IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MOWING GRASS, CORN CROPS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCE; FOR TRIMMING THE MARGINS OF LAWNS; ALSO FOR ROLLING, COLLECTING, AND DELIVERING THE SAID CROPS OF CORN AND OTHER PRODUCE INTO BONDS OR BANDS READY FOR BEING TIED UP IN SHRAVES OR LAID IN SWARTH
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Cornes at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th November
1868.
I, JOHN CORNES, of Ilford, in the County of Essex, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINES FOR MOWING GRASS, CORN CROPS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCE; FOR
TRIMMING THE MARGINS OF LAWNS; ALSO FOR ROLLING, COLLECTING, AND
DELIVERING THE SAID CROPS OF CORN AND OTHER PRODUCE INTO BONDS OR BANDS
READY FOR BEING TIED UP IN SHRAVES OR LAID IN SWARTH," to be as
follows:-
My first improvement consists in so constructing machines employed
for the above purposes as to cause them to deliver the said crops behind
instead of in front of the machine. To effect this I make the spiral
cutter act as an elevator, and also fit an oscillating box or receptacle, or
hang the same to the back part of the machine. When used as a
lawn mower the grass is raised by the cutter and delivered into the box
or receptacle. When used as a long grass cutter the box is removed and
the crop thrown backwards, broad cast, light, and open to the action of
the wind or air and sun to be dried into hay. When used as a corn-

page_text: crop cutter the crop is collected by guides which advance vertically and
then fall and recede horizontally and thus press the crop to the edges of
the cutters which are still of the spiral form and geared, as before
explained; in this case the crop is thrown behind into an oscillating
receiver fitted with a lever, so that the attendant can tip it and deposit
the contents in regular quantities or sheaves upon bands or bonds ready
for being tied up; or the crop may be delivered upon a platform at the
back of the machine and be tied up before being deposited on the
ground. When the corn crop is required to be delivered in swarth a
fixed shield is used and attached to the back part of the frame or
machine geared so as to tip or deliver the crop sideways clear of the
machine for the next travel or cut.
Another improvement consists in the mode of using and attaching the
propelling rollers. Instead of cams, catches, and springs, two or more
projecting pins are fixed to the middle roller (three being required on
the inner face); this roller is keyed fast to the shaft, and the other two
one at each side are allowed to run free on the shaft until brought into
contact with the pins on the centre roller, which is done by a slide and
lever causing them to act as one roller; by moving the lever in opposite
directions alternately the end or side rollers are attached and detached
as required. Motion is transmitted to the cutters by three wheels of
equal diameters, thus saving a considerable amount of friction. The
number of knives must depend upon the diameter of the cutter, and this
diameter be regulated by the crop which the machine is intended to cut,
increasing from about ten inches upwards. The margin cutter is made
by fixing a cam or wheel with a corrugated groove on the end of a roller,
which is caused to revolve as the machine is moved. On the end of the
frame of the roller a knife holder with a <shaped knife is fixed. When
the roller is pushed forward both it and the cam are caused to revolve
and give motion to a finger piece driving a diamond-shaped knife
rapidly past and in front of the <shaped knife fixed as before stated,
thus acting as a pair of shears. The shaped knife collects the grass,
and the cam having eight throws for each revolution of the roller gives
the finger knife or diamond-shaped knife, before mentioned, sixteen
throws in the same time and thus cuts the margin clean.