A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR Thinning out TURNIPS AND SIMILAR CROPS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Shearer and David Williamson, both
of Garleston, in the County of Wigton, North Britam, for the
Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR Thinning out TURNIPS
AND SIMILAR CROPS.”
Sealed the 18th January 1876, and dated the 31st July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Shearer and
David Williamson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 31st July 1875.
WC, ANDREW SILEARER and DAVID WILLIAMSON, both of Garlieston,
in the County of Wigton, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR THINNING
OUT TURNIPS AND SIMILAR CROPS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention which relates to a new or improved machine for
thinning out turnips and other root crops, of which greater quantities are
sown than what are ultimately allowed to grow, consists of a framing
carried on wheels and provided with hoes or cutters, the action of which

page_text: as here-after described, removes those turnips which have to be taken
out of the soil, leaving those which are to remain for growth untouched.
The hoes or cutters are carried upon levers, these being again connected
to fingers, the lower parts of which bear on the ground, their upper parts
being carried loosely on a shaft.
In accordance with the inequalities of the surface of the ground so
these fingers resting upon it rise and fall as the machine is drawn, and
the hocs or cutters being connected to them by links simultaneously
rise and fall in the guides or slides in or through which they pass.
The levers or bars carrying the hoes or cutters have a vibratory
motion imparted to them from the wheels or links of the mechanism or
by an eccentric, and being also provided with a pinion in gear with a
tooth rack, these pinions as they are vibrated also impart to them a
circular motion, causing the hoes or cutters to move through a circular
arc, by which they enter the soil at the edge and produce the cutting
action with the expenditure of a minimum of force.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andrew Shearer and David Williamson in the
Great Scal Patent Office on the 29th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, ANDREW
SHEARER and DAVID WILLIAMSON, both of Garlicston, in the County of
Wigton, North Britain, sond greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundied and seventy-five, in the
39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Andrew Shearer and David William-
son, Her special license that we, the said Andrew Shearer and David
Williamson, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as wc, the said Andrew Shearer and David Williamson, our 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
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR THINNING OUT TURNIPS AND SIMILAR CROPS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that wc, the said Andrew Shearer and David William-
son, by an instrument in writing under our 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 wc, the said Andrew Shearer and David
Williamson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thercon, that is to say :-
Our said Invention which relates to a new or improved machine for
thinning out turnips and other root crops of which greater quantitics arc
sown than what are ultimately allowed to grow, consists of a framing
carried on wheels and provided with hocs or cutters, the action of which
removes or thins out those turnips which have to be taken out of the
soil, leaving those which are to remain for growth untouched.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood
we now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or
manner, in or under which the same is or may be used or practically
carried into effect, reference being had to the annexed Sheet of Drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended, Figure 1 is a longi-
tudinal section of the new or improved machine constructed in
accordance with our said Invention; Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3,
an elevation of the rear end of the same, whilst Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7,
arc respectively detailed views of parts of the apparatus drawn to an
enlarged scale and hercin-after more particularly referred to.
As shown by Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings the mechanism
consists of a framing A carried upon wheels B, one of which is
preferably situated loose on the axis C and geared therewith by a clutch,

