AN. IMPROVED MOWING AND REAPING MACHINE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lancaster, of Garden Farm,. Dunmurry,
Belfast, for the Invention of "AN. IMPROVED MOWING AND REAPING
MACHINE."
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 5th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lancaster, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
November 1860.
I, JOHN LANCASTER, of Garden Farm, Dunmurry, Belfast, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MOWING AND
REAPING MACHINE," to be as follows:-
The fixing a driving wheel, suitable gearing, knife, &c., to a plough or
similar implement, so as to make it when required a mowing and reaping
machine. I alter the right hand or short stilt, so as to make more room
between the mould board and the land side of the plough. I then make a
frame of iron to fit into this space, within this frame I fix the driving wheel
with suitable gearing to work the knife. Part of this gearing may be fixed
outside the frame, which frame is secured by bolts to the body frame and stilts.
The frame and wheel is so fixed that the plough is balanced on the axle of the
wheel. By this means the knife bar can be raised or lowered as required.
The knife bar is turned up, so as to fit the land side of the plough, to which it
is fastened. It extends some few feet across the front of the plough, and is for

page_text: the knife to work in. It bas a bolt or axle of metal fixed on to its end for the
purpose of being fixed and working in the raising bar. The knife-raising
frame consists of 3 pieces of iron bolted together, so as to be lengthened or
shortened by shifting the bolts, and is fastened in the coulter box or fixed to
the beam of the plough. A wheel is fixed on this end, it is carried over the
corn to be cut and fastened to the raising bar on the other side. The raising
bar is fixed, one end to the end of the raising frame, the other is fixed on to
the bolt on the knife bar. Midway between the raising frame and the knife
bar I fix a wheel, on the axle of which the knife bar works. A light framing
is also fixed on to the raising frame and bar to divide and guide the corn
between the body frame and the coulter box. I joint the beam of the plough
with two bolts; when used as a reaper one bolt is withdrawn, the bolt left
forms a pinion on which the beam works. Close to this joint I make several
holes in the beam for the insertion of a pin, which keeps the knife to any
height. The ploughshare is taken off and a wedge-shaped one put on. When
used for reaping, the bridle is taken off, and a wedge-shaped cap put on. A
platform is added, if required. The mould board is made to shift off and on,
and is made to any shape. The stilts can be lengthened, if necessary, by
fixing other handles. The machine can be drawn from either side. A reel
can be used to bring the corn to the knife by alterations in fixing the driving
wheel, &c. Other implements, with stilts, might be used for this purpose, but
not so well. I prefer the common or wheel plough.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lancaster, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LANCASTER, of Garden Farm, Dunmurry, Belfast, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Lancaster, Her special licence that I, the said John Lancaster, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Lancaster, my 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 might make, use,

page_text: exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MOWING AND REAPING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Lancaster, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 I, the said John Lancaster, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, first, in attaching a main driving wheel and a knife,
or series of knives with suitable gearing, to a plough or other similarly-shaped
instrument, for the purpose of forming a reaping or mowing machine. To
effect this I alter the right hand or short stilt of the plough, so as to make
room between it and the plough frame for an iron framing which contains the
main driving wheel. This wheel is placed so as to exactly balance the plough
on its axle, so that it can be raised or depressed at pleasure. A toothed wheel
is keyed on this axle which gears into a small pinion, which has its bearings
also in the framing. On one end of the axle of this pinion is fixed a crank,
from which by means of a connecting rod working parallel to the beam of the
plough a shaft is actuated, which shaft by means of a lever on its lower
extremity give the necessary action to the knife inside the knife bar. The
aforesaid framing carrying the working parts is bolted in any convenient
manner to the plough and stilts. The knife bar is bent up at one end, and
bolted to the land side of the plough. It extends at right angles to the beam
some few feet, and is for the purpose of carrying the knife. At the other end
of this bar is fixed an axle for the purpose of carrying a frame or bar, which
I call the raising bar. At one end of the raising bar is fixed the raising frame,
formed in three pieces, so as to be easily lengthened or shortened at pleasure.
This frame is carried over the corn, one end being attached to the raising bar,
and the other inserted in the coulter box or attached to the bean of the
plough. Midway between the raising frame and the knife bar I place a small
wheel, on the axle of which the raising bar works. Above this wheel and
attached to the raising frame is a light framing to guide and divide the corn.
The plough beam is formed with a joint near the coulter box, fastened with
two or more bolts when used as a common plough; but when used for the.

page_text: which through the medium of the before-mentioned arrangement, com-
municates the necessary cutting action to the knives. If it is required to
depress the knife the stilts or handles are raised, and the machine assumes the
position shewn by the dotted lines. If required to raise the knife the handles
are depressed, and of course the opposite action takes place.
Having now described my Invention and how the same is constructed and
put in practice, I wish it understood that what I claim and desire secured to
me by the before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the use of handles, technically called stilts, which in combination with
the machine, being balanced on the axle of the driving wheel, enables the
driver to steer the machine, and to adapt the knife to the irregularities of
the land.
Second, the joint in the beam in combination with the raising frame, which
enables the knife bar, with the knife, to be equally raised.
Third, the general arrangement and combination of the different parts
forming a reaping and mowing machine, substantially as described and set
forth in this Specification, and generally illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lancaster, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN LANCASTER. (L.S.)