DIGGING THE EARTH
Year: 1886

page_text: J, RICHARD POMPILJ, proprietor, of Perugia in the province of Umbria, Kingdom
of Italy, do hereby declare, that the nature of my invention for DIGGING THE
EARTH, and in what manner the same is to be performed is particularly described
and ascertained in the following statement:-
The Digging Machine invented by me, has for its object the working up the
earth for tilling, obtaining useful work, equal to that ordinarely obtained by a man
working with a spade.
This consists of a cart-body with two sides in iron sheeting having three wheels,
one in front and two behind which serve to substain and move the machine and even
to effect its movement. Also of an iron beater, which serves to level the ground
before the spades are brought to bear thereons; of knives or shares that, penetrating
the earth to the depth of the digging, divide the ground in as many strips as there
are spades; of a horizontal bar fastened to the sides of the cart, on which the
knives are fixed. Of two fly-wheels one of which may also be done away with
sufficing to supply its place with a simple lever.
In using steam of motive power, one of the fly-wheels should have a cogging to
its periphery, with this cog combine the links of a continuous chain which is set in
motion by an ordinary agricoltural locomotive engine and disposed in circuit as in
the ordinary apparatus for steam coltivation; it is maintained as a tangent to the
fly-wheel upon wich it ought to act, owing to three little columns for the purpose
furnished with guides. The fly-wheel works round a horizontal shaft sustained by
strong supports springing from the side of the cart. A cylindrical axle is pinned
horizontally with its extremities in the two Hy-wheels and passing trought in its
turn the rings which the handles of spades are furnished with at their head, serves
to hold and guide them in their advance and return movement. Next come the
cylindrical bandles of the spades fixed as we have said to the axle in such a way
however that they may gyrate around their centre, these run into proper guides or
grooves which are joined by a rim to a cylindrical bar horizontally kept at the
required height by proper supports, these can gyrate around the axle of the
said bar.
In the shafts or handles of the spades, at a calculated distance from their heads,
stichs up laterally a riser or pin which when it meets its respective cavity, falls in,
and runs along its groove with a spiral fixed in the inner surface and thus both
in the upward and downward movement.

page_text: most convenient for cutting, raising, breaking up, and turning over the earth which
they take up from the ground on which they act. Last comes a reel which is fixed
to the axle of the machine and has a fitting diameter so that the cog which is set
in the inner part of the fly-wheel on which the chain works, may at every
revolution cog in with the said reel. Moreover the cogging of the reel is of such
size that by the displaing of one of the teeth, the axle of the wheels communicates
to the latter a progressive movement which permits them to pass over a tract of a
ground precisely such as is required for the new digging.
Finally there is a spindle of iron, which penetrating into two corresponding
holes, one of them bored into the shaft of the fly-wheel, the other at the top of
the respective support, serves to maintain the machinery in an inactive position
hindering any movement whatever, while that of the wheels remains unimpeded.
In case of horse power being used, or even steam, when it may be considered
more convenient that the wheels should transmit their movement to the shaft of
the fly-wheel, the chain and its respective supports can be done away with also the
pin of the fly-wheel and the reel of the axletree of the cart which corresponds
thereto; and in their place is fixed laterally such a cogging between the axle of the
fly-wheel protraded beyond its support and the axle of the wheels, which on
performing a rotation, the fly-wheel instead performs that number which may be
necessary for the spades to act with successive and regular digs the space of ground
over which the machine moves. The movements that they ought to complete,
sometimes contemporaneously, and sometimes succesively, the different part of the
machinery are five in number; each one constitutes in itself, a secondary problem,
the solution of. which must concur in preparing the complexe of the main problem,
which ams at obtaining from these movements a result which corresponds to
the intent proposed viz: to dig the ground as a man does with his arms. The
movements referred to are the following:
I. Downward movement of the spade to reach the earth and fittingly
penetrate it.
II. Upward movement and rotatory from underneath by the spade, that the
earth be raised.
III. Sidewise rotatory movement of the spade around the shaft of his handle
to turn over the spadefull.
IV. Rotatory movement of the spade (both vertically, and laterally) the reverse
of that effected to raise and turn over the spadeful, in order to replace it in
working. position again.
V. Progressive movement of the machine to furnish a new piece of ground precisely
equal to that which is required for the new digging. Such movements, wheter effected
by the motive power of steam, or by horse power, should be completed in a com-
paratively brief space of time viz: in the time which the fly-wheel performs a
single revolution around its axle; this time moreover must be sufficient for the
machine to complete its work in uniform and precise manner. And now having
to discuss the movement, we will consider starting point in which the spade touch
the ground to be digged.
The rotatory movement imparted to the fly-wheel, however originated, is
communicated by means of shaft to the handles of spades, thus effecting con-
temporaneously a double movement viz: an up and down movement by which the
spades penetrate the earth and raise it, and a rotatory movement around the
grooved pin, by which they detach and raise the spadeful.
The downward movement lasts until the handle of spades has passed over the
semi-circunference above to the plane passing by the axles of rotation of the fly-
wheel and of the grooved pin; when it passes over the semi-circunference below,
the movement becomes upward. Mereover such rotation becomes greatest after
the spades have properly penetrated the earth viz: in the last instants of downward
movement and the first of the upward one.

