IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR TILLING LAND BY STEAM
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, and John King, of Chadshunt, Warwickshire, Farmer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR TILLING LAND BY STEAM
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler and John
King at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,.
on the 8th May 1862.
We, JOHN FOWLER, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and Jonn.
KING, of Chadshunt, Warwickshire, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature-
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TILLING LAND BY STEAM.
POWER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for tilling land:
by steam power.
In tilling land by steam power it is frequently desirable to employ the
ordinary agricultural steam engines now commonly used by farmers, provided.
it can be done without altering or fitting the agricultural engine. According
to our Invention this is very conveniently done by mounting hauling apparatus,-
or apparatus which gives motion to the rope for actuating the tilling implement,.
on a carriage with disc wheels, such as is now commonly used to carry the
pulley, round which the rope passes when it arrives at the headland opposite to.

page_text: that on which the engine traverses. The disc wheels, by cutting into the land,
enable the "bauling carriage," although comparatively light, to offer sufficient
resistance to a sideway strain to allow of its drawing the tilling implement
without itself moving in the direction of the strain. In place of disc wheels
coulters or plates cutting into the land may be employed, but not so con-
veniently. The hauling carriage, when at work, is coupled with the engine
and preferably by a flexible coupling; the hauling apparatus is driven by the
engine. On the hauling carriage.there is also mounted a small drum which
receives motion from the driving power, and winds up a rope laid out along the
headland, thus drawing the hauling carriage forward and also the engine with
which it is coupled; or gearing on the hauling carriage may drive a wheel or
instrument, having sufficient hold on the land to draw the winding carriage
and engine forward. The connection between the hauling carriage and the
engine may be conveniently made by attaching the former to the fore carriage
or to the perch pin of the engine, leaving the hinder part of the engine free
to swing.
The hauling apparatus we prefer to employ is a drum having nipping.instru-
ments at its periphery, and round which the rope takes half a turn.the nipping
instruments on the drum prevent the rope slipping, consequently as the. drum
turns the rope is drawn forward; such nipping drums otherwise mounted
have before been employed in steam ploughing. Or in place of a nipping
drum two winding drums.may be mounted on the hauling carriage which
alternately wind up the rope, the rope running off one drum as it is wound up
by the other. When this arrangement is employed we combine with it
apparatus both for distributing the rope evenly on the winding up drum and
also to prevent the too rapid running off of the rope from the unwinding drum,
whilst at the same time the power employed for this purpose is brought back
and usefully applied in actuating the tilling implement, as has been heretofore
practised in other arrangements of apparatus. Or in place of hauling
apparatus such as above described other hauling apparatus such as two grooved
drums round which the rope passes several times in an oval coil may. be
employed but less conveniently. In place of obtaining the lateral resistance
of the hauling carriage by means of disc wheels or coulters, the hauling
carriage arranged as above described may be mounted on ordinary wheels
and the lateral resistance niay be obtained by coupling it with the side of the
engine which drives it, the weight of the engine will then furnish sufficient
resistance, the line of strain falling within the base of the engine.
We would remark that we are aware that it is not new to couple an engine

