Improvements in Reapers.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Reapers.
I, GEORGE COWLEY BINGHAM, of Cappoquin, in the County of Waterford,
Ireland, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention refers to those parts of self raking reapers by which the rakes are
worked and controlled. Firstly, I drive the rakes by attaching them to a rotating
wheel or head which extends beyond the cam which actuates the rise and fall of
the rakes. The rakes are pivoted directly or intermediately to the rotating wheel
at a short distance from one of their ends, and in such manner as to allow the rakes
to rise and fall vertically. The short ends of the rakes reach inwards towards the
centre of the rotating wheel and carry a friction roll upon the ends, the axis of the
rolls being approximately in line with the length of rakes. These friction rolls travel
upon the surfaces of a cam and cause the rakes to rise and fall as required. By the
above construction the surfaces of the cam and its parts can he enclosed, partly
by the rotating wheel and partly by a case separate or in one piece with the cam,
and the friction rolls as they travel may be immersed in oil which would be carried
to surfaces of the cam.
Secondly my invention refers to the method of controlling the rakes whereby a
rake may be made to act as a clearer to clear the platform of the cut crop or to
act as a gatherer only. In general practice the rakes are actuated by two cam
surfaces, the one converting them into clearers the other into gatherers. The
friction rolls which work upon these cam surfaces are guided to the one surface or
the other by a switch or its equivalent. This switch I control in the following
manner. To the switch is attached a spring whose tendency is to open the switch
causing the rakes to act as clearers. Each rake in its passage as a clearer closes the
switch and it is held in that position by a catch causing the rakes following to act
as gatherers until it is again released. To release the switch after the required
number of rakes has past as gatherers, I make use of a rack which is capable of
a limited sliding action in direction of its length, and a rotary movement about
an axis in its length. The sliding motion is imparted to the rack in one direction
preferably by a worm upon the shaft which drives the rakes and in the other
direction by its own weight or by means of a spring. The rotary motion is imparted
to the rack by the switch as it opens and closes. When the switch is in its closed
position the rack is in gear with the worm and motion is imparted to the rack
until a part of it engages with and releases the catch of the switch. The switch
thus flys open and in doing so partly rotates the rack putting it out of gear with the
worm and allowing it to return to its former position by means of its weight or
spring. The length of the sliding stroke of the rack can be increased or diminished
according to the number of gatherers to clearing rakes required. In order that this
can be done whilst the rack is in gear with the worm, the latter is arranged to slide
upon its shaft. Instead of the worm the rack may be driven by a pinion which is
free to revolve upon its axle in the direction it is driven.
28th love of Norambor 1907

page_text: I, GEORGE COWLEY BINGHAM, of Cappoquin, in the County of Waterford,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My invention refers to those parts of self raking reapers by which the rakes
are worked and controlled.
The rakes are driven by a rotating wheel or head which extends beyond the cam
which actuates the rise and fall of the rakes. The rakes are pivoted to the rotating
wheel approximately tangential to the centre of rotation and carry friction rolls
approximately radial to centre of rotation. The friction rolls travel upon the
surfaces of cam and actuate the rise and fall of rakes. By this arrangement of
parts the surfaces of cam are practically protected from dust and obstruction.
The rakes may be supported when in their lowest position by springs which act
in the manner of counter balances and assists the rakes in rising.
The rakes are actuated by two cam surfaces, the one converting them into clearers
to clear the platform of the cut crop and the other surface converting them into
gatherers only, to gather the crop to the cutting knives.
The friction rolls which run on these cam surfaces are guided to the one surface
or the other by means of a latch.
This latch I control in the following manner:-To the latch is attached a spring
tending to close the latch, in which position the rakes act as clearers. Each rake in
its passage as a clearer opens the latch which can be held in that position by a
catch and cause the rakes following to act as gatherers until it is again released.
To release the latch after the required number of rakes have passed as gatherers, I
make use of a rack, which is capable of a rotary movement about an axis in its
length. Engaging in this rack is a gear worm which rotates with its axle but is
free to slide along it. The axle of the worm rotates in conjunction with the motion
of the rakes and in such proportion as to make one revolution to one revolution of
the rake head. When the machine is in motion and the rakes acting as gatherers,
the worm is engaged with the rack and the latter being stationary the worm travels
along the rack. As the worm travels along the rack it comes in contact with an
adjustable stop in connection with the rack and causes the rack to partly revolve
and so release the latch. The latch is then closed by its spring and in doing so
farther rotates the rack causing it to farther disengage the worm which returns to
its original position on the rack. The latch being now closed the following rake
acts as a clearer and its friction roll will reopen the latch, the rack by the re-action
of a spring will also again engage with the worm, and operations will be repeated.
To more clearly describe the working of my invention I will now do so with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 represents an elevation of a cam fitted in accordance with my invention.
Fig. 2 represents the plan of same.
Fig. 3 represents a section in elevation approximately upon line de Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 represents an elevation looking in the same direction.
Fig. 5 represents a plan in section on line a b Figs. 3 and 4.
Fig. 6 represents an elevation of part of the rake regulating arrangement.
Fig. 7 represents a plan of the same.
Fig. 8 represents the envelope of the outer surface of the cam J, or that surface
spread out.
°
In these figures A denotes the rake head which is fixed to the spindle E and
driven by suitable gearing such as bevel wheel F and pinion G, in connection with

