CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS UPON AN ENGINE OR MACHINE FOR CUTTING HAY AND STRAW INTO CHAPP
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LESTER, of Cotton End, in the Parish of Hardingstone, in the County of
Northampton, Patent Harrow and Chaff Engine Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the
forty-first year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Lester,
His especial licence that I, the said William Lester, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS UPON AN ENGINE OR MACHINE FOR CUTTING HAY AND
STRAW INTO CHAPP," for which I obtained His Majesty's Letters Patent in the
year One thousand eight hundred, by which improvements the said engine or
machine will cut tobacco and various other articles with the greatest regularity
and accuracy to any given length required; in which said "Letters Patent.
there is a proviso obliging me, the said William Lester, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent.
i

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Lester, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and by the following description thereof; that is
to say :-
Figure I. is a front view. Letters A, A, A, A, represent the frame of the
machine or engine. B, B, the braces to prevent the frame from springing
while the knife is going through the cut. C, the fly wheel that carries the
knife and gives motion to, the crank. .D, the knife, fixed to the wheel by two
male screws,-with.four.regulating nuts. E, the mouth of the box representing
the article to be cut. F, the press, which is raised and falled alternately by the
motion of the crank, pressing and holding firm the article while the knife
makes the cut. G, the crank that raises and falls the treadle which is
connected to the press. H, the lever, the upper end of which is fixed on the
crank with a pair of brasses, held firm by a staple of iron, the lower end
connected to the treadle by a moveable joint. I, the treadle, with the
lower end fixed to the frame by a staple and bolt of iron on which it moves,
seen in Figure the second. K; the iron frame to which the press F and
index E, in Figure the third, is fixed, which it raises and falls by an upright
bar fixed to the treadle; both ends of which move upon iron bolts. L, the
steel which guides the knife to the cut. 'M, the upright motion fixed to the
centre of the press, by which means it is raised and falled in a perpendicular
direction. N, showing the vacant shape betwixt the press and the article to
be cut at the instant of feeding, which prevents the machine or engine from.
ever being choaked up by any substance it may be cutting, and by which
means the article is brought regular and accurately forward without anything
to impede its motion. O, the handle, fixed to the fly wheel by a nutt and screw
with which the machine or engine is worked.
Figure 2d, a side view. A, the box in which the article is laid to be
cut. B, the moveable weight which is placed upon the article to keep it
down to the moveable bottom, and to overcome the friction betwixt the article
and the sides of the box, which weight, when worked up to the guard, as in this
Figure, must be moved back to the hind part of the box, as in Figure 3d.
C, C, the two cylinders that move upon their own centres, the surface of the
first rough and the hind one smooth. D, D, the dotted lines from one cylinder
to the other, represent the moveable bottom, which, by the motion of the first
rough cylinder, works perpetually round the smooth one behind, and may be
made of sacking, leather, or any other pliant substance that will hang firmly
to the rough surface of the first cylinder. E, a male screw and nut to draw.

page_text: back the iron frame in which the hindermost cylinder is fixed to tighten the
bottom occasionally. F, an arbor or bed of brass for the axis to run in, which
is kept down tight by two bolts and nuts.
. Figure 3d is the opposite side view. A, the racket wheel, fixed upon the
axis of the first cylinder; several of these wheels are necessary with various
sized teeth to cut the whole variety of lengths that are required for the different
substances to which this machine or engine-may be applied to cut. B, B, two
levers connected together by the bars C, with moveable joints. D, a catch
on a moveable joint, which moves the racket wheel more or less in proportion
to the raising of the levers. E, the regulating index fixed with two nuts upon
a male screw to a staple fixed to the iron frame K, in Figure the first, the
setting of which, by the figures thereon, raises and falls the levers according
to the length required to be cut. "F, the door that shuts up the index when
set. G, the moveable weight at the back part of the box. H, the lock and
key that locks up the door of the index box, by which means the length of the
article cut is at the command of the person who keeps the key.
References to the dissected parts of the machine or engine.-a, the
moveable weight; b, the index; c, two nuts for raising and lowering the index;
d, d, the arbors for the front cylinder to work in; e, the front cylinder with a
rough surface; f, the hindermost cylinder with a smooth surface; g, the levers
and catch connected; h, the racket wheel; i, the upright motion; j, in letter
p are three bolt holes to receive the bolt, that unites the lever to the treadle by
shifting of which the press works higher or lower; k, the steel; l, the iron
frame that raises the press; m, m, two staples in which the index is fixed; n,
the crank on the axis; o, the male screw with a cavity at the end to receive the
sharp point of the axis; p, the lever; q, the treadle; », the fly wheel; s, the
knife; t, the back of the knife, to which the blade is fixed by small screws and
nuts; u, u, nuts and screws, by which the knife is regulated or set to or from
the mouth of the box; v, the hind cylinder in its ion frame; w, the press, the
dotted line shews where the top of the iron frame is fixed; x, the spring,
which is placed over the racket wheel to prevent the cylinders recoiling in
cutting very short lengths; y, the crank and axis for applying the machine
or engine to any mechanical power; z, the S that is fixed at the end of
the axis.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lester, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and one.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-sixth day of
February, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Lester came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year above
written.