IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAFF- CUTTING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Maynard, of Whittlesford, in the County of
Cambridge, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAFF-
CUTTING MACHINES."
Sealed the 28th July 1863, and dated the 25th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Maynard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
February 1863.
I, ROBERT MAYNARD, of Whittlesford, in the County of Cambridge, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE
CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements upon a certain Invention for which
Letters Patent were granted to me on or about the Third day of March 1856,
No. 538, for "Improvements in Machinery for Cutting and Separating Agri-
cultural Produce," and to such machines only as are therein described as
portable chaff engines, and as are fitted with a riddle for separating the imper-
fectly cut from the perfectly cut chaff.
These present improvements consist in connecting to such chaff engines an
elevator to convey the chaff sufficiently high for it to fall into a bag or other
vessel suitable for carrying it away in, instead of, as heretofore, permitting it
to remain on the floor to be gathered up by hand. For this purpose I con-
duct the chaff by an incline or by any other suitable means to a revolving fan,
which is driven at a sufficient velocity to cause the chaff to ascend to the

page_text: height required; or to effect the same purpose I employ an endless chain or
band, to which are attached buckets or projecting parts, and the same being
passed over a revolving drum carries the chaff up with it; or I use any other
kind of elevator which in practice I may find suitable, the object of the
Invention being to save manual labour by elevating the chaff by self-acting
apparatus connected with the machine, so as to facilitate its being collected
into a bag or other vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Robert Maynard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MAYNARD, of Whittlesford, in the County of Cambridge, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Maynard, Her special licence, that I, the said Robert Maynard,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Maynard, 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 POR-
TABLE CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Robert Maynard, 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 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 Robert Maynard, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This Invention relates to improvements upon a certain Invention for which
Letters Patent were granted to me on or about the Third day of March. Oue

page_text: thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, for "Improvements in Machinery for
Cutting and Separating Agricultural Produce," and to such machines only as
are therein described as "portable chaff engines," and as are fitted with a
riddle for separating the imperfectly cut from the perfectly cut chaff.
These present improvements consist in connecting to such chaff engines an
elevator to convey the chaff sufficiently high for it to fall into a bag or other
vessel suitable for carrying it away in, instead of, as heretofore, permitting it to
remain on the floor to be gathered up by hand. For this purpose I conduct
the chaff by an incline or by any other suitable means to a revolving fan, which
is driven at a sufficient velocity to cause the chaff to ascend to the height
required; or to effect the same purpose I employ an endless chain or band,
to which is attached buckets or other projecting parts, and the same being
passed over a revolving drum carries the chaff up with it; or I use any other
kind of elevator which in practice I may find suitable, the object of the
Invention being to save manual labour by elevating the chaff by self-acting
apparatus connected with the machine, so as to facilitate its being collected
into a bag or other vessel.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention I will now proceed more
fully to describe one method I use for carrying the same into effect, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1st represents a portable chaff engine, as fitted with a riddle, A being
the trough into which the straw or other material to be cut is laid; B, the
casing enclosing the wheel which carries the knives; and C, the riddle into
which the chaff falls, and through which it passes. Fig. 2d represents one
form of elevator, consisting of an inclined trough I, wherein work two endless
chains or bands D (one only of which is seen in the Drawing) connected with
each other at intervals by the projecting boards or sweepers E, E, and passing
over the drums F, F, and under the friction rollers G, G. The drums being
caused to revolve, the chaff, falling, as represented by the inverted arrows,
through the riddle into the trough I, is carried by the sweepers in the direction
of the ascending arrows up the incline H, and delivered over the upper end
through the spout K, from which it may be received into a bag or other vessel
suitable for removing it.
Note, that although I have described one method of elevating chaff, I do
not claim the mechanical part of it, separate from the machine, neither do I
confine myself to the use of that particular method for carrying out my Inven-
tion, as other equally suitable means for elevating chaff may be found; but
what I do claim is the use of any kind of self-acting apparatus in connexion
with a portable chaff engine,--such portable chaff engine being fitted with or

page_text: used in combination with a riddle for separating the chaff from the cavings or
short straws, as will elevate the chaff to a sufficient height for its being
collected into a bag or other vessel suitable for the purpose of removing it
from the machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Maynard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
ROBERT MAYNARD. (L.S.)