IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adam Carlisle Bamlett, of Ripon, in the County of
York, Agricultural Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 2nd October 1863, and dated the 7th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adam Carlisle Bamlett
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th April 1868.
I, ADAM CARLISLE BAMLETT, of Ripon, in the County of York, Agricultural
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The first part of these improvements relates to such reaping and mowing
machines as have the pole to which the horses are attached fixed to the
machine by a universal joint, being designed to facilitate turning at the corners
of the field and to prevent accident, and consists in controlling the movement
of the pole by means of chains or projections fixed on the pole and fore part
of the frame, so as only to allow the pole to turn to about right angles with the
frame of the machine or about parallel to the cutter bar.
Secondly, in order to alter the "pitch" of the ordinary platform (commonly
known as "Hussey's ") I mount it in a frame which is jointed near the front
edge of the platform. The frame is acted on by cranks, levers, or their
equivalents, and by these means the pitch of the platform can be varied as
required.
Thirdly, in mowing machines, in order to leave the mown grass light on the

page_text: ground, I make some of the fingers with the upper part curved backwards
and inclined upwards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Adam Carlisle Bamlett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADAM
CARLISLE BAMLETT, of Ripon, in the County of York, Agricultural Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Adam Carlisle Bamlett, Her special license that I, the said Adam
Carlisle Bamlett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Adam Carlisle Bamlett, my executors, administrators, or 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Adam Carlisle Bamlett, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under
the hand and seal of one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
naturo 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 Adam Carlisle Bamlett, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:-
The first part of these improvements relates to such reaping and mowing
machines as have the pole to which the horses are attached fixed to the
machine by a universal joint, being designed to facilitate turning at the corners
of the field and to prevent accidents, and consists in controlling the movement
of the pole by means of chains or projections fixed on the pole and fore part
.

page_text: of the frame, so as only to allow the pole to turn to about right angles
with the frame of the machine or about parallel to the cutter bar.
Secondly, in order to alter the "pitch" of the ordinary platform commonly
known as "Hussey's "I mount it in a frame which is jointed near the front
edge of the platform. The frame is acted on by cranks, levers, or their
equivalents, and by these means the pitch of the platform can be varied as
required.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for " Improvements
in Reaping and Mowing Machines," I will now proceed to describe more in
detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried
into practical effect; and in order that the same may be distinctly understood,
I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and
have marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with
those in the following explanation thereof, that is to say :-
In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view and Figure 2 a side
clevation of so much of a reaping machino as is requisite to be drawn in order
to show the application of my Invention thereto.
B and B¹ to the
One of the iron
turning comes in
A, A, is the pole which is attached by two iron straps
castor or swivelling part C, C, of the guiding wheel D.
straps B¹ has its end Bs bent upwards, which bent part in
contact with the projection E (Figure 2) on the fore part of the frame F,
which prevents the pole from turning any farther than is shown by the dotted
lines, Figure 1, thus preventing accidents, to the horses (through their feet
coming on to the cutters) and making the machine casier to turn at the corners
of the field, as the small wheel A' is pushed backwards when the horses try
to turn the pole farther than is shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1.
The second part of these improvements is shown at Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
and 6, its object is to readily alter the pitch of the ordinary tilting platform
(commonly known as Hussey's or Dray's Hussey platform) so as the better to
adapt it to long or short crops.
In Figures 1 and 2 the platform is mounted in a frame G, G, which is
jointed to the machine near the front edge of the platform at G, G. Under-
neath this frame is a cranked lever H, HI,, mounted in bearings I, I ; it is
capable of being raised by the lever H¹ to any of the holes J, J, Figure 2,
thus altering the pitch of the platform, as shown by the double dotted lines in
this Figure; the single dotted line shows the position of the platform when
tilted.
A simpler method of altering the pitch of the ordinary tilting platform, and
one which is easily applied to reapers that have a jointed finger bar, as shown

page_text: at Figures 3 and 4. The cranked lever and frame K, K, is made in one piece,
which is jointed to the machine at K, K, and is held in position by a rod
and chain L, L, attached to the crank lever frame at K' and to the hook M,
Figure 4. By hooking the chain into different links the pitch of the platform
is altered, as shown by the two single dotted lines, Figure 4; the double dotted
lines show the position of the platform when tilted, it being pivotted to the
cranked lever frame K, K, at K³, K³, (Figure 3).
Another method of altering the pitch of the ordinary tilting platform is
shown at Figures 5 and 6, which is easily applied to reapers that are already
made with the ordinary tilting platform. N, N, is a fixed round bar on which
the ordinary tilting platform is mounted. On this bar I mount (in bearings)
an iron frame 0, 0, Figure 5, which is hinged to the platform at its front
edge O', O'. A cranked lever P, P, is mounted in bearings P1, P¹, on the
frame O, O; by moving the lever handle Q, Q, in the holes 0,0, the pitch
of the platform is altered as shown by the dotted line Q'. The dotted lines
Z, Z, Z, Z, in Figures 1, 3, and 5 show the outline of the platform, the
foot strap on the platform for the rakeman is attached in the usual
manner.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
Improvements in Reaping and Mowing Machines," together with the
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I do not intend to limit or
confine myself to the precise details shown in the Drawing and above described
as they may be varied without deviating from the principles of my Invention
but what I desire to claim is,
Firstly, the methods of controlling the movement of the pole in such
machines.
And, secondly, the methods of mounting the tilting platform so as to afford
facility for altering the pitch of the same, as shown in the annexed Drawings
and herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof operating in
substantially the same or a similar manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adam Carlisle Bamlett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Third day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
ADAM CARLISLE BAMLETT. (L.s.)