IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING THE CUTTERS OF SUCH MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st April 1870. -A communication from abroad by Auguste
Bernard Albaret, of the Firm of Albaret and Co., of Paris, in the
Empire of France.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING THE CUTTERS OF SUCH MACHINES," a communication
from abroad by Auguste Bernard Albaret, of the Firm of Albaret and
Co., of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to various improvements in the construction
and operation of reaping and mowing machines.
The improved machine, which may be drawn by two horses and may
be made to form at pleasure one, two, or more sheaves,) is mounted upon
a suitable framing, the driving wheel being situated between the framing
and the platform and consequently supporting the greater part of the
weight of the machine. Motion is communicated to the cutting teeth by
means of a crank and long connecting rod at the outside of the machine,

page_text: which crank is actuated by means of suitable gearing leading from the
driving wheel of the machine. The connecting rod is mounted in a
bearing which allows of working obliquely without increasing the
friction. The rakes are actuated by means of gearing on a vertical
jointed shaft connected with the driving wheel, this shaft carries a
pinion at the top which drives a wheel on the rake shaft, this pinion
may be brought at pleasure into or out of contact with the wheel by
means of a hand lever, or a differential movement may be adapted to the
rakes. The platform is made adjustable vertically in order that the
corn or grass may be cut at any required height from the ground, and
the cutter is capable of being set at a position more or less inclined
according to circumstances. For this purpose the axis of the driving wheel
is made moveable round the axle of the pinion and is set to any required
position by means of a sector operated by an endless screw worked by a
key or handle. The pole may be also set to any required height without
unharnessing the horses by means of a vertical adjusting screw.
teeth of the rake are caused to describe what may be called a truncated
cone, and the platform itself forms a portion of the surface of a cone,
and the sheaf will be so much the better formed in proportion as the
surface approaches nearer to that described by the imaginary line of the
extremities of the teeth. The supporting wheel for the platform is
according to this Invention placed inside the cutter instead of outside
the cutter as is usually the case, and which injures the crops by passing
over them. The machine is so arranged as to bring its centre of gravity
as near as possible to the centre of contact of the driving wheel with the
ground, this is an important point, as the machine should bring all its
weight to bear on the driving wheel and as little as possible upon the
supporting wheel.
The weight is thrown back as much as possible
behind the axle of the driving wheel.
The
This Invention also consists in the adaptation to reaping and mowing
machines of a series of dividing teeth or points which are set at certain
distances in a line with but extending beyond the cutting teeth. These
points which are of a wedge or > shape are intended to penetrate and
hold the stalks of corn in position previously to being cut so as to
prevent them from falling, thus ensuring a steady and even cut.
This Invention also relates to an arrangement of apparatus for
sharpening the cutters of reaping and mowing machines, and consists of
a grindstone of peculiar form which is driven by a treadle and cranks

page_text: below in the ordinary manner. This stone is in the form of two equal
truncated cones united at their base in the middle of the stone, the
inclination of its surface is such that on presenting the cutter parallel to
the axis of the grindstone the two neighbouring cutting edges of two
adjacent cutting edges or teeth are sharpened at the same time. There
are supports for the cutter while being ground which are adjustable to
allow for the wearing away of the stone.