IMPROVEMENTS DRADING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Pidgeon, of the Britannia Iron Works,
Banbury, in the County of Oxon, Engineer, and William Manwaring,
of the same Place, also Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
DRADING AND MOWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 15th April 1868, and dated the 17th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Pidgeon and
William Manwaring at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th October 1867.
We, DANIEL PIDGEON, of the Britannia Iron Works, Banbury, in the
County, of Oxon, Engineer, and WILLIAM MANWARING; of the same Place, also
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of six distinct parts. The first of these parts
relates to the construction of such harvesting machines as are known as self-
acting side delivery reapers, having only one driving wheel in which the cut
grain is discharged in sheaves clear of the track of the horses by means of a
rotating rake or rakes, the path of such rake or rakes being regulated by
contact with à cam surface or surfaces; and it consists in constructing the
said machines in such a manner that the whole of the gearing, both that
which drives the cutting apparatus and that which operates the rotating rake
or rakes; is contained in two frames. The first of these frames, which we

page_text: call the draught frame, carries the main axle & the first motion shaft. The
second frame carries the crank shaft & the rotating rake or rakes, together
with the cutter bar and grain platform; this frame we call the gear frame.
The gear frame is pivotted to the draft frame in such a manner that the first
motion shaft forms the centre of motion around which the gear frame together
with the raking apparatus, the cutter bar, and the grain' platform, can be
raised from or lowered towards the ground. This is effected by preference
by means of a worm having its bearings in the gear frame, which worm takes
into a toothed segment cast on the draft frame; the pole for the horses is
attached to the draft frame. A suitable bearing for the shaft which operates
the rotating rake or rakes, together with the cam which regulates the path of
the rake or rakes, forms a portion of the gear frame, and motion is communi-
cated to the said rake shaft from the travelling or drive wheel preferably by
a combination of an endless chain and a bevil wheel and pinion. A quadrant
shaped grain platform is attached to the cutter bar, and serves to catch the
cut corn and retain it until it is swept off by the actiou of the revolving rake
or rakes. Fliers to lay the standing corn towards the cutters, and revolving
around the same axis as the rake or rakes, may be used or not at pleasure in
this machine.
The second part of our Invention relates to the construction of combined
reaping and mowing machines, and it consists in the combination of certain
parts of a mowing machine having two driving wheels (such for example as
the mowing machine described in the Specification of William Manwaring
bearing date the Eighteenth of May 1865, to which machine these im-
provements are preferably applicable) with other such parts, similar in their
construction and office to those described in the first part of this Invention as
are necessary to form a complete self-acting sheaf delivery reaping machine
with rotating rake or rakes and fliers, and with only one driving wheel. The
object of this part of our Invention is to construct a combined reaping
and mowing machine in such a manner that by the interchange of its parts
it may be converted either into a distinct and independent mowing machine
having two driving wheels and the usual cutting apparatus of a mowing
machine; or into a distinct and independent reaping machine with one driving
wheel, with the usual cutting apparatus of a reaping machine and a rotating
rake or rakes and platform for the automatic delivery of the sheaf. This
object is preferably effected by removing one of the driving wheels, the pole
and whippletrees, the seat, and seat support, the cutter bar and sickles, from
Manwaring's Patent mowing machine alluded to above, and applying them to
such a framework raking apparatus platform, &c. as are described under tho

