IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA- De SmA MODE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Roper, of Monson Street, in the County of
Lincoln, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
De SmA MODE
"
Sealed the 5th June 1868, and dated the 6th December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Roper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
December 1867.
I, FRANCIS ROPER, of Monson Street, in the County of Lincoln, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR DRIVING STRAW ELEVATORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for driving
straw elevators. When a straw elevator is employed to take the straw. from
a thrashing machine and raise it on to a stack or elsewhere, where it may be
required, the elevator has to be driven by a belt from a pulley on the thrashing
machine, and in order that this may be done when the elevator is standing in
various positions as respects the thrashing machines, as is necessary in practical
working, the straw elevator has in some cases been furnished with a driven
axis which is adjustable in a horizontal plane to any required angle, this however
involves somewhat complicated and expensive gearing. In some cases also
the thrashing machine has been furnished with. a driving pulley on the same
level with the driven pulley on the elevator, and there have been fixed guide
pulleys mounted on fixed vertical axes on the corner of the thrashing machine,
and round these the driving belt has been passed. This arrangement

page_text: however requires an additional axis on the thrashing machine, and this axis
has to be so low down as to be inconvenient and its use is objectionable.
Now according to my Invention I mount on the tail of the straw elevator
a bracket projecting at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the driven axis
of the elevator. This bracket receives upon it two guide pulleys, they are
mounted in forked frames which can be clamped to the bracket at any
desired angle, and at any required height, so that they may serve to lead a
driving band truly from a driving pulley on the thrashing machine to the
driven pulley of the elevator whatever may be the height of the driving
pulley on the thrashing machine, that is to say, the pulleys can be set so that
their axis may be at right angles to the driving band as it passes on to them,
and so that the pulleys may be at a height suitably intermediate of that of
the driving and the driven pulleys. The bracket is so arranged that it can
be shifted from side to side of the elevator through a quarter circle, and
there is a pulley on each end of the driven shaft of the elevator so that the
elevator may be worked either to the right hand or the left of the thrashing
machine. Or in some cases, with the same object, I arrange the guide
pulleys at the corners of the thrashing machine, not as heretofore, on a
fixed vertical axis, but in such manner as described in respect to the elevator
that the pulleys can be raised and lowered and their axes set at right angles
to the driving band as it passes on to them; it is preferred however to
mount the guide pulleys on the bracket on the elevator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Roper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
ROPER, of Monson Street, in the County of Lincoln, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reigny did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Francis Roper, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Roper,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Francis Roper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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 DRIVING STRAW ELEVATORS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Francis Roper, 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 Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the saine
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 Francis Roper, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for driving
straw elevators. When a straw elevator is employed to take the straw from
a thrashing machine, and raise it on to a stack or elsewhere where it may
be required, the elevator has to be driven by a belt from a pulley on the
thrashing machine, and in order that this may be done when the elevator is
standing in various positions as respects the thrashing machine, as is necessary
in practical working, the straw elevator has in some cases been furnished
with a driven axis which is adjustable in a horizontal plane to any required
angle; this, however, involves somewhat complicated and expensive gearing.
In some cases also the thrashing machine has been furnished with a driving pulley
on the same level with the driven pulley on the elevator, and there have been
fixed guide pulleys mounted on fixed vertical axes on the corner of the thrash-
ing machine and round these the driving belt has been passed. This arrange-
ment, however, requires an additional axis on the thrashing machine, and this
axis has to be so low down as to be inconvenient and its use is objectionable.
Now according to my Invention I mount on the tail of the straw elevator
a bracket projecting at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the driven axis
of the elevator. This bracket receives upon it two guide pulleys; they are
mounted in forked frames which can be clamped to the bracket at any
desired angle and at any required height, so that they may serve to lead a
driving band truly from a driving pulley on the thrashing machine to the
driven pulley of the elevator, whatever may be the height of the driving
pulley on the thrashing machine, that is to say, the pulleys can be set so that
their axes may be at right angles to the driving band as it passes on to them,
and so that the pulleys may be at a height suitably intermediate of that of

page_text: the tail
of a thrashing machine and an end
view of a straw elevator with improved driving apparatus applied to it in the
manner which I prefer. The elevator is here so placed as to deliver the
straw at right angles to the thrashing machine, and to the left hand of it
looking from the front of the thrashing machine; Figure 2 shows a back
view of the same thrashing machine and a side view of the elevator, which
in this case is arranged to deliver to the right-hand side of the thrashing
machine; Figure 3 is a plan of the machines in the position in which they
are shown at Figure 2.
A is the portion of the thrashing machine, and A' a driving drum upon it;
this drum, however, it will be understood will not in all thrashing machines be
at the same height from the ground, and the elevator is intended to work
with various forms of thrashing machines as may happen to be convenient in
practice; B is the straw elevator which it is unnecessary to describe in
detail as it may with the exception of the parts herein-after referred to be of
any ordinary construction; b, b, are its driven pulleys, they are on opposite
sides of the machine and on the same axis from which the working parts of
the elevator take their movement; c is a bracket centered to the frame of the
elevator at c¹, and capable of swinging from one corner to the other of the
elevator; it is supported by the guide bar d and is bolted to it in either
position as is required, its upper end is also attached to the frame of the
elevator by a screw on one side or on the other; this screw is made capable of
being easily removed. The upright part of the bracket c is perforated with
holes at short distances apart to receive the stens of the forked frames in

page_text: which the guide pulleys are carried; e, e, are the guide pulleys; they are
shown, together with a portion of the bracket c, to a larger scale at Figure 4.
The stem of each guide pulley frame can be inserted in any one of the
several holes in the bracket, and when so inserted it can be turned round
until the axis of the pulley is at right angles with the driving belt f, as it
passes on to it, taking the shortest course between the driving pulley of the
thrashing machine and the driven pulley of the elevator. When the pulleys e, e,
are thus set they are secured by screwing up the nuts e¹ on the stems of the
pulley frames which have screw threads cut upon them. It is obvious that
not only may the elevator be placed so as to convey away the straw delivered
on to it towards either side of the thrashing machine, as is shown, but also
that it may be made to work at any desired angle to the thrashing machine.
Although the swing bracket is convenient, fixed brackets, one at either corner
of the elevator, may be substituted for it; or as before mentioned the guide
pulleys with the double power of adjustment, as already described, may be
mounted on the corners of the thrashing machine in place of on the elevator,
but this is less convenient. When this construction is resorted to the driving
pulley on the thrashing machine should be set further back.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that the details of the
arrangement may be varied, but that the improvements in apparatus for driving
straw elevators which I claim, are the applying at the corner of a straw
elevator, or it may be of a thrashing machine, guide pulleys which are adjust-
able up and down, so that their position may be suitably intermediate of the
driving and the driven pulleys, and so that their axes may be set at right angles
to the driving band as it passes on to them.
I also claim the application to the straw elevator of a swinging bracket
with guide pulleys upon it so that by the movement of the said bracket on
its centre the guide pulleys may be transferred from one side of the machine
to the other as may be required.
I also claim the general arrangement of the apparatus substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Roper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
FRANCIS ROPER. (L.S.)