Improvements in or appertaining to Grain Binders.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Feb., 1894-Accepted, 3rd Mar., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to Grain Binders.
A communication by BENJAMIN F. STEWART, of Canton, in the County of
Stark and State of Ohio, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool' and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to devices for holding, knotting and severing the cord in
that class of binders in which twine is used as the binding material and consists in
certain improvements in these devices.
Reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which,
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the breast-plate of a binder and
knotter frame mounted thereon, embodying the invention in normal position
of rest;
Figure 2 a similar view of the same at the first movement for binding just
after the needle-arm has closed around the bundle and the knotter has made a
quarter turn;
Figure 3, a similar view of the same parts when the knotter has made a half
revolution;
Figure 4, a similar view of the same when the knotter has made three-quarters
of a revolution ;
Figure 5, a similar view of the same when the knotter has completed its
revolution and the cord has been severed ;
Figure 6 a plan section of the same taken on the broken line 6-6 of Figure 5;
Figure 7 a plan section taken on the broken line 7-7 of Figure 1 ;
Figure 8 a detail section taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 1;
Figure 9 a detail vertical section taken on the line 9-9 of Figure 8;
Figure 10 a similar section taken on the line 10-10 of Figure 8;
Figure 11 a plan of the cord-holder disc detached ;
Figure 12 a bottom plan of the cord-holder hood;
Figure 13 a detail vertical section taken on the line 13-13, Figure 7, and
Figure 14 a front elevation of the knife shown in Figure 13.
In the drawings Figures 1 to 6 inclusive are upon one scale, and Figures 7 to 14
inclusive are upon another, and enlarged, scale.
In these, A represents the breast-plate of a binder, B the binding-arm, or needle-
arm, and C, the knotter-frame, which is mounted on the breast-plate, the latter in
this instance being shown over the grain-table and the needle-arm arranged below
the same, so as to swing upward to place the cord around the bundle and over the
knotter preparatory to tying the knot. The binding-shaft, D, mounted in any usual
way, passes through a tubular bearing at the upper end of the knotter frame C, and
the segmental gear-wheel, E, is fastened to this shaft, as usual.
The knotter-frame C is of somewhat peculiar form; the main portion is
substantially S-shaped. The foot c of the S portion is secured to the breast plate
at its lower or foot end and outside of the cord-holder and knotting-hook; thence
it is carried upward and backward in a kind of S curve, this middle section c¹,
being of greater length proportionately than the two ends of the S, thus providing
LD

page_text: a kind of long arm extending backward over the breast-plate, as seen in Figure 1;
and from the rear portion of this long central section there rises the upper
member, c², of the S, curving upward and forward again, as shown in said Figure 1.
A tail piece, or arm, either in one piece with or secured to the S portion of the
frame, extends backward from about the inner portion of the middle section, c¹, and
is brought down to the upper portion of the breast-plate where it is firmly secured
to the latter; it will be seen that this construction provides a strong firm support
for the knotter frame, both at front and rear, and also leaves a long open space
between these two supports extending underneath the long middle section c¹,
between it and the breast-plate. A tubular bearing e¹ for the binding-shaft, is at
the extremity of the upper section c² of the S portion of this frame.
and
The knotting-hook F is of the ordinary bill-hook type and is mounted in the
middle section c¹, of the, knotter frame by means of its shaft, f, which passes through
and has a bearing in said section near the rear extremity of the same just before it
begins to bend more sharply upward, as seen in the four first figures of the drawings.
The bearing of this shaft in the knotter-frame is inclined slightly rearward and it
passes down through the latter, so that the shaft mounted therein stands in a similar
direction slightly inclined from a perpendicular to the breast-plate, as seen in the
said four figures; and above the section, c¹ the shaft has a small bevelled pinion, ƒ³,
provided with a delay surface fat one side thereof, and formed by cutting away
the inner portion of the pinion at this point. The moving member G of the cord-
holder is also mounted in this same long middle section, c³, of the knotter frame
just in front of the knotting-hook and between it and the lower end, or foot, e of
the S-part of the frame. This member, G of the cord-holder, is revoluble and
its mounting in the frame is effected by passing its shaft through the frame
section, c', thereby giving it a bearing therein. On this cord-holder shaft
above c', there is a bevelled pinion, g', similar to the knotting-hook pinion,
provided with a similar delay surface, g³, at one side thereof, and secured to the
shaft by a pin, gº.
