A NEW OR IMPROVED ROLLING APPARATUS FOR MOULDING HAY-COCKS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 18, Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 5, Piccadilly,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A NEW
OR IMPROVED ROLLING APPARATUS FOR MOULDING HAY-COCKS." A com-
munication from Louis Adrien Couteau, of Léonville, in the Republic of
France, Agricultor.
Sealed the 31st October 1879, and dated the 5th May 1879.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th May 1879.
HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 18, Rue
de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 5, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "A NEW OR IMPROVED ROLLING APPARATUS FOR MOULDING HAY-
COCKS." A communication from Louis Adrien Couteau, of Léonville, in the Republic
of France, Agricultor.
This Invention relates to diminishing considerably the costs of manual labour for
making hay-cocks in the meadows, and also to making up for the want of hands by
accelerating the work, and consists of a moveable mould by means of which the
cocks are made up and left successively in place as they are formed.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a
longitudinal elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan view of the new or improved apparatus.
Similar letters indicate corresponding parts in these two Figures.
The Invention consists, as shown, of a cart mounted on wheels revolving on pins
fixed in the frame and consequently without any axle-tree in order to leave the
middle of the cart entirely free. On the said frame are erected sides or walls a, a³,
which constitute the mould of the oval shape that is to be imparted to the hay-cock.
The said sides are slightly inclined from bottom to top so as to form a cone inside
and enable the hay-cock to fall down with greater ease on to the meadow when it
is finished, and to give its outside surface the inclination required for the rain-water
to run off until the hay is stacked. The back side parts a¹ are hinged on to the
front ones a, and will open perpendicularly like shutters to allow of the passage of
the hay-cock after it has been deposited on the ground and the cart moves on. The
mould has no back wall or side for the same reason. The bottom of the said mould
is formed of a series of chains b stretched through the cart lengthways, and on to
which the hay is thrown and heaped up until the mould is quite full, and terminated
[Prine 71

page_text: by the rounded cap or top usually given to the hay-cocks. One end of the said
chains is fixed to and winds round a windlass c placed downwards in front of the
frame of the cart. The said windlass is provided with a lever d by means of which
a rotary motion is imparted thereto in order to give the chains the necessary tension.
A catch e stops the said windlass in order to keep up the tension. The other ends
of the chains are provided with rings placed on studs ffixed along another windlass g
mounted at the back, and also placed downwards on the cart. This intter windlass
is provided with a lever h which rotates the windlass g and increases the tension of
the chains; the said lever his held by a projecting stud i fixed to the frame. This
last windlass serves as a substitute for the back cross-piece of the frame which is
done away with in order to leave a free passage for the hay-cock when formed. For
this reason the said windlass is hinged or pivoted at one end, whilst its other end
provided with the lever is fixed in a semi-circular bracket or bearing j fixed to the
frame.
When the hay-cock is made and finished, in order to deposit it on the ground
the catch of the front windlass is lifted up and the chains slackened; the lever h
which holds the back windlass is then disengaged and a rotary motion imparted to
the lattor in the contrary direction to that effected by the stretching of the chains;
the rings of the latter come off the studs of their own accord, and the chains fall
on to the ground. The back windlass is then disengaged from its bearing j and
placed in the axis of the sleeper of the frame, and the hay-cock being no longer
supported by the chains falls of its own weight on to the ground and comes out of
the mould of itself. The cart is then moved forwards, the chains are disengaged by
slipping from underneath the hay-cock, and afterwards hooked on again to the studs
of the back windlass and stretched by means of the two windlasses to form another
hay-cock.
It is needless to show here with what great rapidity the work can be done. With
the help of two men, one gathering together the hay and throwing it into the
mould as he follows the cart, the other on the foot-boards on cach side and in front
of the cart to arrange and heap up the hay, the cart can move in a straight line
from one end of the meadow to the other and deposit a hay-cock successivoly at
each end of the lines traversed, so that the meadow is left entirely free, whilst under
the present system the hay-cocks scattered here and there over the meadow choke
the underlying grass and a considerable number of hands is required, or if tho
number of hands is diminished a constant going backwards and forwards is
necessitated, for making each hay-cock which forms a central point, to convey the
hay from the circumference to the centre within a fixed radius.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
carrying it into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the precise details above enumerated, as these may obviously be modified without
departing from the principle of the Invention, but what I claim is, the means of
forming hay-cocks in the meadows with a moveable mould, which has never been
before effected, and the mould itself consisting of a receptacle placed on a cart, the
bottom of which formed by stretched chains, rods, or any other similar device, drops
on the meadow theh ay-cock ready formed, and is disengaged by the moving on of
the cart, substantially as above described, and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)