IMPROVEMENTS INHORSE HOES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Augustus Munn, of Throwley House, near
Feversham. in the County of Kent, late a Major in the East Kent
Regiment of Militia a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Augustus Munn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th October 1858.
I, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUNN, of Throwley House, near Feversham, in the
County of Kent. (late a Major in the East Kent Regiment of Militia,) a
Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for the said County of Kent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSE
HOES," to be as follows:-
The object of the said Invention is the more effectual thinning of the young
growing crops and the cleansing them from caterpillars and other insects, and
destroying such insects, and consists in the construction of an apparatus
The said
berein-after described. and combining the same with a horse hoc.
apparatus consists of two or more (according to the breadth of the horse hoe)
horizontal rotating shafts or spindles parallel to each other and reaching in
the direction the hoc is drawn, from the axis of the draught wheels (to which
they are geared by hevel wheels and pinions) to bearings attached to the
framework near the guide wheel. The shafts or spindles work in bearings
fixed to the framework of the horse hoc just in front of the pinions, and in
front of these last-named bearings the shafts or spindles are made with a
Price 8d.1

page_text: universal joint. The shafts or spindles can, if necessary, be also supported by
other suitable bearings attached to the framework of the horse hoc. The
bearings which are in front of the universal joints are in the form of per-
pendicular slits, so as to admit of the fore ends of the shafts or spindles being
raised, or any other construction of bearing suitable for this purpose may be
used. A cord or chain is attached to a collar on the fore end of each shaft or
spindle which passes over a pulley fixed on the framework of the horse hoe,
above the fore ends of the shafts or spindles, and leads to the handles at the
back of the horse hoe, by means of which the fore ends of the shafts or
spindles can be raised. A weight is attached to the collars on the fore ends
of the shafts or spindles, by means of which upon the cords or chains being
let go the shafts or spindles are brought down to and retained in a horizontal
position. Between the front bearings of the shafts or spindles and the
universal joints, knives or brushes, or both together, are fixed to the shafts or
spindles the knives and brushes can be removed at pleasure, and one or both
used as occasion requires. Rollers which can be removed at pleasure are
fixed to the horse hoe behind the hoes: these press upon the earth between
the rows of plants left by the hoes.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The horse hoe being drawn
forward, the shafts or spindles carrying the knives and brushes are made to
revolve, the latter passing over the young growing crops brush off the insects
that may be upon them into the fallow space between the rows, and when the
knives are used the crops are cut up and thinned; the hoes follow and raise
the ground, and lastly the rollers crush the insects and bury them in the
ground. By raising the fore ends of the shafts or spindles by means of the
cords or chains the thinning and cleansing operations can be at any time
stopped, and the hoeing alone continued. By slacking the cords or chains
the weights will bring the shafts or spindles into a horizontal position, and the
thinning and cleansing will be then resumed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 3
by the said William Augustus Munn in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
AUGUSTUS MUNN, of Throwley House, near Feversham, in the County of Kent,
late a Major in the East Kent Regiment of Militia, a Deputy Lieutenant and 3
Justice of the Peace for the said County of Kent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, hearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Augustus Munn, Her special licence that I, the said
William Augustus Munn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Augustus Munn, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSE HOES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Augustus Munn, 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 William Augustus Munn, 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 Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention consists of an apparatus for thinning young growing crops
by means of rotary knives, cleansing them from insects, and destroying such
insects by means of rotary brushes and rollers, combined with an ordinary
horse hoe, and which admits of the said several processes of thinning, cleansing,
and ordinary hoeing being carried on simultaneously or separately. The Inven
tion is particularly applicable to turnip cultivation.
Figure is a plan view of a horse hoe with my apparatus attached;
Figure 2 is a side view; and Figure 3 is an end view, shewing part of the
same. These Figures shew the various parts of the machine arranged in the
way I find to be most convenient.
In Figures and 2, A, A, is a frame, to which are attached the hoes
B, B, B, B, B; C, C, are the guide handles; D, D, bars to which the
hoes B, B, B, B, B, are attached, by couplings or clamps, and screws in the
usual way; E, E, are rods or bars which connect the frame A, A, with the
frame F, F, F, F, which carries the thinning and cleaning apparatus. There
are holes or eyes in the ends of the rods, E, E, which hook on to the hooks