page_text: first part of this Invention; but other methods of obtaining the same object
are described in the fifth part of this Invention and in the following or third
part.
The third part of our Invention relates also to the construction of combined
reaping and mowing machines, and consists in a method of converting the
single wheel self-raking reaper described in the first part of this Invention
into a two-wheeled mowing machine. This is effected by removing the whole
raking apparatus and grain platform and replacing the stump axle in the
draft frame by an axle carrying the two driving wheels placed at a suitable
distance apart, and ratcheted in such a manner as to give motion each
independently to the first motion shaft when the machine is drawn forward.
The necessary flexibility is given to the cutter bar by removing the lifting
worm described in part 1, and by further jointing the cutter bar where it is
attached to the gear frame. By this means the cutting apparatus can play
either around the first motion shaft or upon its joint with the gear frame.
The fourth part of this Invention relates also to combined reaping and
mowing machines, and it consists in constructing machines having a cutter bar
carried in front of the drive wheel or wheels in such a manner that they may
be readily converted into machines having the cutter bar in the rear of the
drive wheel or wheels. The object of this part of our Invention is to facilitate
the application of the rotating raking apparatus above described to machines
which carry the cutter bar in front of the drive wheel or wheels when in
use as a mowing machine. To effect this change we remove the shoe or
casting which carries the cutter bar together with the cutter bar, and replace
them by another shoe, carrying another cutter bar which has fingers on the
opposite side, so that they point in the opposite direction to that in which the
fingers point when the machine is in use as a mower. By means of a suitable
casting we also reverse the position of the draft pole, and the machine then
carries the cutting apparatus in the rear of the drive wheels.
The fifth part of our Invention relates also to combined reaping and mowing
machines, and consists in a method of depriving mowing machines, both rear
cutters and forward cutters, which have been converted into rear cutters as 'de-
scribed in the fourth part of this Invention, of one driving wheel, and attaching
to a machine so deprived a raking apparatus similar to that described in the first
part of this Invention and practically by similar means. The object of this
part of this Invention is to convert a two-wheeled mowing machine, whether
with rear or forward cutting apparatus, into a one-wheel self-acting sheaf
delivery reaper. This is accomplished by constructing the framework which
carries the whole of the gearing of a two-wheeled mowing machine in such a

page_text: manner that it is supported by that portion of the main axle nearest the drive
wheel next the cutter bar. The main axle is preferably made separable into
two parts, and when these are separated the drive wheel farthest from the
cutter bar is removed, together with such portion of the main axle as does not
serve to carry the gearing frame; or two distinct axles of different lengths
may be used for the same purpose, and the raking apparatus is then attached
to the framework as above described.
The sixth portion of our Invention relates to mowing machines having
two wheels and a jointed cutter bar, and it consists of a novel method of making
the jointed or flexible cutter bar to become rigid at discretion, in order that it
may be lifted clear of the ground in its entire length by means of the lever
provided for that purpose. To effect this we form the jointed shoe or casting
to which the cutter bar is attached in such a manner that a wedge or stop may
be inserted between the said shoe and main frame below the centre of the joint,
on which the cutter bar swings. If the cutter bar is raised after the insertion
of such wedge or stop, there being then no play allowed to it in the joint,
it rises from the ground throughout its entire length, together with the main
frame, of which for the time the cutter bar forms a rigid prolongation. The
wedge or stop we use for this purpose is hung on a pivot on the main frame,
and is so placed as to be under the control of the driver, who can stiffen
the cutter bar at his discretion. In place of a wedge or stop inserted below
the centre of the joint, as above described, a catch or clip may be used if
desired, this catch or clip being pivotted to the main frame above the centre
of the joint of .cutter bar shoe, and being under the control of the driver
similarly to the wedge or stop.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DANIEL
PIDGEON, of the Britannia Iron Works, Banbury, in the County of Oxon,
Engineer, and WILLIAM MANWARING, of the same Place, also Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the

page_text: said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring, her special licence that we,
the said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Daniel Pidgeon and
William Manwaring, our executors, 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 night
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Daniel Pidgeon and William
Manwaring, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to improvements on harvesting machines known as
self-acting side delivery reapers fitted with one driving wheel, and in which the
cut grain is discharged in sheaves clear of the track of the horses by means of
a rotating rake or rakes, the object being to simplify the construction of such
machines. To this end the whole of the gearing, both that which drives the
cutting apparatus and that which operates the rotating rake or rakes is
contained in two frames, the first termed the draught frame having fitted to it
the main axle and the first motion shaft, and the second termed the gear frame
carrying the crank shaft and the rotating rake or rakes together with the
cutter, bar, and grain platform. The gear frame is pivotted to the draught
frame in such a manner that the first motion shaft forms the centre of motion
on which the gear frame (together with the raking and cutting apparatus and
the grain platform) is free to move for the purpose of adjustment, with respect
to, the ground.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents in plan view, Fig. 2 in
end view, and Fig. 3 in sectional elevation, a harvesting machine constructed
according to our Invention.
A, Figures 1 and 3, represents the draught frame to, which is attached the

