IMPROVEMENTS IN HAY AND OTHER RAKES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Kirby, of Bodicote, Oxon, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAY AND OTHER RAKES."
Sealed the 12th January 1858, and dated the 22nd July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Kirby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the 22nd
July 1857.
I, JOSEPH KIRBY, of Bodicote, Oxon, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAY AND OTHER RAKES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in hay and other rakes.
For these purposes the tines incline forward of the axis in such manner that
the hay or other crop or material may flow or rise up the tines and fall into a
cradle or receiver (suspended on the axle) at the back of the tines. It is
preferred that the tines should be arranged to move on an axle at their upper
ends, so as to fold when desired; at each end of the axle is a wheel, by
which the rake and cradle are carried. In the front are applied suitable
shafts, or when to be drawn by hand, a suitable handle. The cradle or receiver
has a handle at the back by which the position of the tines may be regulated
in respect to the surface of the land, and by which the cradle or receiver may

page_text: from time to time be tilted back, so as to discharge its contents. In some
cases an axis with teeth is placed above the ends of the tines, and such axis is
driven from the wheels in such manner that the teeth on the upper axis may
aid in moving the hay or other material from the tines into the cradle or
receiver.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Kirby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
KIRBY, of Bodicote, Oxon, send greeting.
⚫ WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Kirby, Her special licence, that 1, the said Joseph Kirby,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Kirby, my exccutors, 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
HAY AND OTHER RAKES," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the
said Joseph Kirby, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 imme-
diately after the date of. the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Kirby, 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 :-
Heretofore in the construction of rakes for raking up bay and other crops,
the tines and parts have been so arranged, that when the tines have raked
up and collected a quantity of hay, in place of depositing such quantity on the

page_text: land as heretofore, such quantity is caused to pass to and be received by a
cradle or receiver carried at the back of the rake, and which cradle or receiver
is arranged to be tilted over when a considerable accumulation has taken
place therein. And the peculiarity of the Invention consists in combining a
cradle or receiver with a rake in a suitable manner to receive a more con-
siderable portion of a crop than the rake is capable of holding at one time,
and then to deposit such larger accumulation from the cradle or receiver.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation, Figure 2 an end elevation, and Figure 3
a plan, of a rake and apparatus applied thereto according to my Invention.
In each of these Figures the same letters are used to indicate the same parts.
A is a continuation of the side framing, in order that a cradle or receiver may
be combined with the rake which (as is shown) may be of the ordinary
construction. The cradle B turns on axes C, which turn in bearings in the
side extended framing A, and the cradle or receiver B is tilted over by the
handle D. The cradle may be made of wicker or light iron framing, or in any
suitable manner; it rests on suitable bearings or supports on the inside of the
framings A. The collecting tines E are of the ordinary kind, and when the
hay or
other crop
has been collected by such tines, the tines are lifted as
heretofore by the handle I, by which they will be lifted out of the collected
hay or other crop, whilst the ad-litional tines II, which move with an axis
above the lower ends of the tines E, will come under the collected quantity of
hay and other crop, and receive such collected quantity as it descends from the
ends of the tines E, and such tines II, by turning with their axis, will deposit
the quantity of hay or other crop in the cradle or receiver. The turning over
of the times I is accomplished in the following manner:-F is a connecting
rod which actuates the axis of the additional tines H; it is slotted at its upper
part. The axis of the tines H is supported by rods J. The axis of the
tines is connected to the rod F by arms G, and there can be adjusting stops
fixed to the slotted rod F, in order to regulate the time of its action to turn
over the tines H, and the fore ends of the tines H are caused to move forward
by the lever and rod K, L. I would remark that although I prefer the
arrangement shewn for combining a cradle or receiver with a rake, I do not
confine myself thereto, for it will be evident that the details may readily be
varied, and if desired the tines II might be dispensed with, and the tines E
made of such form as to deliver directly into the cradle or receiver.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of

page_text: performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is the combination
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Kirby, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JOSEPH EDWARD KIRBY.
JOSEPH KIRBY. (L.S.)