IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR PREPARING THE FOOD OF ANIMALS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Pidgeon, of the Britannia Works, Banbury,
Agricultural Engineer, and William Manwaring, of the same Place,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING THE FOOD OF ANIMALS."
Sealed the 20th May 1864, and dated the 9th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Pidgeon and
William Manwaring at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 9th January 1864.
We, DANIEL PIDGEON, of the Britannia Works, Banbury, Agricultural
Engineer, and WILLIAM MANWARING, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF MACHINERY FOR PREPARING THE FOOD OF ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate to the construction of machines for cutting chaff
in which the straw or hay to be cut is fed by rollers through a mouth-piece
into contact with knives radiating from a spindle, and also to the construction
of chaff cutters of the above kind combined with an apparatus for crushing or
splitting grain or pulse.
The object
As to chaff cutters simply the improvements are threefold.
of the first is to provide a more ready and perfect means of detaching and
re-attaching one or more of the knives so that the number of cuts may be
more or less frequent as compared with the advance of the feed, and con-
sequently the chaff longer or shorter.
And our Invention consists in attaching the knives intended to be removed
to blocks or carriers, which blocks or carriers are themselves attached to arms
radiating from a spindle.. Tlie knives having been once adjusted on the

page_text: blocks with respect to the mouth-piece by means of set screws or wedges or
any similar contrivance are not afterwards removed from the blocks, but the
blocks themselves carrying the knives are detached from and re-attached to
the radial arms without the adjustment of the knives being interfered with.
The radial arms may or may not form part of the wheel without affecting
this part of our Invention.
The object of the second improvement is to make the framework more
compact, and to equalize the power expended in cutting. We effect this by
placing the fly wheel not on the spindle carrying the radial knives, but on
another spindle connected with the first by a train of gearing, and by
preference at right angles to the former, and we prefer that this train of
gearing be so arranged that the spindle. carrying the fly wheel shall revolve
at a much higher speed than that carrying the knives. .
The third improvement consists in a more direct method than has hitherto
been used of compressing. the feed of straw or hay between the feed rollers.
We effect this by applying one or more springs to one of the feed rollers, and
by preference directly above the top roller, whereby the use of slings, levers,
and weights is avoided.
And as regards the construction of machines which combine the cutting
of chaff and the crushing or splitting of grain or pulse, our Invention con-
sists in prolonging the spindle which carries the knives, or the spindle which
carries the fly wheel, and fixing on such spindle a crushing or splitting
roller which may be made to work in any ordinary way in combination
with another roller, or with a plate, so as to crush or split the grain or
pulse fed in between such rollers, or between such roller and plate, the
framework carrying the said prolongation, and the said crushing apparatus.
being firmly attached to or forming part of the framework of the chaff cutter.
We wish it to be understood that this mode of combining crushing and chaff-
cutting machinery need not be be confined to chaff cutters made according to
the improved method of our Invention as to chaff cutters only.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 1st July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DANIEL
PIDGEON, of the Britannia Works, Banbury, Agricultural Engineer, and 3
WILLIAM MANWARING, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring, Her special
licence that we, the said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR PREPARING
THE FOOD OF ANIMALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Daniel Pidgeon and William Manwaring, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters.
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Daniel Pidgeon and William
Manwaring, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our improvements consist in the construction of machines for cutting chaff
in which the straw or hay to be cut is fed by rollers through a mouth-piece
into contact with a knife or knives radiating from a spindle, and also to the
construction of chaff cutters of the above kind combined with an apparatus for
crushing or splitting grain or pulse.
As to chaff cutters simply the improvements are threefold. The object of
the first is to provide a more ready and perfect means of detaching and
re-attaching one or more of the knives, so that the number of cuts may be
more or less frequent as compared with the advance of the feed and
consequently the chaff cut longer or shorter.
And our Invention consists in attaching the knives to be removed to plates
or carriers, which plates or carriers are themselves attached to arms radiating
from a spindle. The knives having once been adjusted on the plates with
reference to the mouth-piece by means of set screws, wedges, or any similar

page_text: contrivance, are not afterwards removed from the said plates, but the plates
themselves carrying the knives are detached from and re-attached to the radial
arms without the adjustment of the knives being interfered with. The, radial
arms may or may not form a part of the fly wheel of the machine without
affecting this part of the Invention.
The object of the second improvement is to make the framework of the
machine more compact and to equalize the power expended in cutting. We
effect this by placing the fly wheel not on the spindle carrying the radial knives,
but on another spindle carrying no knives, but connected with the first by.
gearing so arranged that the spindle carrying the fly wheel shall revolve at a
much higher speed than that carrying the knives.
The third improvement consists in a more direct method than has hitherto.
been used of compressing the feed, of hay or straw between the feed rollers.
We effect this by applying one or more springs to one of the feed. rollers and
by preference directly above the top roller, whereby the use of slings, levers,
and weights is avoided.
And as regards the construction of machines which combine the cutting
of chaff and splitting of grain or pulse, our Invention consists in prolonging the,
spindle which carries the knives, or the spindle which carries, the fly wheel, and,
fixing on such spindle a crusbing or splitting roller which may be made to work
in any ordinary way in combination with another roller or with a plate so as to
crush or split the grain or pulse fed in between such rollers or roller and plate,
the framework forming a means of carrying the said prolongation, and, the said
crushing apparatus being firmly attached to or forming part of the framework
of the chaff cutter.
We wish it to be understood that this method of combining crushing, and
chaff-cutting machinery not be confined to chaff cutters made according to the
improved method of our Invention as to chaff cutters only.
The first of these improvements is shewn by Figures 1 and 2, where
A represents the fly wheel of the machine, and B, B', the radial cutting knives,
the loose plate or carrier, having the knife B' attached to it, is-shewn at C,
the knife B¹ is attached to or detached from the fly wheel A by means of the
single bolt D.
The second improvement is shewn at Figure 3, where A represents the radial
arms carrying the knives; B the mouth-piece of the machine; C, the fly wheel;
and D, D, the gearing by means of which the fly wheel is driven from the
main spindle at a higher speed than the knives.
The third improvement is shewn at Figure 4, representing a section through
the mouth-piece of the chaff cutter. A represents the top feed roller carried

page_text: in the bearings B, B; these bearings are pressed upon by the springs C, C,
which are lodged in the boxes D, D, cast or otherwise fixed to the mouth-piece
for their reception.
Having thus fully described the nature and object of our Invention, what
we claim therein as new is,-
First, the method of detaching and re-attaching one or more of the cutting
knives from the radial arms on which they are carried.
Second, the placing the fly wheel of the machine on a separate spindle from
that carrying the knives, which spindle runs at a higher velocity than the knife
spindle.
Third, the use of spiral or any other springs in the manner shewn for
compressing the feed between the feed rollers.
Fourth, the combination of a grain-crushing and splitting mill with the chaff
cutter.
In witness whereof, we, the said Daniel Pidgeon and William Man-
waring, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this First day of
July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
0
Witness,
THOMAS WARD.
DANIEL PIDGEON.
(L.S.)
WILLIAM MANWARING. (L.S.)