, e. The bar d, d, is extended sufficiently beyond c, c, for
the glands to lock into the projecting parts. The sole bar e, e, being also pro
longed backward and forward to form the arms in which the shares. are fixed
in the usual manner, the two diagonal bars f, f, which meet in a palm on the
sole, serve only to support the land-side plates. The land side of the plough
is formed in two vertical planes, the one inclined to the other, as represented
in Figure 4 by the lines d, e, f, forming an angle of one hundred and seventy:
six degrees, which angle, however, may be varied as found convenient; and in
order to allow the particular construction of this plough, as regards the land
side planes, to give either end of it the due degree of tendency to land through
the agency of the beam, the after end of the beam is formed with a fork, as
seen at c in Fig. 5, and also in Fig. 6, A, where n, n, are the arms of
the fork, and o the end of the bar d, d, of Figure 2, when embraced by the
glands c, which is done thus:When the plough is throwing the furrow..to
the right hand, but the end of the bar o is received into the gland c, when the
furrow is thrown to the left side, the share between the arms of the fork being
always in proportion to the angle of indentation of the land-side planes. If
conclusion, I would have it understood that I lay no claim to the various parts
separately of which my improved plough is composed, they being separately
well known; but what I claim as my Invention is, the combining of the
different parts in the manner above described, together with the inclination of
the land-side planes, as also above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hay, have hereunto set my han
and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, Eighteen hundred and
forty
Taken and acknowledged by the said
James Hay, at Edinburgh, this
Twenty-second day of September,
JAMES HAY. (L.S.)

page_text: Walter Turnbull, of Fludyer Street, in the City of Westminster, Gentleman,
maketh oath, and saith, that he is well acquainted with the Honorable John
Cuninghame, one of the Judges of the Court of Session in Scotland, and
with the manner and character of his handwriting, and that the name
"J. Cuninghame," set and subscribed to the Specification or parchment
writing hereunto annexed, as the person before whom the same was acknow-
ledged by James Hay in the said Specification named, is of the proper
handwriting of the said John Lord Cuninghame.
WAL. TURNBULL.
Sworn at the Public Office, South-
ampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex, this 24th day of
September 1840, before me,
W. HORNE.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year above written.