IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Burgess, of the Firm of Burgess and Key,
of Newgate Street, in the City of London, Agricultural Implement
Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 11th April 1860, and dated the 13th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Burgess at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
October 1859.
I, WILLIAM BURGESS, of the Firm of Burgess and Key, of Newgate Street,
in the City of London, Agricultural Implement Makers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to both reaping and mowing machines,
and the second to mowing machines only.
The first part of my Invention consists in a means of backing reaping and
mowing machines, whereby the driver may be enabled to back the machine
when required. For this purpose I fix a ratchet wheel on an axis, and cause
this wheel directly or indirectly to act upon the main driving wheel, and by
preference near the periphery. A paul on a lever is made to gear into the
ratchet wheel, and the lever being placed within the reach of the driver, enables
him to work the ratchet wheel, and thus back the machine as required.

page_text: The second part of my Invention consists in the adaptation of an ordinary
finger used in mowing machines, to the purpose of a divider in mowing
machines, by carrying back from the top and near the point of the finger a
curved rod or bar. I thus dispense with the ordinary heavy divider projecting
beyond the fingers, giving rise to frequent stoppages caused by the grass choking
the confined apertures thereon, and substitute for it a light divider, which only
projects to the same extent as the fingers, has no confined apertures, and
therefore not liable to choke, and whereby a better division in the
secured, and the general efficiency of the mowing machine is much enhanced.
grass is
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Burgess in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BURGESS, of the Firm of Burgess and Key, of Newgate Street, in the City of
London, Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Burgess, Her special licence that I, the said William Burgess,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Burgess, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Burgess, my executors or administrators; by an instru-
ment in writing under my, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Burgess, do hereby declare,
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-

page_text: ing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunder annexed,
that is to say:-
The first part of my Invention relates to both reaping and mowing machines,
and the second to mowing machines only.
The first part of my Invention consists in a means of backing reaping and
mowing machines, whereby the driver may be enabled to back the machinė
when required. For this purpose I fix a ratchet wheel on an axis, and cause
this wheel directly or indirectly to act upon the main driving wheel, and by
preference near the periphery. A paul on a lever is made to gear into the
ratchet wheel, and the lever being placed within the reach of the driver enables
him to work the ratchet wheel, and thus back the machine as required.
The second part of my Invention consists in the adaptation of an ordinary
finger used in mowing machines to the purpose of a divider in mowing machines,
by carrying back from the top and near the point of the finger a curved rod or
bar. I thus dispense with the ordinary heavy divider projecting beyond the
fingers, giving rise to frequent stoppages caused by the grass choking the con-
fined apertures thereon, and substitute for it a light divider, which only projects
to the same extent as the fingers, has no confined apertures, and therefore not
liable to choke, and whereby a better division in the grass is secured, and the
general efficiency of the mowing machine is much enhanced.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings, is a sectional elevation of a mowing
machine, as will be necessary to explain the manner in which I prefer to carry
the first part of my Invention into effect, though I do not limit myself to the
precise arrangements shown.
A is the driving or travelling wheel mounted on a shaft B working in
bearings a, a, (one only of which is seen in the Drawing) formed on or attached
to the framework of the machine; b, b, are teeth cast on the internal periphery
of the wheel A. A pinion shown in dotted lines mounted upon a shaft C, gears
into the teeth 6, b. The shaft C also carries a ratchet wheel D; E is a pawl,
supported by two tappets F, F, one only of which is shewn, which takes into
the teeth on the wheel D, Gis a connecting rod which is forked and held at one end
by the same pin that secures the paul E, while at the other it is jointed to a hand
lever H, having its fulcrum at I. This lever is placed in such a position that
it is within reach and under the control of the driver who rides on the machine.
To back the machine, the lever H is pulled backward by the driver, when the
paul E engages in the teeth of the ratchet wheel D, and this wheel being
mounted on the same shaft as the pinion, both wheel and pinion are caused to
revolve, and with them the driving wheel, all in a backward direction. When
it is not requisite to back the machine, the paul E is thrown out of gear with the

page_text: ratchet wheel, and falls back on a guard J. Figure 2 is a side elevation of
the mowing machine complete. Although I have shewn this part of my
Invention applied to mowing machines only, yet it is equally applicable to
reaping machines.
The manner in which I adapt the ordinary end finger used in mowing
machines to act as a divider in such machines, is shewn at Figure 3, which is
a plan, and Figure 4 a side view of so much of the fingers and finger bar as is
necessary to explain this second part of my Invention. A is the finger on the
outer end of the finger bar B; C is the curved rod or bar, which is carried
back from the top and near the point of the finger A; D is the track clearer.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in reaping and mowing machines,―
.First, constructing reaping and mowing machines in such manner that the
driver may act through a lever or levers and a wheel or wheels or other suitable
mechanical agents upon the main driving wheel, in order to back the machine
when required.
And second, the adaptation of an ordinary finger used in mowing machines,
to the purpose of a divider in such machines, as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burgess, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
W. BURGESS. (L.S.)