IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE GATHERING AND BINDING OF CUT CROPS INTO SHEAVES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Mark Frow, of Leake, near Boston, in the
County of Lincoln, Farmer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE GATHERING AND BINDING OF CUT CROPS
INTO SHEAVES."
Sealed the 6th September 1870, and dated the 9th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Mark Frow at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th March 1870.
I, MARK FROW, of Leake, near Boston, in the County of Lincoln,
Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE GATHERING AND BINDING OF CUT CROPS
INTO SHEAVES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the application to reaping machines of a
novel arrangement of apparatus which as the corn or other cut crop is
swept off the platform of the reaper will gather it in bundles and hold
the same in a position for binding, the band being at the same time
lapped round the bundle by the action of the apparatus.

page_text: In applying my improvements to reapers already constructed I pro-
vide a table (mounted on running wheels) for carrying the apparatus.
This table may be attached by chains or otherwise to the rear end of
the reaper, it being so placed with regard to the platform that the
delivery edge of the platform will slightly overlap it. A longitudinal
slot is made in the table to allow of the play therein of a pair of arms
which are capable of vibrating in a vertical plane and are intended to
gather up and compress into a bundle at stated periods the cut crop
discharged from the platform on to the table by the rake arms of the
reaper. These gathering arms are pivotted to the table, and their lower
ends project through the slot of the table and are connected to an
arrangement of lazy-tong levers, the fulcrum of which is carried by a
slide that is free to work in a horizontal guide situate below the table
and placed transversely to the slot thereof. To the apex of this lazy-
tongs arrangement is attached a link, the opposite end of which is
jointed to a crank arm made fast to a wheel or pulley which turns on a
stud axle carried by the table. This wheel or pulley receives through
suitable gearing rotary motion from the reaper, and the throw of the
crank arm which it carries serves to contract and expand the lazy-tongs
arrangement of levers, which in their turn operate the gathering arms as
above explained. At any convenient point a rotary hook is provided
for twisting the bands required for binding up the sheaves. While the
gathering arms are in an expanded state I lay a band in the proper
position on the table for lapping round a formed sheave and connect it
to the arms by catches or otherwise. As therefore the corn or other
crop accumulates on the table the band will underlie it, and the
gathering arms in rising to bring together the corn into the form of a
bundle will lap it round the same, bringing up the ends into a position to
be seized by the attendant, who will then secure the band by twisting it
in the usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Mark Frow in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARK
FROW, of Leake, near Boston, in the County of Lincoln, Farmer, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Mark Frow, Her special licence that
I, the said Mark Frow, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Mark Frow, my executors, adminis-.
trators, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING
THE GATHERING AND BINDING OF CUT CROPS INTO SHEAVES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Mark Frow, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, 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 Mark Frow, 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, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
This Invention relates to the application to reaping machines of a
novel arrangement of apparatus which as the corn or other cut crop
is swept off the platform of the reaper will gather it in bundles
and hold the same in a position for binding, the band being at the
same time partially lapped round the bundle by the action of the
apparatus.
L
In applying my improvements to reapers already constructed I
provide a table (mounted on a carriage fitted with running wheels) for
carrying the apparatus. This table may be attached by chains or
otherwise to the rear end of the reaper, it being so placed with regard
to the platform that the delivery edge of the platform will slightly
overlap it.

