IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING, HARROWING, ANDHENWER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Greig and Max Eyth, both of the Steam
Plough Works, Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING, HARROWING, AND
Sealed the 28th March 1871, and dated the 15th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Greig and Max
Eyth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 15th October 1870.
We, DAVID GREIG and MAX EYTH, both of the Steam Plough
Works, Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING,
HARROWING, AND SOWING LAND WHEN STEAM POWER IS EMPLOYED," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
ploughing, harrowing, and sowing land when steam power is employed.

page_text: In constructing an implement for ploughing by steam power when a
number of ploughs working at the same time are employed the ploughs
are set one behind the other in a direction inclined to the line of draft
as is usual.
The ploughs are affixed to a beam mounted at its ends
on axes. To this beam are attached two sets of ploughs; the two sets
are fixed on opposite sides of the beam, so that when one set is in
working position below the beam and in the ground the other set is in a
reversed position above the beam. The ploughs of one set are left-hand
ploughs and the ploughs of the other set are right-hand ploughs.
The bearings in which the axes at the ends of the beam are received
are carried by a frame mounted on wheels; by preference on three
wheels there being a wheel at each end of the frame to act alternately as
a leading and as a trailing wheel and also to act as steering wheels, and a
third wheel, by preference a castor wheel, situated at a point intermediate
of the length of the frame. The two ends of the hauling rope which are
to pull the implement to and fro across the land are attached by suitable
gear to the plough frame in such manner that on arriving at a headland,
and the pull of the rope being reversed the ploughs shall be pulled out
of the ground by depressing the two steering wheels, and the whole be
then pulled partially round from the slanting position in which it came
up the field into just the opposite slanting position towards the furrow
line for going back again, whilst at the same time the plough beam is
swung over to bring the set of ploughs which were above the beam
below it; the trailing wheel thus becomes the leading wheel, whilst
the former leading wheel becomes the trailing wheel.
In one arrangement of the plough the pivots of the turning plough
beam are placed in a line slanting somewhat to the centre line of the
beam in order that in swinging over the ploughs the first plough shall
always find itself one furrow breadth on one side of the leading wheel
whilst the hind wheel follows in the furrow of the last plough, so that
by this arrangement both of the end steering wheels run in furrows,
and when the implement is turned at a headland the wheel that was
previously the trailing furrow wheel becomes the leading furrow wheel
and keeps in the same furrow going down the field in which it had
previously come up.
In another arrangement of the plough the pivots of the plough beam.
are placed centrally at its ends and the leading wheel is arranged to

page_text: run in the furrow last made whilst the trailing wheel runs on the
unploughed land. When the implement is turned at a headland the
leading furrow wheel becomes the trailing wheel and runs on the
unploughed land, whilst the former trailing wheel becomes the leading
wheel and is steered in the furrow.
In this arrangement the depth relative to the sole of the ploughs at
which the steering wheels have to run has to be altered at every turn
of the implement, the leading wheel being always set the depth of
the furrow deeper than the trailing wheel; this is done by moving the
axle of these wheels up and down by suitable levers or otherwise, as
required.
In constructing a combined seed drill and harrow to be drawn across
the land by steam power we divide the drill box into two halves and
place the two halves at an angle to one another and diagonally across
the frame of the implement. The frame is made somewhat of a
triangular form and is supported on three wheels, two side wheels and
a central leading wheel. The leading wheel which is also a steering
wheel is surrounded by a harrow or light cultivator whilst another very
light harrow follows the seed coulters. The draft ropes for drawing the
implement to and fro are attached to a suitable draft lever, and when
this lever is swung round to turn the implement it is caused by a
suitable arrangement of mechanism to lift the harrows out of the ground,
so as to allow the implement to turn freely.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Greig and Max Eyth in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DAVID
GREIG and MAX ЕYTH, both of the Steam Plough Works, Leeds, in the
County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and

