IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Tenwick at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
December 1874.
I, JOHN TENWICK, of Rose Villa, Spittlegate, in the County of
Lincoln, Moulder, do hereby declare the nature of tho said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows: –
In carrying the first part of my Invention, which relates to fingers of
reaping and mowing machines, into practice, I either form an enlarged
aperture at the fore end of the slit in which the knife blades travel or I
make the finger in two pieces, the bottom and point proper being in onc
piece, and a top plate another piece, the fore end of which is kept at a dis-
tance from the back of the point to leave a clear opening between the two
pieces, the opening then forming a termination of the slit but at right
angles thereto; tho aperture or opening may be of any shape, the point of
the knife blades travelling in it, so that in their movement they may
remove any straws, grass, or other obstacle that tends to clog the slit
from the same as they accumulate, thus permitting the knife blades to
work more freely and with less friction, the knife blades being also more

page_text: effective in cutting the crop as the machine advances than by any
present method.
In carrying the second part of my Invention into practice I form a
recess at cach side edge of the knife blade just behind the point, the
recesses being sharpened so that their edges may cut as well as the other
sharpened portions of the blades. The fore part of the recesses as the
blades travel to and fro gathers the straws or grass into the recesses and
cuts or severs them, the object being to compel all the straws or grass
brought within the space between every two fingers to be cut instead of
a portion being driven away by the knife blade as is the case with
ordinary knifes.
My next improvement consists in attaching the throw over bolt
referred to in my previous Patent, dated 16th August 1873, No. 2722, to
the back of the finger plate instead of to the nut or pin by which the
plate or the finger is held to the knife beam, and I retain the adjustable
pressure bolt in the desired position by the fore end of the throw over
bolt taking into one or other of the notches in the periphery or in the
head of such bolt.
My next improvement consists in forming a flange at the base portion
of a finger stock to bear against the under side of the finger beam to
retain the finger more firmly that hitherto the stock having tapered
sides to take into a corresponding shaped notch formed in finger beam.
The tongue of the upper plate is fluted or grooved on its under side, into
which groove any dirt or foreign substance that may get upon the knife
blades may enter, the dirt or other matter being afterwards gradually
expelled from the fore end.
My next improvement consists in employing flexible or yielding teeth
to the rakes of reaping machines, the teeth being preferably of cured
gum, india-rubber (vulcanized), or the like, so that in passing over the
platform the teeth yield to the grain without losing their hold upon it.