IMPROVEMENTS. IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING, REAPING, OR SEVERING GRASS, GRAIN, CORN, OR OTHER LIKE GROWING PLANTS OR HERBS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN DUNCAN, of Great George Street, Westminster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria the First,
by Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster the Second day of November One thousand eight
hundred and forty, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Duncan, Her special licence that.I, the
said John Duncan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Duncan, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the town of Berwick upon Tweed, an Invention communi-
cated to me by a foreigner residing abroad of "IMPROVEMENTS. IN
MACHINERY FOR CUTTING, REAPING, OR SEVERING GRASS, GRAIN, CORN, OR
OTHER LIKE GROWING PLANTS OR HERBS;" in which said Letters Patent-there
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Duncan, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in-Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said John Duncan, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon; that is to say, the said Invention
consists in a machine to be moved by human labour, or by horse or
other suitable power, for cutting, reaping, severing grass, grain, corn,
or other like growing plants or herbs, and it is so constructed as to
perform the said operation more completely and conveniently than has
hitherto been done, and as to be durable and readily repaired. Figure 1,
of the drawings is a side view of the machine, the side boards having
been removed, in order better to show the interior parts; Figure 2, is,
a view of the other side of the machine, the side boards remaining in
their place; Figure 3, is a plan, and Figure 4, is a front view. In
each of the latter many parts are removed, in order that the rest may
be shown more distinctly. The same letters denote the same parts
throughout the drawings. The pieces A, A, A, A, together with other
pieces marked a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, form the main frame of the machine,
the pieces c, c, c, c, serving to bind some of the said parts together, which
is clearly shown in the drawings. The wheels B', B2, move on separate
spindles fixed in each wheel and running in the brackets b, b; in other
respects they are or may be like common wheels. To the inner side
of the wheel B', is a toothed wheel E, through which the rotation of
the wheel B', in the progress of the carriage gives rotatory motion to
the other parts of the machine. The small wheel 9, is driven by the
wheel E, and being on the same shaft with, gives motion to the
pulley F.
The uprights C, C, and the cross piece D, support the
brackets in which the shaft I, turns; on this shaft is the pulley. H, by
which it receives motion from the pulley F, by a belt or cord. The
conical frustrum N, receives motion from the shaft I, by means of the
bevelled wheels L, its gudgeons running in bearings on the floor of the
.

page_text: carriage and the cross piece D; it carries on its lower surface the
circular cutting plate O, affixed to which are the cutting instruments
P, P, P, P, P, P; the latter are inclined (point forwards) both to the
radius of the frustrum and to the fingers q, q, q, q, q, q, and are curved
like the points of scythes, all which is clearly shown in the drawing;:
they have on the back a rib of about an inch deep, by which, together
with the ribs m, on the surface of the frustrum N, the corn or other
materiál cut is carried forward. The pulley K, on the shaft I, gives.
motion by means of a crossed belt to the pulley M, and together.
with it to the disks or flanches g', h, on the same shaft; to 'these
disks or flanches are affixed: bent rods, as shown in the drawings,
by the rotation of which the corn being or about to be cut is pressed
to the frustrum N, so as to be carried round by it and its ribs 'm. The
points or fingers q, 4, 9, 7, 9, 7, project forward from the floor of the car-
riage, and facilitate the cutting of the crop, by gathering it into close
bundles and holding it firmly to the action of the cutters P, P, P, P, P, P.
The guide a, attached to the shaft W, and the tapered extremity of the
side pieces P, and R, serve to bring all the crop in the intended path of
the machine within the points q, q, q9, 9, 9 9, and consequently within the
action of the cutters P, P, P, P, P; P; the corn when cut revolves with
the frustruni N, and is confined to the surface thereof; first by the re-
volving rods fixed to the flanches g, i, h, and afterwards by the rod K.
The rods S, S, S, are attached by one end to the upright F, and while
the other ends rest in the groves shown in the frustrum N; when the
corn which is cut in its rotation reaches them, it is stopped by. them
and accumulates in the body of the carriage. The extra floor U, prevents
the corn from being entangled with the cutters above which it lies;
and the screen Y, parallel with the guides S, S, S, prevents the cut corn
from escaping by the front of carriage. The corn may be removed
through the open back end of the carriage, either by hand or by a re-
volving apron, to which motion may be given from any suitable part
of the machinery, or it may be made into sheaves or bundles wh le yet
in the carriage. W, W, are the shafts, and X, the pin by which they
are attached to the carriage. The curved front end, of the side piece
serves to prevent stoppage from inequalities of the ground. It will be

page_text: seen that the horse walks on ground from which the crop has been
already reaped, and by the side of that which the machine is at the
instant reaping. And now having described the said Invention, and how
it is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not claim
any of the parts thereof separately or combined as being of my In-
vention, except as herein-after claimed, but I do claim the combination
of the fixed projecting fingers q, q, q, q, q, q, with the revolving cutters
P, P, P, P, P, P, and also the combination of the frustrum N, with the
revolving and stationary guides by which the crop when cut is confined
to and discharged from it.
seen that the horse walks on ground from which the crop has been
already reaped, and by the side of that which the machine is at the
instant reaping. And now having described the said Invention, and how
it is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not claim
any of the parts thereof separately or combined as being of my In-
vention, except as herein-after claimed, but I do claim the combination
of the fixed projecting fingers q, q, q, q, q, q, with the revolving cutters
P, P, P, P, P, P, and also the combination of the frustrum N, with the
revolving and stationary guides by which the crop when cut is confined
to and discharged from it.
In witness whereor I have nereunto set my hand and seal.
JN° DUNCAN. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the First day of May in the
year of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid John Duncan came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified
in form above written, and also the specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the First day of May in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-one.