IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SOWING WHEAT OR OTHER GRAIN OR SEEDS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Martinez Lopez, of Paris, France, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SOWING WHEAT
OR OTHER GRAIN OR SEEDS."
Sealed the 7th November 1862, and dated the 13th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Martinez Lopez at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1862.
I. PIERRE MARTINEZ LOPEZ, of Paris, France, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR SOWING WHEAT OR OTHER GRAIN OR SEEDS," to be as follows:-
These improvements in apparatus for sowing wheat or other grain or seeds
consist in a truck or carriage to be drawn by a horse or other suitable moving
power, which carriage is provided with a set of tracers, under the command of
the driver; behind each tracer is situated and revolves a distributing wheel,
formed of an axis or nave, in which radial parts may glide up and down,
according to the position of the nave or wheel; in the outer circle of this
Intter, partly inserted, into a hopper containing the wheat or other grain or seeds
to be sown into the furrows made by the tracers, which grain or seeds fall from
the hopper through suitable openings into the hollow or further end of each
radial part of the wheel, and will consequently, by the revolution of the wheel,
be thrown in small quantities and at regular distances apart into the furrows.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Martinez Lopez in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
MARTINEZ LOPEZ, of Paris, France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Pierre Martinez Lopez, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre Martinez
Lopez, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Pierre Martinez Lopez, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SOWING WHEAT OR OTHER GRAIN OR SEEDS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Martinez Lopez, 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 per-
formed, 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 Pierre Martinez Lopez, 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:-
These improvements in apparatus for sowing wheat or other grain or seeds
have for their object to allow of distributing the grain or seeds in regular
quantities, and in furrows at equal distances apart, which quantities and
distances the apparatus allows of regulating and varying at pleasure.
In the annexed Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal vertical sectional
view, and Fig. 2 a plan view of the apparatus. The same consists of a frame
A, which by means of the axle a, with wheels fixed thereto, and the thills
A', may be drawn in any required direction over the field to be sown on, by a
horse or other animal. The apparatus is provided with three principal or
main parts, viz., 1ly, the tracers for opening the furrows in which the grain

page_text: or seeds are to be deposited; 2ly, the sowing or distributing wheel, by
means of which the grain or seeds are deposited in the furrows; and 3ly,
the scrapers for covering the grain or seeds, after having been deposited in the
furrows, with earth from both sides of these latter. In both Figures cor-
responding parts are marked by the same letters of reference.
At the front part of the apparatus are situated two cross bars B, round
which are fitted a suitable number of sliding sockets C, viz., corresponding in
number with that of the tracers with which the apparatus is to be provided;
by means of set screws c, these sliding sockets may be fixed at any suitable
distance apart, along the bars B. Each of these sockets serves as a guide for
a tracer D to glide in, the upper end of each of which latter is connected by
means of a link d to the front end e' of a corresponding lever E, the middle
part e, of each of which levers E forms a ring or socket in which is inserted an
arbor F, the ends of which latter rest in two standards G, the levers E being
allowed to turn freely on this arbor F; to which latter are fixed, next to each
lever E, plates H, one of them for each lever E, which plates may be fixed on
the arbor F by means of the set screws f, so as to keep each lever E exactly
opposite its corresponding slide or guide socket C. Each plate H is provided
with several holes g, for a stud ping to be introduced in, on which the arm
e, e, of each lever E to rest on, and thus allowing of setting these lever arms,
and consequently the tracers D suspended thereto, more or less high, and thus
regulating the depth of the furrows to be dug by these tracers; each plate is
also provided with a hook g², for the arin e, e, of the lever E to rest in.
I is a hopper, into which is thrown the grain or seeds through an opening.
at the top, to be closed by a sliding door I', or other suitable means; the
hopper extends underneath all the levers E, between the standards G, and to
the lower part of the same is screwed a trough J, provided towards the bottom
with an opening, with a funnel j for discharging the grain or seeds in the
furrows. The trough J is, by preference, made of sheet iron or brass, and
forms a hollow cylinder, provided towards the top with openings 7", for allowing
the grain or seeds to fall from the hopper into a series of holes, pierced at
equal distances apart, into the cylindrical wheel K, of brass, sheet or cast iron,
or other suitable metal or material, in each of which holes glides a cor-
responding piston 7, fixed to a rod A, and entering with its free end in a
corresponding guide hole in the hollow axis M of the wheel K, so as to allow
of regulating the stroke of each piston by inserting a stud pin into one of the
holes with which each piston rod is provided. Round cach piston rod a
weight m is allowed to glide up and down; n is a fixed rest plate, with slits
for the rods to pass through, which plate n prevents the weights m from

page_text: resting on the top of their respective pistons 7, when these latter, during the
revolution of the wheel K, pass behind this plate n. The hollow axis M is
fitted round and fixed to an arbor O, revolving in bearings in the cheeks or
end parts of the trough J, and one end of the arbor O has a pinion P fixed
thereto, in gear with the tooth wheel Q, fixed on the axle a of the apparatus
in such manner that whenever the apparatus is moved forward over the field,
the wheels b, in turning, will cause the revolution of the wheel Q and of the
pinion P, and consequently of the sowing wheel K, to take place, which will
cause each of the holes of the wheel K successively present itself opposite
the openings, which holes will thus become filled with grain or seeds, more
or less as required, and according as the respective piston is introduced more
or less deep into the said holes k; the wheel K continuing its revolution, each
of the thus filled holes & will, at its turn, reach the funnel 7, in which position
the weight m, in pressing on the top of the respective piston 7, will drive this
latter into the hole k, and thus throw the grain or seeds contained therein in
the furrow underneath the funnel j. The wheel K turning in the direction
shown by the arrow, the rest plate n will prevent the weights m to fall on the
top of their respective pistons before these latter have taken their position
opposite the funnel j, whilst proper provision must be made for allowing to
put the pinion P out of gear with the wheel Q, when the apparatus is to be
moved backward, or the sowing is to be interrupted.
In order to cover the grain or seeds thus deposited in the furrows with
earth, a forked scraper R, of the shape shown in Fig. 2, is suspended behind
each tracer D, at the back of the apparatus; these scrapers R are suspended
from a cross bar S, and they may be lifted from underneath by means of a rod
T, fitted at both ends in brackets t, turning round the cross bar S, whilst
towards the middle of the rod T is fitted a handle U, provided with two hooks, V
and V¹, for suspending the handle U on a pin W, and thus allowing the scrapers
Reither to be dragged over the ground, so as to throw earth over the open
furrow, or to be lifted sufficiently as not to come in contact with the ground.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the mode of working of the apparatus, I declare that what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
1ly, the general arrangement of the arrangement and combination of parts.
2ly, the arrangement of the sowing wheel and working parts thereof for
sowing the grain or seeds in regular quantities and at regular distances apart,
the apparatus affording the necessary means for regulating at pleasure these
quantities and distances.

page_text: I further wish it to be understood that I do not intend to restrict or
restrain myself to the precise details or arrangements described, as many
variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or
main features of the Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Martinez Lopez, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
DREYFOUS,
Eng. Civil.
P. MARTINEZ LOPEZ. (L.S.)