IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWANG AMAUMESSOWING MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Anton Harder, of Ransen, near Steinau on the
Oder, in the German Empire, but at present of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the
31
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWANG AMAUMESS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Anton Harder at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th September 1873.
I, ANTON HARDER, of Ransen, near Steinau on the Oder, in the
German Empire, but at present of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
One of my improvements has reference to the mode of supporting the
reciprocating knife bar of reaping and mowing machines. Heretofore
the knife bar has been carried in fixed guides and considerable friction
is caused by the rapid reciprocating motion of the bar in the guides,

page_text: particularly when these become clogged with grit, resulting in a con-
siderable waste of power.
Now my improvement consists in connecting the knife bar to the free
ends of thin steel bars acting as springs, extending back some distance
beneath the platform to which they are fixed by their other ends, so that
such springs serve both to support the knife bar and to guide it in its
motion, inasmuch as they are made to bend backwards and forwards as
the knife bar moves to and fro. By this means all fixed guides are
dispensed with, and consequently all friction resulting from the motion
of the knife bar is obviated.
1
n
Another of my improvements relates to the knives. Instead of making
the cutting part of the knife flat with a bevilled edge as heretofore, I
form an angular rim thereon, which is flat on the upper face, where it
works against the fingers but is bevilled off to a more or less acute
angle on the under side, so that a cutting edge is formed on the flat
upper face of the rim. By this construction I am enabled to sharpen
the knives when requisite by grinding the flat upper face of the said
rim on a flat grinding surface, whereby the cutting edge is always
maintained perfectly flat, so as to work accurately against the fingers,
thus insuring a shearing action of the knives. The bevilled under face
of the rim may either be smooth or it may be formed with serrations, so
that serrations are produced on the cutting edge in the same manner as
in some knives of present construction.
Another improvement has reference to the connecting rod and crank
by which the reciprocating motion is imparted to the knife bar. Owing
to the great rapidity of motion the crank pin and connecting rod head
require to be oiled very frequently, whereby great loss of time is
occasioned in the operation of mowing and reaping. My present-
improvement consists in so constructing the connecting rod head and
crank pin that a reservoir of oil is contained in the former, from which
the oil is continually supplied to the crank pin. For this purpose I
construct the outer side of the connecting rod head with a hollow space
constituting the oil chamber, closed by a removable cover; the crank
pin and the hole in the connecting rod head into which. it fits are made
somewhat conical or tapering, the larger diameter being at the end a
facing the oil chamber, into which the said hole of the connecting rod.
head opens, so that the end face of the crank pin is in contact with the

page_text: oil in the chamber. A passage is formed in the crank pin in such
a manner that one end thereof communicates with the oil chamber
while when the crank pin is turned into a certain position relative to the
connecting rod head the other end of the said passage communicates
with a hole in the top of the connecting rod head, so that oil can be
introduced through such hole and passage into the oil chamber.
During the rotation of the crank pin the oil will be supplied from the
reservoir to the bearing surfaces thereof and of the connecting rod head,
firstly, from the periphery of the end face of the crank pin, and
secondly, through the before-mentioned passage in the crank pin. At
the inner end of the bearing surface of the crank pin is formed a
circular groove into which packing is inserted so as to prevent any
leakage of oil from between it and the connecting rod head at that point,
and the bearing surfaces of the crank pin and connecting rod head are
kept in sufficiently close contact by means of a set screw, screwing
through the cover of the oil chamber and pressing against the end surface
of the crank pin.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Anton Harder in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTON
HARDER, of Ransen, near Steinau on the Oder, in the German Empire,
but at present of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Anton Harder, Her special
license that I, the said Anton Harder, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Anton Harder, 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

page_text: 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 Anton Harder, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Anton Harder, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:-
One of my improvements has reference to the mode of supporting the
reciprocating knife bar of reaping and mowing machines. Heretofore
the knife bar has been carried in fixed guides and considerable friction
is caused by the rapid reciprocating motion of the bar in the guides,
particularly when these become clogged with grit, resulting in a con-
siderable waste of power.
Now my improvement consists in connecting the knife bar to the free
ends of metal bars acting as springs extending back some distance
beneath the platform to which they are fixed by their other ends, so that
such spring bars serve both to support the knife bar and to guide it in its
motion inasmuch as they are made to bend backwards and forwards as
the knife bar moves to and fro. By this means all fixed guides are
dispensed with and consequently all friction resulting from the motion
of the knife bar is obviated.
Another of my improvements relates to the knives, instead of making
the cutting part of the knife flat with a bevilled edge as heretofore, I
form an angular rim thereon, which is flat on the upper face, where it
works against the fingers but is bevilled off to a more or less acute
angle on the under side, so that a cutting edge is formed on the flat
upper face of the rim. By this construction I am enabled to sharpen
the knives when requisite by grinding the flat upper face of the said