page_text: pole B; this frame contains the bearing for the first motion shaft C, and it
has firmly secured to it the main axle D. The rear end of this draught frame
is provided with a rack E forming a segment of a circle struck from the axis
of the first motion shaft C, and concentric with the rack is a segmental slot for
receiving bolts that clamp the draught frame and the gear frame together.
This gear frame is shewn at F, and it is pivotted to the first motion shaft C so
that when that frame is adjusted vertically it will move on the shaft as its
centre. Mounted in bearings in the frame F is a worm II, which worm takes
into the segment rack E of the frame A, and on receiving axial motion from a
key fitted to the squared head of the worin shaft will raise and lower the frame.
F as may be required to adjust the finger beam and cutter to their work;
the two frames A and F are secured together by the bolts and nuts I, I.
Mounted on the frame F is the crank shaft K, which carries at its rear end the
crank wheel L and receives rotary motion by means of bevil gearing G from
the shaft C, which shaft is itself driven by a pinion on its outer end gearing into
a ring of spur teeth cast on the driving wheel. The finger beam M is firmly
bolted to the frame F which at this part takes a hollow arched form to admit
within it the crank wheel and allow for the play of the crank rod which con-
nects the wheel with the cutter bar. Above this arcbed opening the frame
takes the form of an inclined pillar, which constitutes a bearing for the rake
shaft N and serves also to support the rake cam O and the gearing for driving
the rake shaft. Keyed to this shaft N is the bevil wheel P into which gears
a.bevil pinion Q mounted on a stud axle carried by the pillar of the gear frame.
The wheel W is driven by a chain from a chain wheel V which receives its
motion from the driving wheel U, and one of the two chain wheels is furnished
with a spring clutch or its equivalent for arresting the motion of the rakes
when the machine is backed, and for putting them out of gear at such times as
may be required. S, S, are the rakes pivotted in pairs to the rake shaft N
and guided in their revolution by the cam O as usual; T is the platform
attached to the finger bar M. It is of the quadrant shape common to self-
acting reapers with revolving rakes, and is swept clear of grain at intervals by
the rakes S, S, in the usual manner in this class of machines. From the
above-explanation it will be understood that rotary motion is communicated
to the rake shaft N from the driving wheel U by the chain wheels and bevil
gearing P, Q, above mentioned, while from the same source through the
gearing. G and crank wheel L a reciprocating motion (unaffected by the
adjustment of the gear frame F) is transmitted to the sickle bar or knife.
We may here remark that by removing the platform and rakes the machine
will be applicable-to and may be used for mowing barley or clover.

page_text: When it is desired to give different paths to the pairs of raking and gather-
ing arms we adopt the method shewn in the detached sectional views, Figures
4 and 5, where a, a, represent the cam, and b a detachable supplementary piece
which can be fixed on to the cam when required.
In Fig. 4 one pair of rake arms c, c, is shewn supported by the cam itself,
and in Fig. 5 the other pair of arms d, d, is shewn supported by the sup-
plementary piece. By this arrangement it will be seen that the arms d, d,
sweep as low as the arms c, c, through a portion of their revolution, but through
another portion (which is arranged to coincide with their passage over the
platform of the machine) they are lifted by the piece b so as to sweep much
higher than the arms c, c. e, e, are two flat springs which serve to steady the
arms d, d, on the cam when the piece B is not used. This plan we do not
claim as new in principle, but we have shewn and described it as a convenient
modification of the arrangement described in a Patent of Bernhard Samuelson,
dated Twenty-second August, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one,
No. 2097.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in
Reaping and Mowing Machines," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent we claim, the combination in reaping and mowing
machines of a rotating raking device and finger beam carried by a gear frame,
which latter is centred on the draught frame as herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Daniel Pigeon and William Man-
waring, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Seventh day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.