IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGETABLE MATERIAL
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Spratt, of Stranraer Place, Maida Vale, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGETABLE MATERIAL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Spratt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
June 1865.
I, JAMES SPRATT, of Stranraer Place, Maida Vale, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declaro the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGETABLE
MATERIAL," to be as follows:-
To cut straw, hay, clover, and other vegetable material I employ two sets
of cutters, each arranged in the form of a cylinder, and working together in
manner similar to toothed gearing; these cylinders I dispose across the end
of a feeding channel, which is somewhat like the same part used in chaff-
cutting machines. Each cylinder of cutters is mounted on a shaft disposed in
suitable bearings in a frame placed on the end of the feeding channel, and the
whole mounted on a suitable framework. The two shafts are geared together
by equal toothed pinions, which I dispose at each end of the cutters. The

page_text: teeth of such pinions in fact support the cutters at each end, recesses being
formed in the sides of the teeth to receive the ends of the knives or cutters.
The blades of the knives are much thinner than the teeth, and being disposed
in the middle of the tooth, and at the same pitch, do not touch each other in
any way. The cutting edges, which may be bevilled on one or both sides,
may simply sever the material by the interlocking action consequent on the
rotation of the cylinders, or may touch at the bottom of the tooth (so to
speak), or the cylinder forming such bottom may have narrow grooves to
receive the cutting edge, when the cut would be performed across a narrow
channel instead of in the breadth between the cutters. I sometimes use a
hollow cylinder, on which the cutters are mounted, so that they cannot bottom
or touch any opposing surface at the cutting edge. If so touching the material
should be such as not to injure the cutting edge I drive these cutting cylinders
by power or by hand; if by hand, I mount a fly wheel on one of the axes.
Straw, hay, or stalks of other kinds simply require to bo entered by hand,
when they are drawn in and cut by the knives, and delivered freely on the
opposite side, the cutting being performed in a very rapid manner, as,
supposing there are twenty cutters in each cylinder, it will make forty cuts
at each revolution, and this across the whole breadth of the feeder (the
length of the cutters on the cylinders), to which the feed is rigidly confined.
Besides being eut lengthwise the straw and other stalks are at same time
bruised and broken in pieces, and are much better adapted for fodder than
when cut into short tubes as usual in chaff-cutting machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Spratt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SPRATT, of Stranraer Place, Maida Vale, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Spratt, Her special licence that I, the said James Spratt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said,
James Spratt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time

page_text: 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
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HAY, STRAW, AND OTHER VEGETABLE MATERIAL," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Spratt, 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 noxt and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Spratt, 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, referenco being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked theroon (that is to say):-
To cut straw, hay, clover, and other vegetable material I employ two sets
of cutters, each arranged in the form of a cylinder, and working together in
manner similar to toothed gearing; these cylinders I dispose across the end
of the feeding trough or channel, which is somewhat similar to the like part
used in chaff-cutting machines. Each cylinder of cutters is mounted on a
shaft disposed in suitable bearings in a frame placed on the end of the feeding
channel, and the whole mounted on suitable framework. The two shafts are
geared together by equal toothed pinions, which I dispose at each end of the
cutters, the teeth of such pinions in fact support the cutters at each end,
recesses being formed in the sides of the teeth to receive the ends of the
knives or cutters. The blades of the knives are much thinner than the teeth,
and being disposed in the middle of the tooth, and at the same pitch, do not
touch each other in any way. The cutting edges, which may be bevillod ou
one or both sides, may simply sever the material by the interlocking action
consequent on the rotation of the cylinders, or may touch at the bottom of
the tooth (so to speak), or the cylinder forming such bottom may have narrow
grooves to receive the cutting edges; the cut would then be performed across
a narrow channel, instead of in the breadth between the cutters. I sometimes
use a hollow cylinder, on which the cutters are mounted, so that the cutting
edge cannot bottom or touch any opposing surface. If made so as to touch
the material should be of such as not to injure the cutting edge. I drive these
cutting cylinders by power or by hand; if by hand, I mount a fly wheel on