page_text: rim on a flat grinding surface, whereby the cutting edge is always
maintained perfectly flat so as to work accurately against the fingers,
thus insuring a shearing action of the knives. The bevilled under
surface of the rim may either be smooth or it may be formed with
serrations, so that serrations are produced on the cutting edge in the
same manner as in some knives of present construction.
same manuti as in some AMYES of present construction,
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 shews a plan of the platform of a reaping machine with my
improvements applied thereto; Fig. 2 shews an enlarged section on line
X, X, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shews a section on line Y, Y; and Fig. 4 shews a
section on line Z, Z.
Fig. 5 shews a part full size section; and Fig. 6 shews a perspective
view of one of the knives.
The knives A are plates of steel with their front sides sloped in, the
usual form, but these sloped sides instead of being brought to an edge
by bevilling them like a chisel or other cutting instrument are, according
to my Invention, turned up at an obtuse angle to the plane of the blade
so as to form a lip a, as shewn in Figs. 5 and 6, which being ground on
its upper face a¹ flat and parallel to the plane of the blade presents a
cutting edge that can work close against the fingers B, and thereby
shear the stalks of the crop presented to it. It will be seen that by this
construction the knives can be much more readily sharpened than
knives of present construction, their cutting edges being retained on a
true plane by grinding them on a flat surface so as to act accurately
against the fingers. The cutting edges may either be plain, in which
case the knives are formed with an acute point, as shewn in dotted lines
at A¹, Fig. 8, or by preference they are blunter at the point and the
cutting edges serrated by roughing or channelling the oblique under
surface of the lip a in a similar manner to some knives at present in use,
as indicated at Fig. 6, and in plan at Fig. 8. The knives A are fixed in
the usual manner on the bar C which is caused to reciprocate by any
known means, as for example, by a crank and connecting rod, as shewn
at D, Fig. 1, but the bar C instead of working in guides as in machines
of present construction is, according to my Invention, pivotted by pins
or screws E to the extremities of elastic bars F extending under the
platform and fixed at their farther ends thereto, or to brackets f pro-.

page_text: jecting down therefrom. The elastic bars F are preferably made of steel
but they may be of other more or less elastic metal or alloy, and they are
fixed with their greater dimension or depth standing vertically, so that
while they are stiff enough vertically to support the knife bar C and its
knives A they act as springs laterally, allowing the play of the knife bar
to and fro in its reciprocating movement. In the arrangement of such
springs, as shewn at Figs. 1 to 5, the front ends of the bars are bent flat
and pass through slots in an angle iron facing G to the platform; H, H,
are wood ribs on each side of the springs serving both to strengthen the
platform and as a means of attachment for the thin sheet metal or wood
covering I enclosing the springs on the under side, so as to protect them
against injury by stones; K are wood blocks between the ribs H to
which the angle iron facing G is fixed.
Fig. 7 shews ȧ section, and Fig. 8 a plan of another mode of forming
the front ends of the springs F¹; they are in this case forged with a
socket at the end for receiving the pin E on which the knife bar
pivots.
In both the before described arrangements the lower ends of the fingers
B are by preference flattened out as indicated so as to cover and protect
the ends of the springs and the knife bar.
Fig. 9 shews a section, and Fig. 10 a part plan of another modification
in which the fingers B are fixed below the knife bar instead of above it
as in the previous arrangements. In this case the pin E pivots in the
socket of the spring F and passes through a slot formed in the flange of
the fingers as shewn, two fingers being formed in one piece, as indicated
at Fig. 10, to admit of this arrangement. The socket and front end F¹
of the spring may be made of a separate piece of gun metal or malleable
cast iron fixed to the spring, as shewn at Fig. 10, or the spring bars or
bearers may be constructed as shewn in side elevation at Fig. 13, where
F¹ is a rigid bar or bearer of cast iron or other metal connected by a
short spring F to the bracket f; I, Fig. 9, is the sheet metal casing
enclosing the springs, secured in front to lugs 6 on the fingers B.
Fig. 11 shows a section, and Fig. 12 a plan of another modification,
more particularly applicable to mowing machines, having no platform or
a platform of very small extent. In this case the back ends of the
springs F are bent round and returned towards the front, where they are
secured to brackets ffixed to the narrow platform L.

page_text: It will be seen that by supporting the knife bar by means of springs
or spring bearers as before described, I avoid all the friction caused by
the reciprocation of the knife bar in fixed guides, which friction, par-
ticularly when the guides become clogged with grit, is so great as to
require considerable power for imparting the necessary rapid motion to
the knife bar.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
am aware that knives for reaping and mowing machines have already
been made with roughened or serrated cutting edges, and therefore I
do not claim such roughening or serrating of the knives generally, but
I claim,-
First. The knife A of reaping and mowing machines made with a
turned up lip a on which the cutting edge is formed, substantially as
and for the purpose herein described.
Second. In combination with the turned up lip a of the said knife A,
the roughening or serrating the under face of the lip so as to present
serrations on the cutting edge, substantially as herein described.
Third. The use of spring bars or bearers for supporting the knife bar
of reaping and mowing machines, substantially as herein described.
'
In witness whereof, I, the said Anton Harder, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.