The segmental gear-wheel E is provided on its inner face, next to the knotting-
hook, with a flange, e, running around the wheel, except a short portion thereof,
where the entire outer edge of the wheel is cut away to form an open space, el, a
little deeper than the width of the rim, as seen in Figures 1 and 5. Just within
this open space, e', the wheel is provided with a gear section, or segment, e², on the
inner face thereof and extending along the entire length of the said opening
containing a sufficient number of teeth to give the pinions one full turn each, as
also seen in Figures 1 and 5. The several parts are so arranged that the face of
the flange, e, acts as a delay surface upon the respective delay surfaces upon the
pinions of the knotting-hook and cord-holder heretofore mentioned, thus serving to
secure the latter in a fixed position, so long as these surfaces remain in contact ;
while the gear-section 2 is adapted to engage with both said pinions to give them
their required rotation, as will be hereinafter described. It is obvious that for this
operation the shafts of the knotting-hook and cord-holder must stand substantially
radial to the segmental gear wheel, which will result, of course, in the said shafts
standing at an angle to each other, as seen in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings and
also in Figure 9, in which the bearings f³ and g³, for the upper ends of the shafts
of the knotting-hook and cord-holder respectively, are shown in the upper section, c²,
of the frame. Under the arrangement seen in the drawing, the cord-holder shaft
is about perpendicular to the breast-plate, while the knotting-hook shaft is slightly
inclined therefrom, as heretofore explained.
Obviously, the moving member G of the cord-holder is revoluble by means of
the shaft to which it is attached. This member is a cone-shaped disc arranged
with its convex surface uppermost and provided with shallow notches, or grooves, g',
at one part of its surface, as seen in Figure 11, in which two such grooves are
shown running from the inner to the outer edge of the disc and bending forward
somewhat in their course, the revolution of the disc being in the direction of the
arrow in said figure. The fixed member of the cord-holder consists of a quadrant

page_text: shaped hood, H, projected downward from the frame section, c', in one piece with
which it is formed, or is rigidly secured thereto, as may be desired. This hood is
arranged so as to extend downward over the revolving disc at the upper, or inner,
side of the shaft thereof, as seen in Figure 5, and substantially conforms to the
surface of said disc. The outer edge of the hood H, is flattened slightly on the
underside to provide a narrow rim, h, as seen in Figure 12, and in this narrow rim
there is cut a shallow notch, , looking toward the knotting-hook, and about in
line therewith. A similar notch, h2, is provided in the rear edge of the hood just
back of the flat surface, h, as seen in the bottom plan, Figure 12, of this hood. The
disc G is also provided with a long arm, G', which springs from the outer edge
thereof, a little in front of the notches g, as seen in Figure 11, and thence extends
around the disc in a curve at the same time bending upward, as seen in Figures 8, 10
and 11. This arm stands out from the disc, so as to leave quite a wide opening
between the two, as is also seen in said figures.
The breast-plate is provided with the usual slot, a, to accommodate the movement
of the binding arm, this slot being sinuous at its lower portion which, however, is
a known construction. The breast-plate is also provided with an additional slot, a¹,
in the lower part thereof commencing about under the bearing of the knotter-hook
A bridge, a²,
shaft and extending down nearly to the foot of the knotter frame.
A knife, or
crosses this latter slot near the upper end thereof, as seen in Figure 7.
cutter 1, for severing the cord is mounted on this bridge; this cutter is a thin blade
adapted to be set down in the slot a¹, crosswise thereof, and at its upper end having
a cutting edge, i, which is inclined from the commencement of the cutting point,
upward to the opposite edge, as seen in Figure 14; this blade is also provided
with an oblong aperture, ¹, by means of which it is secured adjustably to the bridge
by a bolt and nut, i, as seen in Figure 13. The bridge is set slightly inclined
across the slot, as seen in Figure 7, and, of course, the cutter-blade will have the
same position, and the two are arranged so that the knotting-hook and curved arm
on the cord-holder disc will just freely clear the blade in the course of their revolution,
one on one side thereof, and the other on the opposite side.
The shaft of the cord-holder disc has a slight longitudinal movement in its
bearing and a spring K, is fastened at one end to the knotter frame while the other
free end is brought to rest underneath the pinion on the upper part of said shaft,
upon which it acts to hold the shaft and pinion up to cause the twine to be properly
clamped between the disc and its hood, while at the same time, the force is yielding
to adapt the cord-holder for proper action upon twine of different sizes and
inequalities that may occur therein.
As shown in the drawings, there is a pivoted gate J, secured to the under side of
the breast-plate, for the purpose of closing the slot a, below the knotting-hook,
and an arm L on the binding shaft adapted to open this gate at the proper moment;
these devices however, do not form a part of this present invention.
