IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Sorley, of Thornhill, in the County of Perth,
North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Sorley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th September 1878.
ROBERT SORLEY, of Thornhill, in the County of Perth, North Britain. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES,"
My Invention has reference more especially to those reaping machines known as
two wheel machines, and has for its object so to construct the rake heads in con-
nection with their arms that the arms can be firmly and rigidly fixed to the shaft
of the machine, the said construction at the same time allowing of the rake heads
following any motion of the finger-board which may result from irregularities in
the land.
According to my said Invention each rake head is hinged or pivotted to its arm,
a spring (or springs) between the rake head and the arm having a tendency to keep
the rake in its normal position. Rigidity is given to the rake head and arm by a
stay fixed between the said head and arm, which stay consists of two parts, one
part on the arm and the other part on the rake head, the one part sliding in or:
upon the other as the rake head rises or falls owing to the motion of the finger-
board. To allow of the motion this stay may be in the form of an arc.
By these improvements the strain which in machines as hitherto constructed is
put upon the shaft and its bearings is obviated, and the rake heads follow easily
the motions of the finger-board.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Robert Sorley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th March
1879.
<<
ROBERT SORLEY, of Thornhill, in the County of Perth, North Britain. IM-
PROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES."
My Invention has reference more especially to those back delivery reaping
machines known as two wheel machines, having a jointed cutter bar, and has for its
object so to construct the rake head or heads, if more than one be used, that it or
they may follow any motion of the finger-board which may result from irregu-
larities in the land.
According to my said Invention each rake head is hinged or pivotted to its arm,
a spring (or springs) being fitted between the rake head and the arm to keep the
rake in its normal position. Rigidity is given to the rake head and arm by a stay
fixed between the said head and arm, which stay consists of two parts, one part on
the arm and the other part on the rake head, the one part sliding in or upon the
other as the rake head rises or falls owing to the motion of the finger-board. To
allow of the motion this stay may be in the form of an arc.
By these improvements the strain which in machines as hitherto constructed is
put upon the shaft and its bearings is obviated, and the rake heads follow easily
the motions of the finger-board.
My Invention is clearly represented in the annexed Drawings, Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 4.
A is the rake head or blade hinged or pivotted at the point B by a bolt C,
passing also through two strap plates D, D, which have a slight play allowed them
by the joints E, E, where they are attached to the arm F, this forming with the
gathering blades G, G, G, the "reel."
The outer end of the rake head A has a raised bar H attached, along which a
sliding loop I is free to move should the head A be canted at that end from any
cause. The loop serves as a support to the outer end of the rake from the arm F
by the flexible stay J, a curved spring plate K connecting the inner end of the
rake, and acting as a presser spring to force the inner end of the rake down after
each lift. Thus the rake is kept or returned to its working position by the action
of two springs J and K.
The height at which the rake teeth M, M, can be set to move over the platform
can be determined by raising or lowering the side plates P, P, whose holes are
slotted for the purpose, as shown, said plates being held at the required portion of
the arm F by the bolts Q, Q.
In practice the points of the teeth are set slightly below or level with the cutters,
and as the teeth pass over the fingers they become lifted and the springs J, K, acted
upon by reason of the rake head A riding upon the upper edges of the guards
R, R, R, to the rear of the finger-bar where the tail ends of the guards terminate
and release the rake head, whose springs then force down the rake head and compel
the teeth to take a firm hold of the straws that lie upon the platform N. The
platform N is kept raised, as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 2, until the rake
teeth have passed the cutters when it suddenly falls at the rear to assist the
delivery of the straws at the back of the machine.
The platform is hinged at S, and its centre pin has an arm T in connection with
a rod U, operated from a cam V on the reel shaft W, which is fitted on uprights
X, X, upon the main frame.
The reel shaft W is actuated by a chain Y and sprocket wheels Z, from the nave of
one of the main bearing wheels a, a, as shown; the upper sprocket wheel being so
arranged on the shaft W, as in Figure 5, that it can be forced sideway so as to be
clear and out of gear of the clutch pins on the shaft W by a side thrust of the hand
lever b, which is within reach of the driver who rides upon the machine. The

page_text: sprocket wheel is returned to the working position by the spring c on the hand
lever b being shifted over in the reverse direction.
The rake head fitted with springs and adjustable in the manner described is
available to all back delivery reapers.
I do not restrict myself to the exact details shown, as the rake head attachment
may be varied in shape or arrangement, and so may also the method of hinging the
rake head.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as of my Invention and
therefore as secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
constructing and arranging rake heads of back-delivery reaping machines so that
they have a rising and falling motion to adjust themselves to the movements of
the finger-board arising from irregularities in the land over which the machine may
be travelling, essentially as set forth and shown in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Sorley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-nine.
ROBERT SORLEY. (L.S.)