IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENTS OF REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert Henry Ray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th May
1869.
I, ROBERT HENRY RAY, of Walden Hall, Saffron Walden, in the
County of Essex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENTS OF
REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to construct reaping and mowing
machines in such a manner that they can be worked in either direction,
that is to say, they are fitted with two sets of knives in order that
the grain or grass may be cut while the machine is travelling up
or down the field. The Invention also relates to arrangements of
the various parts of the mechanism by which the above objects are
attained.
The frame of the machine is constructed preferably of iron of I shape
in section; it is formed with an opening for the main bearing wheel

page_text: to work in. The main bearing wheel is of sufficient width that all or
nearly all of the driving mechanism is enclosed within it. The finger
beam or beams are supported by an adjustable plate fitted to the frame.
The finger beams or the plate to which the finger beams are connected
has a delivery board attached in such a manner that it can be turned
over on its hinges when the machine has reached one end of the field
to enable the machine to travel in the reverse direction. The board is
fitted with two supporting wheels outside the screen, one being placed
above the other to support the board whichever way the machine may be
travelling. The outer end of the finger beam is supported by a wheel,
and its height can be adjusted so that the fingers shall work parallel
with the ground. The frame is extended to the front and to the
rear, upon which the seats for the attendant are placed. The seats
are supported upon india-rubber washers enclosed within boxes or
collars in order to reduce the jolting motion of the machine while
travelling being communicated to the attendant. At each end and
within reach of the attendant is placed a handle or hand wheel attached
to an upright shaft which supports the steering wheel. Above the
main bearing wheel and attached to the frame is a cam for causing
the rakes to move in the required direction for raking or sweeping
the cut grain from the delivery board behind or nearly behind the
main bearing wheel. Sometimes I place an additional bearing wheel
outside the frame. The machine can be easily converted into a mowing
machine by disconnecting the delivery board from the finger beams
and the rakes from their sockets. The knife driving mechanism receives
its first movement from teeth on the inner periphery of the main
bearing wheel, which teeth gear into a pinion on a shaft which also
carries a bevilled wheel; this wheel in its turn gears with a bevil
pinion on another shaft, and a spur pinion on this shaft in gear with
a spur wheel on the cranked axle or shaft operates the knives; other
pinions and wheels also receive their motion for actuating the rakes
from the nave of the first-mentioned wheel. The speed of both knives
and rakes may be altered by a change of pinions. There is a
clutch arrangement on one or more of the shafts, so that the cutting
mechanism on the rake mechanism may be thrown into and out of
gear as required. The height at which the rakes work above the
delivery board is regulated by a pinion gearing with teeth on the vertical
shaft or on a sleeve over the shaft, and each rake can be converted into

page_text: a gatherer at pleasure by taking out the teeth which are rivetted
upon a separate bar for that purpose. The finger beams can also be dis-
connected from the frame to admit of the machine passing through any
gateway.