IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHAFF CUFFERS."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richmond, of Salford and Liverpool, both
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF CHAFF CUFFERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richmond at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th July 1878.
I, WILLIAM RICHMOND, of Salford and Liverpool, both in the County
of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHAFF CUTTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction
and arrangement of the driving gear of chaff cutters, and in the method
of regulating the speed of the feed rollers, and reversing and stopping
the motion, whereby these changes can be effected by the movement of
one lever only.
And, secondly, to an arrangement whereby (when power is not
available) the chaff cutter may be turned by hand by two persons using
two handles, both turning at the same speed.

page_text: The change lever is so constructed and mounted as to be capable of
two movements, namely, a circular motion round its own axis, and a
rectilinear motion sideways, turn on an axis at right angles thereto, and
placed at or near its lower end. The circular motion is given. to it by
means of a short side handle attached thereto, and a crank at the lower
end of the change lever acts by means of a connecting rod on a fork,
which throws a clutch into gear with one or other of the change wheels,
so as to cause the rollers to feed "long" or "short," or throws it out of
gear with both so as to stop the feed motion altogether..
The reversing motion is effected as follows:-Two bevil pinions are :
mounted on the main shaft face to face, and both gearing into a bevil
wheel on a transverse shaft which drives the feeding motion. Between
the bevil pinions is a sliding clutch, which locks either pinion to the
shaft, according to the direction in which it is moved, and thus drives the
feeding gear either forwards or backwards. The fork which embraces
the clutch is mounted on one end of the axis, to the other end of which
the change lever is fixed, so that the sideways movement of the change
lever throws one or other of the bevil pinions into gear. A spring or a
balance weight attached to the change lever forces it always into the
position necessary for the forward action of the feeding motion, and
keeps it always in gear, excepting when the lever is moved sideways by
hand.
To the back of the bevil wheel on the transverse shaft I attach a spur
wheel of a corresponding diameter, gearing into a spur pinion, corres-
ponding with the bevil pinions on the main shaft, and keyed on a line
shaft parallel to the transverse shaft before named, so that this line shaft
´ is necessarily driven at the same speed as the main shaft, and by fixing
a handle on the end of the main shaft, and another on the end of the line
shaft above mentioned, two persons can work the machine together, both
turning at the same speed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Richmond in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RICHMOND, of Salford and Liverpool, both in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Richmond, Her
special license that I, the said William Richmond, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Richmond,
my executors, administrators, and 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHAFF CUTTERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Richmond, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particulary 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 month's next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Richmond, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is
· to say) :—
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction
and arrangement of the driving gear of chaff cutters, and in the method
of regulating the speed of the feed rollers, and reversing and stopping
the motion, whereby these changes can be effected by the movement of a
lever fitted with an auxiliary side handle.

page_text: And, secondly, to an arrangement whereby (when power is not
available) the chaff cutter may be turned by hand by two persons using
two handles, both turning at the same speed.
The change lever shaft is so constructed and mounted as to be capable
of two movements, namely, a circular motion round its own axis, and a 5
rectilinear motion sideways, turning on an axis at right angles thereto,
and placed at or near its lower end. The circular motion is given to it
by means of a short side handle attached thereto, and a crank at the
lower end of the change lever shaft acts by means of a connecting rod
on a fork, which throws a clutch into gear with one or other of the 1
change wheels so as to cause the rollers to feed "long" or "short,”
or throw it out of gear with both, so as to stop the feed motion
altogether.
The reversing motion is. effected as follows:-Two bevil pinions are
mounted on the main shaft face to face, and both gearing into a bevil 1
wheel on a transverse shaft which drives the feeding motion. Between
the bevil pinions is a sliding clutch which locks either pinion to the
shaft, according to the direction in which it is moved, and thus drives
the feeding gear either forwards or backwards. The fork which
embraces the clutch is mounted on one end of the axis, to the other end 2
of which the change lever shaft is fixed, so that the sideways movement
of the upright handle throws one or other of the bevil pinions into gear.
A spring or a balance weight attached to the change lever shaft forces
it always into the position necessary for the forward action of the feeding
motion, and keeps it always in, gear, excepting when the lever is moved 2
sideways by hand.
To the back of the bevil wheel on the transverse shaft I attach a spur
wheel of a corresponding diameter, gearing into a spur pinion corres-
ponding with the bevil pinion on the main shaft, and keyed on a line
shaft parallel to the transverse shaft before named, so that this line shaft g
is necessarily driven at the same speed as the main shaft, and by fixing
a handle on the end of the main shaft, and another on the end of the line
shaft above mentioned, two persons can work the machine together, both
turning at the same speed.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention, I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be
or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that

page_text: the same may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto two Sheets
of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with Figures
and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following expla-
nation thereof :—
In Sheet 1 of the annexed Drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view of a chaff
cutter constructed according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is a side view,
with the side removed to show the various motions more distinctly.
In Sheet 2 of the Drawings Fig. 3 is an end view of the same; and
Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show the details of the various motions drawn half the
real size.
a is the upper toothed feed roller; 6 is the bottom toothed feed roller;
c the driving shaft, on which is keyed the fly wheel d, carrying the
cutting knives e, e. On the driving shaft o are the two bevil pinions f, g,
which are loose on the shaft c. Between these is the clutch box h,
sliding on a key fastened in the shaft c, and gearing equally into either of
the bevil pinions f, g. The two bevil pinions f, g, are each constantly in
gear with the bevil wheel i, which is keyed or pinned on the shaft j. On
the same shaftj are two wheels k, l, running loose, and always in gear
with the two wheels m, n, which are keyed or pinned on the shaft o, the
small wheel & gearing into the wheel me on the bottom shaft o, and the
large wheel gearing into the wheel n on the bottom shaft o give the
requisite slow and quick speeds to the rollers a, b, the connection to the
rollers being carried on by the pinion p, keyed or pinned on the end of
shaft o, gearing into the wheel q, which is keyed or pinned on the
bottom roller shaft r. The wheels is keyed or pinned on the bottom
roller shaft r, and gears into the wheel t, which is keyed or pinned on
the top roller shaft u, thus actuating the top and bottom rollers in
opposite directions. Between the wheels k, l, is the clutch box sliding
on a key fastened in the shaft j, and capable of being moved into gear
with either of the pinions k, l. The clutch box h is moved in and out of
gear with the bevil pinions f, g, by means of the lever w, which is keyed
or pinned on the rocking shaft x. At the other end of the rocking
shaft x is the bearing y, in which the change lever shaft & has a circular
motion horizontally but not vertically, so that the upright handle ³,
when pushed towards the rollers a, b, throws the clutch box h into gear
with the pinion f, and produces the backward motion of the substances
to be operated upon. When the upright handle s' is released the steel
spring 1 (see Fig. 6) immediately forces it back in the slot 16, thus

