Improvements in Mowing and Reaping Machines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in Mowing and Reaping Machines.
I, WILLIAM BIRTWISLE, of Hartford, in the County of Chester, Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention has for its object improvements in mowing or reaping machines
whereby the strain of the cutting is more effectively taken up, the wear and tear
and the resulting play caused thereby is reduced, and the wearing parts can more
easily and cheaply be replaced. To this end I attach the knife blade to the casting
or forging forming the knife head in the usual manner but alter the shape of
such knife head as follows. On it is formed a boss or enlargement through which
is a hole to receive the end of the connecting rod. Contiguous to this boss is
another one adapted to hold a spring catch or swivelling device which, after the
connecting rod is inserted as aforementioned, is swivelled round in front of it
nd locks it in place. This spring swivelling device may take various forms,
for instance in one arrangement the shank of the catch enters a tapered hole in
the boss or enlargement of the knife head and is screwed at the end to receive
a square nut which fits in a recess in such a manner as to prevent it from turning.
Between the nut and the metal of the knife head is a spring washer, therefore
if the catch be turned so as to come in front of the connecting rod end, the tapered
shank will be drawn tight into the tapered hole of the knife head assisted by
the spring washer and will be held in such position by friction, or the shank
of the catch instead of being tapered may be formed with projections to fit
into grooves in the knife head and held by spring pressure so that when the
catch is turned to lock the connecting rod the projections drop into the grooves;
the spring being sufficiently in tension to hold the projections on the catch in
the grooves and thus to prevent it turning back when at work. These grooves
can be either at the back or the front of knife head casting. Furthermore the
knife head has cast or forged on it a plate, preferably rectangular in shape, which
is adapted to slide in a casting bolted or otherwise secured to the heel end of
finger bar or on the main shoe. This casting is formed in two parts, an upper
and a lower one, in such a manner that when placed together it forms a box or
passage for the knife head to slide in. but instead of bearing directly on the
surface of the casting it bears on a double liner of steel or other suitable material
placed in the space between the upper and lower portion of the casting. A con-
venient way of attaching this double lines so as to be readily fixed or removed
as required is to turn the end of the bottom portion of the liner round a flange
of the bottom casting and the end of the top liner round a flange of the top casting.
It will be understood that the rectangular plate of the knife head slides between
the two portions of the liner, consequently all the wear is taken up by the liner
which can be readily replaced when it becomes worn. The upper casting or lid
of the box is attached to the lower casting by bolts which regulate the amount
of space required for the liner and it has also an oil receptacle, the centre of
which is provided with a recess to contain the oil and at each end of this another
rocess to distribute the oil to the sliding plate of the knife head.

page_text: It must be understood that this invention is not limited to the exact details
herein set forth, as for instance other spring catch. devices may be used and other
means of fixing the liner adopted without departing from the spirit of the
invention.
I, WILLIAM BIRTWISLE, of Hartford, in the County of Chester, Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
T
T
Generally described, the invention consists in a covered or enclosed guide way
80 made as to practically exclude the grit and soil from the sliding surfaces, and
to retain the lubrication and so prevent consequent friction and undue wear, the
guide way being so constructed as to take up wear as it takes place. The knife
head is provided with a guide piece to run in the guide way. The guide way
is provided with a lubricator, the peculiar construction of which makes it auto-
matical in its action through the oscillation of the cutter bar when in work,
and a swivel catch to hold the connecting rod in the knife eye when connected
for work, this being held from turning back by means of friction induced on a
taper shank in a taper hole as hereafter described.
Referring to the accompanying drawings:-
r
Figure 1 is an end elevation of a portion of a mowing machine showing one
way of carrying out my invention and with boss E and its pin omitted.
Figure 2, a plan view thereof;
.I
Figure 3 a plan of the knife head removed from the bracket forming guideway,
etcetera, and
Figures 4 and 5 details to be 'hereinafter described.
Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 1 with the parts so arranged that the
bracket on which the knife head slides can be secured to the shoe of the machine;
Figure 7' is an end elevation enlarged showing another way of carrying, out
the invention, and
Figure 8 a side elevation thereof;
Figures 9 and 10 end elevation and side elevation respectively of a further
modification which is the one I at present most prefer.t
to use and on. which I
Figures 11 and 12 enlarged side and end elevation of the knife head, shown in
Figures 9 and 10.
base my claims; and
Referring first to Figures 1 to 6, A is the shoe of a mowing machine,, B, the
knife blades and C the knife head shown best in Figures 11 and 12. This
latter is formed with a boss or enlargement c through which is a hole to receive
the end of the connecting rod D. "Contiguous to this boss is a second one E
adapted to hold a swivelling device or catch to be hereinafter described. The
knife head C has also formed on it a guide piece C₁ preferably rectangular in
shape adapted to slide between a bracket or support F secured to the heel end
of the finger bar as shown in Figure 1, or on the main shoe as shown in Figure 6,