It will be seen from the foregoing description that both the knotting-hook shaft
and cord-holder shaft are mounted in the same central section of the S frame
by reason of the prolongation of the latter; and that, by arranging the said shafts
at an angle to each other, they may be made radial to the single segmental gear
wheel and, therefore, may be driven by the same gear segment on the latter, ag
The construction and
well as held in position of rest by the same delay surfaces.
arrangement of these parts are such that there is ample room for bringing the
pinions of these two shafts close together, but with ample room for the rotation of
each without interference with the other. It will be noticed also that both the
knotting-hook and cord-holder are arranged inside, the foot of the knotter-frame,
by which it is attached to the lower end of the breast-plate. This S-shaped
portion of the knotter-frame may be made of sufficient strength to dispense
with any other support from the breast-plate, except the foot just mentioned;
but the construction already described in which there is also a rear, or upper,
support connected to the upper portion of the breast-plate is preferable. In this
arrangement there is a long free space between the two supports and underneath the

page_text: centre section of the S, which permits the arrangement of the knotting-hook and
cord-holder described above.
The operation is as follows-
In the normal state of rest, while the gavel is being formed on the binder, the
parts are in the position relatively, as seen in Figure 1 of the drawings. As soon
as the bundle is formed and the binding mechanism is set in operation by a trip, or
any other means, the first movement of the binding shaft closes the needle arm and
brings the cord up over the bundle, as seen in Figure 2 of the drawings. The
continued rotation of the shaft brings the gear segment on the segmental gear wheel
into engagement with the pinion of the knotter-shaft; obviously, this engagement
will take place before engagement with the pinion on the cord-holder shaft, so that
before such latter engagement, the knotter-hook will have performed a part
revolution. This prior movement of the knotter-hook is about one-fourth of a
revolution, during which the hook takes the two strands of the band and commences
the formation of the loop, and the parts just at this point will be in the relative
position seen in Figure 2 of the drawings, just previous to the movement of the
cord-holder and the segmental gear-wheel, having made nearly a half revolution.
The continued movement of the binding-shaft will now rotate both the knotting-hook
and cord holder by means of the one gear segment, which is now in engagement
with the pinions on both shafts; and when the wheel E has made about a half
revolution, the knotting-hook will have made nearly a half turn and the cord-
holder not quite a quarter turn, the devices appearing in about the relative positions
seen in Figure 3 of the drawings. The movement continuing, the knotting-hook
and cord-holder will continue to rotate, and when the knotting-hook has completed
about a three-quarter revolution, the cord holder will have made about a half
revolution and the devices will appear as seen in Figure 4, in which the jaws of
the knotting-hook have been opened and the curved arm on the holder has moved
forward over the cord, thereby directing it into the open jaws, as seen in the said
figure. The rotation of the binding-shaft continuing, the one revolution of the
knotting-hook is completed, thus completing the knot on the jaws, and the simul-
taneous turning of the cord-holder carries the curved arm thereon farther along
over the cord, which by the shape of the arm already described, forces the cord
down upon the knife and the two strands are severed. The knotting-hook has
come to a stop just before the severing of the cord, but the gear segment has not
yet left the cord-holder pinion, and so the latter will be carried around alone for
the remainder of its revolution, until it is brought into normal position again, as
seen in Figure 1. The arm on the cord holder disc being curved, as already
described, not only severs the two strands of cord, as stated, but also forces the
strand, running from the binding-arm, underneath the hood, so that it will be caught
between the latter and the revolving disc just before the cord is cut.