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn my Invention as applied
to the Howard reaping machine, but it will be obvious that it is
equally applicable to reapers of other construction, suitable changes
being made in the gearing whereby motion is transmitted from the
reaper to the gathering machine.
Fig. 1 shews in plan view my gathering machine applied to the
Howard reaper, the table of the gathering machine being removed the
better to exhibit the construction of the parts below the table; Fig. 2 is
a front or side elevation of the machine, and Fig. 3 is a partial sectional
elevation taken in the line 1, 2, Fig. 1, and shewing chiefly the
arrangement of the gearing.
A is a rectangular frame mounted upon running wheels and carrying
a table B, one edge of which is intended to underlie the delivery edge of
the platform of the reaper; C, C, are a pair of rock levers or bent arms
pivotted to a longitudinal bar of the framing, their object being to gather
up the corn as it is delivered on to the table from the platform of the
reaper and to form it into a bundle ready for binding. The lower ends
of these arms or rock levers enter eyes in the extremity of an arrange-
ment of lazy-tongs levers D, D, which levers are intended to operate
the gathering arms. A longitudinal slot is made in the table to allow
of the play therein of the gathering arms C, which are capable of
vibrating in a vertical plane. The fulcrum of the laz-tongs levers is
carried by a slide e that is free to work in a horizontal guide made in or
carried by a transverse bar A² of the frame A. To the apex or jointed
extremity of this lazy-tongs arrangement is attached a link rod E, the
opposite end of which is jointed to a crank arm F made fast to a bevilled
pinion G which turns on a stud axle carried by the framing of the table.
This wheel receives through suitable gearing rotary motion from the
reaper, and the throw of the crank arm which it carries serves to con-
tract and expand the lazy-tongs arrangement of levers, which in their
turn operate the gathering arms as above explained.
In order to transmit motion from the reaper to my improved gathering
and binding machine I mount on the main axle H of the reaper a chain
wheel H, and by means of a chain H³ I drive a chain wheel H³ carried
by a short shaft H' which runs in bracket bearings I secured to a
vertical extension or hollow standard A¹ of the framing A of the
gathering machine. Keyed to the shaft H' is a bevilled pinion h which
gears into a bevilled pinion h' keyed to a short shaft h² and fitted at its

page_text: other end with a spur wheel h³ having teeth on one half only of its
periphery. In gear with this wheel h³ and situate below it is a pinion K
keyed to a horizontal shaft K¹ which is carried by bearings below the
table. On the inner end of this shaft K¹ is a bevilled pinion which
gears into and drives the pinion G carrying the crank arm before
mentioned and thereby serves to operate the gathering arms.
The spur
wheel h³ is also intended to impart rotary motion to a hook which serves
to twist the bands employed for binding the sheaves, and it further
serves to give rotation to a knife, which presenting itself at the proper
moment to the twisted band detaches it from the rotary hook and allows
of its being caught and held by the adjacent gathering arm C. In gear
with the spur wheel h³ is a pinion / cast on the boss of the spur wheel
and carried by a stud axle. In gear with the wheel is a pinion m
keyed on to a spindle which carries at its inner end a hook M; this is
the hook by the aid of which the attendant forms the band for binding
the sheaves. The manner of effecting the operation being well under-
stood it will be unnecessary for me to describe it. A ratchet wheel m
is keyed to the hook spindle, and with its teeth a pawl engages in order
to counteract all tendency to back motion in the spindle; gearing into
the pinion is a pinion » keyed to a spindle which carries the rotary
knife N; this knife is situate adjacent to but a little in advance of the
hook M, and its radius is such that in its rotation it will sever the band.
spun or twisted by the rotary hook. It will be understood that the
motions of the gathering arms, the rotary hook, and the knife will require
to be adjusted relatively to each other, and it is for this purpose that
the spur wheel ³ is provided with teeth on one-half only of its
periphery. Supposing now that the hook is in action to produce a band
the gathering arms will be quiescent and in the expanded position
shewn at Figures 1, 2. The attendant as the formation of the band
is completed lays it along the table and transversely of the course of the
cut grain over the table. The gearing is so timed that when the hook
has completed some eight rotations, or more or less as may be thought
desirable, the knife N will be brought up in contact with the band and
cause to sever it close to the rotary hook M. The band thus released
will be caught by and secured to the adjacent gathering arm C, and the
rake of the reaper having at this moment raked on to the table Ba
sufficient quantity of cut corn to form a sheaf the spur wheel h³ dis-
engaging itself from the gearing connected with the rotary hook and
knife will set in action the lazy-tongs levers D, and these levers being

page_text: moved into the dotted position of Fig. 1 will raise the gathering arms
and cause them to take the dotted positions of Fig. 2, which arms in
rising will bring together the corn into the form of a bundle or sheaf
and will lap it round the same. The attendant now brings the ends
together and secures the band by twisting it in the usual manner, after 5
which he deposits it on the ground to clear the machine for a repetition
of the above-described operations.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improved
apparatus for facilitating the gathering and binding of cut crops into
sheaves, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I 1
wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,—
First. The application of the lazy-tongs arrangement of levers to the
working of the gathering arms, as above described.
Secondly. In combination with the vibrating gathering arms the 1
rotating hook and cutter for preparing the bands for binding the
sheaves, the same being operated in the manner substantially as above
described.
Thirdly. Mounting the gathering and binding apparatus upon an
independant carriage or distinct from the framing of the reaping machine, 2
as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Mark Frow, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.