NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING AND CLEANING LAND
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Birch Higgs, of Coven, near Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, Machinist, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING AND CLEANING LAND."
Sealed the 9th May 1879, and dated the 21st November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Birch Higgs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st November 1878.
+5
JOHN BIRCH HIGGS, of Coven, near Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Machinist. NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING AND CLEANING
LAND."
My Invention consists of machinery constructed as hereinafter described, which
machinery by being drawn over the land to be operated upon breaks up or pul-
verizes the said land, and cleans it from switch, weeds, and the like.
The said machinery is constructed essentially as follows:-The fore part of the
machine consists of a roller of a length equal to the width of the machine. The axis
of the roller works in bearings in brackets on the under side of the frame of the
machine. The said roller has spikes by which its grip upon the land is secured. On
each end of the roller is a disc with a sharp edge. Where the machine is of great
width one or more intermediate discs may be employed. These discs when the
machine travels over the land make parallel vertical incisions in the land at a
distance apart equal to the distance between the discs. Immediately behind the
roller described is a ploughshare or one or more cultivator points, which may be
adjusted so as to plough or enter the required depth into the land. The soil raised
by the share or cultivator points is delivered on to a platform made of a scries of
bars or consisting of a grating. Immediately over this platform is an endless band
passing over rollers near the front and back of the platform. This endless band is
provided with spikes, which when the machine is in operation carry the switch,
weeds, and the like to the back of the platform, while the soil falls between the bars
or through the grating of the platform. A rapid vibratory motion may be given to

page_text: the platform either vertically or horizontally in order to facilitate the separation of
the soil from the switch, weeds, and the like. The platform and the endless band
are of a width equal to the length of the roller, and both take their motion from the
roller by means of toothed or other gearing. The vibratory motion of the plat-
form may be given by the rotation of an angular cam or other equivalent
appliance.
The switch, weeds, and the like collected by the spikes on the endless band full
from the back end of the platform on the surface of the land, and may be removed
in any convenient way.
Where the land has been neglected or requires more than ordinary breaking up
and cleaning, the endless band and platform may be duplicated, the matter falling
from the back end of the first platform falling upon the front end of the second
platform, and made to undergo a second treatment.
In order to avoid the inconvenience of turning the machine, the parts herein before
described as situated behind the roller may be duplicated, a like but inverted
arrangement of parts to that described being stationed in front of the roller. The
machine will then work when drawn over the land in either direction, after the
manuer of a balance plough.
In place of the endless bands and spikes described, one or more spiked or toothed
rollers may be employed to carry the soil over the platform or platforms.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Birch Higgs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th.
May 1879.
"
JOHN BIRCH HIGGS, of Coven, near Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Machinist. NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CULTIVATING AND CLEANING
LAND."
My Invention consists of machinery constructed as herein after described, which
machinery by being drawn over the land to be operated upon breaks up or pul-
verizes the said land, and cleans it from switch, weeds, and the like.
The said machinery is constructed essentially as follows:-The fore part of the
machine consists of a roller of a length equal to the width of the machine. The
axis of the roller works in bearings on the upper side of the frame of the machine.
The said roller has spikes by which its grip upon the land is secured. Immediately
behind the roller described is a ploughshare or one or more cultivator points, which
may be adjusted so as to plough or enter the required depth into the land. The soil
raised by the share or cultivator points is delivered on to a platform made of a series
of bars, or consisting of a grating. Immediately over this platform is an endless
band passing over rollers near the front and back of the platform. This endless
band is provided with spikes, which when the machine is in operation carry the
switch, weeds, and the like to the back of the platform, while the soil falls between
the bars or through the grating of the platform. A rapid vibratory motion may be
given to the platform either vertically or horizontally in order to facilitate the
separation of the soil from the switch, weeds, and the like. The platform and the
endless band are of a width equal to the length of the roller, and both take their
motion from the roller by means of toothed or other gearing.
The vibratory motion of the platform may be given by the rotation of an angular
cam or other equivalent appliance.
The switch, weeds, and the like collected by the spikes on the endless band fall
from the back end of the platform on the surface of the land, and may be removed
in any convenient way.
I will now describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which my Invention inay be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in plan, machinery for culti-
vating and cleaning land, the parts of the said machinery being constructed, arranged,
and worked according to my Invention.
In Figure 1 one of the bearings of the back roller shaft is removed for the pur-
pose of exhibiting the shape of the cams by which the vibratory motion is given to
the platform or grating of the machine. The same letters indicate the same parts in
both Figures. a, a, is the frame of the machine, supported at front by the strong
roller b, having a width nearly equal to the width of the frame of the machine, and
at back by the travelling wheels c, c, on opposite sides of the frame. The said
roller 6 turns in bearings at d, d, on the upper side of the frame a, and is furnished
with spikes b², which enter the land and secure the grip of the said roller upon the
land. From the roller b the motions of the moving parts of the machine are taken
as herein-after described. Behind the roller b is a compound share composed of five
single shares marked e, e, the said shares being connected to a cross bar f passing from
side to side of the machine. This cross bar f is secured to the uprights g, g, and the
latter are fixed to the sides of the frame a of the machine in the manner represented
in Fgure 1. At each end of the compound share e, e, is a coulter e2, the said coulters
being for the purpose of cutting or making incisions in the land in the path of the
machine, and of the width or nearly the width of the machine. Disc coulters may
be employed in place of the coulters e, e², represented. h is an inclined platform
on to which the soil raised by the share e, e, is delivered. This platform is com-

