of IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR PLANTING POTATOES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dewar, of Strathmartin, Dundee, in the County
of Forfar, North Britain, Agricultural Implement Maker for an Invention
"
of IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR PLANTING POTATOES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dewar at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th July 1883.
WILLIAM DEWAR, of Strathmartin, Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North
Britain, Agricultural Implement Maker, " IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR
PLANTING POTATOES
»
This Invention has for its object the construction of implements for planting
potatoes in an improved manner; and in carrying it out according to a simple and
convenient modification the implement is designed for planting two rows simul-
taneously, and comprises a horizontal rectangular frame having attached to it
trams or shafts for a horse by which the implement is to be drawn along. A hopper
or holder for the seed potatoes is formed within the frame, the sides consisting
principally of two disks which may be the carrying wheels of the implement when
in operation or which may be arranged to receive rotatory motion from other wheels
through clutches or gearing made capable of being engaged or disengaged. The
bottom of the hopper is made with its middle part raised so that the potatoes may
fall down each side towards the disks, and the after part is made concentric with
the disks and so that certain projections fixed on the inner faces of the disks may
pass round inside of it, but the forward part is placed more inwards so that the
projections on the disks pass outside of it. Near the lowest part of the hopper
the projections are by the rotation of the disks carried through loose valves or
doors into the inside of the hopper and whilst passing round and upwards through
the after part of the hopper each projection takes up a potatoe or part of one.
Each disk has centered on its outer side as many levers as there are projections on
its inner side, and each lever has formed on one end of it a head which can enter
a hole made through the disk at the forward side of the corresponding projection.
Two or more pointed pins are fixed in the head of each lever, there being by
preference two of these pins of unequal length; and whilst each projection is
Pe 21

page_text: passing through the hopper its lever is moved in contact with a cam guide fitted
to the frame so that the head is made to enter through the hole in the disk and
the pins enter any potatoe or piece which may be against the projection. At the
part where this pinning of the potatoe takes place the hopper is formed with a
kind of comparatively narrow channel the inner side of which prevents the potatoe
from being merely pushed away and insures its being pinned. Should two or
more pieces happen to be in the channel at the pinning point the crushing of them
is prevented by the external cam guide being controlled by a spring which allows
the pinning lever to yield under extra pressure. Each potatoe or piece pinned in
the manner described is held by the pins and projection and carried up out of the
hopper and round to the front descending side of the disks; and just before each
projection enters the hopper again at the bottom another cam guide fixed to the
frame acts on the lever and makes it withdraw its head out through the hole in
the disk which causes the potatoe or piece to drop off into the furrow prepared for
it. If the disks are used as the actual carrying wheels whilst the improvement is
in operation, a pair of small wheels is provided for use as carrying wheels at other
times, these wheels being fitted to levers or a frame which can be turned down
when required so as to raise the disks off the ground.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Dewar in the Patent Office on the 11th January 1884.
WILLIAM DEWAR, of Strathmartin, Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North
Britain, Agricultural Implement Maker IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS FOR
PLANTING POTATOES "
"
.
:
My said Invention has for its object the construction of implements for planting
potatoes in an improved manner; and in carrying it out according to a simple and
convenient modification the implement is designed for planting two rows simul-
taneously, and comprises a horizontal rectangular frame having attached to it
trams or shafts for a horse by which the implement is to be drawn along. A
hopper or holder for the seed potatoes is formed within the frame, the sides of the
hopper consisting principally of two disks, which may be the carrying wheels of
the implement when in operation; or which may be arranged to receive rotatory
motion from the carrying wheels through clutches or gearing made, capable of
being engaged or disengaged. The bottom of the hopper is made with its middle,
part raised so that the potatoes may fall down each side towards the disks; and
the after part is made concentric with the disks and so that certain projections or
scoops fixed on the inner faces of the disks may pass round inside of it, but the
forward part is placed more inwards so that the projections on the disks may pass,
outside of it. Near the lowest part of the hopper the projections are by the
rotation of the disks. carried through openings (with or without loose valves or
doors) into the inside of the hopper, and whilst passing round and upwards
through the after part of the hopper each projection takes up a potatoe or part of
one. These potatoes or pieces are secured and held on the projections by pins or
points on levers which let them go after carrying them round to the positions
where they should be dropped.
If the disks are used as the actual carrying wheels whilst the implement is in
operation, a pair of small wheels is provided for use as carrying wheels at other
times, these wheels being fitted to levers or a frame which can be turned down'
when required so as to raise the disks off the ground.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings'
to be hereinafter referred to and representing my improved implement as made
according to one modification.
Figure, 1, on the accompanying sheet of drawings is a sectional side elevation
(the near carrying wheel being supposed to be removed) and figure, 2, is a sectional
back elevation. Figure, 3, is a vertical section of the hopper; figure, 4, is an
enlarged section of a part of one of the disks with one of the pinning levers; and
figure, 5, is an inside elevation of one of the disks. In these drawings the same
reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
'
In the modification of my improved implement shown in the accompanying
drawings there are two carrying wheels, 6, which are loose on an axle or shaft, 7,,
but which can be made to turn the shaft by means of sliding clutches, 8. Within
the carrying wheels, 6, there is a horizontal rectangular frame, 9, carried on the
axle, 7, and having fixed to its forward part a pair of trams or shafts, 10, for a
horse. On the axle, 7, there are fixed two iron disks, 11, which form sides to a
hopper, 12, occupying the middle space between them, the hopper being relatively
stationary and fixed to the front and back parts of the frame, 9, The hopper is
formed partly by two segmental or curved castings, 13, of which one is shown in
figure, 3, and which are bolted by means of flanges, 14, to the frame, 9, in positions,

