IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING UP AND PREPARING AS FOOD OR CHAFF FOR ANIMALS, OR FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, STRAW, HAY, CORN STALKS, ROOTS, AND ALL OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIICATION left by Henry Stockton Firman and William:
James Williams at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 12th June 1862.-A communication from abroad
by Joseph Eystra, of the City of Muscatine, State of Iowa, United.
States of America.
We, HENRY STOCKTON FIRMAN and WILLIAM JAMES WILLIAMS, of No. 73,
Great Suffolk Street, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING
UP AND PREPARING AS FOOD OR CHAFF FOR ANIMALS, OR FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE,
STRAW, HAY, CORN STALKS, ROOTS, AND ALL OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
The production of a machine for cutting chaff, straw, hay, corn stalks, roots,
and all other similar substances, and consists essentially in a main frame
supported by four legs resting on cross pieces. From the top of one end of
the frame rises the feeding box frame, within which is fitted a feeding box_
having its front end covered while its rear end is left open. The front and
rear of the feed box frame rest on adjusting screws or bolts which work
in cross pieces fastened to the frame, the said adjusting bolts having square
heads, so that they can be screwed down or up to the right or left, thus
allowing the box to be adjusted to any desired height. The mouth of the
said box is provided with a metal casing against which the cutting knife works.
Over the top of the closed part of the box two parallel cross pieces pass, which
rest on the top of frame and to which they are securely fastened at such a
distance above the box as never to be in the way of the proper adjustment of
said box. On the said cross pieces are placed the bearings in which the end

page_text: of a right angled shaft turns or rocks, while the other end extends down in
front of the mouth or throat of said box, and is there properly swivelled to
the front end of the knife lever, which sustains a knife that is fastened to its
inner side. The rear of the knife lever bends down as it extends back and is
connected to a crank on the end of a shaft, which is supported in bearings in
the main frame. The journal of the crank is tightenied by a wedge. The
said shaft is provided with a balance wheel and a bevel gear, the latter working
into a bevel gear on the rear of another shaft, the front of the latter being
provided with a crank. To the front of the frame is attached a bent sup-
porting or guide piece, the ends of which are slotted out so as to be capable
of an up-and-down adjustment. The upper edge of this guide piece is curved
in towards the knife, and is sustained just far enough from the mouth of the
box to allow the knife to work down between it and the front of said
throat or mouth. A removable box is used to hold the substance to be cut,
and may be of any desired length, and is attached to the rear of the before-
mentioned box by hooks which are hinged or pivotted to the rear side of the
said frame. The rear top part of the bottom of the front box is recessed or
cut out so that the lower front part of the rear box can be rested thereon
with the top surface of its bottom flush with the top surface of the bottom of
the front box. A brace piecé extends up from one of the cross foot pieces to the
upper part of the frame answering as a brace to said frame, and also a support
to the inner ends of said pieces; a cover is properly hinged to one of said
pieces and the main frame so that it can be turned back when it is desired to
examine the gearing, but down when the machine is in operation. By the above
described construction not only is there a downward drawing cut made but the
cut is divided, first the heel cuts and then after it has done its part it rises and
the point of the knife is thrown down and at the same time drawn back, when
the cut is completed: An examination of the combined operation of the crank
shaft which supports the front end of the knife lever and the crank shaft
supporting the rear end of said lever will show the great power which is
brought to bear on the knife just at the time when the cut is being made
both at the heel and at the point. The machine can be operated by hand or
may be driven by belt and gearing, in which case the proper connection could
be made with the outer ends of either shaft, as might be most convenient.
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