IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR REAPING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Ernest George Cook Bomford at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th October 1878.
"
ERNEST GEORGE COOK BOMFORD, of Fladbury, near Pershore, in the County of
Worcester, Farmer. IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR REAPING WHEAT AND
OTHER GRAIN."
My Invention consists of the improvements in reaping machinery herein-after
described, by which improvements the binding of the cut wheat or other grain or
its removal from the machine is much facilitated.
I construct a reaping machine according to my Invention in the following manner:-
The four nearly vertical arms by which the wheat or other grain is brought to and
pressed against the cutters and laid flat after cutting, I arrange in front of the
machine and drive them from the principal shaft of the machine by means of a
The said arms
flange wheel, an endless band or chain, and worn and worm wheel.
are curved to the radius of the revolving table herein-after described, and the lower
ends of the said arms carry rollers, which bear upon cans or inclines during the
rotatory motion of the shaft carrying them. By the action of the said cams or inclines
the required depression is given to the said arms as they are severally brought to
act upon the wheat or other grain.
I arrange the knives or cutting apparatus around the periphery of a circular table,
to which an intermittent rotatory motion is given, the said table coming to rest after
having performed a semi-rotation. The knives or cutters are worked from the
principal shaft of the machine by a crank and connecting link in a way differing
in no essential respect from that by which such cutters are ordinarily worked. The
intermittent motion of the said table is effected in the following manner :- -The
said table is driven from the principal shaft of the machine by means of bevil
gearing.
The horizontal shaft on which one of the bevil wheels is fixed works within a
hollow or tubular shaft, the said horizontal shaft having a sliding motion, that is,
motion in the direction of its length.
When the sliding horizontal shaft is at liberty to move, it is pressed by a spring
inwards, that is, towards the centre of the machine, and in this position a clutch

page_text: gears the said horizontal shaft to the hollow or tubular shaft, and motion is trans-
mitted to tlic table. The inner end of the sliding horizontal shaft bears against the
face of the principal wheel of the machine, on which face of the wheel is a cam, the
said cam having such a figure that at the required time it forces outwards the sliding
horizontal shaft, thereby throwing out of gear the clutch referred to, and the table
comes to rest.
By this arrangement, while the machine is. advancing at a uniform rate, the
.wheat or grain cut and deposited upon the table is carried by a semi-rotation of the
table to the rear of the machine when the table comes to rest, and the cut wheat or
other grain is tied into sheaves by suitable mechanism. Or the cut wheat or other
grain may be delivered through a channel at the rear of the machine.
Instead of arranging the cutters curvilinearly they may be arranged rectilinearly,
and instead of giving the table an intermittent rotatory motion it may have a con-
tinuous rotatory motion. I prefer, however, to arrange the cutters curvilinearly and
to give an intermittent rotatory motion to the table as herein first described.