IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GATHERING, ELEVATING, AND DELIVERING HAY AND OTHER CROPS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gray, of Brownrigg, North Berwick,
in the County of Haddington, North Britain, Faimer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GATHERING, ELEVATING,
AND DELIVERING HAY AND OTHER CROPS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th July 1875
I, WILLIAM GRAY, of Browningg, North Berwick, in the County of
Haddington, North Britain, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GATHERING,
ELEVATING, AND DELIVERING HAY, AND OTHER CROPS," to be as follows, that is
to say :-
This Invention has for its object the gathering of hay and other crops
and the elevating and delivering thereof in a rapid and satisfactory
manner, and so as to dispense with some of the manual labor now
required for those purposes.

page_text: The improved apparatus may be arranged to gather the crop from off
the surface of the land when the crop has lain on the land after being
cut, or parts of the improved apparatus may be combined with the
usual cutting details of reaping or mowing machines, so as to receive
the crop directly from the cutters and to elevate and deliver the same
immediately on being cut.
In a modification of the apparatus arranged for dealing with a pre-
viously cut crop a light frame or carriage mounted on wheels and drawn
by one or more horses is fitted with a set of teeth or prongs which, as
the carriage moves along, enter like a wedge under the hay or other
crop, and being inclined upwards towards the back cause the crop to
rise up into the bottom of a broad shallow channel inclined upwards
and backwards. In this channel there works an endless chain elevator
fitted with rakes which carry the crop upwards to the back delivering
end of it, the motion of the elevator being derived from the wheels of
the carriage
The crop may be delivered into any suitable receptacle
placed either directly below the delivery end of the channel or to
one side, a transverse delivery duct being provided in the latter case
When the hay or other crop is to be deposited in the form of a cock,
rick, or stack the receptacle may be made in a corresponding form but
inverted so as to mould or shape the mass put into it and it may be
mounted on trunnions so that when full it can be turned over to
deposit the mass on the ground. Ropes may be laid in the moulding
receptacle when empty for the purpose of binding the mass when com-
pleted. Or instead of the crop being dropped into the moulding
receptacle it may be dropped down upon a platform formed with longi-
tudinal rods or bars, and which, whilst ordinarily carried clear above the
ground, is arranged to be lowered to the ground when a rick or stack
has been completed on it. After the rick or stack has been, thus
lowered the rods are withdrawn from under it and it is left on the
ground.
In another modification in which the elevator does not require to
extend so high as in that already described the crop is dropped into a
compartment of a kind of reel which is held by a catch until the crop
has accumulated sufficiently to form a sheaf or bundle, whereupon the
catch is withdrawn, and the icel in turning and dropping the shoaf or
bundle brings another compartment into position to receive the crop.

page_text: The sheaves or bundles formed in this way can be bound by one or more
workers standing on the carriage.
In order that the teeth or prongs which pick up the crop off the
land may not become choked at the entrance to the channel, they are held
by shanks to which they are attached at their front ends so that their
back onds are quite free, the shanks passing underneath back to the
framing to which they are fixed, or to a movable bar which can be
turned to raise the prongs up when the machine is not working.
When the apparatus is arranged for gathering corn or other grain
crop, small troughs are provided at the upper and lower ends of the
elevator channel to catch any grain that may become loosened from the
crop.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Gray in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 22nd January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GRAY, of Brownrigg, North Berwick, in the County of Haddington,
North Britain, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me. the said William Gray, Her
special licence that I, the said William Gray, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Gray, 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 therem 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 APPARATUS FOR GATHERING, ELEVATING, AND
DELIVERING HAY AND OTHER CROPS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Gray, my executors or administrators, by an

page_text: instrument in writing under my or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of tho
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Gray, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say.
-
My said Invention has for its-object the gathering of hay and
other crops and the elevating and delivering thereof, in a rapid and satis-
factory manner, and so as to dispense with some of the manual labor
now required for those purposes.
My improved apparatus may be arranged to gather the crop from off
the surface of the land when the crop has lam on the land after being
cut, or parts of my improved apparatus may be combined with the
usual cutting details of mowing or reaping machines, so as to receive
the crop directly from the cutters, and to clevate and deliver the same
immediately on being cut.
In a modification of my apparatus arranged for dealing with a pre-
viously cut crop a light frame or carriage mounted on wheels and drawn
by one or more horses is fitted with a set of teeth or prongs which, as
the carriage moves along, enter like a wedge under the hay or other
crop, and cause the crop to rise up into a broad shallow channel, in-
which there works an endless chain elevator fitted with rakes which
carry the crop upwards to the back delivering end. The crop may be
delivered into any suitable receptacle placed either directly below the
delivery end of the elevator or to one side, a transverse delivery duct
being provided in the latter case.
The receptacle may be such as when inverted to leave the crop in the
form of a cock, 11ck, or stack, or the crop may be dropped from the
elevator upon a platform of longitudinal bars, which platform is drawn
forward periodically from beneath the crop accumulated on it so as to
leave it on the land.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, 1 hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
modifications of my improved apparatus In these Drawings tho samo
reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever
they are repeated
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a plan, and Figure 2 is a side elevation
of my improved crop gatherer The parts are carried by a light wooden
frame or carriage 4 mounted on a pair of wheels 5, and having attached
to it trams 6 for a pair of horses, by which the machine is to be
drawn over the land on which the cut crop is lying. Attached to the
fiame 4 there is an elevator consisting of a broad shallow channel
piece 7, made of wood, and carrying a pair of endless chains 8, to which
are fixed at regular intervals a series of rakes 9. The endless chains 8
pass round sprocket wheels 10, 11, fixed on transverse horizontal shafts
12, 13, supported by brackets 14, 15, at the upper and lower ends of
the channel piece 7 The lower shaft 13 has fast on its overhanging
ends sprocket wheels 16, which are driven by endless chains 17 from
sprocket wheels 18 fast to the carrying wheels 5, so that the rotation of
these wheels 5 when the machine is drawn forward cause the required
movement of the elevator chains 8 with then rakes 9.
The clevator is in an inclined position, as shewn, when the machine
is in operation, and is supported in that position by a frame 19, but
being connected to the carnage frame 4 by hinges 20 can be turned
down when not in use. At the lower forward end of the channel piece 7
there is carried in small brackets a transverse horizontal bar 21, to
which there are fixed a number of rods or shanks 22 formed with teeth
or prongs 23 The series of prongs 23 enter wedgewise under the
lying hay and other crop, and cause it to rise up into the bottom of
the channel and within range of the rakes 9 which move up the
channel The prongs 23 extend back beyond their points of attachment
to the shanks 22, their back ends reaching just into the channel and
being quite free are not liable to be choked in any way. A lever 24 is
fixed to the transverse bar 21 and is connected to a hand lever 25, by
means of which the level of the points of the prongs 23 can be adjusted or
the prongs be lifted clear of the ground when required. The apparatus
is represented as carrying at its back end a receptacle 26 shaped so as to
give the form of a cock to the hay or other crop delivered into it from

page_text: accompanying Drawings
4 The constructing and arranging of the prongs or teeth 23, and their
connections for picking up the crop, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gray, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
WILLIAM GRAY. (L.S.)