IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Howcroft and Alexander
McGregor at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 15th June 1871.
We, THOMAS HOWCROFT and ALEXANDER MCGREGOR, both of Bedford
Leigh, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in reaping and mowing
machines, which improvements relate, firstly, to the delivery apparatus
of that class of reaping machines wherein the cut grain is delivered in
sheaves by means of rakes jointed to an upright revolving spindle and
acting on a curved or concave platform. Bolted or fixed to the frame
of the machine is a vertical tubular bearing in which the said upright
spindle turns freely. This spindle may be driven in any convenient
manner, but according to this part of our Invention we prefer giving
motion to the same by means of a worm and wheel direct from the first
motion shaft. To the top of the said spindle the rake arms are jointed
so that they can rock in a vertical plane, and as they revolve therewith

page_text: their path is regulated by an inclined circular plate or disc fixed or
keyed on the upper end of the vertical tubular bearing through which
the upright spindle passes. This inclined circular plate or disc is formed
in two parts, the inner or central part being keyed or fixed firmly to
the upright tubular bearing, and the other or outside ring or periphery
is connected to the inner plate or disc by a pin or trunnions, the axis
of which is in a line with the forward motion of the machine, that is, at
right angles to the cutter bar. This outer ring or periphery is free to
rock a limited distance on the pin or trunnions in a similar manner to
the "
gimbal" of a mariner's compass, so that it can when desired
assume a different angle to that of the inclined central plate or disc,
and it is retained in the same inclined plane or set to a different incline
as desired by means of a connecting rod (or two if preferred) jointed
to a crank shaft or excentric so placed as to be under the control of the
driver, whose seat is fixed on the pole forward of the rake arms. Two
of the rakes or gatherers are regulated in their path by means of friction
rollers or wheels travelling round the outer circumference of the inner
or central inclined plate or disc, whilst the other two or delivery rakes
are similarly guided by friction rollers or wheels travelling round the
outer ring or periphery.
In order to regulate the size of the sheaves by stopping the
delivery action of one or both of the rakes if required the driver by
pressing a lever with his foot can instantly turn the crank shaft or
excentric, which will cause the outer ring or periphery to rock upon
the pin or trunnions, and thus raise or tip the rake up from the platform
as it travels over it, so that it will pass over the cut grain thereon
without delivering it, the delivery rake in this case simply acting as a
beater or gatherer.
The second part of our Invention relates to improvements in the
convertible or combined reaping and mowing machine referred to in
the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to us, and dated
March 4th, A.D. 1869, No. 658, and described therein as the first part
of our Invention. We still employ the sliding frame, shifting laterally
on the axle so as to move the finger bar and other working parts of the
machine outwards for reaping and inwards for mowing as therein
described, but we have found in practise that the arrangement of the
external wheel for reaping and the internal one for mowing does not
allow of so great a variation of the speed as we find desirable, and

page_text: moreover the teeth of the external wheel are liable to get choked by
the cut grain falling on to them and being drawn in between the wheel
and pinion, we therefore propose to use an internal wheel for both
reaping and mowing, attaching one internal wheel to the axle on the.
inner side of each travelling wheel, and we obtain the required variation
in speed by having these internal wheels of different diameters (the
size of the pinions being also of necessity proportionally altered), the
larger wheel and pinion being used for reaping, and the smaller one for
mowing, as it will be evident that the distance between the two centres
or axes being always constant, the relative proportion of the diameter
of the pinion to that of the wheel increases progressively as the diameter
of the internal wheel is increased, and hence the machine is driven at
a quicker speed with the smaller wheel and pinion than it is with the
larger wheel and pinion, and by changing the wheel and pinion at any
time any desired speed may be obtained to suit various crops, whereas
under the former arrangement of an internal wheel for mowing and an
external one for reaping, the increase in speed used for reaping was
limited, because the diameter of the pinion could not be diminished
nor that of the external wheel increased beyond a certain degree.