CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THRESHING
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JENNINGS, of Ollerton, in the County of Chester, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of December, in the tenth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Jennings, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said John Jennings, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said John Jennings, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Ber-
wick-upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR THRESHING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said John Jennings, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Jennings, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say) :-
My Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Threshing are applicable
to threshing all kinds of grain and pulse, and consist,-
Firstly, in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the machine
employed for such purposes.
And, secondly, in the method of communicating the horse-power for driving
the same.
In the Drawing accompanying these Presents the apparatus is shewn as set
or arranged for threshing wheat, and the power is adapted for two horses, and
so arranged as to drive the beater one hundred and forty-four revolutions for
one of the horses. The Drawing is made to a scale of about one inch to a
foot, and has similar letters of reference placed upon corresponding parts of the
mechanism in all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine, and Figure 2 a vertical section
of the machine, shewing also the method of communicating the horse-power
thereto.
a, a is the framework and outside casing of the apparatus, supporting in
suitable bearings the beater shaft b. The cylinder or beater of the machine is
composed of two narrow pullies c, c, mounted upon the shaft b, and carrying
the rails d, d, d, d, which are slightly bevilled, and are faced with plate iron in
order to lessen the wear and tear of the same. The grain or pulse to be
threshed is laid evenly upon the feeding trough e, e, and fed in regularly
by hand, the quantity being regulated by altering the position of the board f.
The rotation of the cylinder carries the grain, &c. between it and the curved
plate g, g, to the concave grate or screen formed of bars of iron h, h, fixed upon
curved wooden bearers i, i, i, the rapid rotation of the cylinder beating the
grain out between the bars h, h, and carrying the straw forwards, and discharg-
ing it over the inclined grate k. The power for causing the cylinder to revolve
is communicated and the necessary speed gained in the following manner:
1, 1, is a wooden frame (which is to be fixed by means of strong pegs or stakes
driven into the ground) supporting the upright shaft m, upon which is keyed
the face wheel n, n, having teeth upon its under side, which gears into the
small pinion o, being kept in gear with it by the friction wheel p. The pinion o
is connected to the shaft g of the threshing machine by the spindles ; **,
which are coupled by universal joints, to suit any inequality of the ground, and
also to allow the spindle * to rise so as to be connected to the shaft q. There
is a spur wheels keyed upon the shaft, driving a pinion t upon the beater
shaft b, and as the wheels n and s are cach twelve times the diameter of the

page_text: pinions o and t the beater will make one hundred and forty-four revolutions to
every revolution of the upright shaft m. The concave screen may be adjusted
nearer to or further from the beater by the screws u, u, so as to suit the
different kinds of grain or pulse to be threshed. The horses are to be attached
to the ends of the levers u, v, which are connected to the wheel n by the
rods w, w, w, w. The spur wheels and pinion t may be removed to the other
end of their respective shafts, and the machine turned round, if it is necessary
to feed from the left side of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Jennings, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, One thousand cight
hundred and forty-seven.