IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING LAND
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Grafton, of 80, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING LAND."
Sealed the 24th May 1861, and dated the 28th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Grafton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th November 1860.
I, HENRY GRAFTON, of 80), Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING LAND," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the cultivation of land by means of a travelling
carriage or carriages traversing over the ground in parallel lines, and consists
in the application of air, water, or other elastic or fluid medium in cushions or
cases to the peripheries of the travelling wheels, which air or other elastic
cushions may bear directly on the ground, or have lines of endless rails inter-
posed; such endless railway being formed of india-rubber material, or belting
or other flexible material, having shoes of wood or other material applied on
the exterior, which take the bearing on the ground. I sometimes employ end-
less rails surrounding thewheelswithout the application of air or other elastic.
peripheries, the flexible belts of the rails being applied directly to the metal

page_text: or other rigid periphery of the wheels. I make the carriage of great breadth,
and mount it on two series of wheels in lines extending over a great length,
which have a tendency to traverse the ground in a direct line, and may there
fore be traversed again and again over the same lines with little or no ten-
dency to depart therefrom; any little deviation I rectify by steering, which is
performed byinclining the axes of the leading wheels which lay down the end-
less rails, or it may be the axes of the leading travelling and bearing wheels
without rails. The carriage so travelling has the several implements of culture
attached to it, and which are applied as required by attendants travelling on
the carriage, on which also is placed the steam engines, or other motive power
engines propelling it, and performing thereby the operations required. I
traverse this carriage in a lateral direction at the headlands on a subway
and carriage, in order to shift it from one line of the parallel ways to another.
The endless rail employed for this purpose may simply consist of the
belting of flexible material and without wood or metal shoes of any kind.
In preparing the lines of way by the carriage itself travelling over the
ground, I place a clearing instrument in advance of the wheels, in order to
partially clear and level the tracks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Grafton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
GRAFTON, of 80, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her moet Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Grafton, Her special licence that I,the said Henry Grafton,my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Grafton, 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 lawfullymight 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 APPARATUS

page_text: OR MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING LAND," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Grafton, 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 Henry Grafton, 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 Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to the cultivation of land by means of a travelling
carriage or carriages traversing over the ground on parallel lines or paths
made by the wheels of the carriage itself, and consists in the application of
air, fluid, or other elastic cushions or cases to the peripheries of the travelling
wheels, which air or other elastic cushions may bear directly on the ground or
have endless lines of rails interposed, such endless railway being formed of
india-rubber material, or belting or other flexible material, having shoes of
wood or other material applied on the exterior, which take the bearing on the
ground. I sometimes employ the endless rails surrounding the wheels with-
out the application of air or other elastic peripheries, the flexible belts of the
rails being applied directly to the metal or other rigid periphery of the wheels.
I make the carriage of great breadth and mount it on two series of wheels in
lines which extend over a considerable length, which line of wheels have a
tendency to traverse the ground in a direct line, and may therefore be traversed
again and again over the same paths without tendency to depart therefrom;
any little deviation that may occur I rectify by steering, which is performed by
inclining the axes of the leading wheels which lay down the endless rails to
the direction of motion, or it may be the axes of the leading travelling and
bearing wheels without rails. The carriage so travelling has the several im-
plements of culture attached to it, which are applied as required by attendants
travelling on the carriage, on which also is placed steam engines or other
motive power engines propelling it, and whereby to effect the operations
required. I traverse this carriage in a lateral direction at the headlands on a
subwayor carriages in order to shift it from one of the parallel lines to another.
If endless rails are employed for this purpose they may simply consist of the
belting of flexible material, & without wood or metal shoes of any kind, but
I prefer to lay down permanent ways on the headlands for that purpose.