page_text: with a hauling carriage in such a manner that the engine may both drive the
hauling apparatus and also serve by its weight to prevent the hauling
carriage being drawn sideways, but the connection has always heretofore been
made end to end and rigid, by which means the object was attained but very
imperfectly and inconveniently, as the strain tended to turn the engine round,
and, besides the rigid connection, entailed great difficulty in steerage.
In each of the above arrangements the hauling carriage traverses along
one headland, taking the engine with it, and the rope leads off from the
bauling carriage to a pulley on the opposite headland and returns to the hauling
carriage, the implement being connected with the rope traverses between the
two headlands, the pulley on the further headland is mounted on a carriage
and traverses as the work progresses so as to keep opposite to the hauling
carriage. The hauling carriage we also in each case arrange so that it may
be steered by setting its wheels (or coulters) at such an angle to the frame
as may be required, and when the engine and the hauling carriage are arranged
side by side we connect the fore or steerage wheels (or coulters) of the one
with those of the other, so that the motions of the engine and hauling
carriage may correspond. It is not essential that the travelling rope should
be actually attached to the plough or implement, it may give motion to it
indirectly on what is known as Fisken's system, which is fully described in the
Specification of the Patent, No. 1629 (1855). In cases where the line of
draught of the implement is liable to be in a direction inclined to the hauling
and pully carriages, they would have a tendency to run forward; to prevent
this we lay a chain along the headland, and fix it at each end; this chain
passes over a chain wheel on the hauling or pulley carriage, by driving
which the carriage winds itself forward; the carriage is thus anchored both
fore and aft. We prefer in this arrangement to make both the hauling and
pulley carriages to steer, for which purpose gear is applied for setting their
wheels or coulters at any required angle to the frame. In place of a chain,.a
rope passing several. times round a barrel or chain wheel may be substituted.
In order to support the moving rope and to keep it off the land it is common
to employ "rope porters," and these have to be moved out of the way of the
plough or implement by manual labour, no very effectual- way of doing this.
otherwise having up to the present time been devised; we effect this object.
without or partially without manual labour by mounting the pulley of the
rope porter on an aru so that when struck by the leading end of the plough
or implement the pulley may move out of the way in a horizontal direction
indepen-lently of the carriage which supports it; when the implement has passed

page_text: the pulley may be brought back under the rope by a spring or similar con-
trivance, or the tail of the implement in passing may strike a projection and
bring another pulley into position to support the return rope, or it may be put
under the rope by manual labor.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fowler in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th
November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOHN
FOWLER, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and JonN KING, of
Chadshunt, Warwickshire, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
lid, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Fowler and John King, Her special licence, that we, the said John
Fowler and John King, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Fowler and John King, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 APPARATUS FOR TILLING LAND BY STEAM
POWER," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Fowler
and John King, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them 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 we, the said John Fowler and John King, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for tilling land
by steam power.

page_text: In tilling land by steam power, it is frequently desirable to employ the
ordinary agricultural steam engines now commonly used by farmers, provided
it can be done without altering or fitting the agricultural engine. Ac-
cording to our Invention, this is very conveniently done by mounting hauling
apparatus, or apparatus which gives motion to the rope for actuating the
tilling implement, on a carriage with disc wheels, such as is now commonly
used to carry the pulley, round which the rope passes when it arrives at the
headland opposite to that on which the engine traverses. The disc wheels, by
cutting into the land, enable the "hauling carriage," although comparatively
light, to offer sufficient resistance to a side-way strain, to allow of its drawing
the tilling implement without itself moving in the direction of the strain. In
place of disc wheels, coulters or plates cutting into the land may be employed,
but not so conveniently.
The hauling carriage when at work is coupled with the engine, preferably.
by a flexible coupling, and the hauling apparatus is driven by the engine. On
the hauling carriage there is also mounted a small drum, which receives motion
from the driving power and winds up a rope laid out along the headland, thus
drawing the hauling carriage forward, and also the engine with which it is.
coupled. Or gearing on the hauling carriage may drive a wheel or instru-
ment having sufficient hold on the land to draw the winding carriage and
engine forward. The connection between the hauling carriage and the engine
is conveniently made by attaching the former to the fore carriage or to the
perch pin of the engine, leaving the hinder part of the engine free to swing.
The hauling apparatus we prefer to employ is a drum, having nipping
instruments at its periphery, and round which the rope takes half a turn, the
nipping instruments on the drum prevent the rope slipping, consequently as
the drum turns the rope is drawn forward; such nipping drums otherwise
mounted have before been employed in steam ploughing.
Figure 1 is a side view; and Figure 2 is a plan of hauling apparatus
mounted on disc wheels, and otherwise arranged according to our Invention.
It consists of a platform a, a, constructed by preference of sheet and angle
iron; it is mounted on the six disc wheels b, b, which have on their axles rollers
to prevent them sinking too far into the ground (in Figure 1 the two
centre wheels b, and a portion of the frame are omitted in order that other
parts may be more clearly seen); under the platform & is mounted the nipping
drum c; it is mounted on a vertical stud axis securely fixed in the centre of
the platform; the drum is furnished with internal teeth, the pitch circle of
which is shewn in the plan; these teeth gear with a pinion on the vertical axis d,

