IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAFF CUTTERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE PARTLY PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wilson, of Wood Hey, Bebington, in
the County of Chester, Gentleman, and Joseph Battersby, of
Bedford Leigh, in the County of Lancaster, Fitter, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAFF CUTTERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE PARTLY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilson and
Joseph Battersby at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd November 1874.
WC, WILLIAM WILSON, of Wood Hey, Bebington, in the County of
Chester, Gentleman, and JOSEPH BATTERSBY, of Bedford Leigh, in the
County of Lancaster, Fitter, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAFF CUTTERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE
PARTLY APPLICABle to other Agricultural MachinNERY," to be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object the simplification of the construction
of those chaff cutters in which the necessary pressure is exercised upon

page_text: the top feed roller and rising portion of the mouth-piece by means of
spiral metallic springs acting upon the bearings of the top feed roller,
and consists in forming the rising mouth-piece and bearings for the top
roller in one casting; or such bearings and mouth-piece may be screwed
or bolted together, and in either case a suitable projection is formed at
each side, which acts as a guide in slots formed in the cheeks or sides of
the framework of the chaff cutter, and which slots open into recesses
which form the receptacles for the spiral metallic or other suitable
springs which act upon the bearings of the top feed roller. These
recesses for the springs may be open at the top, and covered with a
screwed plate in order to afford ready access to the springs; or such
recesses may be formed without such cover.
These improvements further relate to a novel method of forming the
groove in the clutch box used in chaff cutters and in other agricultural
machinery for throwing one portion of such machinery in and out of
gear with the other portion, and which groove receives the forked end of
the lever for actuating such clutch box, and consists in dispensing with
turning such groove as at present practised, and forming the same by
chills of suitable form introduced into the mould, and the shape of
which chill is reproduced upon the clutch box. This method of forming
the groove in clutch boxes serves to harden the sides of the groove, and
thus renders the same more durable and capable of greater wear and
tear.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Wilson and Joseph Battersby in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
WILSON, of Wood Hey, Bebington, in the County of Chester, Gentleman,
and JOSEPH BATTERSBY, of Bedford Leigh, in the County of Lancaster,
Fitter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and

page_text: successors, give and grant unto us, the said William Wilson and
Joseph Battersby, Her special licence that we, the said William
Wilson and Joseph Battersby, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said William Wilson and Joseph
5 Battersby, 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,
usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAFF CUTTERS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE PARTLY APPLICABLE
TO OTHER AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said William Wilson and Joseph Battersby, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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.
68
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Wilson and Joseph
Battersby, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This Invention has for its object the simplification of the construction
of those chaff cutters in which the necessary pressure is excrcised upon
the top feed roller and rising portion of the mouth-piece by means of
spiral metallic springs acting upon the bearings of the top feed roller,
and consists in forming the rising mouth-piece and bearings for the
top roller in one casting; or such bearings and mouth-piece may be
screwed or bolted together, and in either case a suitable projection is
formed at each side, which acts as a guide in slots formed in the cheeks
or sides of the framework of the chaff cutter, and which slots open into
recesses which form the receptacles for the spiral metallic or other
suitable springs which act upon the bearings of the top feed roller.
These recesses for the springs may be open at the top and covered with
a screwed plate in order to afford ready access to the springs; or such
recesses may be formed without such cover.
These improvements further relate to a novel method of forming the
groove in the clutch box used in chaff cutters and in other agricultural

page_text: machinery for throwing one portion OL
gear with the other portion, and which groove receives the forked end of
the lever for actuating such clutch box, and consists in dispensing with
turning such groove as at present practised, and forming the same by
chills of suitable form introduced into the mould, and the shape of 5
which chill is reproduced upon the clutch box. This method of forming
the groove in clutch boxes serves to harden the sides of the groove, and
thus renders the same more durable and capable of greater wear and
tear.
And in order that this our said Invention may be the more readily 1
understood and carried into practical effect, we havo hereunto annexed
a Drawing illustrating our improved construction of chaff cutter, similar
letters marked on the several views being used to indicate similar
parts.
Fig. 1 is a back view (partly in section) of a chaff cutter constructed 1
in accordance with our Invention; Fig. 2 is a right-hand side view
(partly in section) of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a left-hand exterior side view
of Fig. 1, all drawn to a scale of about one inch and a half to the
foot.
Fig. 4 is a half size sectional plan of the feed box portion of our ;
improved chaff cutter containing the feed rollers; Fig. 5 is a sectional
side view of Fig. 4 taken on the line a-b; and Fig. 6 is an exterior side
sectional view of Fig. 4 through the line c-d; Fig. 7 is a front view,
Fig. 8 a side sectional view, and Fig. 9 a plan of the bearings of the top
feed roller, also forming the guides for the rising mouth-piece, as herein-
after described.
In all the views A, A, are the cast-iron sides of the framework of the
chaff cutter, bolted together near the bottom by the stay bolts B, and
near the top by the cast-iron plate C which forms the bottom of the feed
box C¹, being secured by the bolts C. The fixed portion of the mouth-
piece marked D (the lower part D₁ of which extends from one side to
the other) is secured to the sides A, A, by the bolts D. E is the lower
feed roller working in bearings E¹ arranged in the cast-iron sides A, A,
as illustrated. A reference to Figs. 4 and 6 will shew that the two
sides A, A, which form the feed box C¹ are constructed with a recess F
to receive the bearings of the top feed roller G, which either form one
casting with the rising mouth-piece, or such bearings may be separate

page_text: from the rising mouth-piece and-be bolted thereto, as illustrated in the
Drawing. H is the rising portion of the mouth-piece, which is bolted
to the bearings I of the top feed roller (seen separately in Figs. 7; 8,
and 9) by the flush headed bolts J, and further steadied in position by a
rectangular piece K cast upon the sides of the rising mouth-piece, and
taking into a corresponding shaped hole K' formed in the bearing I, as
seen more clearly in Figs. 1, 7, and S. These bearings I form the guides
for the rising mouth-piece H, which is free to move up and down; being
guided in the recesses F, and the necessary pressure upon the top feed
roller carried by the bosses I' of these bearings is exercised by the spiral
'such
metallic springs L which press upon the top of the bosses I³,
springs being held down in the recesses F by the cap M secured in
position by the set screws N. Through each of these caps M an oiling
hole is formed, and a similar hole is formed through the bosses I' of the
bearings of the top feed roller, to facilitate the introduction of the oil or
other lubricating material. It will thus be apparent that the construction
of chaff cutters is rendered much simpler by this Invention than when
the pressure upon the top feed roller is produced by a series of arms,
levers, and weights, and that consequently the whole machine can be
produced at considerably less cost; and although we have only illustrated
and described our improvements as applied to a hand chaff cutter it will
be obvious that they are equally applicable to chaff cutters driven by
power.
Our improvements further relate to a novel method of forming the
annular groove in the cast-iron clutch box used in chaff cutters and in
other agricultural machinery for throwing one portion of such machinery
in and out of gear with the other portion, and which annular groove
receives the forked end of the lever for actuating such clutch box, and
consists in dispensing with turning such groove in a lathe as hitherto
practised, and forming the same by chills of suitable form introduced
into the mould, and the shape of which chill is reproduced in the form
of the necessary groove upon the clutch box during the casting process.
This method of forming such groove not only reduces the cost of such
clutch boxes but serves to harden the sides of such groove, and to
render it more durable or capable of greater wear and tear.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this