IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POD COM FOR CUTTING AND SEPARATING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Maynard, Engineer, of Whittlesford, in the
County of Cambridge, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
POD COMM Com
Sealed the 26th August 1856, and dated the 3rd March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Maynard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
March 1856.
I, ROBERT MAYNARD, of Whittlesford, in the County of Cambridge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
CUTTING AND SEPARATING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in using, in combination with a portable chaff engine,
a pair of wheels or intermediate motion, forming part of the engine, and
through which the power may be transmitted from a set of horseworks to the
knives and parts connected therewith; and also a rigger or drum attached to
the side or tail end of the same engine, through which the power may be
transmitted to the aforesaid parts of the engine.
Second, in using, in combination with portable chaff engines, a riddle for
separating the chaff from the cavings or short straws.
Third, in using, in combination with portable chaff engines, apparatus
for returning imperfectly sifted chaff, so as to subject it to the process of
re-sifting.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Maynard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th August 1856,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MAYNARD, of Whittlesford, in the County of Cambridge, Engineer, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing. date .the Third day. of. March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Maynard, Her special licence; that I, the said Robert Maynard, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Maynard, 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 MACHI-
NERY FOR CUTTINGS AND SEPARATING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE; upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Maynard, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately, after the date of the said. Letters
Patent.
: .
1
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert. Maynard, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same. is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained,. in and by the following
statement:-
1
:
My Invention relates exclusively to portable and.not.to. fixed chaff engines.
By portable chaff engines, I mean such as are designed and used for accom-
panying and being worked by portable steam engines, or by portable--horse.
powers, and not such as are fixed or worked principally by fixed powers..
My improvements consist, first, in using,, in combination with portable chaff
engines, an intermediate motion, consisting of a pair of toothed wheels forming
part of the chaff engine; through these wheels the power.may be transmitted
from a set of horseworks to the knives and parts connected therewith; and
also in using a rigger or drum-affixed either-to the tail end of the knife wheel

page_text: spindle or to a cross spindle, forming an angle with the knife wheel spindle,
both the pulley and the intermediate motion forming part of the same chaff
engine. By this improvement the same chaff engine is suited for being workell
by either steam or horse power, and either power may be led to it at convenient
parts of the engine.;
:
:
Secondly, in using, in combination with portable chaff engines, a- riddle for
separating the chaff from the cavings or short straws!!!
f
Thirdly, in using, in- combination with portable chaff engines, apparatus 'for
returning, imperfectly sifted chaff, so as to subject it to the process-of-re-
sifting, thereby, more effectually separating the iniperfectly from the perfectly
cut-chaff.
3
In order the more readily to understand the nature of 'my' Invention, I
will now proceed to describe it by refering to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
aimexed..
Fig. is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is the delivery end elevation; and Fig 3
is the tail end elevation: A is the box or trough; in this is laid the straw
or other agricultural produce to be operated upon; which is drawn forward by
means of rollers towards the knife wheel B, on which is affixed the knife or
knives for cutting it to any desired lengths as chaff. The chaff so cut is
delivered into the hopper C,. whence it falls upon the higher end of the riddle
D. This riddle may be formed, as shewn in the Drawing, with a wood frame,
and a perforated metal bottom, or made in any other way, so that the properly
cut chaff in its progress. along or through it shall be separated by falling
through the holes or interstices from the straws, or that part which has not
been sufficiently acted..upon by the. knives. The riddle, ass shewn in the
Drawings, is actuated by the crank E and rod F; most of the perfectly cut
chaff falls through it on to the board G, whence it may be removed by a rake
or any suitable means;. the rest of the perfectly cut. chaff, and some which
is imperfectly cut, falls on the inclines H, HI, and descends to the boxes I, I,
whence it is conducted back by the sweepers J, J, to the upper end of the
riddle, into which it falls, and is mixed with the fresh proceeds of the knives,
and-is subjected to a repetition of the process; the rest of the imperfectly
cut chaff and the straws pass over the lower end of the riddle at L, and may
be taken away. In order to connect a portable chaff engine to a set of port-
able horseworks, I use a pair of toothed wheels or intermediate motion, one
of which wheels M is connected to the spindle of the horseworks by a universal
joint at W, and takes into the other wheel N, which is fastened on the spindle
of the knife wheel B. And to connect a portable chaff engine to a portable
steam engine, I either fasten to the tail end of the knife-wheel spindle a

page_text: pulley P, as shewn in dotted lines, to which the strap may be led from the
steam engine; or I use a cross spindle Q, connected to the knife-wheel spindle
by a pair of bevel wheels, and fasten the pulley to the spindle. Q, as shewn
at P..
I have thus described the method I take to connect a portable chaff engine
to either steam or horse power; so as to render the same engine suitable for
attaching to either. I have also herein shewn one arrangement of parts to
separate the perfectly cut chaff from the imperfectly cut, but I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself. to.this arrangement, as various other
arrangements of parts may be used to answer the same end. I also do not claim
as of my Invention all the parts herein described, but what I do claim is,.
First, I claim the mode of rendering a portable chaff engine suitable for
either horse or steam power, by using a pair of, toothed wheels as an inter-
mediate motion through which the power is conducted to the parts of the
engine when worked by a portable horse power, and by using a pulley, affixed
either to the tail end of the knife-wheel spindle, or to a cross spindle,. forming
an angle with the knife-wheel spindle, for working the same by steam power,
both the pulley and the intermediate motion forming part of the same portable
chaff engine. And I also claim the method described of leading the power of
a portable steam engine to a portable chaff engine by attaching a pulley to
the tail end of the knife-wheel spindle, or to the cross spindle described.
Second, in using, in combination with portable chaff engines, a riddle, for
separating the chaff from the cavings or short straws.
Third, in using, in combination with portable chaff engines, apparatus for
returning imperfectly sifted chaff, so as to subject it to the process of re-
sifting.
In, witness whereof, I, the said Robert Maynard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
ROBERT MAYNARD. (L.s.)