page_text: Coal & over the tracks.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation, & Fig. 2 a front view of a carriage or
platform fitted and furnished with wheels having elastic peripheries, as also
with an endless travelling belts or rails according to my Invention; both sides
of the carriage is formed & arranged in a precisely similar manner, & being in
every respect the same will require no separate description. As this apparatus
or machinery is necessarily of great size and weight I dispose it on a number
of wheels (mine) on either side of considerable breadth in order to support
the weight on the soft earth, & which when equally distributed thereon by
the elastic peripheries is reduced to a minimum; Fig.3 represents a side view,
&Fig.4a transverse section of a wheel, which is constructed as will be herein-
after described. The axes a which are fixed in the wheels bare fitted
in bearings c, c, depending from the side frames A each consist of angle irons
d, d, rivetted to a plate e, extending nearly from end to end; the angle irous
are connected by uprights f, to the upper angle irons g, g, stayed at intervals
by the cross girders which extend from side to side of the machine. The
uprights & angle irons d & g, are further stayed by diagonal braces hat
one end, while the boilers B, B, being worked into the side frames strengthen
them at the other ends on the diagonal braces h; I fix the bed plate of the
engines c. I connect the two side frames A by four cross girders D, of about
fifty or sixty feet in length, which are fixed above the angle irons g. and
securely braced thereto by strong angle pieces i, i, carried down each of the
uprights f; the uprights are further tied by cross ties k, h. The girders
Dextend at each side of the machine beyond the frames A, so that the entire
breadth of the soil that may be operated on is considerably more than the
breadth between the wheels and side frames A, A. The girders D may
be a plain T form, or may be deeper or trussed in the middle if the
breadth of span necessitates it. They arc furnished with plates or bars
sliding between each pair which may be moved and fixed in necessary
positions, & from which the implements of culture & others may be
suspended so as to act on the soil or the crops as may be desired during
& by the progress of the machine, or for the support and carrying of
labourers, &c., in getting & removing the crops, & for other purposes;
all of which will be readily understood without further description. As
before mentioned, Fig. 4 is a section of one of the elastic wheels on an

page_text: enlarged scale, & Fig. 3, a side view of the same. I construct it of four prin-
cipal parts; is the body of a cylinder, having. suitable arms & boss, as also
two internal flanges m, m, at the circumference; a,n, are flanges cast separate,
which are bolted to flanges m, & holding between them the flexible material o
of the elastic periphery. This I make of strong india-rubber material, half
an inch or more in thickness, which forms an air-tight casing, into which I
compress air to a suitable pressure according to the weight to. be borne on
each wheel, which is readily effected by forcing it through a small hole in the
metal periphery of the drum... The views Figs. 3 and 4 show the position &
form of the elastic tyre & the form it assumes with the weight upon the
external flanges n being of such diameter as to contain the elastic tyre in the
compressed form, and at same time to grip.the endless rail, to be herein-
after described. Of the nine elastic bearing wheels on each side seven are
driven by cranks fixed on each of their axes, the crank pins of which take into
longitudinal bars E, receiving & connecting them together. This longitudinal
bar E forms a continuation of a connecting rod F, communicating power from
a crank shaft G driven by the engine; H, H, is the endless belt or portable
rails to be laid down (one at each side of the machine) on the soil for the
traverse of the wheels. I mount and distend it at each end on drums p, over
which it turns. These drums p are mounted in frames I, which move on
centres immediately over the leading and trailing bearing wheels, the supports
or; bearings of such wheels being in fact mounted on the same vertical axes &
swivelling therewith. The fore end of frame Ihangs in a dovetail q, described
from the centre of motion. The movement of the drums p is for the purpose
of steering the course of the machine by laying down the rails on the track
desired, and also to steer it exactly on the same track in returning... I effect
this by means of a lever K mounted on a fulcrum at r, connected to frame I
at lower end, & having a toothed quadrant. taking into an endless screw-S
above, whose axis is furnished with a hand wheel T, by which the attendant
guides & directs the course of the machine. A tie rod rconnects the duplicate
lever at the other side of the machine, whereby the leading drumsp are moved
simultaneously in same direction. Lis the track clearer, which is a kind of
double plough, jointed to the fore part of the machine. It is of a breadth con-
siderably greater than the breadth of the endless rails, and whereby the track
is levelled & cleared as the machine advances. The machine having.once
passed over the ground the tracks will remain. The clearers-Limay then bo
turned up or, be turned down to remove any obstruction that may, possibly
arise. The endless rails consist of belts of india-rubber material (that is to
say, i
,india-rubber combined with woven fabrics) of considerable thickness, say,

