AN IMPROVED STEAM PLOUGH
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Beards, of Stowe Park, near Buckingham,
in the County of Buckingham, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
STEAM PLOUGH."
Sealed the 12th March 1869, and dated the 17th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Beards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th September 1868.
I, THOMAS BEARDS, of Stowe Park, near Buckingham, in the County
of Buckingham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED STEAM PLOUGH," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates more particularly to that class of ploughs
described in a Specification of a Patent granted to me, and bearing date
the Sixth day of October A.D. 1862, but is also applicable to ploughs
generally which are intended to operate upon the double direct action,
lifting, or tipping principle, that is to say, where such ploughs aro
made with two sets of shares to be driven forward and backward without
turning at the headlands. This lifting or tipping movement (as the

page_text: case may be) according to the ordinary plan of construction requires a
considerable amount of manual labour and more or less time at every
change of the implement's direction. The object of this Invention is to
dispense with this manual labour in whole or in part, and to effect the
lifting or tinning motion instantaneously.
Let A, B, represent the two opposite headlands of ground to be
ploughed; the line «, b, a hauling chain, wire, or other rope connected
to a double-ended plough at C, and caused to haul the said plough from
A to B and from B to A alternately as the end pullies at a and b aro
gradually moved in the direction shewn by the arrows. The common
practice is to attach the hauling rope directly to the plough or frame
and fit the latter with hand gear for lifting or tipping the sharc beams.
Instead of this I construct my improved plough with stop chains and
running chain and lifting or tipping mechanism, and attach the hauling
rope thereto, so that the plough. beams are thereby instantaneously
raised and lowered by the first pull of the said hauling rope at each
change of direction. I fit the plough frame with a stop chain at each
end, and connect the hauling rope with both of these stop chains, the
free ends of the latter being provided with double hooks or other suitable
media for also connecting them with the free ends of the running chains,
of which there are also two, one for cach. set of ploughs, to the share
frames of which their opposite ends are secured. In the centre of the
plough frame I mount a transverse shaft, upon which I key fast a
grooved wheel, round and over which I pass the two running chains;
through one of the links of each of these chains, and also through the
wheel, I insert a cross pin to prevent the slip of the chains in the grooves.
The length of the two portions of the running chains between the cross
pin and the share frames is such that when one set of ploughs is raised
the other is lowered, and the lengths of the other portions of the said
chains and that of their corresponding stop chains are such that when
those at one end are drawn taught those at the other are slack.
The plough thus constructed operates as follows:-When the hauling
rope is drawn forward in cither direction it carries with it the hauling
end of the running and lifting chains a certain distance, which is

page_text: regulated by the length of the stop chain, and is sufficient to raise the
forward ploughs and lower the hinder ones before the main frame is
moved, all that is necessary on the part of the ploughman being to
merely change his position from one seat to the other at cach change of
direction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Beards in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BEARDS, of Stow Park, Buckingham, in the County of Buckingham,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Beards, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Beards, my executors, administrators, aud
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Beards, 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 IM-
PROVED PLOUGH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Beards, 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 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 Thomas Beards, 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 :-

page_text: This Invention relates more particularly to that class of ploughs
described in a Specification of a Patent granted to me, and bearing date
the Sixth day of October A.D. 1862, No. 2099, but is also applicable to
ploughs generally which are intended to operate upon the double direct
action, lifting, or tipping principle, that is to say, where such ploughs
are made two sets of shares to be driven forwards and backwards
without turning at the headlands. This lifting or tipping movement,
as the case may be, under or according to the ordinary plan of con-
struction requires a considerable amount of manual labour, and more
or less time, at every change of the implement's direction. Now the
object of this Invention is to dispense with this manual labour in whole
.or in part, and to effect the lifting or tipping motion instantaneously.
The means by which I propose to accomplish these desiderata I will
present
groun
plougbed; the line a, b, a hauling chain, wire, or other rope connected to
a double-ended plough at C and caused to haul the said plough from A to
B and from B to A alternately as the end or anchor pulleys at a and b
are gradually moved in the direction shown by the arrows. The common
practice is to attach the hauling rope directly to the plough or frame,
and fit the latter with hand gear for lifting or tipping the share beams.
Instead of this I construct my improved plough with self-acting lifting
or tipping mechanism, and running and stop chains, and attach the latter
to the hauling rope, so that the share beams are thereby instantaneously
raised and lowered by the first "pull" of the said hauling rope at cach
change of direction. I fit the plough frame with a stop chain at each
end, and connect the hauling rope with both of these stop chains, the
free ends of the latter being provided with double hooks or other suitable
media for also connecting them with the free ends of the running chains
(of which there are also two, one for each set of ploughs), and also to the
share frames, to which their opposite ends are secured. In the centre
of the plough frame I fix a transverse shaft, upon which I mount a pair
of grooved wheels, round and over which I pass the two running chains;
through one of the links of each of these chains, and also through its
wheel, I mount a cross pin to prevent the slip of the chains in the grooves

page_text: increasing or diminishing the length of these stop chains the "lift" of the
share beams can be regulated as required. e, e, is a chain or rope passing
over a pulley f (of which there are two), one end of which chain or rope
is secured to the radiating axle g of the travelling wheel h and the other
end hooked to the hauling chain a* at y, or any other convenient point.
The plough frame is fitted with a rising and falling stud at a', which
when let down forms an abutment, up to and against which the end of
the radiating axle g is drawn and held fast by the chain e, e, when the
rope a, a, is hauled in the direction here indicated. Upon the
direction of the plough being reversed the chain e, e, is slacked, and the
drop stud at a¹ lifted clear, so that the axle can then be radiated upon its
centre pin, as required for steering the plough. A similar stud is fitted
at a for fixing the axle i of the wheelj in position by the chains k, k.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Beards, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
THO. BEARDS. (L.S.)