page_text: posed, as represented in the plan, Figure 2, of a series of parallel bars or of a
grating. A vibratory motion in a vertical plane is given to the platform or grating h
in the manner herein-after described. Over the platform or grating is an inclined
endless chain band i, i, passing over the pairs of rollers k, k, and l, l, at the front
and back of the machine, the front pair of rollers k, k, being supported on the under
side and the back pair 4, 1, on the upper side of the frame a, a, of the machine.
To the endless band i, i, a series of parallel cross bars m, m, is connected, the said
bars being provided with spikes p, p. The endless band i, i, is driven from the back
pair of rollers, l, and rotation is given to the said back rollers 1, 1, from the spiked
roller bat the front of the machine. On one face of the said roller b is a bevil
toothed wheel which gears with the bevel pinion 7 on the shaft 2 parallel with
the longer direction of the frame of the machine. The back end of the shaft r³
carries a bevil wheel 8, which gears with the bevil wheel 8 on the shaft t of the
back rollers 1, l, as will be understood by an examination of Figure 2. The wheel s
may be thrown into and out of gear with the wheel 82 by sliding the said wheel s
upon its shaft. By the rotation given to the back rollers I, l, a travelling motion is
given to the endless band i, i, in the direction of the arrows, Figure 1, and the
spikes on the under side of the said band are made to break up the soil delivered
on to the platform, and separate the switch, weeds, or other matters contained in it,
and carry them from the front to the back end of the said platform.
The platform or grating his constructed and a rapid vibratory motion given to it
in the following manner :-The front end of the frame of bars or grating his con-
nected to the cross rod u turning in the uprights g, g, at opposite sides of the frame
of the machine. On the shaft t of the back rollers l, l, are two rotating cams v, v¹,
one at each side of the machine. The acting surface of each cam v is made of a
series of nearly semi-circular depressions or undulations, as seen in the cam repre-
sented in Figure 1. Connected with the upper end of the platform h at each end
is an arm w bolted to the said platform. Each arm w carries at its top a roller a,
which works in the cam v, the rising motion of the said roller in the cam being
limited by the central star like part y, against which the said roller bears as it
passes from one of the undulations to the next one. The upper end of the arm w is
connected to the frame a by the jointed link or connecting rod z. As the cams v, v,
rotate, a rising and falling motion is given to the arms w, w, by the action of the
said cams, and a rapid vibratory motion is given to the platform h, the cross
rod at the lower end of the platform in its vibratory motion turning in the
uprights g,g.
h
I do not limit myself to the arrangement described and represented for giving
the vibratory motion to the platform h, as other equivalent arrangements may be
employed; for example, the arms 20 may be jointed to crank plates, to which rapid
rotation is given from the front roller b. The platform / may have a horizontal
vibrating motion instead of a vertical vibrating motion. In this case I commu-
nicate the said horizontal vibrating motion to the platform by means of mechanism
siinilar to that employed for giving a like motion to the riddles of thrashing
machines.
The action of the machine is as follows:-
As the machine is drawn along the land, the said land is broken up and lifted by
the action of the compound share e, e, on to the lower end of the vibrating plat-
form . By the travelling of the spikes p, p, of the endless band i over the soil
deposited on the said platform, combined with the vibratory motion of the said
platform, the soil is pulverised, and the switch, weeds, and like matters are forked
out or separated from the loosened soil, which soil falls through the bars of the plat-
form or grating. The switch, weeds, and the like collected by the spikes p, p, of
the travelling endless band are carried from the front to the back end of the plat-
form h, and from thence fall on to the surface of the land, and may be removed in
any convenient way."
Where the land has been neglected or requires more than ordinary breaking up
and cleaning, the endless band and platform may be duplicated, the matter fulling

page_text: from the back end of the first platform upon the front end of the second platform,
and made to undergo a second treatment.
In order to avoid the inconvenience of turning the machine, the parts herein
before described as situated behind the roller b may be duplicated, a like but
inverted arrangement of parts to that described being stationed in front of the
roller b. In this case the frame a of the machine is prolonged as shown at a", the
said prolonged part a² being inclined to the part a, as seen in Figure 1. On the
inclined part a of the frame the second machine is arranged, so that when one
machine is at work the other machine is lifted out of work. The machine thus
arranged will work when drawn over the land in either direction after the manner
of a balance plough.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention,
the new or improved machinery for cultivating and cleaning land, herein-before
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, machinery
consisting essentially of an endless band carrying spikes and a vibrating platform
or grating in combination with a compound share, the said spikes carrying the soil
delivered on to the said platform or grating along the said platform or grating, and
pulverizing and separating the switch, weeds, and the like from the said soil, the
several parts being constructed and combined and the moving parts worked sub-
stantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Birch Higgs, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy nine.
Witness,
GEORGE DUDLEY,
14, Dudley Street,
Wolverhampton.
JOHN BIRCH HIGGS. (L.S.)