CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES
Year: 1847

page_text: HENSMAN'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENSMAN, of Woburn, Bedfordshire, Agricultural Implement Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of
July, One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Hensman, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Hensman, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Hensman, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Hensman,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hensman, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
My Invention of Certain Improvements in Thrashing Machines consists,
firstly, of an improved form for the edges of the beaters or bars to be affixed
to the external circumference of the revolving drum, and to the interior of the
concave or breast. The revolving drum as well as the concave or breast are
common to most thrashing machines, and are usually furnished with beaters
or beating bars, consisting of plain straight-edged bars, affixed at intervals on
the outer periphery of a revolving drum; the concave or breast which partly
covers and encloses the revolving drum being also equipped internally with
similar plain-edged bars. The corn to be thrashed being admitted between
the breast or concave and the drum, while the latter revolves rapidly, the
action of the beaters thrashes out the grain from the straw. On the Seventh
of March, One thousand eight hundred and forty, Mr. John Atkinson, of York,
obtained Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent for an improvement in thrashing
machines, which consisted in part of the addition of spikes or pegs inserted in
the plain-edged bars of the drum and concave..
Now, my first improvement in thrashing machines consists in the employ-
ment of beaters or beating bars, having indented edges, one form thereof
being shewn at Figure 1, in the accompanying Drawing, which represents one
of my improved beaters detached from the machine, a, a, a, being the indented
edge. A number of these beaters are placed at suitable intervals around the
periphery of the revolving drum, as shewn at A, A1, A2, Figure 2, which is an
end view of part of the revolving drum and breast; Figure 3 is a front view
of the same. The internal surface of the breast or concave is furnished with
a number of similar bars, so disposed and arranged, that the projections of the
bars on the drum pass between the projections of the bars in the concave or
breast, the distance between the drum and breast being regulated at pleasure,
in the manner herein-after described. In applying the indented bars to the
breast or concave, I prefer to use the following serial arrangement, but I do
not confine myself thereto; videlicet, I begin by affixing to the outer edge of
the breast a bar B, Figure 2, similar to that shewn detached in Figure 1,
only having a portion of the top of the projections or teeth removed. I next
affix a bar, having a smaller portion of the projections removed, as at C. The
third bar D has still less of the projections removed, while the fourth bar E
has the projections full, as at A, Figure 1. The fifth bar B¹ has the diminished
projections like the first, commencing another series C, D, E¹, in all respects
similar to the preceding.

page_text: Note. That I do not claim as new or forming any part of my Invention
the arrangement of a drum revolving at suitable distances beneath a breast
or concave; neither do I claim the use of plain-edged beaters or bars, nor
bars with spikes or pegs inserted in their outer edges.
What I claim as new, and constituting the first part of my improvements in
thrashing machines, is, the employment of beaters or beating bars having
indented edges, as herein-before described and shewn, such beaters being
affixed to the drum and concave, in the usual or other convenient manner.
I do not confine myself to the precise form of inḍent shewn at Figure 1, as
that form may be varied without detriment to my Invention.
What I claim as new and of my Invention is, the employment of beaters
or bars indented on their outer or thrashing edges,, whether such indents be
angular, semicircular, or of any other shape, and whether the indented edge
be formed upon the edge of the beater or bar by indenting thereof, or by
projections affixed to the back or front of the bar or beater.
My second improvement in thrashing machines consists in a method of sus-
pending the concave or breast at a suitable distance above the revolving drum,
according to the particular kind of grain that is to be thrashed. The manner
in which I effect this object is shown in Figures 2 and 3, where F is the con-
cave or breast, supported on axes at f, f. G is a suspending bar, pivoted to the
concave at g, g, and having a central upright rod H, upon the upper end of
which a screw is cut; I is a carriage affixed to the framing of the machine,
within which there is a nut i, tapped, to fit the screwed end of the upright
rod H. This nut i has four holes (more or less) in its under side, in which a
pink enters, and is kept by the action of a spring 1. On applying a wrench
or spanner to the nut i, the spring 1 yields to the force applied, and allows the
nut to be turned; but at other times the pin k prevents the nut from traversing,
and thereby preserves the required distance between the drum and concave, as
adjusted.
What I claim as new, and constituting the second part of my improvement
in thrashing machines, is, the mode of supporting the breast or concave, by
means of a screw and nut, prevented from turning by a spring catch, in the
manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
My third improvement in thrashing machines consists in a new method of
constructing the spindle, by which motion is usually communicated from the
horse power to the machine. When the spindle is of a definite length (as
heretofore made), it is necessary to preserve accurately a fixed distance between
the horse power, and the thrashing machine, which is always difficult, and is
frequently very inconvenient.
:

page_text: My improvement consists in the employment of a compound spindle in two
parts, male and female: Figure 4 is the male, or internal portion of my
improved spindle; and Figure 5 the female, or external portion thereof. The
first part M of the male spindle, Figure 4, is cylindrical for about twelve inches
(more or less); the second part N is square for a similar distance. The female
part of the spindle, Figure 5, has a collar at m, corresponding internally to
and exactly fitting the cylindrical portion of the male spindle M. . At the end
of the female spindle there is another collar n, corresponding internally to and
exactly fitting the square part N of the male spindle. Figure 6 shews the
compound spindle complete (with the exception of the ends for connecting it
with the machinery, which may be of the usual description). When applied,
this spindle will at once adapt its length to the exact distance between the
horse power and the thrashing machine, which distance may thus be varied at
pleasure within the limits provided for in the spindle, that is to say, the whole
length of the parts M and N. The square portion N of the male spindle,
lying within and fitting the collar n, will cause any rotary motion communi-
cated to one end of the compound spindle to be simultaneously transmitted to
the other.
What I claim as new, and constituting the third part of my improvements
in thrashing machines, is, the compound elongating and contracting spindle,
herein-before described and shewn; and I claim the use of such compound
elongating and contracting spindles in all their applications.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hensman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.