IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith Macgregor, No 4 Colston Street, Edinburgh
in the County of Edinburgh or Midlothian, and George Redfearn, No 23
Church Street, Berwick-on-Tweed in the County of the Borough and Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, for an invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
AND MOWING MACHINES."
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith Macgregor and
George Redfearn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
9th March 1882.
JOHN SMITH MACGREGOR No. 4 Colston Street, Edinburgh in the County of
Edinburgh or Midlothian and GEORGE REDFEARN No. 23 Church Street, Berwick-
on-Tweed in the County of the Borough and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed
" IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES.
"
Our Invention relates to improvements in reaping and mowing machines and
has for its principal object to enable the machine to cut the crop both going and
returning along the same side or edge of the crop, and the Invention consists,
1st in a construction of machine whereby this may be accomplished. It consists
2ndly in improved means of driving the cutter bar, and 3rdly in an automatic
delivery apparatus by which the cut crop is delivered in quantities sufficient to
form sheaves, the said driving and delivery apparatus being adapted to work with
a reversible machine as hereafter described.
According to the first part of our Invention the cutting and delivery apparatus
are pivoted to the frame of the machine so as to be capable of being turned over
together with the cutter bar from one side of the machine to the other, and are
generally adapted to work either at the right or left hand side of the machine and
either side uppermost as required. For this purpose we prefer to construct the
frame of the machine of a central pole or frame supported on a pair of travelling
wheels and a trailing wheel at rear, this pole or frame being jointed to avoid
pressure on the necks of the horses. It is upon this central pole or frame that the
frame is pivoted which carries the cutting and delivery apparatus.

page_text: The cutting apparatus consists of a finger bar and reciprocating cutter bar
similar to those generally in use except in being adapted to work either side
uppermost.
According to the second part of our Invention motion is communicated to the
cutting and delivery apparatus, not from the travelling wheel as usual, but from a
running wheel distinct therefrom which also runs upon the ground and is turned
over with the cutting and delivery apparatus, or two such wheels may be used and
the mechanism which gears therewith only reversed. The contact of this wheel
with the ground is controlled by a hand lever so that it may be raised and all the
working parts of the machine brought to rest or put in action when desired while
the machine is travelling. Reciprocating motion is imparted to the cutter bar
from this wheel by a suitable arrangement of gearing as will be readily understood.
The delivery apparatus forming the 3rd part of our Invention consists of a lower
horizontal platform of endless belts running on pulleys in a suitable frame and
driven from the running wheel above mentioned and of an upper movable platform
hinged at front to the said frame and capable of being elevated at a suitable
inclination above the endless belts. This upper platform is an open frame or
grating whose bars correspond to the intervals between the endless belts above
mentioned so that it is capable of being depressed below the level of the belts when
the cut crop is to be delivered. This upper platform is counterbalanced by a
weight or spring to such an extent that it will remain elevated until sufficient of
the cut crop has been collected upon it to form a sheaf when the weight of the
latter depresses the platform and causes it to sink below the level of the belts
which then project through the spaces in the upper platform and deliver the sheaf
upon the ground behind the machine, the upper platform being then immediately
returned to its former position. In reversing the cutting apparatus, the upper
platform is removed and applied upon the other side of the lower platform which
side was previously undermost and is now uppermost, the counterbalance being
arranged or adapted to work as before.
The machine is adapted for mowing by removing the platforms and their
operating gear, the lower platform being fitted removably to the finger bar for the
purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Smith Macgregor and George Redfearn in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 1st September 1882.
JOHN SMITH MACGREGOR of No: 4 Colston Street Edinburgh and GEORGE
REDFEARN of No: 23 Church Street in the town and county of Berwick-on-Tweed
AN IMPROVEMENT IN SELF-DELIVERING REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES TO BE
STYLED THE "CENTRE-ACTION SELF-DELIVERY FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT IT
CUTS AND DELIVERS EITHER ON THE RIGHT OR LEFT AS DESIRED, AND THEREFORE
NECESSARILY ACTS AND DERIVES ITS MOTION FROM THE CENTRE
"
Our said Invention consists of a Self-delivering Reaping and Mowing Machine
fundamentally different in construction from any hitherto in use. The clutch, as
used in other machines for giving motion to the machinery, or, as it is technically
stated, for "putting the machine into gear", is done away with: so are the ratchets,
with their pawls and springs. In our invention motion is communicated to the
machinery by a Central Wheel altogether distinct and separate from the travelling
wheels. For this we claim simplicity, smoothness and durability. The wheel
referred to we call the Motion Wheel. When the motion-wheel is raised from the
ground, which the driver does by means of a lever, the machinery stops working.
By lowering the motion-wheel it is brought into contact with the ground and
thereby put in motion, which motion is communicated in the ordinary way by
toothed wheels to the machinery. In Figure 1 of the accompanying Plan the
Shaded wheel is the motion-wheel and the dotted circle the periphery of the
travelling wheel. The Centre of the motion-wheel is attached by a Bar to the
Centre of the wheel it works into, by which their relative position is maintained.
