IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Jack, of Maybole, in the County of
Ayr, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
AND MOWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 15th October 1869, and dated the 24th April 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Jack at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th April 1869.
I, ALEXANDER JACK, of Maybole, in the County of Ayr, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "Iж-
PROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows, that is to
say :-
This Invention, which relates to improvements in certain parts of
reaping and mowing machines, consists in so arranging the parts that
whether "cutting high or low" the knives and the fingers may always
have the same relative positions. This object is accomplished by so
arranging the joints or couplings between the main frame of the

page_text: machine and the finger bar that they are concentric with the crank or
longitudinal shaft, being attached thereto by eyes or bearings which
surround the crank shaft. The arms of the joint or coupling may or
may not be united into one piece at that part where the coupling is
attached to the finger bar, and the coupling is connected thereto by a
pin or bolt.
suance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Jack in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
JACK, of Maybole, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
32nd year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Jack, Her special license
that I, the said Alexander Jack, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Jack, my executors,
administrators, or 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 Alexander Jack, 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.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:-
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in certain parts of
reaping and mowing machines, consists in so arranging the parts that
whether cutting "high or low" the knives and the fingers may always
have the same relative positions. This object is accomplished by so
arranging the joints or couplings between the main frame of the
machine and finger bar that they are concentric with the crank or
longitudinal shaft, being attached thereto by eyes or bearings which.
surround the crank shaft. The arms of the joint or coupling may or
may not be united into one piece at that part where the coupling is
attached to the finger bar, and the coupling is connected thereto by a
pin or bolt.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, reference being had to the explanatory Sheet of Drawings which
I have hereunto appended, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a front clevation, and Figure 2 a plan of those parts of a
reaping and mowing machine by which the improvements constituting
my present Invention are shown applied.
The joint or coupling A, A, is attached at its upper ends to the crank
or longitudinal shaft B by means of the circular eye or bearing marked
C, shown more particularly in plan at Figure 2, and at its lower
extremity it is fixed by the bolt or pin G to the bracket D, which
supports or carries one end of the cutter and finger bars marked E
and Frespectively. The crank disc H is provided with a pin a, to
which is attached one end of the driving rod I, the other end being
fitted to an eye b on the cutter bar E, as shown. The lower part of the
joint or coupling A, A, is provided with a chain, which passes over the
quadrant J and is attached thereto by a hook or other suitable con-
trivance. The quadrant J is keyed on the transverse shaft K and is
actuated by a lever L when it is required to alter the position of the
Thus the
cutter bar from the "high to the low cut," or vice versa.
joint or coupling A, A, being concentric with the crank H, and being
also attached to the bracket which supports the cutter and finger bars

page_text: as herein-before described, it is obvious that in any position of the cutter
and finger bars E and F for cutting "high" or "low" the same relative
position will be maintained between these cutter and finger bars in place
of their relative positions varying as in other arrangements hitherto in
use.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
system or manner in which the same is or may be carried out in
practice, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is, the connecting together
of the crank shaft and finger bar of reaping and mowing machines by
means of a joint or coupling whose eye is in connection and concentric
with the axis of the crank shaft, substantially as herein-before described
and shown in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Jack, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Eighteenth day of October, Onc
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
ALEX". JACK. (L.S.)