page_text: the upper bearing of which is carried by framing fixed on the platform; c is a
bevilled wheel mounted on the top of the axis d, it gears with two bevilled
pinions ff. on the driving axis g; the pinions fare loose on the axis, but
they can be made fast to it by clutches f, worked by a handle which is not
shown, and the nipping drum c will be made to rotate in one or other direction,
according as one or other of these pinions is made to drive; g* is a frame
mounted on the stud axis of the nipping drum, and between it and the plat-
form it carries the guide rollers h, h, between which the hauling rope passes
to and from the drum; the frame g* is capable of turning freely on its centre,
so that the guide rollers h adjust their position to correspond with that taken
by the rope in passing to and from the drum; i, i, are rollers carried by the
arms ',, which are jointed to the frame g* and furnished with springs which
constantly press them against the rope around the nipping drum; they serve
to ensure the drum getting firmly hold of the rope. To cause the hauling
apparatus to move slowly forward as the ploughing or tilling progresses, the
winding drum is employed; it is mounted on the same stud axis that carries
the nipping drum, and it has a rope wound upon it which is made fast to an
anchor ahead; on the upper end of this drum is a worm wheel gearing with
a worm ; this is mounted so as to be able to turn freely on a horizontal axis 1,
which is driven by bevilled gear from the vertical axis d; m is a lever
handle actuating a clutch to secure the worm k to its axis when it is desired to
move forward. When a more rapid forward motion is required for bringing
the machine to its work, other faster gear may be employed, consisting
of spur teeth formed on the drum j, and a pinion and clutch on the
vertical axis d, which, however, to avoid complication are not shown in the
Drawing.
In place of using the winding drum j, the forward motion of the machine
may be obtained by causing the gear to drive some or all of the disc wheels,
and placing on these transverse radial webs to prevent them slipping when in
the land; or in place of the disc wheels a separate wheel or instrument may
be employed; these arrangements however are less effective and convenient
than that shown in the Drawings.
'
In order to steer or guide the machine, the axles of the disc wheels b.
at the two ends of the machine, are arranged so that they can be made
to incline the one to the other, or set radially to the curve in which it is
desired to travel. For this purpose these axles on one side of the machine
are carried by brackets n, which are not fixed rigidly to the platform o
but are capable of traversing along slots formed therein; through these

page_text: brackets the rod o passes; it has screws cut upon it at the parts where
the brackets come, and in the holes through these are corresponding threads.
The screw at one end of the platform is right-handed, and that at the
other left-handed, consequently by turning the rod o, which is done by a
lever entering the holes in the capstan head on the rod, the axles can be
separated or drawn together, and as at the other side of the platform
they are retained at a fixed distance apart, the required radial position is
thus given to them. The hauling apparatus is coupled with the portable
engine, which drives it by the coupling p; this coupling is made in two parts,
connected by the right and left-handed screws p², similar to the coupling screw
of a railway coupling. One portion of the coupling p is connected by a pin
joint with the hauling apparatus, and the other to the fore carriage of the
portable engine. Thus it will be seen the coupling is perfectly flexible, so
that however uneven may be the ground over which the engine and hauling
apparatus travels, it cannot receive strain, except a direct longitudinal one.
The engine is made to drive the bauling apparatus by means of a flat wire belt q,
baving wedge formed blocks of wood q', bolted to it; this belt is caused to
pass over two pulleys with V grooves in their peripheries; one of these pulleys.
is mounted on the crank shaft of the engine, and the other on the driving
axis y of the bauling apparatus. The driving belt and pulleys are constructed
in this manner, so that their action may not be impeded by the engine and
bauling apparatus, inclining slightly the one to the other, or by the belt being
slack, as it necessarily must be. As before mentioned, coulters or plates
cutting into the land may be used in place of disc wheels,.but they are less
convenient. In place of a nipping drum, two winding drums may be mounted
on the hauling carriage, which alternately wind up the rope, the rope running
off one drum as it is wound up by the other. When this arrangement is em-
ployed, we combine with it apparatus both for distributing the rope evenly on
the winding-up drum and also apparatus to prevent the too rapid running
off of the rope from the unwinding drum, whilst at the same time the power
employed for this purpose is brought back and usefully applied in actuating
the tilling implement, as has been heretofore practised in other arrangements.
of apparatus.
Figure 3 is a side view, and Figure 4 a plan, of an arrangement, in which
the hauling rope is actuated by two winding drums, in place of by a nipping
drum. It is similar to the arrangement already described as respects the
platform and disc wheels, the steering apparatus, coupling and driving gear;
there is as before a stud axis in the centre of the platform, and on it are

