IMPROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES." OR
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Kearsley, of Ripon, in the County of
York, Agricultural Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OR CONNECTED WITH REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."
OR CONNECTED WITH REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Kearsley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th April 1874.
I, GEORGE KEARSLEY, of Ripon, in the County of York, Agricultural
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as.
follows:-
.
This Invention relates, firstly, to the method or means of securing the
fingers and their steel plated linings to the finger beam or cutting bar of
reaping and mowing machines. The fingers at the bottom or under
side are each made with a recess, and the steel plated linings are each
made at the top or upper side with a recess countersunk therein. Each
finger with its lining is secured to the finger beam or cutting bar by a

page_text: bolt, the head of which lies level in the countersunk recess in the lining,
and which is secured by a nut screwed into the recess in the bottom of
the finger. By this means the top of the cutting bar is left comparatively
free, so that the grass or crop to be cut will not accumulate around the
nuts as hitherto.
The Invention consists, secondly, in constructing the frame of reaping
and mowing machines with a hinged lid which is made to open, so that
the gear wheels while they are protected from the cut grass, corn, or
dirt can be more readily got at for lubrication or to be taken out to
change the speed wheels for reaping corn or for cutting grass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of tlie conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Kearsley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th October 1874.
· TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
KEARSLEY, of Ripon, in the County of York, Agricultural Engineer,
send greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight. hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Kearsley,
Her special licence that I, the said George Kearsley, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Kearsley, 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 OR CONNECTED WITH REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George.
Kearsley, my executors or administrators, 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.

page_text: 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 George Kearsley, 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 in writing, on reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
.:
This Invention which is illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings in Figures 1 to 7, relates to the method or means of securing
thic fingers (1) and their. steel plated linings (2) to the finger beam or
cutting bar (3) of reaping and mowing machines. The fingers (1) are or
may be manufactured in the ordinary way, but at the bottom or under
[side thereof they are eacli made with a recess 4, and the steel plated
linings 2 are each made at the top or upper side with a squared recess
countersunk therein. Each finger 1 with its lining 2 is secured to the
finger beam or cutting bar 3 by a bolt 6, the squared head 7 of which
lies flush in the countersunk squared recess 5, and which bolt at its
other end is secured by a nut 8 which is received into the recess 4. By
this means the top of the bar 3 is left comparatively free, so that the
grass or crop being cut will not accumulate around the nuts as hitherto,
and the nuts will be prevented from being turned thereby, or by any
projections or obstructions such as stones lying on the ground.
.
On the annexed Drawings Figure 1 represents a side view of the
finger 1, lining 2,.and bar 3, and shows also in dotted lines the recesses 4.
and 5, bolt 6, and its head 7 and nut 8'; Figure 2 is a top view of the
finger 1 and lining 2; Finger 3 is a bottom view of the finger 1, recess 4,
bolt 6, and nut 8; Figure 4 is a top view of the lining 2; Figure 5 is a
cross section through the bolt 6 of the finger 1, lining 2, bar 3,
recesses 4 and 5, bolt 6, and its head 7, and nut 8; Figure 6 is another
cross section of the body of the finger 1 and lining 2; and Figure 7
represents a top view showing two fingers 1 with their linings 2 bolted
to the finger beam 3.
The advantages of the above described improvements will be at once
scen by those acquainted with the ordinary methods of accomplishing
the same objects, in which the nuts are all on the upper side of the
finger bar, and are thus a great detriment as the cut grass gathers
around them instead of passing away; but according to this Invention

page_text: .
the nuts of the finger bolts are taken from the top and placed at the
under side of the finger bar, so that the cut grass is allowed to pass'
freely away and the machine is enabled to work much more freely and
easily.
I would here remark that in my Provisional Specification I described
a second part of my Invention as consisting in constructing the frame of
a reaping and mowing machine with a hinged lid so as to cover and
protect the gear wheels from the cut grass or corn or dirt, and which I
described as made to open, so that the said wheels could be more readily
got at for lubrication or to be taken out to change the speed wheels for
reaping corn or for cutting grass, and that since the filing of my said
Provisional Specification I have found that that part of my said Inven-
tion is not so new as I then thought it to be. I therefore wish to stato
that I do not now make any claim to the same as forming any part of
my present improvements.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I
would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention, the above
described improvements in or connected with reaping and mowing
machines, substantially as described and as illustrated on the accom-
panying Drawings, and more especially I claim the placing the recesses 4
in the under side of the fingers 1 to receive the fastening nuts 8, and
the placing the said nuts at the bottom side of the finger beam or
cutting bar 3.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Kearsley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-