A KNIFE, PLATE, WEIGHT, AND REGULATOR, FOR AND TO BE USED WITH A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OF STRAW AND HAY INTO CHAFF, WHEREBÝ THE OPERATION OF CUTTING HAY AND STRAW INTO CHAFF FOR THE USE OF CATTLE WILL BE FACILITATED AND RENDERED MUCH MORE PRACTICABLE THAN BY ANY OTHER MODE HITHERTO INVENTED
Year: 1794

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
COOKE, of Red Lion Square, near Holborn, in the County of Middlesex;'
Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Eight
day of January, in the thirty-fourth year of His reign, did give and grant unto
me, the said James Cooke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James
Cooke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I or they
should agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the Kingdom of Great
Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "A KNIFE, PLATE, WEIGHT, AND REGULATOR, FOR AND TO
BE USED WITH A MACHINE FOR CUTTING OF STRAW AND HAY INTO CHAFF, WHEREBÝ
THE OPERATION OF CUTTING HAY AND STRAW INTO CHAFF FOR THE USE OF CATTLE
WILL BE FACILITATED AND RENDERED MUCH MORE PRACTICABLE THAN BY ANY OTHER
MODE HITHERTO INVENTED;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said James Cook, should, within the space of one calender month
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
particularly discribe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery,
otherwise the said Letters Patent to be void and of no effect, as in and by the
said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at
large appear..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Janies Cook, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention of a
knife, plate, weight, and regulator,, for and to be used with a machine for
cutting of straw and hay into chaf, whereby the operation of cutting straw and
hay into chaff for the use of cattle will bo- facilitated, and rendered much
more practicable than by any other mode hitherto invented; and the manner
in which the same is to be performed is particularly discribed in the several
plans, drawings, or figures hereunto annexed, with the explanations and
references thereto, herein-after mentioned (that is to say):-
Fig. 1, the cutting plate, made of wood, cast iron, and steel, or other metals,
and is applied to the common chaff-cutter frame, Fig. 7, at A, A, and fixed
there with screws A, A, A. A plane surface on each side and below the step B.
C, C, a plate of steel rivetted on the top edge of the cutting plate, so that its
front edge shall coincide with the plane surface A, A, A. D, D, a cap of iron,
or other metal, with two screws and nuts, d. d. Fig. 2, four knives made of
cart steel, and applied to each other respectively, so as to form a plano surfaco
A, A, A, A, round the middle or center B, which plano surface being applied
to the plane surface A, A, A, of the cutting plate, Fig. 1, will form a joint
similar to that of a pair of scissars. Fig. 3, the weight or compressor, made of
wood, iron, or other metal. A, A, two, pivots or centers, by which it is applied
to the upper edges or sides of the box of the common chaff-cutter at B, B,
Fig. 7, and secured there by staples or holdfasts with eyes or holes for the recep-
tion of the pivots. B, B, two grooves, for the reception of the axis of the cylinder
of the common chaff-cutter C, C, Fig. 7. C, C, part of the
compresser, with
its lower edge fluted, to prevent the straw receding before the knives in the act
of cutting, which rises or falls with the upper roller of the common chaff-cutter.
D, D, two hooks or links. Fig. 4th, compressing lever and weight, made of
wood, iron, or other metal. A, A, the axis applied to the upper edges, of tho
box of the common chaff-cutter at D, D, Fig. 7, and secured there by staples or
holdfasts, with eyes or holes for the reception of the pivots. B, a hook, which is
applied to the, books or links D, D, Fig. 3, by, which means the effect of the
weight of the compressing lover is communicated to the compressor, Fig. 3,
and ultimately to the axis of the upper roller of the common chaff-cutter, at
C, C, Fig. 7, so as to rise and fall with the same by means of two grooves B, B,
Fig. 3, or the grooves B, B, with part of the compressor C, C, Fig. 3, may be
applied to the axis A, A, of the compressing lover. C, tho lever; D, the weight.
Fig. 5, a regulator, made of wood, iron, or other metal. A. A. flat plate, with
holes for the reception of screws or nails, by which it is fastened to the side of
the box of the common chall-cutter at E, Fig. 7. B, a stationary male screw;;

page_text: C, C, a nut, with a female screw and indenture, or concave hole for the reception
of the end of the axis or spindle of the common chaff-cutter at F, Fig. 7, as the
screw, B is turned to the right. Tho knives, Fig. 2, will come into nearer
contact with the edge of the cutting plate C, C, Fig. 1, and vice versa. The
same effects may also be produced by applying wedges or springs and screws
instead of the said regulator. Fig. 6, A, A, A, A, fly-wheel, with four arms
B, B, B, B, made of cast iron or other metal; C, C, C, C, the knives, fastened
to the arms by screw bolts and nuts; two opposite arms out of the four are
made thinner than the remaining two, in order to work with two or four knives
at pleasure. When two knives only are worked, the spare arms, by being
thinner, admit the straw to advance without opposition in their revolution; in
which case a double knife in one piece or plate, with a hole in the center for
the axis may be used, or two knives meeting at or near the center at right,
acute, or obtuse angles, or with a splice joint on each side of the center, so as
form a plane surface round the center. When the four knives are worked, a
lining or package of wood, iron, or metal is applied between each of the thin
arms, and their knives corresponding, in order to bring the four knives into
one and the same plane or direction respectively. D, a square hole through
the center of the arms, which is applied to the square of the axis or spindle of
the common chaff-cutter at G, Fig. 7, and secured there by a nut, with a
female screw to correspond with the male screw H, Fig. 7, so that the plane
surface of the knives A, A, A, A, Fig. 2, shall coincide with the plane surface
of the cutting plate A, A, A, Fig. 1, and thereby form a joint similar to that of
common scissars.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Cooke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, One thousand seven
hundred and ninety-four.
JAMES COOKE. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eighth day of February,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid James Cooke came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
coid and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.