page_text: three quarters of an inch, each being united to form an endless belt oncircling
the drums p, p, and all the bearing wheels loosely, as seen.
These belts may
be used alone as rail surfaces on which the wheels 6 are to travel, or they may
be shod with pieces of timber, gutta percha, or metals,s, securely fixed thereto
by bolts or otherwise, & in such manner as to allow the belts to turn readily
over the drums p, as seen. Fig. 5 represents a partial section of the opposite
end of the machine, showing the arrangement of the engines, a pair of which
are mounted on the bed plate t, fixed on the diagonal braces h. The con-
necting rods of the engines take on to a double throw-crank shaft u, carrying
a pinion v, which gears with wheel x fixed on an intermediate shaft y, on
which is fixed a pinion gearing with wheel z fixed on the crank shaft G, before
mentioned. M are the eccentrics & rods for actuating the valves, & N the
crank & rod of the feed pump to supply the boiler, or it may be supplied by
hand pumping. The shaft & may or may not be carried across the machine
& connected with a like shaft G at the opposite side. As before mentioned,
the elastic peripheries of the wheels may be employed without the intervention
of endless rails or belts, in which case I mount the leading wheels in manner
similar to drum P₁ for the purpose of steering the machine; or the endless rails
of india-rubber material, shod or unshod, may be employed with wheels having
rigid peripheries. Instead of air cushions also, I apply water or other fluid,
either in case of elastic india-rubber material, or only partially fill the flexible
cases with the fluid, whereby to obtain the extended bearing surface on the
ground or on the rails, as in the wheels having air-cushion peripheries. The
elastic peripheries may also consist of solid elastic materials. This machine, as
before mentioned, traverses the ground in parallel lines, that is to say, after
having once traversed over a field & operated on the part traversed sufficiently,
the machine is to be shifted sideways, so as to operate on the adjoining land.
The wheels of one side will now traverse over one of the tracks or paths
previously formed, while the other side will clear a new path for itself, & so
on, but being guided & remaining parallel to the track previously traversed.
The shifting of the machine I perform as follows:-At the headlands I either
prepare roadways or tracks, or lay down rails, on which I mount two trucks
at a somewhat lower level, as seen at Fig. 6. The bodies of these trucks are
of a length & on a level to receive the whole of the wheels 6 of the machine,
which is run bodily on the two trucks, they being disposed at suitable dis-
tances apart for that purpose. When so received on the shifting trucks the
machine is traversed in a direction at right or other angles to that of its own
motion to the position in which it is again required to traverse the land. This
may be immediately adjoining the last traverse made, or at another part of the

page_text: field, or even another field altogether, the same means serving to transport
it any distance. These headland rails are also serviceable for transporting
the crop. P is a covered shed or house in which the attendants may be
sheltered in bad weather. The machine may, of course, traverse again and
again on the same tracks which may remain as permanent paths.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I desire it to be understood that I make no claim. to
machines travelling in parallel lines on the soil, on rails, or otherwise, for
the purpose of cultivation by implements actuated, or labourers carried by
such machines; but that what I claim as my Invention and desire to secure
by the said Letters Patent is,―
First, the arrangement and application of wheels having air or other elastic
peripheries, as and for the purposes herein-before described.
Secondly, I claim the arrangement & application of endless belt rails of
india-rubber belting or other flexible material, with or without shoes, in com-
bination with machines travelling on and cultivating the land, as described;
such endless belt rails being applicable in combination with wheels having
elastic or rigid peripheries.
Thirdly, I claim the arrangement and combination of parts described or any
mechanical equivalents for steering by laying down the rails in the course
desired to be traversed, or operating the leading wheels for like purpose
when the endless rails are dispensed with, as described.
Fourthly, I claim the arrangement & combination of track clearers L,
with machines travelling on elastic wheels or endless rails of india-rubber
belting or other flexible material, for the purpose of levelling & clearing the
paths to be traversed, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Grafton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred & sixty-one.
HENRY GRAFTON. (L.s.)