page_text: moving the clutch box h into gear with the bevil pinion 9, and producing
the forward motion of the aforesaid substance.
ช
In order to change the length of cut the clutch box is encircled by
the clip 2, bolted on to the sliding bar 3, working in bearings 4, 4. At
'the other end of the sliding bar 3 is fastened a stud 5, working in one 5
eye of the link 6. The eye 7 in the other end of the link 6 works on the
crank pin 8 fastened in the crank 9, which forms the lower end of the
change lever shaft z, which as before said has a circular motion by
means of the side handle 10 through the bearing y on the end of the
rocking shaft x. The side handle 10 is attached to the upright handle z¹ ]
above the table of the machine by means of a joint and pin, and gives
the circular motion to the crank 9, and is pressed by the spring 11 firmly
upon the raised quadrant 12 cast on the table of the machine. This
quadrant has three notches or recesses cast in it, one at each end, and
one in the middle (see also the enlarged detail views), which notches ]
correspond with the one centre and two half centres of the crank 9.
-2
When the handle is in the centre notch marked "stop" the machine
does not feed, as the clutch box is not in gear with either of the
wheels k, l. When in the notch marked "short" the clutch box v is¸
thrown into gear with the wheel k, and so produces the rotation of the
rollers a, b, with the short length of cut. When the handle 10 is moved
into the notch marked "long" the clutch box v is thrown into gear with
the wheel 7, and so produces the rotation of the feed rollers with the long
length of cut.
In order to gain more power in working the machine I cast on the
back of the bevil wheeli a spur wheel 13, into which gears a pinion 14.
This pinion is keyed or pinned on the shaft 15, which is continued to the
end of the machine, and on which is fitted the handle 17; so that
two handles can be worked at the same time and the same speed, the
wheel 13 and pinion 14 bearing the same relative proportion as the bevil
wheel and pinions f, g, and i.
The mode of operation is as follows, and the machine is shown in the
position which the relative parts occupy when the handle 10 is in the
centre notch marked "stop," and the handle a¹ is at the back end of
the slot 16, the catch box / being in gear with the forward motion bevil
pinion g, and consequently no motion being imparted to the toothed
feed rollers a. b.

page_text: 0
When the man in charge of the machine wishes to start it for the
short cut he moves the handle 10 into the notch marked "short," thus
throwing the clutch box into gear with the small wheel k, and pro-
ducing the forward motion of the material, together with the short length
of cut. If he wishes to use the long cut he moves the handle 10 into
the notch marked " long," and thus throws the clutch box into gear
with the wheel 7, and in the same manner imparts the forward feed and
the long length of cut to the toothed rollers a, b. In either of these
cases, (i.e., whether for short or long feed,) if the rollers become clogged,
either through too much material being between them, or through some
hard foreign substance being inadvertently amongst the material, the
man in charge has only to push the upright handle &¹ towards the front
of the machine, and to the opposite end of the slot 16, when the clutch
box h is thrown into gear with the opposite bevil pinion f, thus changing
the direction of the feed by reversing the motion of the toothed rollers a, b,
and enabling him to loosen the material, or take out the stone or other
foreign substance, which done, he takes his hand off the upright handle s¹,
which is immediately forced back into its original position by the spring 1,
thus necessarily throwing the clutch box h into gear with the bevil
pinion g, and restoring the machine to its original arrangement for the
forward feed of the substance to be operated upon. By means of this
improvement I not only simplify the machine by having two combined
handles actuating two separate shafts and two separate levers, but do
away with any chance of accident to the machine itself.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed
or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim as
my Invention,-
First. The combination of two handles, which handles actuate two
separate shafts and two separate levers, and are so arranged that the
action of each separate shaft and its lever can be obtained independently
without disturbing the relation of the other shaft and lever to its own
motion, and thus imparting five motions by means of two handles
actuating two separate shafts and levers, as shown and described. I
wish to observe that in this my first claim I do not limit myself to the
exact arrangement of mechanical movements as shown and described, as
I include in this claim the application of a rack and pinion, instead of
the sliding bar and crank, as shown and described, or an excentric and

page_text: slot in the end of the sliding bar, or a pair of bevil wheels, one of which
forms a nut working on a thread cut on the end of the sliding bar, or
one of the levers working through the other.
Secondly. I also claim the combination of a circular and a rectilinear
motion by means of two handles, one working through the other.
Thirdly. I also claim the arrangement of the large bevil wheel, having
a toothed wheel cast on it, working into a pinion, and the number of
teeth in the wheels being in such proportion that the pinion shaft can be
worked by hand at the same speed as the fly wheel shaft, and thus
enabling two men or lads to actuate the machine, and produce a larger 1
amount of work.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richmond, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
1