IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Prime Walker, of the City of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES."
Scaled the 15th August 1856, and dated the 28th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Prime Walker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th February 1856.
I, FRANCIS PRIME WALKER, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGE-
TABLE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
In a new combination and arrangement of mechanism for this purpose, the
peculiar feature of which consists in the mode of actuating the cutting knife
by mounting it on cranks which impart to it a compound vertical and lateral
movement, a shearing action being obtained by placing the plane of the axis
of the cranks at an angle to the mouth of the feed box, or by connecting the
knife to the cranks so as to form an angle with the feed box. The cranks
are made to work simultaneously by toothed wheels or other suitable gear.
The substance to be cut is fed by any ordinary arrangement of feeding

page_text: apparatus, to which I prefer to give intermittent movements by that arrange-
ment of mechanism known as the "star wheel" or intermittent motion, but
any of the common feed motions may be used in place of it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Prime Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, FRANCIS
PRIME WALKER, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Ironmonger, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February. in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Francis Prime Walker, Her especial license that I, the said
Francis Prime Walker, my executors, administrators, and assigns; .or such
others as I, the said Francis Prime Walker, 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 MACHINERY FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGE
TABLE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Francis Prime Walker, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Francis Prime Walker, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in a new combination and arrangement of mechanism
for cutting vegetable substances, namely, in a mode of actuating the cutting
knife by mounting it on cranks, which impart to it a compound vertical and
lateral movement, a shearing action being obtained by placing the plane of the
axis of the cranks at an angle to the mouth of the feed box, or by connecting

page_text: the knife to the cranks so as to form an angle with the feed box. The cranks
are made to work simultaneously by toothed wheels or other suitable gear.
The substance to be cut is fed by any ordinary arrangement of feeding
apparatus, to which I prefer to give intermittent movements, which may be
obtained from that arrangement of mechanism known as the "star wheel" or
"intermittent motion," but any of the common arrangements of feed motions
may be used in place of it. The annexed Sheet of Drawing shows four views
of a machine constructed according to my Invention.
:
Fig. 1 is a plan view; Fig. 2, an elevation on the feed box side; Fig. 3
and 4 are respectively elevations on the left and right side of the machine,
looking at the feed box, part of which is omitted from the Drawing. a,
framing of the machine; b, first motion shaft, which works in suitable
bearings, and has a fly wheel & keyed upon it, also a spur wheel ³,. which
geers with two spur wheels c, one on each side of it. These.spur wheels. c are
cach fixed on a short shaft c', having suitable. bearings (c) on the framing.
On one end of each of these short shafts c' a crank is fixed, each crank
having a bearing provided to receive a pin formed on a plate or knife holder.
d, to which plate the cutting knife d¹ is secured by screws. The rotation of
the shaft will cause a simultaneous rotation of the cranks c (as the wheels c
are both of equal number of teeth), and thus the plate d and consequently
the knife will receive a compound vertical and lateral movement, the knife
being arranged. close to and across. the mouth of the feed box. The shearing
action is produced by placing the axis of the shafts b and c in a plane at an
angle to the feed box, as will be understood by inspection of Fig. 2.. This
may also be accomplished by fixing or forming the knife so that its edge will
form an acute angle with the bottom side of the mouth of the feed box.. The
stroke of the cranks is of such radius as will give the knife a vertical move
ment sufficient to carry it through the depth of the material to be cut in the
feed box. It will be seen that either of the shafts c' may be made the first
motion shaft, the wheel being simply employed as an intermediate to
convey motion from the one to the other, or the first motion shaft may be
placed at a right angle to the shafts c', and may be geered with them by bevil
wheels. The machine shewn by the Drawings is arranged to be driven by
manual power by a winch handle 6, but of course it may be driven by steam
or other motive power, by a belt werking on fast and loose pulleys placed on
the end of the shaft. The arrangement of the machine is such as will allow
also a convenient application of a steam cylinder, the piston rod of the steam
cylinder being connected to a crank on the end of the first motion shaft b,
which would answer all the purposes of the crank shaft of direct-acting steam

page_text: The feed
engines. It will be seen that, with this mode of actuating the cutting knife,
..a long knife and a feed box of great width may be conveniently employed.
The feed box and motion in the machine shown in the Drawings is of the
common description, formed by a fluted bottom roller d and upper roller d',
weighted by the lever d² in the ordinary manner. The two rollers (d, d',) are
geered together by wheels d, the upper roller d being rotated by a swivel
shaft d', which allows of its rise or fall according to the thickness of the
material passing between the rollers, as in the usual manner.
rollers may have either an intermittent or constant motion; if intermittent,
their motion should take place when the cranks c¹ are passing the knife
through the highest part of its path. In the machine shown on the Drawing
this intermittent movement of the feed rollers is produced by an eccentric e
on one of the shafts c', which gives a reciprocating movement through a rod
el to a lever e, which has its centre on a shaft e. This lever e has a pawl e
that takes into the teeth of a ratchet wheel on the shaft e³. Retaining
pawls e are also employed. The shaft is placed in suitable bearings, and
is geered with the bottom feed roller shaft by bevil wheels e. In place of
the arrangement last described, a star wheel motion may be applied, as shown
in dotted line in Fig. 1 and 2. The pin plate is in this case fixed on one
of the shafts c', the star wheel on a stud secured to the frame; a pinion on
the star wheel geers with a wheel on a stud, and a pinion on the boss of this
wheel geers with a wheel on a shaft, which geers by bevil wheels with the
bottom feed roller shaft. If a toothed pinion and wheel are substituted for
the star wheel and pin plate, a continuous motion will be given to the feed
rollers.
.
I have now particularly described the nature of my Invention, and the
methods in which it may be carried into effect, and wish it to be understood
that I claim as my Invention in machines for cutting vegetable substances,
the mode of actuating the knife herein-before described by mounting it on
cranks, which impart to it a compound vertical and lateral movement.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Prime Walker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of August, in the
year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
FRANCIS PRIME WALKER. (L.S.)