IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRILLING AND DISTRIBUTING OR SOWING BROADCAST LIME, SALT, SOOT, GUANO, AND OTHER MANURES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Green, of Newtown, in the Parish of Saint
Martin, in the County of Worcester, Agriculturalist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRILLING AND DISTRIBUTING
OR SOWING BROADCAST LIME, SALT, SOOT, GUANO, AND OTHER MANURES."
Sealed the 1st June 1860, and dated the 13th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Green at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th February 1860.
I, JOHN GREEN, of Newtown, in the Parish of Saint Martin, in the County
of Worcester, Agriculturalist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRILLING AND DIS-
TRIBUTING OR SOWING BROADCAST LIME, SALT, SOOT, GUANO OR OTHER MANURES,"
to be as follows:-
This apparatus consists of a box of a cylindrical or other convenient form,
the surface of which is pierced full of holes, through which the manure or
other substances fall as the box revolves.
The form and size of the holes may be varied according to the nature and
quantity of the material to be distributed. This perforated box is mounted upon

page_text: a wheel or wheels, with which it revolves and scatters the lime, salt, soot, guano,
or other pulverized manure with which it has been charged.
The apparatus
may be constructed of any convenient size, and be drawn by man or horse.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Green in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
August 1860.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GREEN, of Newtown, in the Parish of St. Martin, in the County of Worcester,
Agriculturalist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Green, Her special licence that I, the said John Green,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as the said
John Green, my 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRILLING AND DISTRIBUTING OR SOWING BROADCAST
LIME, SALT, SOOT, GUANO, AND OTHER MANURES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Green, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, 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.
• NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Green, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
that is to say:-
My machine consists of a cylinder, or drum, or other regular polygonal-
shaped vessel of a suitable length, and divided by partitions at right angles to
the axis into a series of compartments, say, five, or more or less; this I term
the manure holder or box. Through the periphery of this cylinder are a series

page_text: of rows of holes or perforations communicating with the interior of the com-
partments; a portion of the periphery is cut and hinged, so as to form a lid or
door, upon opening which access may be had to each compartment; this lid is
perforated in a similar manner to the other portions of the holder or box. A
number of slips or metallic bands which I call regulators, having rows of holes
perforated in them similar to those in the holder, slide within the interior of it,
in such a way that in one position one row of holes in a slip or regulator coin-
cides with a row in the cylinder, thus permitting the escape of any small
substances contained within the compartments of the cylinder; but by urging
the slip to the right or left, the coincidence of the holes is gradually destroyed,
and the communication between the exterior and interior of the cylinder cut
off. The drum is supported on spindles let into both ends of the cylinder, or
it may be mounted upon an axis passing through it. The whole is mounted
upon two wheels, or it may be supported by only one, and thereby made to
revolve.
Underneath the manure box or cylinder, and supported freely on the axis or
spindles of the latter is the distributor; the sectional form of this will vary and
depend upon the mode in which the manure is to be distributed, that is to say,
whether it is to be sown broadcast, or in rows, or dibbled, as in each case it
will take the usual well-known forms adapted for these; generally the sectional
outline will be conical, tapering downwards and terminating in a small slit or
opening, of sufficient width to allow the manure to pass. The guano or other
manure being introduced through the opening formed by the lid into the compart-
ment within the cylinder, the machine is put in motion either by manual or horse
power, and the manure box is thus caused to rotate on its axis; the slips or
regulators, which project a little beyond the ends of the cylinder, are thereby
moved, so that the apertures within them coincide more or less with the holes
in the cylinder; the manure now falls through the open holes into the sus-
pended distributor, and is thrown over the land through the slit at the apex.
The ends of the regulators may all be connected together by means of spindles,
which in turn may be actuated by a cam and hand lever, or any other well-
known device, so that they can at any moment be thrown in or out of action.
Instead of adopting longitudinal regulators, transverse ones may be used; these
may be a series of rings or of a shape similar in section to the manure box,
mounted upon an axis, which may project beyond the end of the box, and by.
moving it to the right or to the left by means of a lever or any other such like
means, the apertures to the rings may be made to coincide with those in the
manure box, or vice versa, and thus the communication between the interior
of the latter and the exterior be opened or shut. Should it be wished to give.

page_text: lime, soot, salt, guano, and other manures, substantially as set forth in this
Specification, and more fully illustrated in the accompanying Drawings
appended hereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Green, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JN°. GREEN. (L.S.)