IMPROVEMENTS IN CULTIVATING LAND AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Higgins, of Marchwood Park, in the County
of Southampton, Land Steward, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Sealed the 17th September 1867, and dated the 25th March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Higgins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
March 1867.
I, ROBERT HIGGINS, of Marchwood Park, in the County of Southampton,
Land Steward, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CULTIVATING LAND AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar mode of combining together. various
implements, actuated: by steam or other power, on what is known as the
"roundabout system," either for the sole purpose of preparing land for the
subsequent reception of seeds or for depositing seeds therein at the time of
such preparation, whereby, I am enabled to operate successfully upon a wider
track than: heretofore and to turn the implements with faeility at the end of
each course.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I propose to combine or couple together the
various implements required to be employed at one operation, each implement
being complete in itself and capable of separate use if required. The whole
of the combined implements are connected to one draught rope to be hauled
by steam or other power on the "roundabout system." The draught of the
slack rope upon one side of the leading or principal machine of the series is
counteracted by coupling the succeeding machines to the opposite side of the
line of draught; this coupling is effected by providing the rear end of the
leading or principal machine with one or more draught bars, according to
the number of other implements to be coupled therewith. The coupling or
couplings of each implement are free to run or slide along their own draught
bars, so that on turning the conbned implements they will each adjust
themselves to their proper positions to suit the reversed position of the slack
rope, stops being in some cases provided on the draught bars to limit such
sliding or adjustment of the couplings. For spring or summer cultivation in
dry weather I propose to combine together in the manner above described a
drag, drill, harrow, seed machine, and land roller, all of which may be made
wider than has hitherto been found practicable in steam cultivation. If
required for autumn cultivation a drag, drill, and harrow may be combined
and worked together, and other combinations may be employed according to
the operations to be performed, but in all cases it is essential that the drag of
the slack rope shall be compensated in the manner herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Higgins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HIGGINS, of Marchwood Park, in the County of Southampton, Land Steward,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Higgins, Her special license that I, the said Robert Higgins,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Higgins, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 CULTIVATING
LAND AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Higgins, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Robert Higgins, 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,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar mode of combining together various
implements actuated by steam or other power on what is known as the
"roundabout system" either for the sole purpose of preparing land for the
subsequent reception of seeds or for depositing seeds therein at the time of
such preparation, whereby I am enabled to operate successfully upon a wider
track than heretofore and to turn the implements with facility at the end of
each course.
In carrying out my Invention I propose to combine or couple together the
various implements required to be employed at one operation, each implement
being complete in itself and capable of separate use if required. The whole
of the combined implements are connected to one draught rope to be hauled
by steam or other power on the "roundabont system." The draught of the
slack rope upon one side of the leading or principal machine of the series is
conteracted by coupling the succeeding machines to the opposite side of the
line of draught; this coupling is effected by providing the rear end of the
leading or priucipal machine with one or more draught bars according to the
number of other implements to be coupled therewith. The coupling or
couplings of each implement are free to run or slide along their own draught
bars, so that on turning the combined implements they will each adjust
themselves to their proper positions to suit the reversed position of the slack
rope, stops being in some cases provided on the draught bars to limit such
sliding or adjustment of the couplings. For spring or summer cultivation
in dry weather I propose to combine together in the manner above described

page_text: a drag, drill, harrow, seed machine, and land roller, all of which may be
made wider than has hitherto been found practicable in steam cultivation.
If required for autumn cultivation a drag, drill, and harrow may be combined
and worked together, and other combinations may be employed according to
the operations to be performed, but in all cases it is essential that the drag
of the slack rope shall be compensated in the manner herein-before described.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall
refer to the Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of
reference indicating corresponding parts in both the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a complete side elevation of a com-
pound apparatus or implement combined and arranged according to my said
Invention, and Figure 2 is a corresponding plan of the same.
In the example given I have represented as combined, so as to operate
simultaneously upon the soil, a drill or primary implement A, a drag or
scarifier B, a harrow C, and a grass seed machine and land roller D, such a
combination being adapted for spring cultivation. By using different com-
binations of implements I am enabled to perform the various tillages of the
farm, both light and heavy, separate or in conjunction with each other,
according to the requirements of the different seasons, that is, to scarify, drag,
harrow, drill the corn or seeds, roll, clod crush, and sow the grass seeds, as
shown in my Drawings. In performing these operations I use various series
of implements propelled by steam or other power, such implements being
connected yet capable of being readily disconnected and worked separately by
animal power..
In carrying out my Invention I use a principal or primary implement A,
in the front of which is placed a frame a, the fore part mounted by preference
on two wheels b, b, which may be used as the steerage power. The hinder
part of the frame a is attached to the principal implement. In the front part
of this frame a I attach a drag or scarifier B for cultivating the ground or
reducing it to a proper tilth when required. Either of the following implements
as required may be used as the primary implement A, videlicet, corn and turnip
drills, clod crushers, land rollers, broadcast sowing machines, manure
distributors, or others. The hauling power is applied to the front of the frame a
by preference through a steel rope c worked on the roundabout system, the
slack or drag rope c¹ being carried on alternate sides of the principal implement
or frame as it passes to and fro over the land under cultivation. At the
back part of this implement A I place one or more slide bars d, d', of any
convenient shape or length, to which I attach the various implements I propose

page_text: to follow or be drawn and used in performing the several operations required
by a chain, rod, or rope e, e', having a ring or other convenient coupling f, f¹,
at one end encircling or being otherwise connected with such bars, these
couplings being self-acting and moving or travelling freely along the bars
whilst turning at the end of each course so that the implements so attached
may trail or be drawn from either side alternately of the principal implement
before referred to, thus facilitating the turning of the whole, preventing their
obliterating the track of the principal implement, and counteracting the power
required to pull out the slack rope and prevent the aforesaid implement from
deviating from its centre or proper. track. The slide bar or bars d, d³, may
have holes through it or them for inserting a pin, pins, or other stops at any
distance along them in order to limit the travel of the ring or coupling
encircling the bars; the bars d, d, may also be attached to cultivators to
act in the same manner as before described.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
out, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the coupling together of two or more
distinct implements by the aid of transverse slide bars and rings, chains, or
their equivalents so disposed as to allow the coupling or couplings to shift
from side to side of one or more implements when turning, substantially
as and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Higgins, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
ROBERT HIGGINS. (LS.)