AN IMPROVED COMBINATION OF APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURE."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Blandford, of Sandridge, Bromham, near
Chippenham, in the County of Wilts, Farmer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED COMBINATION OF APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Blandford at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
July 1857.
I, HENRY BLANDFORD, of Sandridge, Bromham, near Chippenham, in the
County of Wilts, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED COMBINATION OF APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved combination of apparatus for distri-
buting the ordinary farm-yard manure, whereby a great saving of time and
labor is effected, combined with greater regularity as to the quantity of
manure, and whilst greater evenness of spreading is obtained.
According to this Invention it is proposed to employ an ordinary manure
distributor, which is to be mounted on lower wheels than usual, so as to
admit of its being placed behind and immediately below the, tail of a cart or
waggon with which it is combined or attached.
The manure, which may either be farm-yard manure, rough or prepared
compost, ashes, or any description of manure in a solid form, is brought into

page_text: the field in the cart or waggon, and shovelled thence into the trough of the
distributor, which is conveniently situated for that purpose, such process being
intended to supercede the usual practice of first placing the manure in
heaps in the field, and then spreading it by hand labor, or by ordinary manure
distributor.
This distributor is easily convertible into a manure and corn drill, thus
answering all the manuring requirements on a farm.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Blandford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BLANDFORD, of Sandridge Broomham, near Chippenham, in the County of
Wilts, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord Ono
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
Heury Blandford, Her special license that I, the said Henry Blandford,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Blandford, my executors, administrators, or 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 "AN IMPROVED COMBINATION OF
APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry Blandford, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Henry Blandford, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 an improved combination of apparatus for

page_text: distributing the ordinary farm-yard manure, whereby a great saving of time
and labor is effected, combined with greater regularity as to the quantity of
manure employed, whilst greater evenness of spreading is obtained.
According to this Invention it is proposed to employ any suitable manure
distributor, which is to be mounted on lower wheels than usual, so as to admit
of its being placed below and immediately behind the tail of a cart or waggon
with or to which it is combined or attached.
The manure, which may either be farm-yard manure, rough or prepared
compost, ashes, or any description of manure in a solid form, is brought into
the field in the cart or waggon, and is shovelled or drawn thence into the
trough or box of the distributor, which is conveniently situated for that pur-
pose, such process being intended to supersede the usual practice of first
placing the manure in heaps in the field and then spreading it by hand
labor.
This distributor is easily convertible into a manure and corn drill, thus
answering all the manure requirements on a farm.
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 I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed; the
same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings represents a side eleva-
tion of a manure distributor, and ordinary cart or waggon combined together
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a corresponding plan of the distri-
butor, shewing the mode of attachment to the cart axle; Figure 3 is a back
elevation of the same; Figure 4 is a transverse section, on a large scale, of
the manure trough, shewing the arrangement of agitators; and Figure 5 is
an enlarged detail plan of the agitating shaft and horizontal spikes in the
bottom of the trough.
A is the manure distributor, which is mounted on a pair of wheels B, B, of
a much smaller diameter than those usually employed for manure distributors.
This distributor when required for use is attached by means of chains, or by
short wrought-iron shafts C, C, as shown in the Drawing, to the tail or axle
D of an ordinary farm cart or waggon E; a hook F being fixed to the centre
of the axle, on to which is engaged the cross bar G of the wrought-iron
shafts C.
By this mode of attachment, and by using smaller carrying wheels than
ordinary, the distributor will be situated behind and immediately below the
tail of the cart or waggon, as shewn in the Drawing, thereby allowing the

page_text: manure to be pulled or shovelled from the cart or waggon into the trough H
of the distributor as fast as it is required to be distributed.
In order to spread the manure evenly and with regularity of supply, a
revolving agitator I (Figures 4 and 5), carrying a number of prongs or forks,
may be fitted to work inside the trough, and pass between the spaces of a
horizontal set of spikes K, forming the bottom of the trough.
Any convenient and simple arrangement of gearing, such as shown at L,
may be used for imparting motion from one of the running wheels to the
agitator shaft. M is a front swivel guiding wheel supporting the front
portion of the distributor, which is thus made self-supporting, and is merely
dependant on the cart or waggon for traction.
I may here observe, that although I have described and illustrated on
my Drawings a certain arrangement of manure distributor, I do not con-
fine or restrict myself to the use of a distributor so constructed and arranged,
as any ordinary solid manure distributor may be employed in combination
with a cart or waggon, by simply using smaller carrying wheels, and adapting
such appliances thereto as are requisite for attaching it to the cart.
By adding the ordinary well-known apparatus for drilling seeds to the
distributor, it will be converted into a manure and corn drill, and may thus
be made the only manure distributor requisite for a farm.
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
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention, nor do
I claim any of the mechanical elements of which the said apparatus and parts
of apparatus are respectively composed, as being separately or apart from the
use or application of such elements, to form the combination constituting such
apparatus and parts of apparatus respectively, as being any part of my said
Invention. But 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,―
First, the general combination of a solid manure distributor with a cart
or waggon, as herein-before described.
Second, the peculiar combination of apparatus for spreading ordinary farm-
yard manure, as herein-before described and illustrated by Figures 4 and 5
of my Drawings.
Third, the attaching of any suitable solid manure distributor, in combination
E

page_text: or not with seed or corn drilling apparatus, to an ordinary or other cart or
waggon in such a manner that it shall be placed behind and immediately
below the tail of such cart or waggon, for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Blandford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighth day of January, One thousand eight hun-
dred and fifty-eight.
HENRY BLANDFORD (L.S.)