IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Brenton, of Polbathick, in the County of
Cornwall, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
MACHINES,"
Sealed the 9th December 1864, and dated the 12th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Brenton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th August 1864.
I, WILLIAM BRENTON, of Polbathic, in the County of Cornwall, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN REAPING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of an apparatus for delivering the cut corn from
reaping machines.
For this purpose a roller is mounted upon a shaft behind the finger bar and
cutters; one end of this roller shaft revolves in a fixed bearing, the other end
is carried by a lever which vibrates upon a fulcrum. On the outer end of the
roller shaft there is a friction wheel, immediately opposite to but out of contact
with a corresponding friction wheel on the large driving wheel of the machine.
When a sufficient quantity of corn has been cut to form a sheaf, the attendant

page_text: presses down the treddle of the vibrating lever with his foot, and brings the two
friction wheels into contact, when the roller revolves and the sheaf is delivered
from the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Brenton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRENTON, of Polbathick, in the County of Cornwall, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Brenton, Her special licence that I, the said William
Brenton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Brenton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Brenton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 I, the said William Brenton, 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 the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of an apparatus for delivering the cut corn from
reaping machines.
For this purpose a roller is mounted upon a shaft behind the finger bar and
cutters; one end of this roller shaft revolves in a fixed bearing, the other end

page_text: is carried by a lever which vibrates upon a fulcrum. Upon the outer end of
this roller shaft there is a friction wheel, immediately opposite to but out of
contact with a corresponding friction wheel on the large driving wheel of the
machine. When a sufficient quantity of corn has been cut to form a sheaf,
the attendant presses down the treddle of the vibrating lever with his foot,
which brings the two friction wheels into contact, when the roller revolves
and the sheaf is delivered from the machine.
And in order that the manner of performing my said Invention may be more
fully understood, reference is had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
following description thereof, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a plan view of so much of a
reaping machine as is necessary to explain the nature and mode of performing
my said Invention. The same letters refer to similar parts in each of these
Drawings. A, A, is the framing of the machine; B, the large travelling
and driving wheel, the shaft of which 6 carries the friction wheel C;
D is a roller on the shaft d, which revolves at one end in a fixed bearing,
while the other end is supported by a bearing on the end of a vibrating lever
E, which has a fulcrum at f, and is furnished at the other end with a treddle
G. Upon the end of the shaft d there is a smaller friction wheel H, opposite
to but out of contact with the corresponding friction wheel C. Whenever the
attendant presses down the treddle G with his foot, the other end of the lever
and the shaft d is raised, and the friction wheel His brought into contact with
the wheel C, and the roller D is made to revolve. When a sufficient quantity
of corn or grass has been cut to form a sheaf or cock, the attendant presses
down the treddle, which causes the roller to revolve and deliver the cut corn
from the machine. The roller D may be cylindrical or polygonal on its surface,
which may be either plain or furnished with books or pegs. And in order to
deliver the sheaf of cut corn at the side in preference to the end of the machine,
I apply a delivery board I and roller K to the end of the machine by means
of hooks or hinges. Motion is given to the roller K by a cord or belt from
the friction wheel C, which passes round guides j, j, to the pulley L on the
shaft of the roller K. M is a trailing wheel or castor to support the hinder
part of the delivery board I.
As in the arrangement of the cutting knives, &c., and the mode of commu-
nicating motion thereto, is such as is in common use and form no part of my
said improvements, it is not necessary to describe them here. What I claim as
constituting my Invention of improvements in reaping machines is the
arrangement of a vibrating roller to which an intermittent motion can be given

page_text: at pleasure for the delivery of the cut corn, and either with or without a
side delivery, substantially as herein-before described, and shown in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brenton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
W. BADDELEY,
Patent Agent,
Islington.
WILLIAM BRENTON. (L.s.)