Improvements in Machinery for Gathering Potatoes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Apolication, 26th Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 23rd July, 1892-Accepted, 27th Aug., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Gathering Potatoes.
I, WILLIAM GRAY, of Brownrigg, North Berwick, in the County of Haddington,
North Britain, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This invention comprises improvements in machinery for gathering potatoes and
my invention is more especially applicable to the machine at present in use for
raising potatoes and which is provided with rotating forks. In accordance with my
invention I apply a travelling or rotating cylinder at the one side of the raising
machine the said cylinder receiving the potatoes as they are thrown up by the
forks.
The cylinder is formed of wire meshing or otherwise perforated and has wheels
or tyres formed upon it so that the cylinder travels along with the raising machine.
The cylinder may be attached to the machine or it may be drawn along by separate
traces or chains. The cylinder is preferably tapered outwards so that the mouth of
the cylinder is in proximity with the ground, and the other or discharge end is
sufficiently above the ground to allow of a collecting basket being hung or placed
thereunder. The inner side of the cylinder is provided with a spiral or screw
formation so that as the potatoes are thrown into the mouth of the cylinders by the
forks they are caught by the screw and fed along to the other end of the cylinder,
out thereof, and into the collecting basket, the potatoes being freed from the earth
during their passage through the perforated cylinder; and to assist this the
cylinder may have a shaking motion imparted to it by any suitable means; or I
may give a more or less rapid revolving motion to the cylinder in any suitable
manner such as by mounting it upon a separate carriage and turning the cylinder
by any suitable gearing from the travelling of the carriage. I may provide two or
more baskets at the discharge end of the cylinder so that as soon as one basket is
filled it may be dropped on the ground, the next or empty basket immediately
taking its place, this being effected by hand or by any suitable mechanical arrange-
ment. The basket or baskets may be attached to the discharge end of the cylinder
in any suitable manner or they may be carried on a separate carriage.
Dated the Twenty-fifth day of September 1891.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Gathering Potatoes.
1, WILLIAM GRAY, of Brownrigg, North Berwick, in the County of Haddington,
North Britain, Farmer, 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, that is to say :-
This invention comprises improvements in machinery for gathering potatoes, and
my invention is more especially applicable to the machine at present in use for
raising potatoes, and which is provided with rotating forks. In accordance with
my invention I apply a rotating cylinder at one side of the raising machine, the said
cylinder receiving the potatoes as they are thrown up by the forks and delivering
them at its outer end into a basket or other receptacle.

page_text: .
And in order that my said invention and the manner of performing the same may
be properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings to be
hereinafter referred to and representing a potato raising machine having combined
with it my improved gathering apparatus.
Figure, 1, of the drawings is a perspective view as seen when looking at the side
of the potato raiser and into the inner end of the gatherer; and
Figure, 2, is a perspective view as seen when looking at the back end of the
raiser and at the outer side of the gatherer.
In these drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated.
The potato raiser, which is of a well known construction, is a machine running on
a pair of wheels, 3, 4, and arranged to be drawn by one or more horses. A longi-
tudinal shaft, 5, driven by gearing from the wheels, 3, 4, has fixed on its back end a
series of radiating forks, 6, which as the machine travels along over a drill, throws
the potatoes out to one side.
The gatherer is a cylinder or cone, 7, consisting of open wirework meshing fixed
to a frame made with longitudinal ribs, 8, fixed to rings, 9, 10, at its inner larger end
and at its outer smaller end to a wheel, 11, having a central opening of considerable
size. The largest ring, 10, at the inner end and the tire of the wheel, 11, at the
outer end are made of the same external diameter so that the gatherer may run
along the ground in a straight direction. The gatherer, 7, is made with a central
spindle, 12, connected to its circumferential parts by a few arms, 13, and it is by means
of this spindle that the gatherer is connected to the raising machine so as to move
along therewith. The inner end of the gatherer spindle, 12, has hooked to it a
link, 14, which is jointed to a bar, 15, adjustably fixed to the framing of the raiser;
and the outer end of the spindle, 12, is connected by a long diagonal stay rod, 16,
to the forward part of the raiser framing.
Around the interior of the gatherer, 7, screw-shaped or helical blades, 17, are fixed
and as the potatoes are thrown into the mouth or larger inner end of the gatherer,
by the rotating forks, 6, they are, by the screw blades, 17, made to travel gradually
towards the outer end of the gatherer, whence they are delivered over a shoot or
guide plate, 18, into a basket, 19, suspended by a carrier, 20, from the spindle, 12.
As the potatoes are carried through the gatherer, 7, they are repeatedly turned over
by its rotation, and the earth upon them becomes loosened and detached, and falls
out through the interstices of the wire meshing.
The taper of the gatherer, 7, may be modified from what is shown in the drawings
or the gatherer may be made without taper if found desirable in practice, and the
screw blades, 17, may also be made with smaller or greater pitch accordingly
as it is found of advantage to keep the potatoes a longer or shorter time in the
gatherer for sufficiently separating earth from them.
The gatherer, 7, may have a shaking motion imparted to it by any suitable
means; or it may have a more or less rapid motion given to it, in any suitable
manner, as for example by mounting it upon a separate carriage or truck and by
turning it by gearing from the wheels of the carriage.
may provide two or more baskets, at the discharge end of the gatherer, in
order that as soon as one basket is filled it may be deposited, on the ground, an
empty basket immediately taking its place, the operation being effected by hand or
by means of a suitable mechanical arrangement. The basket or baskets may be
carried in connection with the gatherer as herein before described or on a separate
carriage.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
Improved apparatus for gathering potatoes arranged to operate in connection with
a potato raising machine, and comprising a rotating cylindrical or conical gatherer,

page_text: made with openwork sides, and with internal screw blades, the same being con-
structed and operating substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this Twenty-second day of July 1892.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent