IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING LIQUID MANURE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Smith Billups, of Chatteris, in the
County of Cambridge, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
DISTRIBUTING LIQUID MANURE."
Sealed the 14th November 1865, and dated the 18th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Smith Billups
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th May 1865.
I, CHRISTOPHER SMITH BILLUPS, of Chatteris, in the County of Cambridge,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPA-
RATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING LIQUID MANURE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates principally to apparatus to be used in connection.
with a corn or seed drill for distributing the liquid manure in the drills with
the corn or seed; but the apparatus may also be used without the corn or seed
drill for distributing liquid manure on grass lands. In the bottom of the
trough or vessel which contains the liquid manure is an opening of moderate
size, which can be closed when desired by means of a slide or valve worked.

page_text: from the outside. This opening communicates with a distributing box of a
form somewhat like a fan, and provided in the interior with a number of radial
partitions, corresponding with the number of drills into which the manure is
to be distributed. Above these partitions is a sloping board, and at the lower
end of each radial chamber formed by the said partitions is an opening, from
which a pipe extends downwards into the drill coulter. When the slide or
valve is opened the liquid manure falls through the opening on to the sloping
board over which it spreads, or splashes and flows in equal quantities through
each of the radial chambers, whence it is conducted by the pipes above
mentioned to the several drill coulters, and is by these means deposited
with the corn or seed in the drills. A revolving agitator or stirrer is
placed in the trough or vessel driven by a band or spur wheels, as usual,
to keep the manure in constant agitation, and prevent the solid particles
thereof from settling at the bottom and choking the opening into the dis-
tributing box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Christopher Smith Billups in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; CHRISTOPHER
SMITH BILLUPS, of Chatteris, in the County of Cambridge, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Christopher Smith Billups, Her special licence that I, the said Christopher
Smith Billups, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Christopher Smith Billups, 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
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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING LIQUID MANURE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Christopher Smith Billups,
piy executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Christopher Smith Billups, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention relates principally to apparatus to be used in connection
with a liquid manure drill for distributing the liquid manure in the coulters
with the corn or seed; but the apparatus may also be used without the corn
or seed drill for distributing liquid manure on grass or other lands. In the
bottom of the trough or vessel which contains the liquid manure is an opening
of moderate size, which can be closed when desired by means of a slide or
valve worked from the outside. This opening communicates with a distri-
buting box, of a form somewhat like a fan, and provided in the interior with
a number of radial partitions, corresponding with the number of coulters into
which the manure is to be distributed. This box is to be suspended beneath
the liquid reservoir in such a way that its own weight will keep it in a hori-
zontal position. Above these partitions is a sloping board, and at the lower
end of each radial chamber, formed by the said partitions, is an opening, from
which a pipe extends downwards into the drill coulter. When the slide or
valve is opened the liquid manure falls through the opening on to the sloping
board, over which it spreads or splashes and flows in equal quantities through
each of the radial chambers, whence it is conducted by the pipes above men
tioned to the several drill coulters, and is by these means deposited with the
corn or seed in the coulter rows. A revolving agitator or stirrer is placed
in the trough or vessel, as usual, driven by a band or spur wheels to
keep the manure in constant agitation, and prevent the solid particles
thereof from settling at the bottom and choking the opening into the dis-
tributing box.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "Improved
Apparatus for Distributing Liquid Manure," I will now proceed to describe
more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may be distinctly
understood, I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof,

page_text: and have marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding
with those in the following explanation thereof, that is to say :-
Figure 1, in the annexed Drawing, represents a plan view, Figure 2 a side
elevation, and Figure 3 a vertical section of my improved distributing box for
spreading liquid manure.
a, a, is the box, the rear part of which is lower than the front part, and is
formed somewhat like a fan; b, b, is a sloping board or "spreader" on to
which (as above mentioned) the liquid manure falls from the trough or vessel
containing it on to about the centre thereof, and spreads or splashes over the
whole surface, so as to form a sheet before reaching the lower part of the box.
The latter is provided with a moveable bar c, c, furnished with radial divi-
sions d, d, which divide the sheet of liquid manure into streams, and direct it
towards the openings e, e, in the back of the box, each of the said openings
being provided with a short pipe or nozzle f, f, to which are to be connected
flexible tubes, which convey the manure to the coulters, and thus into the rows
of seed.
It will be observed that in the plan view, Figure 1, the moveable bar c, c,
is shown as provided with one division d, d, only, but upon removing this
bar and substituting therefor either of the bars represented at Figures 4, 5, 6,
or a bar with 3, 5, or any other number of divisions, the sheet of liquid
manure may be divided into as many streams as may be thought desirable,
and each of these streams directed towards and deposited in its corresponding
coulter, or to the rows of plants, if the distributing box is attached to a liquid
manure cart, or other like implement. The object of the division bars is to
equalize the flow of the liquid to each coulter, whether there be two coulters
used, or the whole number that are fitted to the drill. This box is also capable
of being used without the division bars, the equalization of the flow of the
liquid being obtained by moveable buttons fixed on to the bottom.
The great advantage of the new arrangement is that the liquid is discharged
into the receiving box through one large hole or opening, and is subsequently
subdivided, thus admitting of superphosphates and other artificial manures
being sown by it without blocking up the pipes, which has been the great
defect in all machines yet produced; and a further important advantage is,
that perfect equality in distribution of the liquid to each coulter is attained.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
Improved Apparatus for Distributing Liquid Manure," together with the
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into prac-
tical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my Invention, the
"

page_text: improved distributing box above described and represented in the annexed
Drawings, or any mere modification or imitation thereof, constructed and
operating in substantially the same or a similar manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Smith Billups, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
C. S. BILLUPS. (L.S.)