IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO HORSE RAKES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James William Wagstaff, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st June 1877.
JAMES WILLIAM WAGSTAFF, of Moor Pershore, in the County of Worcester,
Farmer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ADDITIONS TO HORSE RAKES."
My Invention consists of the improvements in or additions to horse rakes
hereinafter described, by which improvements or additions the horse rake not only
rakes together the hay, corn, or other produce or stubble, but lifts it into a box or
receptacle attached to the rake, where it is collected and stored, and from which it
is removed at convenient intervals.
I apply to an ordinary horse rake, or to a horse rake modified as herein-after
explained, an elevator consisting of two or more endless chains or bands passing
over drums or pulleys, the said endless chains or bands carrying cross or horizontal
laths or bars, thus forming what is commonly called a ladder chain. On the upper
or outer sides of the laths of the said ladder chain spikes or teeth are fixed. The
upper pulleys or drums over which the ladder chain passes are situated near the
front of the rake, and at about the height of the shafts of the rake. The lower
drums or pulleys are situated within the ordinary forks and concentric with the
curved portions thereof, a line passing through the axes of the upper and lower
drums, making an angle of about 45 degrees with the horizon. The upper drums
are situated within a receiving box or receptacle of a nearly semicylindrical
figure. Outside this box or receptacle a rectangular frame works on a horizontal
axis, which said axis is also the axis of the semi-cylindrical box or receptacle. The
said frame is capable of travelling nearly through a semicircle, and that part of it
which travels outside the cylindrical surface of the box or receptacle carries a series
of prongs which pass through slots in the curved part of the box or receptacle.
The said frame and prongs constitute a vibrating rake, the prongs of which pass
through the slots in the curved box or receptacle. Motion is given to the moving
parts of the rake from the travelling wheels of the rake, a pulley on one of the said
wheels communicating motion through an endless chain or band to the upper drums
on which the ladder chain works.
The pulley described may be thrown into and out of gear with the said travelling
wheel by a sliding clutch. On the end of the axis of the upper drums is a crank,
a connecting rod from which gives motion to the vibrating rake.
The prongs of

page_text: the vibrating rake are not rigidly fixed to the bar carrying them. In their normal
position they make an angle of about 45 degrees with the radial arms of the rake;
but when the rake makes its return motion the resistance of the bay or produce
which they have to pass brings them into a position nearly at right angles to the
radial arms. A spring restores them to their normal position. By means of a lever
the shaft carrying the lower drums may be raised out of work. The shaft and
drums are capable of lifting over any obstruction when in work. The receiving
box or receptacle for the hay, corn, or other produce opens into a larger or storage
box, which latter is provided with a hinged back to allow the hay, corn, or produce
to be removed.
The action of the machine is as follows:-On the advance motion of the horse
rake its travelling wheels give motion to the axis of the upper drums, and the ladder
chain and the lower drums are thereby put in motion. The hay, corn, or produce
collected by the teeth of the ordinary rake in its advancing motion is seized by the
teeth of the ladder chain-and-carried-by-the-motion.of_the_said ladder chain over
the upper drums, from whence it falls into the semi-cylindrical receiving box or
receptacle. From this box or receptacle it is raised by the vibrating rake, by which
it is thrown into the storage box or receptacle, from which it is removed at con-
venient intervals.
In applying my Invention to horse rakes as usually constructed I prefer to apply
rollers on the upper side of the ladder chain, about midway between the upper and
lower drums. These rollers depress 'the ascending side of the ladder chain about
its middle, and thereby increase the space between it and the upper part of the
ordinary rake. The produce more readily passes through the increased space.
In constructing horse rakes to which my Invention is to be applied, I prefer to
make the straight parts of the rake teeth incline to the horizon at a greater angle
than the ordinary rake teeth. The necessity for deflecting the ladder chain is
thereby obviated.
'
The lever hereinbefore described by which the lower drums are lifted is the lever
by which the rake teeth are also lifted from the ground.