IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Perkins, of Hitchin, in the County of
Hertford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 3rd March 1876, and dated the 1st October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Perkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st October 1875.
I, THOMAS PERKINS, of Hitchin, in the County of Hertford, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THRASHING MACHINES," to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to combining with a thrashing machine appa-
ratus for reducing the straw to the state of chaff.
The straw as it is delivered from the straw shaker is caused to travel
forward along a trough, and is at the end of the trough cut into lengths
by revolving or it might be by reciprocating knives, and after being out
into lengths is sifted and delivered into bags. The chaff cutting appa-
ratus is placed at the end of the thrashing machine, and transversely to

page_text: it, so as to be in a convenient position for receiving the straw as it leaves
the shakers of the thrashing machine.
The axis which carries the revolving knives of the cutting apparatus
may be driven from the drum spindle either by a band or by a suitable
gearing, or the chaff cutting machine may for the most part be placed
on one side of the thrashing machine.
By combining chaff cutting apparatus with thrashing machines, as
above described the straw after having had the grain separated from it
will be cut up into chaff, sifted, and delivered into bags at one operation,
by which not only will a great saving in time be effected, but also the 1
number of men required for working the machine will be less than when
the cutting up of the straw into chaff has to be effected by a separate
machine, as is now commonly the case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Thomas Perkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PERKINS, of Hitchin, in the County of Hertford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Perkins, Her special license,
that I, the said Thomas Perkins, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Perkins, 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
THRASHING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Perkins, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should

page_text: 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 Thomas Perkins, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
1
This Invention has for its object improvements in thrashing machines,
and relates to means of combining therewith mechanism for cutting or
reducing the straw into chaff.
In the annexed Drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a thrashing
machine provided according to my Invention with apparatus for pro-
ducing chaff; Figure 2 is a section showing some of the parts.
a, a, are the ends of the straw shakers over which the thrashed straw
is delivered. The straw as it comes from the shakers is placed by a man
standing on the tailboard 6 into the trough c, and it is made to enter
between the feed rollers, which carry it forward and present it to be cut
by the blades on the cutting wheel d. The feed rollers are geared with
the axis of the wheel d; this axis runs through the machine, and it has
on the other side a pulley upon it, which receives a driving belt passing
to it from a pulley of smaller sizo upon the axis of the thrashing drum.
The wheel & when the machine is at work is enclosed in a casing e, but
in the Drawing the front of this casing is absent. d', d', are vanes fixed
upon the arms and periphery of the wheel d; they (with the aid of a
small quantity of air, which is allowed to enter the casing by apertures
near the axis) carry the chaff up to the mouth of the passage f, which
conducts it on to a screen fixed to and immediately beneath the jog-
board of the thrashing machine. The chaff which passes through tho
screen is led by an inclined plate (which may be perforated to allow dust
to escape) to the spout g, where a sack is hung to receive it. The long
chaff which does not pass through the screen is conducted to the spout,
which delivers the cavings.
The arrangement may be modified where it is not required that the
chaff should be screened by placing the corn chaff elevator and its
delivering shoot on the same side of the machine with the knife wheel,

page_text: and causing the vanes to deliver the straw chaff at onco into this
shoot.
If the chaff is not required to be riddled the cutting wheel may be
placed somewhat higher, so that the chaff may be delivered into sacks at
the bottom of the casing e; this arrangement is shown in Figure 3. 1
The vanes d' on the cutting wheel are not employed when this method
of delivery is resorted to.
It will be observed that two mouths for receiving sacks are provided
side by side; they are used alternately, and a turning flap directs the
chaff to one or the other, as may be required. This arrangement 1
prevents chaff being spilt in changing the sacks, and in all cases I prefer
to employ it. In this Figure it will be also seen that the chaff cutting
parts are carried upon long blocks inserted between the main frame of
the machine and the axle; this is a convenient arrangement when old
thrashing machines are adapted to chaff cutting.
An arrangement similar to that represented in Figure 3 is shown at
Figures 4 and 5, but with a riddle added; this riddle passes across
the end of the machine, it receives a vibratory motion from a crank pro-
vided for the purpose, and it delivers the riddled chaff into the clevator,
which in many existing machines is employed for raising the chaff a
coming from the corn to deliver it into bags. The long chaff which does
not pass through the screen h is delivered with the cavings.
Instead of giving to the riddle h a vibratory motion by means of a
separate crank and in a direction across the machine this riddle may be
fixed to and carried by the shoe of the thrashing machine, so that it will
then partake of the vibratory motion of the shoe.
In place of employing a fan elevator, as is indicated by this Figure, a
Jacob's ladder elevator similar to that shown at Figure 9, and projecting
from the side of the machine, may be employed for raising both the
corn chaff and the straw chaff to a height sufficient for delivery into
sacks.
In Figure 5 it will be observed that the back of the trough c is hinged
so that it can be turned down in order that the straw may, with the aid
of a board i, be delivered over the trough c when it is not desired to cut
it into chaff. The bottom of the trough may also, if desired, be
moveable

page_text: Figure 6 shows part of a thrashing machine with chaff cutting appa-
ratus arranged as in Figures 1 and 2, except that in place of raising the
chaff on to the riddle by means of vanes upon the cutting wheel, a fan
elevator k is employed to raise it.
Figures 7 and 8 show a similar arrangement, but with a Jacob's ladder
elevator substituted for the fan elevator.
Figure 9 shows an arrangement in which the chaff falls from the
bottom of the casing e on to a jogging screen 2, which delivers it to a
Jacob's ladder m, and so it is lifted high enough to pass into sacks.
In these arrangements the riddling may, if desired, be dispensed with,
and so some simplification of the machine may be effected; or when the
chaff is required to be riddled a simplification may be effected by allowing
the chaff to be delivered on to the ground in place of raising it by an
clevator and delivering it into sacks. I prefer however the arrangements
which the Drawings show.
What I claim is, the combination and arrangement of thrashing
machines with apparatus for reducing the straw into chaff, substantially
as described and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Perkins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
which the Drawings show.
What I claim is, the combination and arrangement of thrashing
machines with apparatus for reducing the straw into chaff, substantially
as described and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Perkins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-