page_text: such that the disks, 11, may rotate with their inner circumferential edges almost
in contact with them. Between the castings, 13, or channel pieces as they may
be termed, the hopper is formed with a back cylindrical part, 12, made of wooden
staves, and with an inclined forward part, 15, made of wood, whilst at the lower
part between the back and forward parts, 12, 15, there is a double-inclined part, 16,
also of wood, the inclined parts, 15, and 16, serving to guide the seed potatoes
downwards towards the lower parts of the two disks, 11, and into the channels
formed close to the disks by the channel pieces, 13.
"
Each disk, 11, has fixed on its inner face a number of projections or small
scoops, 17, which, as the disk rotates, move round through the channel of the
piece, 13, each scoop tending to carry round any potatoe or piece which may fall in
front of it whilst it is passing through the hopper from the low point, where it
enters through an opening, 18, round to the top of the back at, 19. In a position
which is just above each scoop, 17, whilst moving. upwards at the back there is a
hole in the disk, 11, through which there can enter from the outside the head, 20,
of a lever, 21, centered on a lug upon the outside of the disk. There are of course
as many holes and as many levers, 21, as there are scoops or projections, 17. Each
lever head, 20, is armed with two or more sharp pins or points, 22, two being by
preference used and one of them longer than the other, and each lever, 21, is in its
turn acted upon as the disk carries it round, by stationary cam guides so as at one
part to bave its head thrust through the hole in the disk in order to pin the potatoe
or piece that may then be on the scoop, 17, whilst at another part the head is
withdrawn out through the disk and the potatoe or piece thereby pushed off the
pins and dropped. The cam guide for pinning the potatoes is in the form of a
curved lever, 23, centered on the frame, 9, and at the part where it acts the
scoop, 17, is passing through the channel formed by the casting, 13, and the inner
side of the channel prevents the potatoe from being merely pushed away and
insures its being pinned. Should two or more pieces happen to be in the channel
at the pinning point the crushing of them is prevented by the external cam
guide, 23, being controlled by a spring, 24, which allows the pinning lever, 21, to
yield under extra pressure. The yielding lever or cam guide, 23, is jointed to a
bracket, 25, which has fixed to its upper part a rigid cam guide, 26, which acts.
when the scoop has passed up out of the channel, and causes any second potatoe or
piece should there be more than one to be thrown off into the hopper. The
potatoes thus pinned are carried by the disks, 11, over and round and are made to
descend at the front of the hopper where they enter and pass down through a.less
confined part, 27, (figure, 3.) of the channel piece 13. The pinning levers, 21, are
made with arms, 28, opposite to those having the heads, 20, and when passing
round the lower part of their courses these arms, 28, are acted upon by a curved
cam guide, 29, which causes the heads to be withdrawn out through the holes in
the disks, 11, in consequence of which the potatoes drop off and fall into the carth
through an opening, 30, in the lower part of each channel piece, 13. The cam
guides, 29, which are continued round and up at the back to prevent the lever
heads, 20, from entering too soon through the holes in the disks, 11, are fixed each
to a guard, 31, which protects the pinning levers, 21, from earth and which is
attached to the frame, 9, by means of bars, 32.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of
performing the saine I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is :-
1. The combination of parts forming the improved implement for planting
potatoes herein before described.
2. The mechanism for lifting the potatoes or pieces out of the hopper and
consisting of the scoops or projections on the disks combined with the pinning
levers and the cam guides the parts being arranged and operating substantially in
the manner hereinbefore described.

page_text: 3. The arrangement of the channel pieces and the disks in relation to each other
and combined with the inclined bottom of the hopper so as to guide the potatoes
or pièces into positions for being taken up by the scoops and pinning levers
substantially as hereinbefore described.
4. The arming of each pinning lever with two or more pins or points of unequal
length as hereinbefore described.
5. The fitting of the lever cam guides which cause the pinning levers to secure
the potatoes or pieces, with springs substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before described.
In Witness whereof I, the said William Dewar, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this ninth day of January in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty-four.
Witness.
EDMUND HUNT
Patent Agent
Glasgow.
WILLIAM DEWAR. (L.S.)