page_text: mounted the two winding drums marked c¹, c¹; one is placed under and the
other over the platform; they have spur teeth on their peripheries which gear
with pinions on the vertical axis d; these pinions are furnished with clutches,
and they are made to drive alternately the one to haul in one direction and
the other in the contrary direction. The small drum j which draws the apparatus
forward is in this case mounted on a separate axis, so as to make room for the
second winding drum on the central stud axis, it has as before a worm wheel upon
it driven by a worm on the axis 7, which by bevilled gear receives motion from
an intermediate axis drixen by spur wheels from the axis d. We have not
thought it necessary to show the apparatus for distributing the rope on the
winding drums and for checking the running off rope and returning the power
so applied, as the method of arranging such apparatus is well understood. In
place of hauling apparatus such as above described, other hauling apparatus,
such as two grooved drums, round-which the rope passes several times in an
oval coil may be employed, but less conveniently.
In all these arrangements the hauling apparatus, whatever its construction,
is mounted on a carriage separate from the engine which drives it, and this
carriage is enabled to offer sufficient resistance to the side-way strain by disc
wheels or instruments cutting into the land. This is an important feature of
our Invention.
In place of obtaining the lateral resistance of the hauling carriage by means
of disc wheels or coulters, the hauling carriage, arranged as above described,
may be mounted on ordinary wheels, and the lateral resistance may be
obtained by coupling it with the side of the engine which drives it; the weight
of the engine will then furnish sufficient resistance, the line of strain falling
within the base of the engine. The connection in this case is conveniently
made by means of tie bars so arranged as to maintain the engine and hauling
apparatus parallel and opposite the one to the other, still allowing either to
rise and fall, following the undulations of the ground. The driving gear may
be arranged in the manner already described, and the steering apparatus of
the hauling carriage coupled with the fore carriage of the engine, so that they
may lock round together.
We would remark that we are aware that it is not new to couple an engine
with a hauling carriage in such a mauner that the engine may both drive the
hauling apparatus, and also serve by its weight to prevent the hauling carriage
being drawn sideways, but the connection has always heretofore been made
end to end, and rigid, by which means the end was obtained; but very imper-
fectly and inconveniently, as the strain tended to turn the engine round, and

page_text: besides the rigid connection entailed great difficulty in steerage. In each of
the above arrangements the hauling carriage traverses along one headland,
taking the engine with it, and the rope leads off from the hauling carriage to
a pulley on the opposite headland, and returns to the hauling carriage, the
implement being connected with the rope traverses between the two headlands.
the pulley on the further headland is mounted on a carriage, and traverses.as
the work progresses so as to keep opposite to the hauling carriage. It is not
essential that the travelling rope should be actually attached to the plough or
implement, it may give motion to it indirectly, on which is known as Fisken's
system, which is fully described in the Specification of the Patent, No. 1629
(1855).
In cases where the line of draught of the implement is liable to be in a
direction inclined to the hauling and pulley carriages, they would have a ten-
dency to run forward; to prevent this we lay a chain along the headland, and
fix it at each end; this chain passes over a chain wheel on the hauling or
pulley carriage, by driving which the carriage winds itself forward; the car-
riage is thus anchored both fore and aft.. We prefer in this arrangement to
make both the hauling and pulley carriages to steer, for which purpose gear is
applied for setting their wheels or coulters at any required angle to the frame.
In place of a chain, a rope passing several times round a barrel, may be
substituted.
I
The Drawing Figure 5, shows in plan a pulley or anchor carriage arranged
according to our Invention. a is a platform mounted on four disc wheels b, b,
the two end ones of which are capable of being set to an angle by the right
and left-handed screws on the rod c, this rod being rotated for the purpose by
levers inserted into the holes in the capstan heads at the ends of the rod; dis
a large pulley, mounted under the platform, and around which passes the
hauling rope e, kept in motion by the hauling apparatus on the opposite
headland; the bearing of the axis of this pulley is carried by the platform, and
on the axis is mounted a pinion f. This pinion works into internal teeth of
the wheel g; h is a stud axis, and on it is an excentric i, on which the
wheel g is mounted, so that it can revolve freely; the excentric i is furnished
with a handle, by which it can be turned half round, the effect being to throw
the teeth of the wheel g out of gear with the pinion f; this is done when for-
ward motion is not required; j is a chain, which is held by two anchors, one
in front and the other behind the carriage; it is led round a chain wheel k fixed
to the wheel g, and the chain is then passed over the guide pulleys l. This
arrangement retains the carriage from running either forward or back, except