page_text: grant unto us, the said David Greig and Max Eyth, Her special license,
that we, the said David Greig and Max Eyth, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said David Greig and
Max Eyth, our 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 APPARATUS FOR PLOUGHING, HARROWING, AND SOWING
LAND WHEN STEAM POWER IS EMPLOYED," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said David Greig and Max Eyth, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should par-
ticularly 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 we, the said David Greig and Max Eyth, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
ploughing, harrowing, and sowing land when steam power is employed,
In constructing an implement for ploughing by steam power when a
number of ploughs working at the same time are employed, the ploughs
are set one behind the other in a direction inclined to the line of draft,
as is usual. The ploughs are fixed to a beam mounted at its end on
axes. To this beam are attached two sets of ploughs; the two sets are
fixed on opposite sides of the beam, so that when one set is in working
position below the beam and in the ground the other set is in a reversed
position above the beam. The ploughs of one set are left-hand ploughs,
and the ploughs of the other set are right-hand ploughs. The bearings
in which the axes at the ends of the beam are received are carried by
a frame mounted on wheels, by preference on three wheels, there being a
wheel at each end of the frame to act alternately as a leading and as a
trailing wheel, and also to act as steering wheels, and a third wheel, by
preference a castor wheel, situated at a point intermediate of the length

page_text: of the frame. The two ends of the hauling rope which are to pull the
implement to and fro across the land are attached by suitable gear to the
plough frame in such manner that on arriving at a headland and the
the pull of the rope being reversed the ploughs shall be pulled out of
the ground by depressing the two steering wheels, and the whole be then
pulled partially round from the slanting position in which it came up
the field into just the opposite slanting position towards the furrow line
for going back again, whilst at the same time the plough beam is swung
over to bring the set of ploughs which were above the beam below it;
the trailing wheel thus becomes the leading wheel, whilst the former
leading wheel becomes the trailing wheel.
In one arrangement of the plough the pivots of the turning plough
beam are placed in a line slanting somewhat to the centre line of the
beam in order that in swinging over the ploughs the first plough shall
always find itself one furrow breadth on one side of the leading wheel,
whilst the hind wheel follows in the furrow of the last plough, so that by
this arrangement both of the end steering wheels run in furrows, and
when the implement is turned at a headland the wheel that was
previously the trailing furrow wheel becomes the leading furrow wheel,
and keeps in the same furrow going down the field in which it had
previously come up.
In another arrangement of the plough the pivots of the plough beam
are placed centrally at its ends, and the leading wheel is arranged to run
in the furrow last made, whilst the trailing wheel runs on the un-
ploughed land.
When the implement is turned at a headland the
leading furrow wheel becomes the trailing wheel and runs on the
unploughed land, whilst the former trailing wheel becomes the leading
wheel and is steered in the furrow. In this arrangement the depth
relative to the sole of the ploughs at which the steering wheels have to
run has to be altered at every turn of the implement, the leading wheel
being always set the depth of the furrow deeper than the trailing wheel.
This is done by moving the axle of these wheels up and down by suitable
levers or otherwise as required.
Another part of our Invention relates to the construction of a
combined seed drill and harrow.
In constructing a combined seed drill and harrow to be drawn across
the land by steam power we divide the drill box into two halves, and

page_text: towards the land side; the wheel E' is also turned perpendicular to the
furrow by the ploughman, and the whole frame begins to swing round E
as a centre towards the land into a direction slanting again to the
furrows, but in an opposite way as before.
As soon as the ploughman who has now gone to the new leading and
steering wheel E² sees that the plough frame has about reached its
proper position for the back journey, he releases the disc H held by the
catch and lever M at the end of the implement at which he now stands,
and the draft levers make now their final movement by which the
pinion c with its disc H and cam e make three-quarters of a complete
revolution. The catches of the levers M are jointed to them, and are
free to yield in one direction, and allow one stop on the disc H to pass
freely, so that only one of the levers M acts each time that the motion
of the implement is reversed. In doing so the chain pulley first pushes
the furrow wheels still further down, lifting all the ploughs fairly over
the ground. During this movement the cam e turns the shaft g, giving
it a half revolution which turns the plough frame completely over by
means of the mitre wheels C, so that the other set of ploughs is now
ready to go into the ground. Subsequently the chain pulley d in its
backward movement slackens the lifting chain, and the furrow wheels
rise again to their proper level, permitting the plough to enter the soil
as soon as the now straightened draft levers begin to move the imple-
ment ahead. The small lever m at the now hind end of the plough
has during the latter portion of these movements turned the wheel E'
into its proper position parallel with the new furrow lines and holds it
locked in this position. It is evident that exactly the same movements take
place whilst turning at the other end of the field. The pivots B, B, being
eccentric to the centre line of the plough beam the relative position of
the wheels E', E², towards the first and last plough remain the same
going either
way.
Figure 4, on Sheet II., represents a plan, and Figure 5 a section
through the leading wheel of another turnover plough. The plough
beam A, the wheel frame D, the pivots B, the mitre wheels C, (only at
one end of the plough in this case), the shaft g turned by a cam; the
furrow wheels E', E², regulated in their depth by vertical square sliding
bars h, all these parts are very similar to those above described, the
principal difference is, that the pivots B are placed in the centre line of