The continued
rotation of the cord-holding disc, after the cord has been severed, will sweep this
severed end of the strand, running from the binding-arm, around until it reaches
the notch in the back edge of the hood, as shown in Figure 5, and thence this
strand of the cord lies over the front portion of the disc extending out from under
the hood at the opposite edge thereof, and when the binding arm opens, or makes
its reverse movement, this strand of cord will be carried up along this side of the
hood, as seen in Figures 1 and 5. As soon as the rotation of the knotting-hook
begins, however, the additional strain brought upon this strand of the cord will
pull it around the curved edge of the hood underneath the front thereof and into
the notch ', so that this extended end of the cord will then lie diagonally across
the disc from the front notch ' to the back notch h² and is of such length that it
will project out beyond the disc some little distance at the back notch, as seen in
Figure 1. In forming the knot, this portion of cord is sufficient to make the loop
and for this purpose it is drawn through between the disc and the hood, under the
usual strain produced by the knotting hook in forming the loop, as described; the
shaft of the disc having a yielding longitudinal_motion, permits this drawing of
the cord along between the disc and the hood. From the description above it will

page_text: be noticed that the knife upon which the cord is cut stands at two angles with
reference to the breast-plate; it is inclined both horizontally and vertically, and
hence a drawing cut in two directions is obtained, which makes the severing of the
cord easy under the compression of the curved arm of the holder disc. It will be
understood, of course, that as the gear segment leaves the pinions respectively, the
delay surfaces come into operation and the pinions are stopped and held in a fixed
position until another revolution of the wheel brings the gear segment around into
position for another engagement. The opening in the wheel immediately outside
the gear segment, of course, allows the free rotation of the pinions during the
passage of this portion of the wheel by the pinions. The movement of the
binding-shaft, after the gear segment is freed from the pinion of the cord-holder,
as seen in Figure 5, to its final position of rest, as seen in Figure 1, completes the
reverse movement of the binding arm and discharges the bundle by the action of
the discharge arm L.
The construction and operation of the cord-holder, described above, is considered
an important improvement, for by continuing the rotation of the disc until one full
turn is made, enough cord is taken up by the cord-holder to feed the knotting-hook
in the operation of tying the knot and this extended end of the cord is reversed
by the turning of the disc so that it extends backward from the position in which
it was cut by the knife; at the same time it will lie, practically, in a straight line
in the holder from one notch to the other thereof, and, therefore, can be drawn
through the holder readily, because there are no sharp angles or curves. This
operation enables any swinging motion of the cord holder bodily to be dispensed
with. The two grooves in the face of the cord-holder disc are for the purpose of
carrying off and discharging from under the hood any pieces of cord that may
happen to remain in the cord-holder after the cord is severed. The relative
arrangement of the segmental gear wheel, and the shafts of the knotting-hook
and cord-holder, is also a desirable improvement, for, as already stated, it permits
the driving of these two devices by a single gear segment on the wheel, thereby
simplifying and cheapening the construction. It further provides for the ready
lubrication of the knotter and cord-holder shafts, for, as seen in Figure 9, the two
upper bearing openings for these shafts extend through the upper section of the
knotter-frame, and, at their upper ends open into the bearing of the binding shaft,
so that the two former bearings may be lubricated from the latter, some of the
lubricating material, applied to the binding shaft bearing, escaping into the two
smaller bearings for this purpose. The pinions on the knotting shaft and cord
holder shaft may be provided with delay surfaces on opposite sides for convenience
in changing position if desired. The curved arm on the cord-holder disc may be
used upon a revolving disc of different shape, and so far as merely clamping and
holding the cord are concerned, of different operation, if desired; and other
changes may be made in details of construction, as compared with those described
above and shown in the drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is-
1. In a grain binder, a slotted breast plate, in combination with a knotter frame,
substantially of S form, having its foot secured to the lower end of the breast
plate outside of the slot therein, and its central section extending backward there-
from over the breast-plate, and a knotter-hook and revoluble cord holder mounted
in said frame and both arranged inside of the foot thereof, substantially as
described.
2. In a grain binder, a breast-plate, in combination with a knotter frame, mainly
of S form, having its foot secured to the lower end of the breast-plate, and pro-
vided with an elongated central section extending backward therefrom, and a tail
piece or arm, rigid with the S frame and extending backward to the upper portion
of the breast-plate to which it is secured, substantially as described.

page_text: 3. In a grain binder, a knotter frame, in combination with a knotting-hook and
revoluble cord-holder, the shafts of which are both mounted in said frame and a
cam and gear wheel on the binding shaft provided with a single gear segment
adapted to engage with pinions on both the knotter shaft and the cord holder shaft,
whereby the two latter are both rotated by a single gear segment substantially as
described.
4. In a grain binder, a breast-plate, in combination with a knotter-frame mounted
thereon, a revoluble knotting-hook and a revoluble cord-holder disc, the shafts of
which are both mounted in said frame in the same vertical plane and with the
knotting-hook arranged in front of the cord-holder, a gear wheel provided with a
single gear segment adapted to engage with pinions on said respective shafts and
to engage first with the knotting-hook pinion, whereby the latter is given a partial
rotation before the gear segment engages with and begins to rotate the cord-holder
pinion, substantially as described.
5. In a grain binder, a knotter-frame, in combination with a knotting-hook and i
cord-holder the shafts of which are both mounted in said frame, pinions attached to
the said shafts respectively and provided with delay surfaces, and a gear wheel
provided with a single gear segment and a single delay surface, whereby both the
knotting hook and the cord-holder are rotated one full revolution each by a single
gear segment and held in a state of rest by a single delay surface, both on a single
wheel, substantially as described.