page_text: one of the axes. Straw, hay, or stalks of other kinds simply require to be
entered and fed up lightly by hand, when they are drawn in and cut by the
knives, and delivered freely and rapidly at the opposite side, the cutting being
performed in a very rapid manner, as, supposing there are twenty cutters in
each cylinder, it will make forty cuts at each revolution, and this across the
whole breadth of the feed (the length of the cutters on the cylinders), to
which the feed is rigidly confined. Besides being cut lengthwise the straw
and other stalks are at same time bruised and broken in pieces, and are much
better adapted for fodder than when cut into short tubes, as usual in ordinary
and other stalks are at same time bruised and broken in pieces, and are much
better adapted for fodder than when cut into short tubes, as usual in ordinary
chan-cutting machines.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawings shows a front view of my improved
apparatus for cutting fodder; Fig. 2 a plan; and Fig. 8 a longitudinal section
of same, while Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 show views of the cutter cylinders and pinions
detached on a large scale.
a, a, is the framework supporting the trough 6, much the same as in
ordinary, the one end being widened, as seen, in order the more readily to
introduce and feed the material to be operated on, while at the other or front
end I mount two cutter cylinders c, c, disposed one above the other in
bearings o in a metal plate or frame d, bolted to the framing a; these
cylinders are mounted on squared spindles, and goared together by pinions e, e,
on their ends, fixed in position by means of nuts f, f. The cylinders c are
formed of wood, and have each end let into the pinions e, as seen in the
longitudinal section, Fig. 4. On the periphery of these cylinders are mounted
the knives or cutters g, g, consisting of thin metal blades, which may taper
equally on each side to a sharp edge, or they may be bevilled on one side
only, as seen in the side and end views and transverse section at Figs. 5 and 6.
In this case I fit the cutters to the different cylinders in such manner that the
bevilled edges in passing each other produce a shear-like cut. The ends of the
cutters are received in grooves h, h, made in the pinions, whereby they are held
in position, while they may be readily withdrawn by unscrewing nuts e.
is desired to reduce their number, as may be necessary according to the nature
of the materials to be cut up or crushed by the action of this machine, the
cutters may simply rest on the periphery of the cylindrical core c, as in the
section, Fig. 3, they being secured at each end in the grooves h of the pinions e,
or they may be recessed in said core or centre, as shown at Fig. 6, which is a
transverse section of one of the cutter cylinders detached, together with pinion e,
some of the cutters 9, 9, being removed in order the more clearly to show the
If it

page_text: grooves h, h, in the pinion for receiving the ends of said cutters. The cutter
cylinders being geared together as described, I mount a crank handle or fly
wheel on the spindle of the lower one of said cylinders, with which to drive
them by hand power,
it being understood that this may be replaced by a
driving pulley and strap or other suitable gear if it be desired to drive the
apparatus by machinery. Motion being communicated to the cylinders by
the rotation of the pinions the material under operation is fed up to them by
hand, being guided in its forward movement towards a narrow opening k
immediately behind the point where the cutters intersect such opening, being
limited by the application of a sloping board l attached to a flat plate resting
on the upper edges of the feed channel b. The hay or other material is
forced. to pass through the opening k, and is there seized by the cutters,
which draw it through and sever it in short pieces throughout the whole
breadth of the cutters, from which it is delivered on the other side fit for use,
the stalks being also crushed during their passage through between the
cylinders of knives, and rendered more suitable for fodder than if simply cut
up in lengths, as in ordinary chaff-cutting machines. In some cases I make
narrow longitudinal grooves p in the periphery of the cores or centres c, as
scen in Fig. 6, to receive the cutting edge, across which the cut would be
performed by the interlocking action of the cutters produced by their rotation
of being cut while stretched across the whole breadth between tho cutters;
in this manner the centres or cores will come in closer contact, and permit
of their exerting greater crushing power; or the cutters may be simply carried
by the pinions at each end, being received in grooves & therein, as in Fig. '7,
without any supporting cylinder; lastly, the cutters may be carried by metal
rings disposed at intervals across the breadth of the cylinders, if desired, as
before mentioned; these cutter cylinders are mounted in bearings o, the caps
of which are secured in position by screw nuts m, by removing which tho
cutters may be readily dismounted when desired, or placed in position. Tho
gearing is enclosed by a cover n, shown dotted in Fig. 8, to prevent the cut
material from flying about, and direct it downward towards the receptacle,
as also to prevent accident, or the placing of the operator's hand on the
cutters.
h
•
This machine, in addition to its principal use for cutting fodder, is equally
applicable for preparing materials to be used for the manufacture of paper,
and cutting and crushing sugar canes, and for cutting other vegetable
materials. The cutters may be of concave form, or serrated, as well as of
those forms before described, and may be readily substituted therefor to suit
the purpose for which the machine is required. The cylinders may have

page_text: elastic bearing surfaces to prevent rigidity, and allow the cylinder or cylinders
to rise and relieve themselves in the event of stones or foreign bodies passing
through which might otherwise injure the cutters. The hollow cylinders before
described are especially adapted for cutting green fodder, such as grass, which
might otherwise clog the cutters, but would always free itself in passing through
the hollow cylinders, and out at the openings made in the ends. If desirable,
feeding rollers may be employed, furnished with prongs or projections on their
periphery for gathering and delivering the material to bo acted on by the
cutters.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declaro that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the appli-
cation and arrangement of two (or more) series of cutting knives, as
represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed, combined and acting together
for effecting the cutting or severing, or it may be the severing and crushing,
of vegetable materials, in the manner and as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Spratt, have hereunto set: my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.