page_text: as it is wound by the chain wheel. The winding forward gear is similarly
applied to the hauling carriage, except that the chain wheel is driven by gear
from the engine as already described, in place of being actuated by the bauling
rope. This construction permits of the line of draught being much more
inclined to tho hauling and anchor carriages than is otherwise practicable.
In order to support the moving rope, and to keep it off the land, it is common
to employ "rope porters," and these have to be moved out of the way of the
plough or implement by manual labour, no very effectual way of doing this
otherwise having up to the present time been devised, We effect this object
without or partially without manual labor, by mounting the pulley of the
rope porter on an arm, so that when struck by the leading end of the plough
or implement, the pulley may move out of the way in a horizontal direction,
independently of the carriage which supports it.
bar c.
Figure 6 is a plan, and Figure 7 a side elevation, of the arrangement we
prefer to employ in carrying out this part of our Invention. a, a, are a pair
of wheels mounted on tubular axes b, which are connected together by the
At a', ', notches are formed, and there are corresponding notches
in the tubular axes; these are for the purpose of allowing the return rope to
be laid through the tubular axes, and there it is carried when at work. It is
supported in order that it may run freely by the pulleys d, d, carried in forks
on the tubular bearings, and it is kept in its place by other smaller pulleys e,
similarly carried, and which are removed in order to put the rope into its place.
Figure 8 is a section through one of the wheels; it shows clearly how the
return rope is supported; f is a frame fixed to the axes of the wheels, and
carrying the centre g, on which two other frames h, k, are capable of turning
freely; an end view of one of the frames h is shown separately at Figure 9.
Each of these frames has a fork i fixed to it, and in the fork is fixed the axis
of a supporting wheel j; k, k, are the pulleys for supporting the hauling rope,
and on one of them this rope is shown; the plough or implement when it
comes up to the porter strikes the bow of the frame h which is in action, and
turns the frame out of the way, so that the implement can pass clear, then the
other frame with its pulley is brought up; this may be partly done by means
of a cord connecting the two frames h, h, the operation being completed and
the rope put on the pulley k by hand labour. In place of employing two
frames h, h, one only may be made use of, and it may be fitted with a spring
tending constantly to place it under the rope, the implement when it strikes
it overcomes this spring, and moves the frame as before; whilst the imple-
ment is passing the frame will bear against a guard on its side, and imme-

page_text: diately the implement has passed it will return to its place, so that the
return rope requires only to be lifted on to the pulley k, or the arrangement
may be so made that even this is not required. Or when two frames h are
employed a projection on the tail of the implement may be made to bring
up the pulley behind.
We, however, consider the arrangement shown in the Drawing to be the
most convenient, complexity being undesirable.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Fowler and John King, have
bercuuto set our hands and seals, this Seventh day of Novem-
ber, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two.
JOHN FOWLER. (L.S.)
JOHN KING.
(L.S.)
JOHN FOWLER. (L.S.)
JOHN KING.
(L.S.)