page_text: D sliding on a feather on the axis C, and operated by means of the hand
lever a, Figure 2 On the shaft or axis C a spur wheel E is also
situated, and geared with a corresponding spur pinion F centred upon a
shaft G carried in bearings on the framing A. Bevel wheels H and I,
Figure 1, are also fixed upon the shaft G, and corresponding pinions
J, K, situate on a crank shaft L are provided to gear therewith, the said
pinions being formed with clutch boxes b, into which clutches c sliding
on feathers on the shaft L, and operated by the hand lever d alternately
gear, according as it is desired that the pinion J should gear with
the wheel II, or the pinion K with the wheel I, and so produce a
slower or quicker rotation of the crank shaft L. The hoes or cutters M
by which the turnips or other root crops to be taken out of the soil arc
removed, are suspended from levers N centred on the frame A at O, and
held in position by the spring catches or clips P. the points of which
enter into the holes in the pieces R, as seen more particularly at
Figure 1 The forward ends of the levers N are connected by links
e,, to a bar g carried loosely by collars on the shaft C, and to which a
number of fingers S are connected at their upper ends The lower ends
of the fingers S bear upon the ground, and according to the inequality
of the surface thereof the said fingers rise and fall, and being con-
nected by the links e, ſ, to the levers N, from which the locs or cutters
M are suspended, the said hocs or cutters simultaneously rise and fall
in the guides or slides in or through which they pass, and a regular
penetration of the cutters or hoes into the soil of the drills or ridges
is thus ensured. A weight adjustable in the rack is employed on
cach lever N to exert the requisite pressure on the fingers S, connected
to it, which fingers are situated in the furrows between two ridges or
drills. The hoes or cutters M are operated so as to enter the ridges or
drills from the edges or sides, and so effect the thinning action with the
minimum expenditure of force by means of links T connected to the
cranks on the shafts L (which are placed at right angles to each other),
and also to levers U in the lower ends of which the square rods or stems
m of the hocs or cutters are carried.
Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, are detailed views of the levers U and hoes or
onitors M and as shewn more particularly thereby the rods of the lions.

page_text: the framing A. The levers U are centred on pins fixed in a bai V,
extending across the frame A, as shown at Figures 1 and 2
By means of the arrangement of apparatus herein-before described
when the machine is drawn along and the crank shaft L rotated by the
gearing provided for that purpose, the levers U are rocked by the
connecting links T, and the hoes or cutters M are thereby reciprocated
through the drill or 1idge from one side thereof to the other Whilst so
reciprocating the said hoes or cutters are moved through an arc by the
quadrants » gearing with the racks o, a duplex motion of the cutters or
hocs is thus produced, that is to say, a sideward motion caused by tho
levers U, and a curvilinear motion caused by the quadrants n and racks o;
and by this said motion the portion of the ridge or drill containing the
turnips or other roots which it is desired to remove or thin out is
together with the said roots lifted or scooped out of the continuous
length of the said drill. The change bevel geaung II, I, J, K, 18
employed for the purpose of causing the hoes or cutters to remove a
greater or lesser number of turnips or other roots in the length of a drill,
as may be desired, by rotating the shaft L at a greater or less rate of
speed. To enable the hocs or cutters M to perform the curvilincar
motion herein-before set forth, the holes or eyes in the levers U, through
which the stems of the hoes pass, are made circular, and bushes with
square holes are placed therein, as shown at Figure 7 of the Drawings,
or equivalent means may be employed for that purpose
To prevent the earth scooped out or upturned by the hoes or cutters M
from being scattered about, a ring or disc of metal W is bolted or other-
wise fixed to the spokes of the carrying wheels B, and a disc X 1s
suspended from the framing A between the hoes or cutters to prevent
the soil scooped out by one cutter from being thrown on to the other
ridge or drill contained within the carrying wheels of the machine. In
turning the machine the clutch D is by the lever a thrown out of gear
with the wheel B, whereby the said wheel is rendered loose on the shaft
or axis C, and the machine turns thereon as round a centre.
It is to be here understood that instead of constructing the machine
to remove or thin out turnips from two drills simultaneously, as herein-
before described and shown on the appended Drawings, it may be
arranged to operate on one drill or ridge only, or on any desired number
of such dulls or ridges greater than two, it being explained that the

page_text: machine is capable of such modification without departing from the
essential features of our said Invention.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which
the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, we would
observe in conclusion that what we consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the hercin-
before in part recited Letters Patent 19,―
First. The arrangement and construction of the new or improved
machine herein-before described and shewn on the appended Sheet of
Drawings or any more modification thereof, and the employment of the
same as and for the purposes set forth.
Second. The fingers S and their connections, whereby in accordance
with the inequalitics of the ground over which the machine travels, the
hoes or cutters M are caused to so risc and fall that in working they
always penetrate the drills at the depth to which they have been adjusted,
substantially as herein-before described with reference to the appended
Drawings.
Third The arrangement and construction of the apparatus whereby a
duplex or combined sideward and circular or curvilinear motion is com-
municated to the hoes or cutters M, substantially as heroin-before
described with reference to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Andrew Shearer and David
Williamson, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Twenty-
sixth day of January, One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
SIX