page_text: and a top piece or cover G. When this top piece is bolted to the bracket F as
shown, a passage or box for the guide piece C₁ of the knife head C to slide in
is formed, but instead of the portion or guide piece C¹ bearing directly on the
surface of the bracket I may insert a liner H as shown in Figures 1 and 5 which
can readily be replaced by another when it becomes worn. The top piece or
cover G is provided with an oil receptacle I shown best in Figure 4 having raised
portions g over which preferably hangs cotton wick or other substance which will
convey the oil through the holes G¹ to the knife head, although without the assist-
ance of the trimmer the peculiar construction of the chamber makes the lubrica-
tion automatical in its action through the oscillation of the cutter bar when in
work. J is a lid to the oil container. In Figure 6 the arrangements of the parts
being slightly different. corresponding parts to those in Figure 1 are marked
with the same letter and a small x. In Figures 7 and 8 the liner H may be
dispensed with and the top or cover G2 instead of being bolted to lugs on the
bracket F from the top as shown in Figures 1 to 6 is bolted at the side, the
lugs being dispensed with and the lugs on the cover bent or otherwise formed as
shown to enable the bolts to pass through them and through the upright portion
of the bracket from the side. The bolt holes in the bracket or the cover may be
elongated obliquely in order to regulate the amount of space between the top of
the bracket F2 and the cover G2 wherein the guide piece C¹ and knife head slides
and correspondingly oblique slides M and M on the bracket F can be used to
assist the bolts to maintain the relative parallel position or cover G2 to bracket F2.
Figures 9 and 10 show another arrangement in which the bracket F3 and
the cover G³ are formed in one piece and in this case also the liner may be
dispensed with and an additional L shaped piece K is provided on which the
sliding piece C¹ of knife bears. The height of this shaped piece K can be
regulated by having inclined projections M on the bracket F3 along which the
piece K can slide. corresponding inclined slots N being also provided in the
bracket F3 for the bolts F¹. This method of regulating the passage for the guide
piece C may be adopted in the arrangement shown in Figures 7 and 8. Referring
more particularly to Figures 3, 10 and 11:-The swivelling device or catch before
referred to consists of a tapered pin or catch P having a wing P¹ projecting
at right angles to such distance that when pin P is turned round to cover the
back of the connecting rod end D the wing P¹ will allow the connecting rod to
work freely between the wing P¹ and the face of the boss C, this is effected by
pulling out the pin P against the pressure of spring T¹ until it clears the rod D
and can be turned to cover a portion of that rod & be pressed against it by the
recoil of spring T¹. The taper shank p of pin P fits into a tapered hole in the
boss or enlargement E on the knife head and is screwed at the end to receive a
square nut R which fits in a recess S in such a manner as to prevent its turning.
T is a spring bearing against the nut, therefore if the catch be turned so as to
come in front of the connecting rod end D, as shown in Figure 2, the tapered
shank will be drawn tight into the tapered hole by the screwed taper shank P
screwing into the nut R assisted by the spring washer behind nut R and will
be held in such position by friction. It will be seen by referring to Figure 10
that a passage T is left at the end of the cover G³ for the escape of dirt. In
some machines it may be necessary or desirable to fix the bracket or support F F²
and F3 to the shoe of the machine. Figure 6 shows how this may be done by
reversing the position of some of the parts.
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
1. In a mowing machine the combination of the knife head, the guide piece
arranged to slide in an enclosing box with means for taking up the wear and
the connecting rod attachment substantially as herein set forth.
2. The arrangement of the guide box or slide whereby the grit and soil are

page_text: practically excluded from the sliding surfaces, and any grass which gets in can
escape through an opening at the end, substantially as described.
3. The combination with a mowing machine apparatus such as described, the
oiling device consisting of three compartments, the centre one containing the
oil and the side ones the oiling holes, whereby the oil can be slowly and evenly
conveyed notwithstanding the violent oscillations by means of a lamp wick hanging
over and covering the two partitions and entering all three compartments.
4. In apparatus substantially as herein described the arrangement of lining
devices, substantially as herein set forth, whereby the wear can be easily taken up.
5. The general arrangement and construction of mechanism substantially as
and for the purposes herein set forth.
TX
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London.