IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William McIntyre Cranston, of 58, King William
Street, Loudon Bridge, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
MACHINES." Partly a communication from abroad by Walter Abbott
and William Anson Wood, of Hoosick Falls, Rensselair, U.S. of
America.
Sealed the 6th November 1860, and dated the 6th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William McIntyre
Cranston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th June 1860.
I, WILLIAM MCINTYRE CRANSTON, of 58, King William Street, London
Bridge, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in reaping machines.. Here-
tofore in reaping machines the cutter bar, with the table on to which the
grain or crop falls when cut, have commonly been jointed at one end to the
main frame of the machine by a single joint, and have been supported at
the other end by a wheel; but difficulty is experienced in obtaining sufficient
strength and lateral rigidity in the joint, and in consequence of the position in
which the wheel. supporting the outer end of the cutter bar and table has

page_text: usually been placed, some difficulty is found in turning the machine. Now
according to this Invention, two joints are employed to connect the cutter bar
and the table to the main frame, one joint in front and the other behind the
inner one of the pair of main or driving wheels and the wheel which supports
the outer end of the cutter bar and table is placed so that the axis on which
it turns may be in the same vertical plane as the axle of the main or driving
wheels either exactly or with sufficient accuracy to prevent this wheel in any
way interfering with the turning of the machine. In order to discharge from
the table the grain or crop falling upon it, an endless band is, according to
this Invention, arranged just beneath the surface of the table; the band
passes along the four sides of the table either close to the sides or at a short
distance from them; this band receives motion from the moving parts of the
machine. There is connected by a joint to a point in the band one end of a
rake or flat board for removing the grain or crop from the table; the rake or
board is thus carried around the table. To its further end a handle or bar is
fixed, which is so governed (in any convenient manner) as to keep the rake
or board at right angles, or nearly so, to the cutters. The action of the rake
or board is as follows:-As it moves along the front of the table it sweeps
before it the grain or crop thereon towards one side of the table, where an
upright board is placed, against which the grain or crop is collected into a
bundle; then as the rake or board moves along the side of the table, it draws
the bundle with it, and throws it off over the back of the table on to the
ground; the rake or board then returns along the back and the other side of
the table, and repeats its action. In these motions the rake or board need
not be maintained with any accuracy at right angles to the cutters; it may,
without interfering with its action, be allowed to incline considerably to the
one side and the other during its motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William M°Intyre Cranston in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MINTYRE CRANSTON, of 58, King William Street, London Bridge, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One

page_text: thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her. heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William McIntyre Cranston, Her special licence that I, the said William
M'Intyre Cranston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William M°Intyre Cranston, 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 REAPING MACHINES," the result partly of com-
munication from abroad made to me by Walter Abbott and William Anson
Wood, of Hoosick Falls, Rensselair, U.S. of America, and partly of Invention
and discovery made by myself upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William McIntyre Cranston, 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 William McIntyre Cranston, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in reaping machines.
According to this Invention, in order to discharge from the table of a reaping
machine the grain or crop falling upon it, an endless band is arranged just
beneath the surface of the table. The band passes along the four sides of the
table either close to the sides or at a short distance from them; this band
receives motion from the moving parts of the machine. There is connected
by a joint to a point in the band one end of a rake or flat board for removing
the grain or crop from the table; the rake or board is thus carried around
the table. To its further end a handle or bar is fixed, which is so governed
(in any convenient manner) as to keep the rake or board at right angles, or
nearly so, to the cutters. The action of the rake or board is as follows:-As it
moves along the front of the table, it sweeps before it the grain or crop
thereon towards one side of the table, where an upright board is placed,
against which the grain or crop is collected into a bundle; then as the rake
or board moves along the side of the table, it draws the bundle with it, and
throws it off over the back of the table on to the ground.
The rake or board

