An In- PROVED FORM OR CONSTRUCTION OF KNIFE OR CUTTER AND IN THE MODES OF APPLYING THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSE OF CUTTING, MOWING, REAPING, OR SHEARING, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Charles Brice, of Lee, in the County
of Kent, and William Scantlebury, of Wells Street, Gray's Inn
Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of “An In-
PROVED FORM OR CONSTRUCTION OF KNIFE OR CUTTER AND IN THE MODES OF
APPLYING THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSE OF CUTTING, MOWING, REAPING, OR
SHEARING, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES."
Sealed the 13th June 1871, and dated the 15th December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Charles Brice
and William Scantlebury at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th December 1870.
We, ALEXANDER CHARLES BRICE, of Lee, in the County of Kent,
and WILLIAM SOANTLEBURY, of Wells Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED FORK OR CONSTRUCTION OF KNIFE OR CUTTER AND IN THE
MODES OF APPLYING THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSE OF CUTTING, MOWING, REAPING,
OR SHEARING, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows :—
The cutting side or surface of a knife or cutter constructed in ac-
cordance with our Invention is formed with V or angular recesses, the

page_text: number, depth, and angle of which may be varied according to the
purpose for which the knife or cutter is required. The points formed
by the repetition of these recesses are by preference blunt, the ends
being slightly curved upwards, so as to serve the purpose of fingers or
directors. The edges of the recesses formed in the cutter are bevilled
or sharpened, so as to cut or sever the materials against which the
cutter or cutters are forced or applied, both of these sharpened edges
cutting simultaneously towards the centre of its recess. Knives or
cutters of this improved construction are used in a direct line against the
material to be cut without any cross cut or reciprocating motion. The
cutter or cutters may be fixed or stationary, the material to be cut being
conducted in a direct line against the cutting edges of the cutter, and a
brush blade or other equivalent instrument may be employed in com-
bination with a cutter of this character to direct or conduct the material
to be cut up to the cutting edge of the cutter.
'For hand use a knife or cutter of this improved construction is formed
with or attached to a suitable handle and is applied in a direct line and
not in like manner to a saw.
When cutters of this description are used for mowing or reaping
purposes, they are mounted on a carrying frame on wheels and are
pushed, drawn, or moved over the land near to the surface, so as to cut
the crops or substances growing thereon.
Our improved form or construction of cutter differs from the hand
saw in the "set" and cutting edges thereof, as well as in the mode of
using or applying it to cutting purposes, it also differs from the cross cut
saw in the same respects, it differs from the cutting knife employed in
mowing and reaping machines, by dispensing with the fingers and
supports against which those knives cut. The reciprocating motion is
dispensed with, the finger, or guide, and the cutter being combined in
one instrument.
In ordinary mowing or reaping machines the knife or cutter has a
motion imparted to it transversely to that of the frame on which it is
supported and carried, whereas this improved construction of cutter
requires no such separate motion.
Knives or cutters constructed and employed according to our
Invention may be formed in one or several parts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Charles Brice and William Scantlebury
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEXANDER
› CHARLES BRICE, of Lee, in the County of Kent, and WILLIAM SCANTLE-
BURY, of Wells Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto us, the said Alexander Charles Brice and William
Scantlebury, Her special licence, that we, the said Alexander Charles
Brice and William Scantlebury, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Alexander Charles Brice and
William Scantlebury, our 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 "AN IMPROVED FORK OR CONSTRUCTION OF KNIFE OR CUTTER AND
IN THE MODES OF APPLYING THE SAME FOR THE PURPOSE OF CUTTING, MowinG,
REAPING, OR SHEARING, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Alexander Charles Brice and William
Scantlebury, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
us or them, 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 William Scantlebury, on behalf of
myself and the said Alexander Charles Brice, 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 :—
The cutting side or surface of a knife or cutter constructed in nc-

