IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN PLOUGHING, TILLING, OR CULTIVATING LAND
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, junior, of 28, Cornbill, and William
Worby, of Ipswich, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
USED WHEN PLOUGHING, TILLING, OR CULTIVATING LAND."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler and William
Worby at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 2nd December 1857.
We, JonN FOWLER, junior, of 28, Cornhill, and WILLIAM WORDY, of
Ipswich, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS USED WHEN PLOUGHING, TILLING, OR CULTIVATING LAND," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when
ploughing, tilling, or cultivating land. For these purposes, when using two
upright drums or barrels, driven by steam or suitable power, such drums or
barrels are geared together, though it is not essential that they should be, as
one of the barrels or drums may run freely. These drums or barrels work
with one or more drums or pulleys, fixed or anchored at a distance. The
endless rope of wire or drawing tackle takes one or more turns around
both the two upright barrels or drums and around the pulley or drum at a
distance. The ploughs or other implements for tilling or cultivating land are
arranged to be attached to the rope or tackle, and they carry apparatus for
taking up the slack of the wire rope or drawing tackle; and when using the
bodies of several ploughs at the two ends of a lever or beam, as was described

page_text: in the Specification of a former Patent granted to John Fowler, junior, one
of the present petitioners, we connect thereto a harrow or other implement
for reducing the clods, in such manner that it acts on the portion of land
ploughed or tilled by the ploughs or implements in their provious passage
across the land.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fowler and William Worby in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JonN
FOWLER, junior, of 28, Cornhill, and WILLIAM WORDY, of Ipswich, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Der
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Fowler and William Worby, Her special licenso that we,
the said John Fowler and William Worby, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Fowler and William Worby,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during tho
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS USED WHEN PLOUGHING, TILLING, OR CULTIVATING LAND," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Fowler and Williain
Worby, 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 particularly describo 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 John Fowler, on behalf of myself
and the said William Worby, do hereby declare the nature of the sail
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: Tigu
de vie
arriage
uprigu
Figure 2 a
drums or barrels mounted on it, and arranged in the manner which we con-
sider most convenient for carrying our Invention into effect. It is adapted
to work in combination with an agricultural engine of about ten-horse power,
of the construction which Messrs. Clayton, Shuttleworth, and Company
usually adopt for engines of this description. Parts of such an engine arc
indicated in the Figures by red lines. The two side frames of the carriage
are formed of deep angle irons a, a, the sectional form of which is clearly
shown at Figure 3. It is strengthened at its upper edge by another anglo
iron a bolted to it. Near the centre of the frames, where the axle passes
through them, the lower flange of the piece a is bent downwards, but the
upper edge of this piece is continued horizontally, the vertical web being
increased in depth up to the point where it is notched away for the axle. a² is
a strengthening plate, bolted to the face of the piece a, and passing over the axle;
its sectional form immediately over the axle is shown in Figure 3. The angle
iron a¹ is bent up over the axle, and is bolted to the plate a². The side
frames are connected together by transverse angle irons b, b1, b2, and b³, all of
the same depth as the pieces a, but a little wider in the horizontal flange;
there are also other angle irons and b, which are of the same section, and
arched up slightly in the centre to admit of a tye rod passing under them.
c, c', are diagonals. The axle d passes between the two transverse angle
irons and 5, which are slightly curved in plan, as is shewn by Figure 1, to
give the necessary space for the locking of the axle; e is a fork, which drops

page_text: over the axle, and the pin d' on the axle passes through a hole in the fork c
underneath the axle; the pin f is passed through the two prongs of the fork,
and also through the angle irons b' and . By this arrangement the axle is left
free to move either vertically or horizontally within the limits of the openings
in the side frames; it moves vertically around the pin f and horizontally
around the pin d. On the side frames at one end of the carriage, racks
g, g, are fixed, and on the engine. which is intended to work in connection
with the carriage, an axis h is mounted, and this axis carries two pinions
suitable to gear into the racks g. 9. To connect the carriage and the engine
for work, the engine is lifted off its fore carriage, and the end of the winding
carriage is brought under the forepart of the engine, so that the pinions on
the axis h gear with the racks g, g, and then by means of a crank handle the
nxis his turned until the end of the carriage comes against the fire-box of
the engine; the two are then secured together by screw bolts, the fire-box of
the engine being furnished with lugs for the purpose.
At the forepart of the carriago is an axis i, carried by short standards
springing from the side frames; this axis carries fast and loose pullies i',,
and is driven by a belt passing from the fly wheel of the engine to the fast
pulley and i' are two bevilled pinions, mounted on the axis i in such a
manner that they can revolve freely thereon, but either one or the other of
these pinions can be made to revolve with the axis by causing it to engage
with the clutch k, which is capable of sliding longitudinally on the axis, but
not of revolving independently of it. The clutch k is actuated by a bell crank
lever and a rod proceeding to the platform of the engine. In this manner
the power of the engine is communicated so as to drive in one or other direc-
tion the bevilled wheel 7, the axis of which is supported at its upper end in a
bearing carried by the transverse frame 63, and at its lower end in a step
carried by the longitudinal plank m attached to the sido frames by angle-iron
brackets n. is a pinion on the same axis as the bevilled wheel, and
driving a toothed wheel o, fixed on the top of the upright winding drum.or
barrel o' the axis of this drum is carried at its upper end by a bearing
bolted to the transverso frame 2, and at its lower end in a step carried by
the plank m. At p is another toothed wheel, mounted on the drum p', cor-
responding in all respects with the drum o'; and the wheels o and p aro geared
together by the intermediate pinion 7, of which the axis is carried at its
upper end by a bearing fixed to the tie bar r, bolted at its ends to the
transverse frames and b². Figure 4 is a side view and Figure 5 is a plan of
the drums o' and p', shown separately, and indicating clearly the manner in
which the endless bauling rope s is passed round them, and also shewing two
P

