AN IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bruce, of Tiddington, near Stratford-on-Avon,.
in the County of Warwick, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the-
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS."
Sealed the 22nd November 1859, and dated the 30th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bruce at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th May
1859.
I, JOHN BRUCE, of Tiddington, near Stratford-on-Avon, in the County of
Warwick, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL DRILLS," to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after described of raising the
shares or feet of agricultural drills from the ground when the said drills come
to a headland, or when for any other reason it is wished to throw the said.
shares or feet out of work. A series of chains are connected at their bottom
ends to the shares or feet, and at their top ends to a cross bar or roller turning.
upon centres. Beneath the said bar or roller is a second bar connected with
the first, and fixed parallel to it. An arm or lever is fixed upright on the first-
mentioned bar or roller, and, by depressing the said arm or lever, the said
bar or roller turns upon its centres, and the second or lower bar connected
therewith is raised. The said lower bar lifts the chains as it rises, and thus
elevates the shares or feet. By raising the said, lever, the bar which lifted
the chains is lowered, and the said chains now permit the shares or feet of
the drill to enter the ground.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Bruce, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BRUCE, of Tiddington, near Stratford-on-Avon, in the County of Warwick,
Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Bruce, Her special licence that. I, the said John Bruce, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Bruce, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL
DRILLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Bruce,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Bruce, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after described, and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing, of raising the shares or feet of agricultural
drills from the ground when the said drills come to a headland, or where, for
any other reason, it is wished to throw the said shares or feet out of work, and
pressing the said shares into the ground.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents an end elevation of an agricultural
drill to which my Invention is applied, and Figure 2 represents a side elevation
(partly in section) of the same. A series of chains a are connected at their
bottom ends to a series of bars or levers b, each of which bars carries a
share or foot c, and the said chains a are connected at their top ends to a

page_text: cross bar or spindle d. Beneath the said bar or spindle d is a second bar e,
connected with and parallel to the said bar or spindle d, over one side of which
bare the chains a pass, as represented. The bars d and e are connected
together by the arms f. f. The ends of the said bar or spindle d¸turn in
bearings in the brackets g, h, on either side of the drill. In Figure 2 the
bracket g is broken off for the purpose of exhibiting more important parts of
my Invention. The bars or levers b, carrying the shares or feet c, turn upon
joints at i on the framing of the drill, and the opposite ends of the said bars
carry weights k. The shares or feet c are connected to the bars b by the
stems sliding in holes in the said bars and fixed in their places by cotters
or wedges m, as represented in Figure 2. o is an arm or lever, fixed upright
or nearly upright upon the bar or spindle d, and is connected by the arm p
to the second bar e. By depressing the said arm or lever o, the spindle d
turns upon its centres, and raises the bar. e. By the raising of the said bar e
the chains a are tightened, and raised by the said bar e into the position
indicated by the dotted lines a² in Figure 2, and thus elevate the rods or
levers b, and through the said levers the shares or feet c. By raising the arm
or lever o into the position represented in the Drawing; the bar e is lowered,
the chains a assume the position represented, and permit the shares or feet to
enter the ground. The bar or spindle d is prevented from turning, and the
shares or feet preserved in their raised or depressed position by the lever q,
carrying a pin or projection r, which lever q, when the shares or feet have
been brought into the required position, is depressed, and the pin or pro-
jection r engaging between two of the teeth of the toothed wheels on the
rod or spindle & fixes the position of the said rod or spindle d, as represented
in Figure 2. In order that the shares or feet in using the drill may be
depressed into the ground to a uniform depth, a cross bar t rests upon the
arms or levers b, carrying the said shares or feet, the..said cross bar t being
raised with the shares or feet, and pressed upon the arms or levers b, when
the shares or feet are in their depressed position, in the following manner:
u, u, are arms or levers jointed at their bottom ends to the arms or
levers v, v, upon which the bar t is supported, the said levers v, v turning on
joints at on the framing of the drill. The said arms or levers v, v, are
parallel or nearly parallel to the arms b, as indicated by the dotted lines in
Figure 2.
Chains w, hooked to the upper part of the arms or levers u, u, at
u pass under the lower bar e, and rising are hooked to the bar or spindle d,
as represented in Figure 2. When the parts of the drill are in the position
represented in the Drawing, and the shares or feet at liberty to enter the
ground, the rod e presses upon the loops formed by the chains w, and the said

page_text: chains and hooks u bear upon the rods or levers u, u, and cross bar t and
the said cross bar t is thereby made to press upon the arms or levers 6 carrying
the shares or feet. By depressing the arm or lever o to raise the shares or
feet c, the bar e in the loops of the chains w is raised, and the pressure on the
said chains w, and consequently the cross bar t, removed, when the shares or
feet can now be raised in the manner before explained, and with them the
cross bar t. The different positions of the chains are represented in Figure 3.
The chains a have the position shown at x in Figure 3 when the shares are
depressed, and the position shown at 2 when the shares are raised. The
chains w have the position shown at y in Figure 3 when the shares are
depressed, and the position shown at y when the shares are raised.
As those parts of the drill represented in the Drawing which I have not
explained are of the ordinary construction, and constitute no part of my
Invention, I do not think it necessary to describe the said parts.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention, the improvement in agricultural drills herein-before
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, raising
and depressing the shares or feet of agricultural drills from and into the
ground, by connecting the said shares or feet by means of chains or cords to
a bar or spindle, beneath and parallel to which said bar or spindle is a rod
over or around which the chains or cords pass, so that when the said spindle
is turned upon its axis by an arm or lever, the said rod acting upon the chains
or cords raises or depresses the shares or feet from or into the ground.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bruce, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN BRUCE. (L.S.)