AN IMPROVED HAND-HOE
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
HAND-HOE." A communication from abroad by Robert Leander Turner, of
Hartland Township, in the County of Huron, State of Ohio, United States of
America
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th April 1880.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent
"AN IMPROVED HAND-HOE." [A communication from abroad by
Robert Leander Turner, of Hartland Township, in the County of Huron, State of
Ohio, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to an improved hand hoe of that form in which a short
handle carries a bent blade adapted to universal use in cutting away grass or
manipulating the soil about plants, and it consists in the peculiar form of the blade
which is constructed of a main body portion, setting off to one side of the
longitudinal axis of the handle in a parallel plane therewith, and a curved or
upturned end portion, which as well as the main portion, is sharp upon both edges.
The hoe is fastened in a short handle by a tang in the usual way. This tang or
shank as it leaves the handle is bent to one side, so that the main portion of the
blade is offset from the line of the longitudinal axis of the handle in a plane
parallel therewith. At the point this blade bends upwardly towards the axial line
of the handle again, and then continues in a more or less straight line to form an
oblique working end.
The Invention does not consist broadly in the offsetting parallel blade, as this is
a common feature in trowels; but when this offsetting parallel blade is turned up
at the end, an implement capable of new and varied use is produced; for the
parallel blade may not only be used for cutting, scraping, smoothing, and packing
the earth about the plants without soiling the knuckles, but in raking dirt to the
plant, the offsetting blade and upturned end cooperate, in that the sharp edge of
the blade cuts into the ground and guides the movement of the bent end in
drawing the dirt to the plant, preventing at the same time the earth from turning
out underneath the blade upon the opposite side of the same from the plant.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 26th
October 1880.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "AN IMPROVED HAND-HOE." A communication from
abroad by Robert Leander Turner, of Hartland Township, in the County of Huron,
State of Ohio, United States of America.
This Invention relates to an improved hand-hoc of that form in which a short
handle carries a bent blade adapted to universal use in the cutting away of grass or
manipulating the soil about plants, and it consists in the peculiar form of the blade
which is constructed of a main body portion, setting off to one side of the
longitudinal axis of the handle in a parallel plane therewith, and a curved or
upturned end portion, which, as well as the main portion, is sharp upon both edges.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the implement,
and Figure 2, an edge view of the blado. A, B, C, represent the blade of the
improved hoe fastened in a short handle by a tang in the usual way. This tang or
shank as it leaves the handle is bent to one side, so that the main portion A of the
blade is offset from the line of the longitudinal axis of the handle, in a plane
parallel therewith. At the point B this blade bends upwardly towards the axial
line of the handle again, and then continues in a more or less straight line to form
an oblique working end C.
I am aware that a similar implement has been already patented, but it differs
radically from this Invention in that the main portion of the blade is not offset
from the longitudinal axis of the handle in parallel position therewith. Moreover
the Invention does not consist broadly in the offsetting parallel blade, as this is a
common feature in trowels, but when this offsetting parallel blade is turned up at
the end as shown, an implement capable of new and varied use is produced, which
may not only be used for cutting, scraping, smoothing, and packing the earth about,
the plants without soiling the knuckles; but in raking dirt to the plant the
offsetting blade and upturned end cooperate, in that the sharp edge of the blade
cuts into the ground, and guides the movement of the bent end in drawing the dirt
to the plant, preventing at the same time the earth from turning out underneath
the blade upon the opposite side of the same from the plant.
The Invention described may also be applied to ploughs, cultivators, and other
earth pulverizers.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The hand-hoe, having the main portion of its blade offset from the longi-
tudinal axis of the handle in a plane parallel therewith, and its end turned up at
B, C, substantially as shown and described.
'
2nd. The within described Invention applied to ploughs, cultivators, and other
implements for pulverizing the soil.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty third day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and night