CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick William Follows and John Bate.
both of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineers, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN
MOWING MACHINES."
Scaled the 13th July 1869, and dated the 31st March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick William
Follows and John Bate at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 31st March 1869.
We, FREDERICK WILLIAM FOLLOWS and JOHN BATE, both of the
City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
LAWN MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in an improved mode of giving motion to the
knife barrel shaft of lawn mowing machines, for which purpose we mako
in one of the travelling or supporting wheels an internal spur or bevel

page_text: gear, and on the same end of the knife barrel shaft is keyed a small
gear
pinion which gears into and receives its motion from the internal
or wheel in the travelling wheel, the same result may be obtained by
friction rollers; by these means we are enabled to dispense with tho
back roller now required for giving motion to tlio knife barrel.
Another part of our improvements consists in placing the box for
receiving the cut grass at the back of the machine in place of in front
of the knife barrel shaft as now customary. In some cases the box for
receiving the cut grass may be dispensed with and the grass delivered at
the back of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Frederick William Follows and John Bate in
the Great Scal Patent Office on the 18th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, FREDERICK
WILLIAM FOLLOWS and JoшN BATE, both of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Frederick William Follows and John
Bate, Her special license that we, the said Frederick William Follows
and John Bate, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as wc, the said Frederick William Follows and John Bate,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition
Follows
(amongst others) that we, the said Frederick William
and John Bate, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals,

page_text: 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Frederick William Follows and
John Bate, 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 (that is
to say):-
Our Invention consists in an improved mode of giving motion to the
knife barrel shaft of lawn mowing machines, for which purpose we
make in one of the travelling or supporting wheels an internal toothed
gear, and on the same end of the knife barrel shaft is keyed a small
pinion which gears into and receives its motion from the internal gear
or wheel in the travelling wheel, the same result may be obtained by
friction rollers; by these means we are enabled to dispense with the
back roller now required for giving motion to the knife barrel.
Another part of our improvements consists in placing the box for
receiving the cut grass at the back of the machine in place of in front
of the knife barrel shaft as now customary. In some cases the box
for receiving the cut grass may be dispensed with and the grass mercly
thrown out at the back of the machine.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily.
carried into operation we will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2 a front view, and Figure 3 plan
of a lawn mowing machine constructed according to our improve-
ments.
a is the revolving knife barrel which is made with six or other
convenient number of blades in the ordinary manner; the shaft of
the knife barrel or cutter revolves in bushes let into the frame sides b,
to which are secured the arms and handles c, c, as in mowing machines
of the usual construction. The frames are united by the bottom bar b¹
to which the bottom blade 6 is screwed, and by the cover 68. In front

page_text: of the cutters is the guide roller d supported in adjustable bearings for
varying the length of the cut as now customary. The machine instead
of being supported on a roller or rollers at the back of the machine as
heretofore is supported upon the travelling or supporting wheels e, e,
both of which are keyed on the axle f, revolving in bushes or bearings
in the frame sides b; one of the wheels e is cast with an internal toothed
wheel e', shewn best in Figure 3, which gears into and drives the pinion
a keyed on the shaft of the knife barrel a. By this improved mode of
giving motion to the knife barrel the gearing is considerably simplified,
as in ordinary lawn mowing machines three or four wheels and pinions
in addition to the driving roller or rollers, or an endless chain and a
pair of cogged wheels are required to transmit the motion from the
driving or supporting rollers to the knife barrel, whereas according to
our improvement only one internal wheel and one pinion are required.
The box for receiving the cut grass is placed at the back of the machine
instead of at the front as now customary, the front edge of the box
rests upon the bottom bar 6' and the sides are hooked to the cover b³;
by this arrangement the space is economised and the cut grass is collected
at the back when the machine is being pushed forward as shewn by the
arrows in Figure 1. In cutting very long grass the box h may bc
dispensed with and the grass is then thrown out freely on to the ground.
In wide lawn mowers or in other cases it may be desirable to drive both
ends of the knife barrel, when such is the case both wheels e must be
provided with internal toothed wheels and a pinion must be fixed at
each end of the shaft of the knife barrel. Our Invention may also be
modified by applying friction wheels in lieu of the internal wheel e¹ and
pinion a¹.
By this improved arrangement of the various parts of lawn mowing
machines and the mode of driving the knife barrel the machine can
be pushed into corners and will cut close up to a tree or wall, or under-
neath the overhanging brances of a shrub, the weight of the machine
and the power required for driving are considerably reduced and the
grass when cut is thrown direct into the box h.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention and described the
manner of performing the same we declare that we claim,―
First. The improved mode of driving the cutters or knife barrel of
lawn mowing machines as shewn and described.

page_text: And, secondly. The peculiar position of the grass box of lawn
mowing machines as shewn and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frederick William Follows and
John Bate, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Seventeenth
day of September, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
F. W. FOLLOWS. (L.8.)
JOHN BATE.
(L.8.)
F. W. FOLLOWS.
JOHN BATE.
(L.8.)
(L.S.)