New Cutting Apparatus for Mowing Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Aug., 1897-Accepted, 8th Jan.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New Cutting Apparatus for Mowing Machines.
I, ALBIN MEHLHORN, of 20, Lindenstrasse, Leipzig, Germany, Manager, 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:-
This invention has for its object to remedy the defects frequently to be found in
the cutting apparatus or knives of mowing machines, such as clogging for instance.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a top view;
Figure 2 is a section on line ab drawn at an enlarged scale,
Figure 3 is a plan of Figure 2 showing the upper end of Figure 1.
In the figures c is the finger or guide beam from which the various fingers or
guides e project; above them is arranged the guide bar i. The mode of fixing the
fingers or guides to the guide bar is shown in Figure 2. The various prongs,
fingers or guides are furnished with a rearward prolongation terminated at the top
with a projection f which takes into a corresponding notch or recess d of the finger
bar and is fixed to the finger beam c by the screws h in such a manner that the
upper surface of the fingers, prongs or guides is in the same plane as the upper side
of the bar of the finger beam upon which the knife bar is guided. On the front
side of the finger carrier are formed notches or recesses wherein these fingers engage
by which means the strain upon the screws is removed and they are prevented
from warping or bending. This connection ensures a rigid attachment, so that no
loosening can take place when the machine is working.
The fundamental principle of this construction is to remedy all defects which
existed in constructions hitherto used, these defects being generally as follows,
that is to say:- -When mowing grass and the like in a damp soil grass or dirt pene-
trates readily between all corners and angles of the machine and often impedes
the same and even stops it. These corners and angles are all due to the manner of
much thicker than the knives. They are often covered by a device or hood designed
constructing the finger beams and knife bars heretofore used, the latter being generally
to protect them, but the chief source of the defects above mentioned lies in the
mode of fixing these hoods on to the knife bar as well as the large surfaces and the
guides, by means of which they slide upon the rail of the finger beam and upon
the said fingers which are connected one with the other.
These defects are all remedied in this construction by carefully avoiding all
angles and corners, which is effected by means of the following improvements.
The fingers or guides are arranged to stand out freely throughout their operative
length and are not braced together. The small knife bar, the under surface of
which is thoroughly smooth, slides freely upon the fingers or prongs and not on the
rail of the finger beam; the knives m are soldered to this knife bar i and not fixed
thereto by bolts and screws. In consequence thereof and owing to the knives
having approximately the same thickness as the knife bar, a thoroughly smooth
bearing and as reduced as possible frictional surfaces are obtained, between which
dirt or the like cannot remain adhering.

page_text: The knife bar i is guided by means of longitudinal slots k and of corresponding
bolts fixed to the various knives, whereby grass cannot become fixed or jammed,
or if any grass has just been caught it will readily pass by the small fingers or
prongs and fall through the slots when the machine is in motion. An india-rubber
ring is placed under the bolt . These, bolts or 'plates have the shape shown in
Figure 4. The edges xx prevent them from dropping too far down in the rail of
the finger beam and thus locking the knife bar so that the latter can always move
freely and that it is impossible that it could be clogged by dirt or mud gaining
access therebetween.
Further improvements consist in the form of the fingers or prongs. In the
constructions heretofore used the parts of the fingers covering the knife at the top
were 5 cent. long and their apices were placed from 1 to 1 cent. higher than the
plane along which the cutting is effected. According to this invention, however,
these finger parts are only 3 cent. long and their apices are c.m. below the cutting
line Owing to this shortening, less grass can gain access to the parts than occurs
with the long ends, and the apices being deeper take up the lying grass which
was heretofore allowed to slide off below the cutting apparatus by the higher apices,
and hence the cutting is much more uniform according to this construction. The
last finger differs in no wise from the others, whereby the irregular cutting occurring
with other constructions and which is often higher at the end of the rows of knives
is thereby avoided.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim.is:-
CLAIMS.
First Cutting apparatus for mowing machines characterized by the fact that
the knife bar i which is thoroughly smooth on its underside is secured adjustably
and guided by means of bolts and slots k upon the free fingers arranged inde-
pendent of one another, for the purpose of avoiding the jamming of grass or the
like when the machine is working..
-
Second Cutting apparatus for mowing machines such as above claimed charac-
terized by the various knives m being attached to the bar i by solder in order to
obtain a flat surface and avoid edges to which dirt, may adhere.
Third: Cutting apparatus for mowing machines such as above claimed charac
terized by the fixing of the various fingers e by means of screws h and projections f
in recesses of the finger beam c in order to produce a rigid attachment.
Fourth-Cutting apparatus for mowing machines such as set forth in Claims 1
and 3 characterized by the arrangement below the cutting edges of the apices of the
fingers, the upper part of which is placed above the knife and is only 3 cent. long,
in order to be able to seize lying grass...
Dated this 3rd day of August 1897.
GEORGE BARKER,
Agent for Applicant, 77 Colmore Row, Birmingham.