page_text: During the commencement of the last named movement, the tips of the suas
of the spades reach the portion symmetrical to that which they had an istant
previous to the spades entering the earth, considering as a symmetrical plane that
passing by the axle of rotation of the fly-wheel and of the groove, then a cog or
fitted pin fixed laterally in each of the shafts of the spades and at a proper distance
from the tip of the same, enters into its respective spiral groove worked in the
inner sides of the corresponding groove, and guided by it, it forces the sheft of the
spade without interrupting the upward movement, to make about half a turn, to
one side, and thus the spadeful overturning has to fall into its place.
This done, the handle of the spade follows up its movement until its head meets
with the symmetrical plane before mentioned; passing this, it recommences the
down-ward movement and the riser or pin of the spade shaft by such movement
repasses in a reverse direction by the groove of the channel that it had already
passed through in its upward movement and thus it reconducts the handle of the
spades to its original position; so that when it issues from the groove, the spade
has ouce more assumed its working position and the point is brought down in
contact with the ground; and so the machine would have completed his entire
work.
After which all the various phases of this movement are periodically repeated
until it is wished to stop it, fixing the machinery by means of the spindle of which
mention has already been made and cutting of communication with the motivo
power.
It now remains to describe the progressive movement of the machine. In order
to do this with a sufficient order et clearness, we must distinguish between the
cases in which the steam is adopted as motive power, and those in which animal
power is used.
In the former case the movement may be trasmitted from the fly-wheel to the
wheels of the machine as in the drawings annexed.
Then the motive power of the engine is trasmitted to the fly-wheel by means
of a chain. An istant later the shaft of each spade, following the movement of
the fly-wheel, is forced to perform laterally about a semi circunference, guided by
its own cog which runs in the spiral groove of the channel, so that the spadeful
falls into the proper place, a cog properly eleated on to the fly-wheel at a distance
carefully calculated from the axle of the shaft bearing the spades, cogs into a reel
fixed on the axletree of the wheels of the machine and moves it cog forward at
every meeting. Displacing the reel also the wheels are displaced and so the
machine moves on to the portion of ground which the wheels themselves gain in
such movement.
Disposing matters in such a way that the reel should have as many cogs as digs
are necessary in order to work the ground over which the wheels pass, in one
circcunference, we shall find that at every meeting of the cog of the fly-wheel, with
the reel of the axletree of the wheels corresponding thereto, the machine will move
forward precisely so much as to furnish the machine with fresh ground to work
upon.
In the latter case it is preferable that the wheels of the machine in the pro-
gressive movement communicated by horse power by means of hitching apparatus
fixed in front, should set in motion the flywheels. It is then necessary to do
away with the cogging between the flywheel and the chain, as it existed in the
preceding case, and that between the fly wheel and the reel fixed on the axletree,
now rendered useless. In their stead we must arrange such a series of cogs
between the shaft of each fly-wheel which is plouged laterally and the axletree of
the machine, so that for every turn of the wheels, the fly wheel performs the same
gyration as many times as may be necessary for the machine to consume with
successive and regular digs, the space of ground which by such movement the
machine passes over.
For exemple: Granting that the wheels of the machine are M 0,637 in diameter,
for every turn they take, they will pass over a space of ground of about 2 metres;

page_text: and in order that the machine may work this piece, digs in succession are
required of the ordinary depth of M 27 for each; so that in conclusion, in such
a case, for every turn of the wheels of the machine, the flywheel must make
8 gyrations around its own axle of rotation. And this is readily obtained by
applying as above described the mathematical theory of cogs.
I will now indicate the reasons for which, without abandoning my rights of
inventorship to the second system, I have preferred the former for reproduction in
the drawings annexed. By the first method we get a complex movement, which
most resembles those performed by a labourer in handling his spade, and therefore
the work is turned out more regularly and wit greater nicety, and I might almost
say more profitably. The machine at every dig which as described above raises
and turns over the spadeful, makes as it were a step in advance, and then stops,
allowing the machinery time and opportunity for performing its work. It wil not
be quick work, I admit, as such is not the nature of spade work to be, but an the
other hand it will be a fine and useful thing to see this little machine which
imitates with scroupulous nicety the movement of the labourer
And to complete my specification it may useful to declare that it is superfluous
that there should be two fly-wheels for each machine; especially where steam is
used in motive power; a single fly wheel is sufficient; namely that on which the
chain works; the other may be surrogated by a simple lever.
So also the number of the spades that work in each machine is not fixed, but
in proportion of the dimensions of the machine, and fly wheel and to the stability
lightness and moveableness that are requisite in all agricultural machine. In
order to turn the machine round when it reaches the end of the dug-up ground,
these may be adapted, having obtained the necessary licence to do so, any of the
gear used by various manufacturers of agricultural machinery, such gear being very
frequently made of various forms, I do not attempt to improve upon or imitate for
fear of infringing existing rights. Finally it is well to point out that the chain
should move in a contrary direction to that in which the machine moves and in
case that should not be found praticable, then it ought to be kept at a tangent to
the fly wheel and below rather then above.
The dimensions, however, of the whole of the machinery may be varied according
to the resisting force of the metals employed, and according to the lands that are
to be cultivated, and wishes of the makers.
Having therefore particularly described and pointed out the nature of this my
invention and the method in which the same is to be made, I declare that I hereby
claim protection for the following:
"I. The whole of the machinery and his movement, constituting a Digging
"Machine to be worked either by steam or horse power, as described in the
drawings and qualifications annexed."
"
"II. Each separate and particular part of the said machinery, none excepted,
" in so far as they may be applied severally or together to a digging machine.
"The forms and fonctions of the said parts having to be inferred from the
descriptions et drawings annexed.
"
Given under my hand this second day of March at Perugia in the year eighteen-
hundred and eighty six