AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCYTHES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Otway, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCYTHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Otway at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
April 1857.
I, ROBERT OTWAY, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
SCYTHES," to be as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are, 1st, to enable the blade to be set at any
required angle with the ground; 2nd, to enable the position of the blade, with
respect to the handle or snath, to be altered and fixed in the position desired;
and, 3rd, to enable the blade to fold and lie in a line with or be protected by
the handle for portability.
The Invention consists in the employment of a plate centred upon a pin
connected to or passing through a metal bar screwed to the scythe handle or
snath. Near the inner end of this plate there is formed a curved or arched
slot or quadrant, through which a screw is passed to set the plate to the
handle or snath. The head of the screw is formed square, and rests upon the
outside of the slot, a washer being interposed. The bottom end of this plate
is turned up, and has an eye formed through it, and this eye is at right angles
or nearly so to the main surface of the plate. The end of the scythe blade to
be connected through this plate to the handle is turned up, and has also an eye
formed in it. By bringing the eyes together, and in a line with one another,
and passing a screw whose square head rests through a washer upon one of
the eyes, and tightening it up, the connection between blade and plate will be

page_text: made. By simply loosening the screw the angle of the blade with the earth
can be altered, and maintained as altered by again tightening the screw. By
loosening the screw which connects the plate to the handle and working the
plate more or less round upon the screw, the position of the blade with respect
to the handle can be altered at will, and retained by tightening down the last-
named screw: Although I have stated the screws to be formed with square
heads, I have only done so for convenience of being readily turned by a spanner,
but it is obvious other forms of head may be adopted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Otway in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
'OTWAY, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert
Otway, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Otway, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Otway, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SCYTHES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Otway, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly 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
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Otway, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
The objects of this Invention are, first, to enable the blade to be set at any
required angle with the ground; secondly, to enable the position of the blade,

page_text: with respect to the handle or snath, to be altered and fixed in the position
desired; and, thirdly, to enable the blade to fold and lie in a line with or be
protected by the handle for portability.
The Invention consists in the employment of a plate centred upon a pin
connected to or passing through a metal bar screwed to the scythe handle or
snath. Near the inner end of this plate there is formed a curved or arc'd
slot or quadrant, through which a screw is passed to set the plate to the handle
or snath. The head of the screw is formed square, and rests upon the outside
of the slot, a washer being interposed. The bottom end of this plate is turned
up, and has an eye formed through it, and this eye is at right angles or nearly
so to the main surface of the plate. The end of the scythe blade to be con-
nected through this plate to the handle is turned up, and has also an eye
formed in it. By bringing the eyes together, and in a line with one another,
and passing a screw whose square head rests through a washer upon one of
the eyes, and tightening it up, the connection between blade and plate will be
made. By simply loosening the screw the angle of the blade with the earth
can be altered, and maintained as altered by again tightening the screw. By
loosening the screw which connects the plate to the handle and working the
plate more or less round upon the screw, the position of the blade with respect
to the handle can be altered at will, and retained by tightening down this last-
named screw. Although I have stated the screws to be formed with square
heads, I have only done so for convenience of being readily turned by a
spanner, but it is obvious other forms of head may be adopted.
The Drawings hereunto annexed represent the manner in which I carry
my Invention into effect.
Figure 1 represents the scythe complete. Similar letters indicate similar
parts. A is the snath; B, B, the handles mounted thereon; C is the blade,
which has a portion of the heel D turned up at or about right angles to the
blade; in the end of the turned-up portion D an eye is formed. The several
parts are better seen in Figures 2, 3, and 4, which are different and detached
views of my improvements.
Figure 2 is a
plan of a portion of a scythe blade with the parts for
fixing it to the snath attached thereto; Figure 3 is a view of the same
looking towards the heel of the scythe from behind. In this view the
snath is represented by dotted lines A, A. F is a quadrant-shaped piece
of metal, which has a similarly shaped slot G formed in it. Figure 4
is a plan of this part looking from below; and Figure 5 is a side or edge
view of the same. H is a portion of the quadrant piece; it is formed
on and projects downwards from the quadrant at right angles or nearly so.

page_text: In the projection H a hole is formed and tapped; a screw I is passed through
the hole or eye in the heel part D of the seythe blade, and then screwed into
the tapped hole in the projection H, thus firmly securing..these parts together.
J is a pin or pivot formed on the quadrant piece F. This pivot projects
upwards and is inserted in a hole or eye K in the plate L. A separate plan
of this plate is seen in Figure 6. Through the slot G, G, a screw M. is passed,
and is then screwed into a tapped hole N formed in the plate L. The plate L
is placed in a recess formed in the butt of the snath, and is firmly and per-
manently secured thereto by bolts, screws, and nuts 0, 0, which bolts are
passed through holes P, P, in the plate L, and through corresponding holes in
the snath A, A.
Figure 7 is a view of the plate L, the quadrant F with its projection II,
and part of the heel D, as seen from below, the pivot being represented
by dotted lines J. To set the blade C in a proper position relative to
the snath A and to the surface of the ground, the screws I and M are un-
screwed, the blade is then at liberty to be moved into the position required,
when the screws I and M are tightened, and thus the snath and blade are
secured as they have been set. Either the screws I or M may be made use of
separately to set the blade, the screw I being made use of when a vertical
movement is required, and the screw M for a horizontal, as represented by
the dotted lines Q and R in Figures 1 and 3. When the scythe is not required
for use, both the screws I and M are unscrewed until the blade C is capable
of receiving a vertical movement on the screw I, and likewise the blade C
and quadrant F a horizontal movement on the pivot J. The blade C is then
made to approach the snath A; the screw M thus traverses in the slot G until
the blade and snath assume the position shown in Figure 8, when it is more
easily and safely carried from one place to another, and also more readily
stowed away.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the employment
of apparatus for giving the set to or setting the blades of scythes as herein-
before described, and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Otway, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
ROBERT OTWAY. (L.S.)