VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC TURING OF MACHINES USED FOR THE CUTTING AND GATHERING OF GRAIN AND PRODUCE ARISING FROM THE EARTH
Year: 1814

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
JAMES DOBBS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the Twenty-
third day of September, in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, give and
grant unto me, the said James Dobbs, my executors administrators, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority that
I,the saidJames Dobbs,myexecutors,administrators, and assigns, should
and lawfully might, during the term of years therein mentioned, make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's colonies and plan-
tations abroad, my Invention of "VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC
TURING OF MACHINES USED FOR THE CUTTING AND GATHERING OF GRAIN AND
PRODUCE ARISING FROM THE EARTH;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, that if I the said James Dobbs shall not par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing,

page_text: under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then
the said Letters Patent, and all liberty and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in
and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Dobbs, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the drawings hereunto annexed,
and the following references or description thereof (that is to say):
The machineis intended to be applied to cut all kinds of grain, and also
to gather it, if necessary; it is also intended to be used, with different
cutters, on beans, Indian corn, rice, tobacco, sugar canes, and whatever
other produce of the earth the purchaser may think it proper to work
it upon. The cutter for grain is circular, which I call a circular
sickle, with a tooth much the same as the sickle commonly used. The
cutters for beans have a fine saw tooth, or the sickle tooth may be used
if the workman pleases, a saw tooth also for sugar canes, &c., as I in-
tend to vary the edge or fineness of the tooth according to the nature
of the articles to be cut down. The instruments that take hold of the
straw are a pair of rollers or wheels placed over or under the cutters,
made of wood or inetal, or whatever substance I find most convenient,
on which are small pegs or cogs or the sides, intended to give it a
roughness the more easy to take hold. These wheels or rollers so turn
as to draw the straw between them, at the same time bearing it against
the cutter (and which is called feeders); the straw is then caught by
another pair of higher rollers placed at the back of the feeders, which
carry the straw into the cradle, these rollers have the same indented
sides as the feeders, if necessary. It is intended that machines should
be made without a second pair of rollers behind the other, if so required.
The rollers, feeding rollers, and cutter, are connected and worked by
metal cog-wheels or pullies with straps or chains; the movement is
inclosed in a box or boxes to prevent it becoming entangled. The

page_text: rollers, feeders, and cutters, are fixed upon spindles that are brought
through the box or boxes for that purpose. The first or original
motion is given to the movement by a man turning a windlass at the
back of the machine, or the side, or by the wheels or wheel that run on
the ground and support the machine, this motionis carried to the move-
ment by established mechanical principles. The box that covers the
movement is either of wood or metal. The side ofthe machine extends
from one pair of rollers to as many as the purchaser shall require. At
each side of every pair of feeders is fixed an instrument I call dividers,
made of wood or metal, &c., its intention is to enter the straw before
the feeders come near it, to assist in drawing the straw to the feeders,
and bearing the straw that is not to be cut from the machine. These
dividers are sharp at the point, and become gradually wider against the
feeders. The dividers are extended to nearly the top or above the
rollers if necessary, to divide straw that is most entangled; at the back
of the rollers is a cradle or basket into which the grain is gathered or
deposited by the rollers. The cradle is made to tilt by the work-
man whereby the grain is thrown out on the ground, or the grain
is taken out by hand, if preferred. The machine is impelled for-
ward much in the manner as a wheelbarrow. The shafts of wood
or iron are fixed to the box or movement, and extend long enough
backwards to form the frame of the cradle and the handles for the
man, to take hold of; when the grain or produce is not intended to be
gathered, the bottom of the cradle is taken out. It is intended to
work the machine with or without rollers, where the matter worked
upon is strong enough to support itself; the cutters may be worked at
any convenient distance from the ground; a bar is placed at the bottom
of the back rollers, to prevent the straw running down too low. I have
another plan of a machine that may be used upon some sorts of
produce, which are inetallic rollers commonly called rolling shears,
such as are used in manufactories for cutting of metals. These, to
the number and size I require, I work in the place of my other
circular sickles, and these rolling shears not only cut, but deliver the
produce. I lay claim in this my invention, to the exclusive right of
constructing machines for the purpose of cutting corn and grain of all

page_text: kinds, beans, rice, sugar canes, tobacco, and all other produce of the
earth that it is convenient for me to cut and gather by the means of
applying and giving motion by known principles of mechanism to
cutters or circular sickles running horizontally, or rollers commonly
called rolling shears. Reference so the drawings: a, a, are called
dividers, which first enter the corn near the bottom, and divide
it into parts; they are carried near to the top of the rollers c, c, the
more effectually to assist the other parts of the machine in its
operations; to raise corn that is beat down,b, b, are small rollers,called
feeders, each pair draw the corn between them and the dividers at 3
and bend it over the large rollers c, c, the heads, of course, hanging
considerably over the cradle d, at the same time bearing it against
a circular sickle or cutter that turns under the feeders, which cannot
be seen in a drawing; while the corn is in the act of being cut, it is
brought against the large rollers, and is carried by them through each
"division against the aperture of the dividers, and deposited in the
cradle; e,e, are the sides of the machine; f, the wheels on which it runs;
is a bar that contains the movement which gives motion to the
rollers, feeders, and cutters; h, is a wheel turned by the man as he is
going forward with the machine; from the wheel i, is a shaft that
runs under the cradle, and communicates the motion to the movement;
the machine is slung by a strap over the man's shoulders, fastened in
the middle of the bar k; his body pressing against the bar, his left hand
placed at 7, and his right hand turns the windlass m; n, n, are two legs
that support the machine when not at work.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Dobbs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of March in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifteen.
JAMES DOBBS. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said James Dobbs
(being first duly stamped) in the presence of us,

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the Twentieth day of March
in the year of our Lord 1815, the aforesaid James Dobbs came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and
specified in form above written, and also the specificationaforesaid was
stampt according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.