page_text: the plough beam, and in consequence the trailing wheel finds itself not
in the furrow, but on the unploughed ground, thus it becomes necessary
to change at every turn the relative depth of these wheels to the depth
of the furrow. The segment which is similar to that in the arrange-
ment above detailed turns the pinion c, whilst the draft levers are
swinging round it gives to the pinion three-quarters of a revolution in
all, there is a lever and catch by which the motion can be stopped after
it has made one quarter of a revolution. The cam e which governs the
movement of shaft 9, and thus the turning over of the plough frame
carries a pin d to which the lifting chain is attached which by means of
suitable pullies as shewn pushes the sliding bar h down or permits it to
come up. Whilst going in the direction indicated by the drawing the
pin d of the trailing wheel E¹ stands exactly in the line between the
centre of the sliding bar and the pinion c, whilst the pin of the leading
wheel stands in a radial line at right angles to this centre line. Thus
the trailing wheel is permitted to rise several inches higher than the
leading wheel, both chains being of the same length. When each of the
pinions makes three-quarters of a revolution their relative position is
just reversed, and now the wheel E' is held in a higher position than the
wheel E. In turning round quite the same movements take place as
those which were described above, and the relative height of the two
furrow wheels is altered by the arrangement indicated.
Figure 6 on Sheet III., is a sectional side view; Figure 7 a plan of a
seed drill for steam cultivation. A, A, is the chief frame mounted on
the steering wheel B, B, and two fixed hind wheels C; D, D, is a light
cultivator; E, E, are barrow frames the one preceding, the other
following the seed coulter and attached to the chief frame by suitable
chains and draft bars. Two separate sced boxes H, H, are carried by
the frame, and put in motion by one of the hind wheels, this arrange-
ment permitting the seed boxes to reach over and outside the hind
wheels. There is a forked draft lever F, F, to which the front and tail
ropes of the hauling apparatus are attached. In turning at the
headlands, this lever is first pulled back and thus turns its centre pin.
This movement lifts the cultivator harrows and seed coulters out of the
ground, the cam giving motion to the transverse axis G from which the
frame of the harrows is hung, the fore part of the frame being connected
by links with arms on the axis, and the hinder part to other arms.by

page_text: chains passing over pulleys. The pull then turns the implement round,
and the draft lever returning by degrees permits the cultivating
implements again to fall back into the ground. The seed box need not
necessarily be in two halves placed standing on the frame. We place
the box also straight in one piece either above or behind the hind wheels
in all cases our object is principally to have one or two coulters
working outside the hind wheels which prevents the hind wheel ever
getting into prepared ground. I, I, are the steering wheels, they have
chain pinions on their axes and chains pass from them to the frame of
the wheel B which is thus steered. In respect to multiple furrow
ploughs we would remark that we are aware that it has before been
proposed to mount two sets of ploughs on a diagonal beam to be turned
over when the direction of ploughing is reversed, this therefore we
do not claim, but heretofore, when such a diagonal beam has been
proposed to be employed, it has been mounted on a frame the trailing
wheels of which run over the ploughed land, and the frame having no
furrow wheel it was entirely dependent for guidance on the steersman.
For these reasons implements of this description as heretofore proposed
And amn val

page_text: lirection the plough beam may be automatically raised, turned over, and
again lowered to its work substantially as described.
Fifth. The general arrangement of multiple. furrow ploughs sub-
stantially as described.
Sixth. The general arrangement of a combined seed drill and harrow,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said David Greig and Max Eyth,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 8th day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
DAVID GREIG. (L.S.)
M. EYTH.
(L.S.)