page_text: small pulleys which press the rope against the drums, and keep it in its
proper position as it passes on to and from the drums. t is a belt fork to
shift the driving belt on the pulleys and . This fork is worked by a rod
passing to the platform of the engine, which is not shown in the Drawing.
In order to move the engine and the winding carriage forward as the work
progresses the drum u is employed. This drum is mounted on an axis, which
is supported at its lower end, only its bearing is bolted to one of the side
frames. The drum is driven by a pinion keyed on the axis i, and taking into
a toothed wheel capable of being clutched on to the intermediate axis v. The
clutch is worked by a bell crank lever and rod, which, to avoid complication in
the Drawing, are not shewn. On the axis a screw is formed, which
takes into screw teeth on the edge of the lower flange of the drum u. The
rope w is attached at one end to this drum, passes round a pulley anchored
ahead, and is fixed at its other end to the forepart of the carriage. Tho
carriage and engine when combined are steered by means of a handle applied
at the end of the axis x, which a worm and worm wheel, as shown, gives
motion to a pulley y, mounted as the Drawing indicates, and having fixed
to it the rope z, passing in both directions to the axle, near the two ends of
which it is attached, so that the partial rotation of the pulley y in one or other
direction places the axle at an angle to the frame, and causes a corresponding
change in the direction in which the apparatus travels. A is a drum, on which
the hauling rope is wound when out of use; it is turned by means of a crank
handle applied to its axis. B, B, are standards which carry the drum A; they
are mounted on small flanged wheels c, c, running on the edges of the side
frames of the carriage. This arrangement is made in order to allow of the
weight being altered in position to balance the carriage when it is detached
from the engine. The standards of the drum A can be secured to the side
frames of the carriage by bolts passing through holes formed in the top
flange of the frame. When the engine and carriage are disconnected, the
side rods for actuating the clutches are removed, and wooden wedges aro
driven in over the axle and between it and the side frames to prevent it falling
from side to side, as it otherwise would do.. We will now proceed to describe
the apparatus which we attach to the plough or other tilling implement to
take up the slack of the wire rope or drawing tackle. a, a, represent the
two side beams of a piough such as is shown and described in the Speci-
fications of former Patents granted to us, and such as we commonly use, or it
may represent the frame of some other agricultural implement arranged to
travel in both directions. 6 and are two drums mounted on axes carried
by the frame, on each of which a considerable length, say, 50 yards, more or

page_text: less, of the hauling rope is wound. On the flanges of these drums teeth are
formed, which gear into the teeth of the pinions c, c, c', c', on the axes d and d'.
At one end of each of these axes handles c, e', are applied, by turning one of
which, according to the direction in which the plough or implement is travel-
ling, the slack of the return rope is taken up. f.f, are ratchets with clicks
for retaining the axes d, d', and preventing the rope again running off the
drums band b. The hauling rope on the headland opposite to that on which the
winding carriage and engine traverse passes round a pulley mounted on an
anchor carriago similar to that described in the Specifications of former Patents
granted to us, and such as is now well understood. We would remark that the
hauling rope being fixed at its two ends to the drums band, which while
the plough or implement is in motion are stationary, is practically endless, and
in this Specification we have so spoken of it, and by using a hauling rope
thus practically endless the wear of the return rope is greatly diminished by
its being kept tight, and to a great extent off the land, at the same time the
difficulty and inconvenience arising from winding the hauling rope on to and
off drums is avoided. This arrangement also enables us to place a second
implement on the return rope, which is a great advantage when working with
light implements; as, for example, when working with a scarifier, we can put
a harrow on the return rope, so as to traverse backwards and forwards imme-
diately behind the scarifier.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the exact details described; but what we claim is, the combina-
tion of upright winding drums or barrels with an endless hauling rope, and
also the so arranging the apparatus that the hauling rope may take one or
more turns round both of the two upright barrels or drums, as herein described.
We also claim the attaching to the plough or implement an apparatus for
taking up the slack, of the wire rope or drawing tackle, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fowler, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
JOHN FOWLER, JUNK. (L.B.)