6. In a grain binder, a breast-plate, in combination with a knotter-frame,
S-shaped and mounted by its foot at the lower, or front, end of the breast-plate
and having its middle section extending over the latter, and a tail-piece, or arm,
rigid with the S-frame extending back therefrom to the breast-plate and secured
thereto, whereby a long free space is provided between the S frame and breast-
plate and extending from the front to the rear support of the former, and a revoluble
knotting-hook arranged in said free space and having its shaft mounted in said
Sframe, substantially as described.
7. In a grain binder, a breast-plate, in combination with a knotter-frame, S shaped
and mounted by its foot at the lower, or front, end of the breast-plate and having
its middle section extending over the latter, and a tail-piece, or arm, rigid with the
S frame extending back therefrom to the breast-plate and secured thereto, whereby
a long free space is provided between the S frame and the breast-plate and
extending from the front to the rear support of the former, and a cord-holder
arranged in said space between the breast-plate and knotter-frame and having
revoluble member, the shaft of which is mounted in said S frame, substantially as
described.
a
8. In a grain binder, a breast-plate, in combination with a knotter-frame,
S-shaped and mounted by its foot at the lower, or front, end of the breast-plate
and having its middle section extending over the latter, and a tail-piece, or arm,
rigid with the S frame extending back therefrom to the breast-plate and secured
thereto, whereby a long free space is provided, the S frame and breast-plate and
extending from the front to the rear support of the former, and a knotting-hook
and cord-holder, both arranged in said free space between the breast-plate and
knotter frame and between the front and rear support of the latter, substantially
as described.
9. In a grain binder, a cord-holder consisting of a revoluble cone-shaped disc, in
combination with a stationary segmental hood reaching over said disc and conforming
thereto, and a movable guide adapted to sweep the cord in between the two members
of the cord-holder, substantially as described.
10. In a grain binder, a cord-holder consisting of a revoluble cone shaped disc,
in combination with a fixed segmental hood extending over the same and adapted
to clamp the cord between the two, constructed and arranged to reverse the end of
the cord by the rotation of the disc and to take up sufficient cord in the said
extended end to supply the quantity required in tying the knot by drawing the
said extended end through the cord-holder, substantially as described.

page_text: 11. In a grain binder, a revoluble knotting-hook, in combination with a cord-
holder composed of a revoluble disc and stationary hood over the same, a knife
arranged between the knotting-hook and cord-holder, and an arm fixed on said disc
and curving forward and upward therefrom, whereby the said arm, carried along
by the disc, will pass over the strands of cord, press them inward and downward
against the knife, and at the same time sweep the main strand in between the disc
and its hood, substantially as described.
12. In a grain binder, a revoluble knotting-hook, in combination with the conical
revoluble cord-holder disc G and stationary hood H extending over the said disc
and provided with notches h¹² to stop and guide the cord substantially as
described.
13. In a grain-binder, a revoluble knotting-hook, in combination with a revoluble
cord-holder disc G, a stationary hood H extending over said disc, a knife I,
standing across the breast-plate between the knotter and cord-holder, and an arm Gi
rigid with said disc and curving forward and upward from its point of junction
therewith substantially as described.
14. In a grain binder, a revoluble knotting-hook, in combination with a cord-
holder, and a cord cutter I, arranged across the breast-plate at a slight angle thereto
and having its cutting edge inclined upward from front to rear, substantially as
described.
15. In a grain binder, a knotter-frame provided with a bearing c¹ for the binding
shaft, in combination with the knotting-hook shaft and cord holder disc shaft y,
both mounted in the knotter frame and having bearings for their upper ends opening
into said bearing ', substantially as described.
16. In a grain binder, the breast-plate A provided with a short slot a' at its
lower end and a bridge a² across the same, in combination with a cutter I, adapted
to set in said slot and detachably fastened to the bridge, a knotting-hook and cord-
holder, substantially as described.
17. In a grain binder, a cord-holder consisting of a revoluble conical disc, in
combination with a stationary hood arranged above and extending over the convex
surface of said disc, and devices for rotating the latter, substantially as described.
18. In a grain binder, a revoluble conical cord-holding disc, in combination with
a stationary hood fitted to and extending over the convex surface of said disc, and
an arm, or finger, rigid with said disc and projecting forward and upward therefrom
in the direction of its movement, substantially as described.
Dated this 1st day of February 1894.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.