IMPROVEMENTS IN IM- PLEMENTS FOR CULTIVATING LAND
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Rickett, of the Castle Foundry, in the
County of Buckinghan, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN IM-
PLEMENTS FOR CULTIVATING LAND."
Sealed the 6th October 1857, and dated the 1st August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Ricketts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
August 1857.
I, THOMAS RICKETT, of the Castle Foundry, in the County of Buckingham,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN IM-
PLEMENTS FOR CULTIVATING LAND," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in implements for cultivating
land. It has before been proposed to construct implements for cultivating
or turning over land so as to act on the land by means of tines set round
a cylinder or rotating axis, and I mention this fact in order to state that
although my improvements apply to the construction of implements having
tines set round a rotatory axis, such tines by reason of their peculiar form and
direction of the rotation of their axis, are made to act more advantageously
than heretofore.
The frame of the implement runs on two or more wheels, and the rotating
axis, on which the tines are set when moving over the land, comes only a
small distance above the surface of the land. The implement is arranged to

page_text: be moved by a locomotive steam engine or other power. The tines of the
implement are all similar to each other in form, and are set one after the
other around the axis or shaft in such manner as to cut or enter into the land
in succession. The cutters or tines are each made a few inches wide, and it
is preferred that each boss on the axis or shaft should only have two tines
formed thereon, and that such two tines should come at opposite sides of the
axis or shaft. The tines are made of a curved form, and their axis or shaft
is caused to turn by means of the locomotive engine or other power, in such
manner that the cutting or outer end of each tine in its revolution enters
the land at a point considerably behind its axis of motion, and as the axis is
moved forward and is caused to revolve, the end or cutting edge of each tine
rises out of the surface of the land considerably in advance of the axis of
motion. The tine raises up the portion of land removed by it, and such cut
portion is then carried over the axis or shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Rickett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RICKETT, of the Castle Foundry, in the County of Buckingham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of August in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Rickett, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Rickett,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Rickett, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
IMPLEMENTS FOR CULTIVATING LAND," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Rickett, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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

page_text: 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 Rickett, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in implements for cultivating
land. It has before been proposed to construct implements for cultivating
or turning over land so as to act on the land by means of tines set round a
cylinder or rotating axis, and I mention this fact in order to state that
although my improvements apply to the construction of implements having
tines set round a rotating axis, such tines, by reason of their peculiar form
and direction of the rotation of their axis, are made to act more advantageously
than heretofore. The frame of the implement runs on two or more wheels,
and the rotating axis, on which the tines are set when moving over the land,
comes only a small distance above the surface of the land. The implement
is arranged to be moved by a locomotive steam engine or other power. The
tines of the implement are all similar to each other in form, and are set one
after the other around the axis or shaft in such manner as to cut or enter into
the land in succession. The cutters or tines are each made a few inches
wide, and it is preferred that each boss on the axis or shaft should only have
two tines formed thereon, and that such two tines should come at opposite
sides of the axis or shaft. The tines are made of a curved form, and their
axis or shaft is caused to turn by means of the locomotive engine or other
power in such manner that the cutting or outer end of each tine in its
revolution enters the land at a point considerably behind its axis of motion,
and as the axis is moved forward and is caused to revolve, the end or cutting
edge of each tine rises out of the surface of the land considerably in advance
of the axis of motion. The tine raises up the portion of land removed by it,
and such cut portion is then carried over the axis or shaft.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus as attached to a locomotive
engine; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 an end view; Figure 4 a
pair of cutters or tines, showing their action on the soil. a, a, are the several
cutters or tines set one after the other round the shaft b. The edges of the
several cutters are formed in such manner as to be inclined to the axis b, so
that in action the cutters produce a continuous spiral on each side of the axis,
high is the arrangement preferred but they may be otherwise constructed

page_text: and arranged. The shaft 6 revolves in the bearings of two radial links c, c,
having the countershaft d for their centre. The countershaft d is preferred
to be driven by a chain or other means from the engine shaft, but it may be
worked directly by the travelling wheels.
wheels. e, e, are notched pulleys or chain
wheels, fixed on either ends of the shafts 6 and d. f, f, are endless flat-linked
double chains, which pass round the notched pulleys or chain wheels e, e, and
communicate the power from the shaft d to the shaft b; 9, 9, are screws,
connected with the radial links c by short links h. These screws are worked
by bevil gear i, and are used for the purpose of raising and lowering the
cultivator shaft b. In action the shaft b of the cultivating implement is
carried over or through the land, at right angles or transverse to its axis, and
is made to revolve in a contrary direction to that in which the wheels of the
implement or engine are rolling. The tines cut from the bottom of the furrow
upwards, and by reason of their curved or concave form, are made to raise up
the soil and carry it back over the axis 6 broken up.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is the combination of
mechanism herein described, whereby the shaft or axis 6 and the cutters a, a,
are caused to revolve in the reverse direction to that of the wheels rolling
on the ground, and the cutters a, a, are made to cut from the bottom of the
furrow upwards.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Rickett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM WEST.
THOS RICKETT. (L.S.)