IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRILLING OR DEPOSITING TURNIP AND OTHER SEEDS AND MANURE
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Blackmore Heal at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
June 1864.
I, JAMES BLACKMORE HEAL, of East Nynehead, near Wellington, in the
County of Somerset, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DRILLING OR
DEPOSITING TURNIP AND OTHER SEEDS AND MANURE," to be as follows:-
This Invention is designed to effect the sowing or depositing of turnip or
other seeds in bunches or small patches at intervals or equal distances apart,
whereby a considerable economy both in the seed itself and also in the labour
of hoeing out is effected.
The apparatus cannot be employed alone, as it does not in any way regulate.
the quantity of seed, but it must be used as an adjunct or addition to any
drilling machine of the ordinary construction.
The Invention consists principally of a series of hoppers or funnels for
catching the seed as it falls from the pipes of the drill above, and holding it.
until it arrives at a given point, when a valve opens at the bottom of the
funnel and instantly drops the seed contained in it. The orifices at the lower
or smaller ends of these hoppers or funnels are closed by a series of fingers,.
which act as valves for opening and closing the orifices. These fingers are
all attached to a shaft or spindle running across the machine, and an inter-
mittent oscillating motion is given to this shaft at intervals by means of a
tappet or tappets on a revolving shaft, so as to remove the fingers from the
orifices of the hoppers or funnels at regular intervals, the fingers being

page_text: returned immediately and the orifices closed by means of a spring or springs
as soon as they are released by the tappets. The revolving shaft is actuated
by wheels upon each end thereof, which run upon the land, and the surface
of the fingers may be grooved or lipped in order to deliver the seed with
greater accuracy. The apparatus is fastened under the drill a little in front
of the manure box, at the same place as what are termed the "trees" of the
drill are usually fixed; there is a joint immediately behind the point at
which it is fastened, so as to allow the other end of the apparatus to rise or
fall according to the unevenness of the land. The revolving shaft on which
the wheels are fixed will be at least two feet behind the joint above spoken
of, so that it will be quite impossible for the apparatus to stop working so
long as the drill moves on; its own weight will keep the wheels firmly on the
ground, and it will also admit of being raised from the ground by the person
in charge of the drill. This operation must be performed at every end of the
field before the drill can possibly turn round. It will be evident that as the
machine is drawn along over the land the tappets on the revolving shaft will
cause the fingers to open the orifices of the hoppers or funnels at intervals, and
so to deposit the seed in bunches or small patches at equal distances apart, and
tbus effect the desired economy of seed and labour. By attaching similar
funnels below the manure box, having slides or valves connected to the same
oscillating shaft, the manure may also be deposited (if required) in heaps in
the exact spot where the next bunch of seed will fall, so as not to prevent the
use of the prong or fork employed in ordinary drills for the purpose of
covering the manure with a small portion of earth before the seed is dropped
upon it.