IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Theodore Griffin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st December 1874.-A communication from abroad by Walter A.
Wood, of Hoosick Falls, New York, in the United States of
America.
I, JAMES THEODORE GRIFFIN, of No. 86, Worship Street, Finsbury, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare, the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by Walter A. Wood, of
Hoosick Falls, New York, in the United States of America, to be as.
follows:
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This Invention relates to improvements in. and additions to reaping.
and mowing machines, and chiefly to that part known as the pitman rod
holder, which is attached to a plate on the inner shoc, the plate acting as .
a race guide for the knife bar to travel in.
The holder is hinged or swivelled to the plate to permit of its being
lifted or swung to one side when the knife bar has to be removed, the

page_text: holder being in combination with a clip lever spring or other appliance
to hold it in place when seated. The holder is generally bolted down
upon the plate upon the inner shoe, and has to be removed by taking off
the nuts and releasing the bolts from the holes when the pitman or
connection rod has to be released from the eye or the pin as the case may 5
be of the knife bar, or when the knife bar has to be removed from any
cause, such as for sharpening the knife blades or for putting new blades
in when required, or the holder has been part of the plate itself.
I
Now according to this Invention no nuts have to be removed nor bolts
released or other part of the fixed plate on the inner shoe interfered 1
with that occupies time or necessitates the use of a spanner or other
tool.
The Invention consists in attaching to the top plate or upon the inner
shoe a drop catch, the long end of which when down upon its seat serves
to retain the pitman rod in connection with the eye or the pin of the
knife bar, while the knife bar is working without fear of a disconnection
taking place except when the drop or swivelled catch or holder is lifted or
moved clear to enable the pitman rod to be canted or slid sideways for
the release from the knife bar.
The drop or swivelled catch holder is preferably pinned to an upright
of the top plate, and has a short tail or end, on which a locking stud clip
or lever is fastened, the clip stepping into a recess or against a shoulder
by its own weight in such a manner as to prevent it moving out except
by hand. The tail piece may however be dispensed with and the holder
be temporarily retained in any suitable position.
The upright has a tongue of about the same length as the drop or
swivelled catch or holder, and the under side of it is shaped for the inner.
end of the knife bar to ride and be guided in.
Instead of the drop catch being held in position when down by a stud
clip or lever a spring may be used for the purpose either to act direct or
upon a locking stud as found convenient. In some cases also the clip.
stud or lever may be dispensed with, and the drop catch be made to lock
itself at its seat end.
The drop or swivelled catch or holder is so made that when it is down
the pitman rod and knife bar are in contact and can be retained so

page_text: notwithstanding the jolting of the reaping or mowing machine to which
the Invention is affixed while at work, and that when the catch or
holder is raised or turned upon the pivot pin one can be released from
the other for the knife bar to be drawn out from its race in the knife
beam.