page_text: .
cordance with our Invention is formed with V or angular recesses, the
'number, depth, and angle of which may be varied according to the
purpose for which the knife or cutter is required. The points formed
by the repetition of these recesses are by preference blunt, the ends
being slightly curved upwards, so as to serve the purpose of fingers or
directors. The edges of the recesses formed in the cutter are bevilled
or sharpened, so as to cut or sever the material against which the
cutter or cutters are forced or applied, both of these sharpened edges
cutting simultaneously towards the centre of its recess. 'Knives or
cutters of this improved construction are used in a direct line against the ]
material to be cut without any cross cut or reciprocating motion. The
cutter or cutters may be fixed or stationary, the material to be cut being
conducted in a direct line against the cutting edges of the cutter, and a
brush blade or other equivalent instrument may be employed in com-
bination with a cutter of this character to direct or conduct the material 1
to be cut up to the cutting edge of the cutter.
For hand use a knife or cutter of this improved construction is formed
with or attached to a suitable handle and is applied in a direct line and
not in like manner to a saw.
.
When cutters of this description are used for mowing or reaping a
purposes, they are mounted on a carrying frame on wheels and are
pushed, drawn, or moved over the land near to the surface, so as to cut -
the crops or substances growing thereon.
Our improved form or construction of cutter differs from the hand
saw in the "set" and cutting edges thereof, as well as in the mode of
using or applying it to cutting purposes, it also differs from the cross
cut saw in the same respects, it differs from the cutting knife employed
in mowing and reaping machines by dispensing with the fingers and
supports against which those knives cut. The reciprocating motion is
dispensed with, the finger, or guide, and the cutter being combined in
one instrument.
In ordinary mowing or reaping machines the knife or cutter has a
motion imparted to it transversely to that of the frame on which it is-
supported and carried, whereas this improved construction of cutter
requires no such separate motion.
Knives or cutters constructed and employed according to our
Invention may
be formed in one or several parts.

page_text: And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried in practice, we will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a plan, and Figure 2 a side elevation of a machine for
mowing or cutting grass or other standing crops, having a knife or
cutter constructed or formed with V or angular recesses in accordance
with our improvements; Figure 3 shows part of a plan, and Figure 4,
a section of the knife or cutter full size.
a is the knife or cutter bolted to the under side of the arms or
sides b, b, of the machine, which are hung upon the axis c' of the
rollers c. The travelling wheels d, d, are carried by slotted brackets d',
d", fixed by bolts to the arms b, b, as shewn, the position of the arms or
sides b, b, upon the brackets by moving on the axis c' being capable of
adjustment, so as to raise or lower the cutting surface of the knife or
cutter a and thus regulate its distance from the ground; e is a handle,
the forked ends of which move on pins on the inner sides of the
arms b, b; by this arrangement the machine may be either pushed
forward over the surface of the ground, or by altering the position of
the handle e, as shewn by dotted lines, it can be drawn over the land.
A brush or other equivalent instrument may be mounted over the
cutter a for sweeping or clearing away the grass or other material as it
is cut, so that it may be delivered into a box or left upon the ground as
desired.
When the crops to be cut are particularly heavy we prefer to give an
advancing and receding motion to the knife or cutter a, and the
machine may be furnished with suitable shafts to be moved over the
land by horses or other animals, or these improved cutters may be
suitably mounted, so as to be moved or drawn over the land by steam
) or other motive power.
Figure 5 is a plan, and Figure 6 a section of a hand knife or cutter,
formed or constructed in accordance with our improvements and having
a handle a' by which it can be used for cutting or shearing the wool or
hair from the skins of sheep or other animals, but we prefer to fix the
5 knife or cutter a upon a frame or table, and cause the skin to be drawn
underneath the same for removing the wool or hair therefrom, or the
skin may be fixed and the knife be moved over its surface.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of our improvements and the
manner of performing or carrying the same into practice, we would
have it understood that we do not confine ourselves to the exact details
herein described, but what we claim is the improved form and con-
struction of the knife or cutter a, and the application of the same for
the purpose of cutting, mowing, reaping, or shearing, or other like
purposes, substantially in the manner herein described and shown in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
'
In witness whereof, I the said William Scantlebury, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Fifteenth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
WILLIAM SCANTLEBURY. (L.S.)
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, W. O.