page_text: jointed shank, with the floor on to which the crop or grain falls when cut
removed; Figure 2 represents a horizontal projection of the same; Figure 3
represents a perspective view of the grain table or platform, and the rake with
its shank acting through its swiveling guide. In this Figure the floor on to
which the grain falls when cut is shown and is marked A. Figure 4 repre-
sents a horizontal projection of the same with the floor of the platform removed
to show the mechanism underneath otherwise concealed by it.
Similar letters of reference, when they occur in the separate Figures, denote
like parts of the apparatus in all the Drawings. B is the outside divider,
which separates the cut grain from that which is to be left standing. At the
front a and the sides b and c of the grain table are ways on which a band or
belt of any suitable material may travel and be protected by the overhanging
of the floor (as shown in Figure 3.) At the rear of the grain table is
another way c, which, instead of following the rear margin of said table, may
be parallel or nearly so with the front a, so that the path or belt may form a
quadrilateral figure, the sides of which are parallel, or nearly so, but rounded
at the corners, as shown in the Drawings. The belt of course could travel
around the entire margin of the platform, which is represented of a trapezoidal
shape, but this would require not only a longer belt, but also an increased
distance for the rake to travel over, and a longer shank for the rake, without
accomplishing any beneficial purpose which the present arrangement. does not
accomplish. At the corners of the ways are arranged four rollers or friction
pulleys E, around which the endless belt d moves, and by which it is guided.
Motion is communicated to one of these friction pullies or rollers E from any
of the moving parts of the machine either by a belt or crank, or by cogged
gearing. The driving of that pulley puts the belt in motion. The floor, as is
shown at A, Figure 3, is slightly raised above the platform so as to admit of
the arranging of the belt d and pulleys E underneath it to prevent the cut

page_text: material from being entangled therein. The rake sweep may be made either
of a thin board or a frame covered with cloth or wire gauze, and may have
teeth on its lower edge.
In Figures 1 and 2 the shank G is fastened at a point at or near the rear
end of the machine by means of a hinge II. The sweep F is attached firmly
to the other end of the shank; the point is pivoted to the belt d, as seen at i.
The shank G is constructed with a joint or hinge at h, which renders it
flexible, so that while one end of the rake is confined by the hinge H, the
other end is allowed to travel freely around the path with the belt to which it
is attached at i.
The operation of the rake is as follows:-Motion being communicated to
the belt d, the point of the rake connected to it travels around in the exact
path of said belt, while its shank turns around a fixed point, viz. the centre
of the hinge H, to which the end of the shank G is fastened, being allowed to
work freely at the joint h. The sweeping board sweeps off the platform,
gathering the grain in a gavel against the fence I, at the lower inside corner
of the platform; from this point, by means of the joint at h, the sweep is
allowed to maintain the same relative position with the gavel, or nearly so,
until it discharges it, which is done by sweeping it along the fence I to the
rear of the machine, allowing it to drop on the ground at J in a compact
form.
In Figures 3 and 4 the shank G extends rearward, and is made square or
many-sided, so as to keep its sweeping board F in a vertical position or nearly
so, and passes through a many-sided mortice in a swivelling guide H arranged
at or near the rear of the platform. A slot f is made between the rake and
shank (represented more clearly in the Figure marked "rake,") so that the
rake may come well back over the swivelling block H, the object being to
allow the shank G to be as short as possible, and yet have the swivelling
block H at such a distance as will allow it to travel around the path with the
belt d without cramping or binding. The point of the rake is pivoted to the
belt d, as seen at i, and its shank passes through the mortice in the swivelling
block or post H; but any other swivel may be used that will support the
shank properly, and allow it to reciprocate through or pass it, as, for instance,
a pin with a long slot in the shank, or a ball and socket through the turning
block or post. I have shown it simple, cheap, and effective for the object.
The red and black lines in Figure 4 show different positions relatively of the
sweep and shank, with regard to the swivelling guide II, as the rake travels
with the belt to sweep, turn, and deliver the gavel on the ground.
The operation of the rake is as follows:-Motion being communicated to

page_text: the belt d, the point of the rake connected to it travels around in the exact
path of said belt, whilst its shank turns around a fixed point, viz., the centre
of the block or guide H, though at the same time travelling on or sliding
through said guide. The rake sweeps off the platform, and gradually turns
the butts of the straw around until they come against the fence I; continues
to turn it still farther around until it arrives at the delivery point J, where the
gavel thus gathered and turned around is dropped upon the ground in a com-
pact form, whilst the rake continues around that part of the path of the belt
marked e, c, to perform another similar operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said William McIntyre Cranston, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
W. M. CRANSTON. (L.S.)