IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMBINED THRASHING AND DRESSING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Chaplin Willsher
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th October 1861.
I, JOHN CHAPLIN WILLSHER, of Peiches, in the Parish of Finchingfield, in
the County of Essex, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMBINED THRASHING
AND DRESSING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to simplify the construction of thrashing
machines by communicating the requisite motions to the screen and riddle box
through the shaker bars. This we effect by connecting a portion of these bars
at their lower ends to the screen, which is supported as usual by means of
pendent links, and jointing the other bars at their lower ends to the riddle
box, which is suspended from a cross shaft or trunnions. The shaker bars are
connected to a two-throw crank as usual, so that a given number will be
lifted while the others are being depressed to produce the shaking action.
CD 1

page_text: Instead of the bars ending at or near the point where the straw is delivered
on to them by the drum, they are continued beyond the drum, and the distance
between the crank and their fulcrums being thus increased, the amount of the
reciprocating action of the bars is proportionately increased, and thus an
efficient shaking of the straw is ensured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Chaplin Willsher in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CHAPLIN WILLSHER, of Petches, in the Parish of Finchingfield, in the County
of Essex, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Chaplin Willsher, Her special license that 1, the said John
Chaplin Willsher, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I. the said John Chaplin Wilsher, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMBINED THRASHING AND DRESSING
MACHINE"," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Chaplin
Willsher, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Chaplin Willsher, 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
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):--
The object of this Invention is to simplify the construction of thrashing
machines. This I propose to effect by connecting the screens or riddles with

page_text: the shaker bars in such a manner that the requisite motions for the screens
or riddles will be communicated through the shaker bars instead of through
the mechanical appliances specially provided and usually employed for that
purpose.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn an arrangement for setting a
screen and riddle box in motion, and also an arrangement for working two
screens direct from the shaker bars.
Fig. 1, Sheet I., shews in longitudinal section, and Fig. 2 in plan view, so
much of a thrashing machine constructed according to my Invention as will
serve to explain the manner of actuating a screen and riddle box directly from
the shaker bars. A is the drum or rotating beater for thrashing out the corn,
and working as usual within a segmental grating B; C and C* are the shaker
bars, connected near their middle to a two-throw crank shaft D, which has
its bearings as usual in the side framing of the machine. The inner ends of
the bars C are connected by a forked coupling c to the riddle box E, which is
suspended from a cross shaft or trunnions, and the other shaker bars C* are
connected by rods C* to the inner end of the screen F. This screen is sup-
ported as usual by pendent links f, f, on which it is free to swing in the
direction of its length. As the shaker bars C and C are connected, as above
stated, to a two-throw crank (as usual), a portion of their number will be
lifted while the remainder are being depressed to produce the shaking action.
To ensure the simultaneous rising and falling of the shaker bars C*, they are
connected together by a cross bar G, which is cranked to prevent the shaker
bars C being affected thereby. The point of support for the inner ends of the
shaker bars is carried beyond the drum, which gives them a long length of
leverage, and by thus ensuring a considerable oscillation of the bars a
thoroughly efficient shaking of the straw will take place.
Sheet II. shews a modification of the above-described arrangement, in
which the shaker bars are connected to two longitudinal screens or riddles
instead of one longitudinal screen and transverse riddle box. Fig. 3 shews
this arrangement in longitudinal section; and Fig. 4 is a cross section taken at
the line 1, 2. of Fig. 3. The same letters of reference in this and the above-
described arrangement refer to like parts, and therefore little further explana-
tion is required. The screen F*, which is employed in lieu of the riddle box
of Fig. 1 (as is customary in the machines of some compound thrashing and
dressing machine makers), is suspended from links f*, *, and is connected to
he shaker bars C by means of rods c', which are made fast by screws to the
screen, and are jointed to rods c, c, affixed to the coupling of the shaker
bars C. The corn to be thrashed is fed as usual to the drum or rotary.

page_text: beater A, and passing round. in the direction of the arrow the seed is beaten
out of the ears, and the straws deposited on the shaker bars. These being set
in motion by the crank shaft D will cause the straw to travel upwards and
fall over the elevated ends of these bars out of the machine.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Construction of Combined Thrashing and Dressing Machines," and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim connecting the screens
or riddles of combined thrashing and dressing machines with the shaker bars
in such manner as to obtain thereby the requisite support for the shaker bars,
and to transmit through those bars the necessary reciprocating motions to the
screens or riddles.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Chaplin Willsher, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN CHAPLIN WILLSHER: (L.S.)