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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



pinion arrangements for driving intermediate bevel- 

 wlieels in alternate directions. Ttiese intermediate wheels 

 are keyed on, one to each extremity of the shaft, on 

 which the rollers with India-rubber peripheries are 

 fixed. By means of the clutch the main driving-wheels 

 can be driven either backwards or forwards : keeping 

 the cutters up to their work, or releasing them from 

 their action in the soil. 



We now come to notice the steam culti vator patented 

 by Mr. Chandos Wren Hoskyns, well known as the 

 author of " Talpa, or the Chronicles of a Clay Farm.' 

 (Patent dated Aug. 13th, 1853 ; No. 1899. Price of 

 specification 8§d.) The principle upon which the ma- 

 chine works is so graphically described in the work above 

 alluded to, that we cannot do better than here extract 

 it : " Imagine such an instrument (a revolving-toothed 

 instrument, with a space as broad as a hay-tedding 

 machine or Crosskill's clod-crusher), not rolling on the 

 ground, but performing independent revolutions behind 

 its locomotive, cutting its way down, by surface abrasion, 

 into a semicircular trench about a foot-and-a-half wide, 

 and throwing back the pulverized soil (as it flies back 

 like the feet of a dog scratching at a rabbit -hole) ; then 

 imagine the locomotive moving forward in the hard 

 ground with a slow and equable mechanicp^ m otion, the 

 revolver behind, with its cutting-points (case hardened) 

 playing on the edge or land-side of the trench as it ad- 

 vances, and capable of any adjustment to cause a fine 

 cutting; moving always forward, and leaving behind, 

 granulated and inverted by its revolving action, a seed- 

 bed seven or eight inches deep ; never to be gone over 

 again by any implement, except the drill, which had 

 much better follow at once, attached behind with alight 

 bush-harrow, to cover the seed." Reserving for future 

 discussion this principle of action, we shall proceed very 

 briefly to describe the method by which the inventor 

 proposes to apply it practically to the cultivation of 

 land, as illustrated in the patent to which we have 

 already alluded. The framing of the machine is sup- 

 ported at one end by two main driving wheels of broad 

 tire, and at the other by two steering wheels, also with 

 broad peripheries. At the back end of the frame the 

 steam-engines, of the horizontal class, are placed ; the 

 boiler— a vertical one — being at the opposite end, near 

 the steering wheels. The framing near the engines 

 takes a burst forward and downward, and provides, at 

 its lowest extremity, bearings for the horizontal shaft of 

 the "tiller;" this consequently works a little below 

 the centre of the main driving wheels, and at some dis- 

 tance in advance of them. The shaft of the tiller works 

 at its extremities in bushes, which are not permanently 

 fixed in the framing, but slide up and down in guides 

 or slots made in it. To these bushes screwed rods are 

 connected, these being carried upwards, and provided 

 at their upper extremities with screw wheels, which 

 take into endless screws keyed to the extremities of a hori- 

 zontal shaft revolving parallel to the shaft of the digger. 

 A winch or lever is attached to this horizontal shaft, by 

 turningwhichtheendlessscrews actuate the screw-wheels, 

 and raise or lower the bushes in which the shaft of the 

 tiller revolves ; by this means tjje depth to which the 



cutters penetrate the soil can be easily regulated. 

 Motion is given to the tiller or digger shaft by means of 

 an endless gearing-chains, which pass over drums 

 keyed to the end of the main shaft of the steam-engine, 

 and to the ends of the digger shaft. The relative speeds 

 of the engine-driving shaft and that of the digger may 

 be regulated by changing the diameter of the charge 

 wheels. The progressive motion of the machine is 

 maintained thus : to the axle of the main driving wheels 

 a large bevel wheel is keyed, this gears with a smaller 

 wheel keyed to the lower end of a shaft set angularly, 

 to the upper end of which a screw wheel is fixed, this 

 taking into an endless screw in the centre of the main 

 driving shaft of the steam-engines. The motion of the 

 cutter or digger, and the progressive motion of the ma- 

 chine, being thus derivable from the same shaft, an ac- 

 curate adjustment is capable of being made between 

 them. Means are provided by which the revolving 

 action of the cutter or digger can be maintained whilst 

 the progressive motion of the machine is stopped. The 

 " tiller " is formed by a series of discs fixed in a central 

 shaft ; each disc carries at the extremities of a diameter 

 two cutters, the extremities of which are shaped like the 

 cutting tool of a paring or slotting machine. These 

 cutters move in slots made in the arms of the disc, and 

 are capable of adjustment — that is, of being brought 

 nearer to, or further from, the periphery of the disc. 

 The discs are so arranged on the shaft, that the whole 

 breadth of the cutters which they carry act in succes- 

 sion in the soil ; by this means they have a self-cleaning 

 action, and, as they lap with one another, no interspace 

 of soil is allowed to escape unsevered from the land-side, 

 or transferred to the back of the trench, which is thus 

 kept clean by the action of the instrument. In bring- 

 ing the machine into operation, the cutter, or digger, 

 is placed clear of the ground ; the engine is then set 

 to work, causing the digger to rotate. The winch, or 

 handle, of the endless -screw shaft is then worked so as 

 to cause the bearings of the tiller shaft to descend in the 

 guides; the cutters are thus brouglit gradually in con- 

 tact with the soil, and the trench formed. The locomo- 

 tive gear is then put in action, when the progressive 

 motion of the machine commences ; and as it advances 

 over the land, the cutters abandon the soil in its pro- 

 gress. " This adaptation," says the inventor, " of the 

 motion of progression to the velocity and capabilities of 

 the tilling instruments forms a prominent feature of my 

 invention, and without it a proper degree of cultivation 

 cannot be effected." 



We now turn our attention to the machine of Mr. 

 Ford,* which has for its object to cultivate the ground 

 by a series of spades or forks, to work which the power 

 of steam is applied. The mechanism by which the 

 movements are eff'ected is peculiarly ingenious, and well 

 deserving the attention of the agricultural inquirer; it 

 is so complicated, however, that drawings will be neces- 

 sary, to make them clear to the reader. In the absence 

 of these, we must be content with presenting a short 

 abstract of its principal movements. 



* Patent dated June I2th, 1855, No. 1,343 ;»piice of the spe- 

 cification Sis. lOd. The leiters witliin brackets, .as (a), are added 

 to facilitate reference to the various parts of the mechanism. 