page_text: the driving mechanism of the machine by shaft H. To the rake head are pivoted
by the pins B, the rake holders B and to these are fastened the rakes C. Con-
nected to each rake holder B is a friction roll D which extends inwards through a
slot in the rake head A to the cam surfaces J¹ J" of the cam J upon which it is free
to travel.
The cam J is shown supported by legs R but it can be supported by or form part
of the machine by any other suitable means. The cam J is constructed for a part of
its circumference with upper and lower cam surfaces J1 J1 respectively, upon which
the friction rolls travel. When the rolls travel upon the upper surface J" the
rakes act as gatherers and when they travel upon the lower surface J' they act as
clearers. The gate g is hinged.
The upper and lower cam surfaces are connected by the latch L pivoted in the
body of the cam J and fixed to a small catch M to which is attached a spring N
tending to revolve the latch on its axis and close it, as shown by dotted lines. The
latch L can be held open against the action of the spring by the catch 01 which forms
part of the rack 0. The rack is pivoted at its top in the cam J, and at the
bottom in the bracket P. but it is free to partly rotate about an approximately
vertical axis. A spring O" connected to the rack and the cam J tends to keep the
rack engaged with the worm W. Within the body of the rack O is a vertically
adjustable stop whose upper end protrudes from the body of the rack O and
whose lower end rests upon the lever K. The lever K is connected by the shaft S
to the double ended lever T which can be set at any desired position by the spring
stop U and be connected to a foot or hand trip at its lower end, thus permitting the
stop to be set at any particular height or raised or lowered at will.
The spring stop U is held in position by engaging in notches in the surface of
quadrant V, and lever T is held against it by the spring & attached to lever K.
The action of the parts in working is as follows:-
Assuming the latch L to be in the position shown that is, held open by the
catch O¹, and the rake head A to be revolved in the direction of the arrow, the
friction rolls D will travel over the upper cam surfaces J thereby raising the rakes
after they have gathered the corn to the cutting knives and causing them to clear
the cut corn lying upon the machine. At the same time the worm W will be
revolved and being free to move lengthwise on its shaft it will travel up the rack
until one of the four clutch surfaces W₁ engages with the stop Q. The rack will
then be partly rotated and the catch 0¹ will disengage the clutch M allowing the
latch L to close. As the latch L closes, a bevelled surface upon M presses the
catch O farther aside, and causes the rack to rotate clear of the worm W which
at once falls to its original position. The next rake will now act as a clearer and
its friction roll in passing will press on the surface L' of the latch L and reopen
the latch against the action of its spring. The rack which during the time the
latch L has been closed, has been held open by the clutch M, against the reaction
of the spring O will now close and pass over the clutch M and hold the latch open
as before, and the operations as explained will be repeated.
It will be seen that by shifting the lever U to the left or right the end of the
lever K will be raised or lowered and the position of the stop Q correspondingly
affected, timing it to engage with the clutch surfaces W1 after any number of
rakes have acted as gatherers, limited only by the number for which it is con-
structed to work.
In order to prevent slack in the rakes when in their lowest position and also to
assist them in rising I make use of levers Y pivoted to the rake head A and kept
in a raised position by means of springs X. In falling the rake holders B press
on the ends of the levers Y and so extend the springs X which keep them against
the cam surfaces and also assist them in rising.
It will be obvious from the explanation given of my invention that it will admit
of many modifications of which the following are instances,--The rake holders B
instead of being pivoted at their extreme ends may be pivoted at a short distance
from the same and the friction rolls attached to the short ends, in which case the

page_text: rake holders would be better pivoted to rise and fall on the opposite side to that
shown. The teeth of the worm W, instead of the shape shown, can be of any
desired shape.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
Claim 1 In reaping machines the combination of parts for the purposes herein
explained substantially as herein described and illustrated.
Claim 2 In reaping machines the combination of rake head A, rake holders B,
friction rolls 1), and cam J, substantially as herein described and illustrated.
Claim 3 In reaping machines the combination of a worm W, rack O, and adjus-
table stop Q, for regulating the rakes as gatherers and clearers substantially as
herein described and illustrated.