Year: 1888

page_text: I EDWARD CHRISTOPHER BLACKSTONE of the firm of Jeffery & Blackstone, of
Stamford in the County of Lincoln, Agricultural Implement Makers do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that class of harvesting machines in which the cutter and
finger bars stand in advance of the travelling wheel axle, and are raised and lowered
by a hand lever, during the working of the machine, to suit the irregularities of
the ground, or to clear the cut grass when turning or backing.
This vertical movement of the finger bar is effected by the driver applying his
hand to the lifting lever, both hands however being required for the reins in turning
the horses at the end of a swathe, or in backing the harvester.
To avoid the inconvenience thus occasioned, I now propose to adapt to the lifting
lever, or to the pivotted casting in which that lever is socketed, a stirrup or a treadle
lever, which being operated by the foot of the attendant, will in general suffice to
lift the finger bar sufficiently high from the ground.
The lifting lever is mounted as usual on the main framing.
In some cases I propose to form this lever with a rigid spur, projecting towards the
driver, and serving to carry a stirrup or treadle for receiving the pressure of the
driver's foot.
When, therefore, an irregularity in the ground is observed, or when it is required
to pass over a cut swathe, or to raise the finger bar for any other purpose, the driver
can, by the pressure of his foot on the stirrup or treadle, lift the finger bar sufficiently
far to clear the obstruction.
As the stirrup is depressed, the handle of the lifting lever will be brought nearer
to the driver's hand, ready to be seized by him, if a further rise of the finger bar is
required.
Instead of the rigid spur, a treadle lever may be pivotted to the hand lever, a stop
being provided on that lever for limiting the downward movement of the treadle,
and the hand lever, instead of being pivotted directly to the framing, may be socketed
in a pivotted casting.

page_text: When employing a pivotted socket piece to receive the hand lever, I may hinge the
treadle lever to the same socket, limiting the movement of the treadle lever on its
fulcrum.
The socket is made cam shaped for the purpose of lapping upon it the lifting
chain which connects the lever with the hinged frame that carries the finger bar, and
when the lifting lever is pivotted directly to the main framing, I provide it with a
crank arm to receive the end of the lifting chain.
The socket casting may also be made with a crank arm instead of being cam
shaped.
In order to adjust the "dip "of the cutters when cutting over ridge and furrow
land, I propose to balance the machine on the travelling wheel axle by a weight or
spring, and to adapt a treadle lever to the draught pole or draught pole bracket, so
that the attendant, by a slight pressure of his foot, may vary the dip" of the cutters
as required.
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page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Harvesting Machines.
I EDWARD CHRISTOPHER BLACKSTONE of the firm of Jeffery & Blackstone of.
Stamford in the County of Lincoln, Agricultural Implement Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to that class of harvesting machines in which the cutter and
finger bars stand in advance of the travelling wheel axle, and are raised and lowered
by a hand lever during the working of the machine, to suit the irregularities of the
ground, or to clear the cut grass when turning or backing.
This vertical movement of the finger har is effected by the driver applying his
hand to the lifting lever, which action is chiefly required at the time when the use of
both hands is needed in turning the horses at the end of a swathe, or in backing the
harvester.
To avoid the inconvenience thus occasioned, I now propose to adapt to the lifting
lever, or to the pivotted casting in which that lever is socketted, a stirrup or a treadle
lever, which being operated by the foot of the attendant, will in general suffice to lift
the finger bar sufficiently high from the ground.
The lifting lever is mounted as usual on the main framing.
When, therefore, an irregularity in the ground is observed, or when it is required
to pass over a cut swathe, or to raise the finger bar for any other purpose, the driver
can, by the pressure of his foot on the stirrup or treadle, lift the finger bar sufficiently
far to clear the obstruction.
In the accompanying drawings, I have shown four arrangements of my invention,
modified to suit different constructions of machine.
Fig. 1 shows in side elevation the ordinary hand lever of the harvesting machine,
connected, as usual, with a lifting chain to the hinged frame which carries the cutter
bar. In this figure, A. is the hand lever, pivotted as usual to the main casting B,
which is mounted on the travelling wheel axle.
The cranked end of this hand lever is connected by a chain C with the hinged
frame D to which the cutter bar is fitted.
To the hand lever A is pivotted; a lever-arm A', which is free to turn upwards on
its pivot, while its motion in the opposite direction is limited by means of a stop
pin a.
a¹ is a stirrup pendent from the arm A', and intended to receive the pressure of the
foot of the driver when it is desired to lift the finger bar, with its cutter bar, clear of
the ground. A sufficient rise will thus be obtained for ordinary occasions, as when
turning the horses at the end of a swathe, at which time, as mentioned above, both
hands of the driver are occupied.
As the stirrup is depressed, the handle of the lifting lever A will be brought nearer
to the driver's hand, ready to be seized by him, if a further rise of the finger bar is
required.

page_text: In pulling over the hand lever A, the stirrup arm A' will meet the main casting,
and it is to provide against the arresting of the movement of the hand lever, that the
stirrup arm is pivotied thereto, and thus allowed to rise relatively to the hand lever,
as that is pulled into the dotted position.
Instead of pivotting the hand lever directly to the framing, as described with
reference to Fig. 1, it may be socketted in a pivotted casting E; as shown in the
side elevation, Fig. 2. This casting is provided with a cam shaped surface, to which
the lifting chain Čis attached. The hand lever carries, in this case, a pivotted lever
arm fitted with a pedal pin, in place of a stirrup but the action of the parts is
identical with that of the first described arrangement.
When employing a pivotted socket piece to receive the hand lever, I sometimes
hinge the treadle lever to the same socket, limiting, as before explained, the movement
of the treadle lever on its fulcrum. This arrangement is shown in side elevation at
Fig. 3, where A is the hand lever socketted in the casting E, and A¹ is the pedal arm
or lever pivotted to the same casting.
This socket casting is made cam shaped, like that of Fig. 2, for the purpose of
lapping upon it the lifting chain which connects the lever with the hinged frame that
carries the finger bar.
Fig. 4 shows in side elevation a further modification of my invention. In this
example, the pedal lever A' is a crank lever pivotted on the main frame B, or to the
gearing frame.
The shorter arm of this lever is connected by a rod to the rear of the pivotted
socket piece E. The pressing forward, therefore, of this lever, will rock the pivotted
socket piece, and bring the lever A near to the hand of the driver, when the further
rocking motion may, if desired, be continued until the hand lever has reached the
dotted position, at which time the finger bar will be raised to its highest elevation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
Adapting to harvesting machines provided with a hand lever for raising the finger
bar, a pivotted stirrup or pedal arm or lever for effecting, through the hand lever, or
through the socket casting carrying the same, the vertical movement of the finger
bar, as and for the purpose above set forth.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1888