The Lever A is for the driver, by which to raise and lower the motion-wheel. Or
it may be acted upon by a screw lever from its own centre in the direction of the
dotted line B. The machine is styled the "Centre-action Self-delivery" from the
circumstance that it cuts and delivers either on the right or left as desired, and
therefore necessarily acts and derives its motion from the centre. Accordingly it
cuts down the crop on the Return Journey if desired, and this it does by turning
the cutting-bar to the other side. In Figure 2 the position of the Cutting Bar is
marked A A. In turning the cutting-bar to the other side the Deliverer marked
B B goes along with it. The cutting-bar consists of a Double Knife with a Bar
between, the edges facing inwards upon the bar; and it is the bar that works and
not the knives, the bar falling to the knife that is cutting. The turning of the
cutting-bar to the other side together with the deliverer is shown by the Stays on
the frame C C. A revolving spindle, or Dumbie as it is termed, with two slender
arms GG, is employed to bring the crop in to the cutting-bar. This dumbie at K
lies over the top of the travelling wheel, and takes its motion therefrom, and when
the cutting-bar is turned to the other side the dumbie is turned to the other side
also on its centre D. The same lever which raises the motion-wheel from the
ground lifts the dumbie an inch or two from the travelling wheel at the same time,
so that all the machinery is stopped or put in motion simultaneously by the simple
action of the lever. Thus, when the motion-wheel is raised from the ground, as in
going to or returning from work, the machine is proceeding only on its travelling
wheels, the same as an ordinary conveyance, and nothing else in motion. The
travelling wheels in Figure 2 are marked E E. The dotted outline F F shows the
position of the cutting-bar together with the deliverer when reversed. The dotted
outline GG shows the arms of the dumbie also reversed. H is a small wheel in
rear of the frame for keeping the frame level, and I is a hinge in front of the
frame in aid of the same purpose, and to keep all weight and drag off the horses'
necks, leaving only the pull. The machine cannot run in upon the horses, heels in
going down hill from or to work, and neither, therefore, is it possible for the horses
to be injured in the mouth by the rising of the horse-pole, the wheel H and hinge I
preventing such contingences. Resulting from the principle of centre-action is the

page_text: peculiar nature of the self-delivering arrangement. The machine delivers the cut
crop by means of a double platforin. In Figure 3 the double platform is marked
A A and B B. The upper portion is the Platform proper, and is elevated at an
angle of about 30° or 35°. The lower portion is the Deliverer and is attached to
the back of the cutting-bar. The deliverer (see also B B Figure 2) is provided
with a series of four or five running belts. The platform is provided with spars
horizontal to and corresponding with the belts, which spars are so distanced that
when the platform falls on to the deliverer the running belts pass between them
and become uppermost. The platform is also provided with a pole or rod C
extending upwards from the centre of the side furthest from the machine and
about as tall as the platform is long. The rod has a weight at the top of it D
corresponding with the weight or size of the sheaf which it is wished to deliver.
The running belts on the deliverer move rapidly towards the centre by means of a
short belt from a pulley on the centre of the frame behind the travelling wheels.
On the short belt a single twist is put when the machine is reversed. As soon as
the desired weight of crop is cut and laid on the platform it gives way and falls on
to the deliverer, and the running belts being then for a moment uppermost carry
the sheaf away and deliver it on the ground compact and ready for binding behind
the machine and free of the horse-track for the return journey. The platform is
immediately returned to its position by means of the eccentric wheel E which is
centred at E and loaded where it is shaded, and the periphery of which meets the
ground when the platform drops. When the platform drops a slender spar
momentarily intervenes to divide the corn while the deliverer is delivering, but if
in experience this slender spar is found not to be absolutely requisite it will be
omitted in order to maintain the greatest possible simplicity. In reversing the
machine the platform is removed till the cutting-bar together with the deliverer is
turned over, and then replaced with the rod to the outside as before. The ordinary
appliance for separating the grain to be cut from the rest of the field, or "shoe as
it is technically termed, is also reversed on its centre. To further prevent the
platform falling sooner than intended, by reason of a jerk or steepness of ground,
it is provided with a couple of shoulder springs so adjusted that dead weight can
alone relieve it. The cutting-bar is not a fixture as in other self-deliverers, but
goes with the field. This self-delivering machine is therefore a Mower the same as
any ordinary manual machine. When mowing the dumbie, platform, deliverer,
and wheels on the cutting-bar, are removed as usual. When not at work the
cutting-bar folds over the frame the same as in the ordinary manual, so that there
is no difficulty as to passing through field gates. The dumbie grips the corn well
down, so that this machine can cut back even when the lie of the crop is cou-
siderably against it. It is so simple that any country blacksmith or farm labourer
can effect repairs. The measurements at present determined on for a working
specimen are Travelling wheels 32 inches; Motion wheel 233 inches; Spur
wheel 13 inches, distance from ground 5 inches and 36 teeth; Spur pinion 6
inches, pitch of teeth an inch and 18 teeth; Crown wheel 24 inches, distance
from ground 4 inches and 76 teeth; Bevelled pinion 3 inches, pitch of teeth an
inch and 8 teeth; but these may be varied.
"
In Witness whereof we, the said John S. Macgregor and George Redfearn,
have hereunto set our hand and seal this 1st day of September in the
year of our Lord 1882.
JOHN S. MACGREGOR. (L.S.)
GEORGE REDFEARN.
(LS.)