page_text: 1, 1, fixed to the frame F, F. F. F: H, H, are the driving wheels. which are
connected by a continuous axle I, I, working in bearings J. J. in the frame
F, F, F, F. A spur wheel L is fixed to the axle of the driving wheels, and
works into and turns the pinion M. The axle or spindle N of the pinion is
supported by bearings O, O, attached to the frame F, F, F, F; P, P, are
bevel wheels fitted thereon in the positions P. P. The driving wheel next to
the spur wheel is fixed to the axle I. I, the other driving wheel runs loose
upon it. The bevel wheels P. P, revolve with the axle or spindle N. and
cause the bevel wheels Q. Q. to which they are geared. to revolve in opposite
directions the bevel wheels Q. Q. are attached to spindles V. V. which work
in bearings fixed to a cross bar of the frame F. F. F. F. At the opposite
ends of the spindles V, V, there are universal joints T, T. which communicate
motion to the spindles U, U: the other ends of the spindles U. U. work in and
are supported by bearings on a bar d. d: Wooden cylinders W. W, are fixed
on the spindles U. U, and to these are attached brushes X. X. X, X, made of
bass and cocoa fibre, or other similar material; or instead of brushes flaps of
leather or cloth may be used (in Figure 1 of the cylinders, V, V, is shewn
with the brushes fixed to it, and the other without). On the spindles U, U.
are also fixed short cylinders Y, Y, to which the knives Z, Z, Z, Z, of the
form shewn in the Drawing are fixed by screws, which hold them in sockets
in the cylinders Y, Y. To avoid confusion, only two knives are shewn in the
Drawing as fixed to each of the cylinders Y. Y; the number of knives will
depend on the extent to which it is desired to thin the plants, the more knives
used, the more the plants will be thinned. In the Drawings sockets are shewn
for four knives in cach cylinder, but the cylinders may be made with sockets
for six or eight knives; I find six knives on each cylinder, where the driving
wheels, spur wheel, and pinion are of the relative sizes shewn in the Drawing,
a convenient number for the degree of thinning usually required. Two bars
a, a, are fixed to the back of the frame F, F, F, F, with bearings at their
lower ends for the axle of the rollers b, b, to work in.
bars a, a, bars c and c are fixed, forming slots for the bar d, d, to work in.
There are shoulders on the bar d, d, on the inside of the slots.
chains e and e are attached to each end of the bar d, d, and passing up through
small rollers or pulleys f, f, fixed to the frame F, F, F, F, are fastened to the
levers and g on the guide handles. The levers g and g can be depressed by
the handles h and h; i and i are chains connecting the axis of the rollers b, b,
or the bars a, a, with the frame A, A; k, k, are the shafts; m, m, m, m, are
the rows of plants to be acted on.
On the back of the
Cords or
Figure 3 is a view of the hinder end of the machine without the frame A, A,

page_text: To avoid confusion, in this Figure the brushes are not shewn, but the dotted
In this
circles show the circles described by the brushes when in motion.
Figure, one of the spindles carrying the knives and brushes is represented as
raised, which is done when it is required to arrest the operation of thinning
and cleaning. The letters on Figure 3 correspond with those on the other
Figures.
The
On the whole machine being put together and drawn forward in the
direction C, C, k, k, motion is communicated by one of the driving wheels to
the axle or spindle N by means of the spur wheel and pinion. The bevel
wheels P, P. are by these means set in motion, and they cause the bevel
wheels Q. Q. and consequently the spindles V, V, and U, U, together with the
brushes or flappers and knives. to revolve. The length of the brushes or
flappers must be such, that they just sweep over the rows of turnips, or other
plants, and brush or flap off the insects upon them towards the centre of the
machine, so that they may fall between the rows of turnips or other plants.
By the rotation of the spindle U, U, the knives also rotate and cut into the
rows of turnips or other plants at intervals, so as to thin them, and the insects
being brushed or flapped from the plants and cast upon the fallow ground
between the rows, they are crushed by the rollers b, b, which follow.
hoes B, B, B, B, B, which follow the rollers hoe the ground in the usual way,
and are useful also in burying the insects. The universal joints T, T, allow of
the hinder end of the spindles U, U, being raised. When it is desired to
arrest the thinning and brushing or flapping of one or both of the rows of
plants, the person guiding the hoe by the guide handles C, C, pulls one or
both of the handles and towards him; these depress the levers g and g.
which pull the cords or chains e and e. By these means one or both ends of
the bar d, d, are raised, and the hinder ends of the spindle U, U, are thereby
also raised. The axle N of the pinion M is squared outside the frame F, F, F, F,
and the pinion slides upon the squared part, so that it can be thrown out
of gear with the spur wheel; a screw retains it in its place, either in or out
of gear, as required. When it is desired to stop the hoeing, thinning, and
brushing for a short time, as in turning, the person guiding the hoc raises the
guide handles, at the same time depressing the levers g, g, by the handles h, h;
the hoes are thus lifted out of the ground, the knives and brushes raised clear
of the plants, and the rollers b, b, also lifted up by the chains. When travelling
along a road, the frame A, A, may be unhooked from the frame F, F, F, F,
and placed on the top of the latter, the chains i, i, being unhooked from the
axle of the rollers b, b, and the cords or chains e, e, being detached from the
levers g, g, the cords e, e, are then pulled up and fastened to the frame F, F,

page_text: F, F. The brushes or flappers may be fixed on the cylinders U. U, in lines
running directly the lengthways of the cylinders: or if brushes are used,
they may be fixed in lines winding round the cylinders, as shewn in the
Drawings; I prefer the latter mode. Four brushes are shewn in the Drawings
on each cylinder, which number I prefer.
If it be desired to clean the plants without thinning them, the knives can
be removed from their sockets in the small cylinders by taking out the pins
of the universal joints, the spindles U, U, with the knives and brushes can be
entirely removed. This may be desirable when it is wished only to hoe the
plants, or to adjust or repair the brushes or flappers.
I do not claim under the above mentioned Letters Patent the use of
rotating knives as original; but I claim as original the use of rotating brushes
and flappers for cleaning the insects off plants; and I claim the combination
of the said rotating flappers and brushes with rotating knives, and also with
ordinary horse hoes.
And I also claim as original the use of rollers combined with brushes for
crushing or burying the insects as above described.
And I also claim the use of universal joints for enabling the spindles
carrying the knives and brushes to be raised, and the mode of raising them,
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Augustus Munn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
W. AUGUSTUS MUNN. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above-
named William Augustus Munn, in the
presence of
W. AUGUSTUS MUNN. (L..s.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above-
named William Augustus Munn, in the
presence of
GEORGE CHAPMAN,
24, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London,
Solicitor.