Improvements in or connected with Mowing or Reaping Machines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1894-Accepted, 29th Dec., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Mowing or Reaping Machines.
We, JAMES HORNSBY and JOHN INNOCENT both of Spittlegate Iron Works,
Grantham, in the County of Lincoln, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to mowing or reaping machines of that kind in which the
finger-bar and other parts of the cutting apparatus are designed to be lifted by
means of a lever operated by a person riding on the machine, the object of the said
invention being to provide improved means for preventing the lifting-lever from
moving during the working of the machine by reason of the constant slackening
and tightening of the lifting-chain as the finger-bar passes over inequalities of
the ground and also to assist the rider when lifting the finger-bar for any
purpose.
According to our invention we combine with the usual lifting-lever a spring
which at one end is in connection with the lever and at the other end bears upon
an abutment behind the pivot of the lever in such a manner that it normally acts
against the lever when in its upright position to maintain it steady and that it will,
during the first part of the movement of the lever to lift the finger-bar, be
compressed and during the remaining part re-act to assist in lifting the finger-bar.
To enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawing which shews in sectional side elevation so
much of a mowing machine as is necessary to illustrate the application of our
invention thereto.
a is the pole bracket which is pivotted upon the main axle, and b is the lifting-
lever pivotted to the pole-bracket at c and having at its lower end the segment d
to which the lifting-chain e is attached all of which parts are of ordinary
construction.
fis our spring which is carried upon a rod g pivotted at one end upon an arm or
bracket h upon the pole-bracket a and at the other end sliding through a guide i
upon the lever b, the said spring at one end bearing against a flange or enlargement
of the rod g and at the other end against the guide . It will be noticed by
reference to the drawing that the arm or bracket his arranged behind the pivot of
the lever b so that the spring f, when the finger-bar is on the ground and the said
lever is in its forward position, tends to hold the same with the usual pawl or
catch thereon in contact with a stop k and so that, whilst the lever is being moved
from the position shewn in Figure 1 to the position indicated by the line l, that is
to say, the position in which the axis of the rod g is in alignment with the axis c of
the lever, the spring will be compressed (the movement of the lever to this point
practically only taking up the slack of the chain e) and that during the time the
lever is being further moved to the position indicated by the dotted lines in the
drawing the spring will re-act against the lever b in the direction in which it is
being moved to lift the finger-bar.
Instead of pivotting the rod g carrying the spring to the bracket h, the said rod
may be pivotted to the lever, in which case the free end of the rod would slide
through a guide on the arm h

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
1. The combination with the lifting-lever of a mowing or reaping machine, of a
spring such as f arranged between the said lifting-lever and the pole bracket,
substantially as, and for the purposes, described.
2. In a mowing machine the combination with the mechanism for lifting the
cutting apparatus of a spring arranged substantially as described by reference to
the accompanying drawing for the purposes specified.
Dated the 23rd day of November 1894.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.