Improvements in Sheaf Binding Apparatus for Harvesting Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Mar., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 19th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 21st Mar., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sheaf Binding Apparatus for Harvesting
Machines.
We, JAMES HORNSBY, Engineer, and JOHN HENRY SMITH, Foreman, both of
Spittlegate Iron Works, Grantham, in the County of Lincoln, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to what is known as the gripper which holds the string
and feeds it forward to the knotter. Grippers have heretofore often been con-
structed in the form of a disc with notches at its edges to receive the string and
having a circular presser bearing against its periphery, the string lying between
the periphery and the presser. It is found in practice that such apparatus does not
work equally well with different thicknesses of string.
According to this invention in place of holding the string between the periphery
of the disc and the presser we make the latter Hat or of an uneven surface and
hold the string between it and the plain or uneven surface of one side of the
disc.
The presser is in the form of a portion of a disc having around it a circular
guard which fits against the periphery of the disc and so prevents the string from
escaping radially. The presser is mounted on the same axis as the disc and is
pressed against it by a spiral spring encircling the axis whose end carries a screw
nut, by which the pressure of the spring can be adjusted. The presser has a
projecting arm which comes against some fixed part of the apparatus and so
prevents the presser from turning with the disc.
Dated this 17th day of March 1890.
JAMES HORNSBY.
J. H. SMITH.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sheaf Binding Apparatus for Harvesting
Machines.
We, JAMES HORNSBY, Engineer, and JOHN HENRY SMITH, Foreman, both
of Spittlegate Iron Works, Grantham, in the County of Lincoln, do hereby
declare the nature of this 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 improvements in sheaf binding apparatus for
harvesting machines and relates more especially to the gripper or instrument by
which the string is held whilst it is knotted.
The gripper according to our invention consists of a rotating disc and a presser
plate which does not rotate but lies against the face of the disc.
The disc has notches in its periphery and the string to be nipped is laid into
one of these notches and against a shoulder on the presser plate; then when the
disc makes a partial revolution the string is drawn in and becomes nipped between
the surfaces of the disc and presser plate. A spring permits the presser plate to
yield sufficiently to allow the string to enter.
The disc revolves approximately in the same plane with the knotting hook and
the rotation of the disc carries the string forward at the time when it is required
to form the knot. There is another shoulder upon the presser plate which supports
the string whilst it is severed from the gripper by a knife. The nipping surface
of the presser plate extends only half around the gripper disc and the nipped

page_text: portion of string becomes released when as it travels round with the disc it passes
off this nipping surface. The face of the gripper disc is radially grooved to ensure
the string being carried round with the disc.
In the gripper disc there is also an annular groove and the presser plate is
provided with a corresponding flange to prevent the string being drawn in so close
to the axis of the disc as to interfere with its release at the proper time.
In order that our said invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect we will proceed to describe the drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure is a front view of that part of a sheaf binding apparatus commonly
known as the knotter" by which the string is tied and then cut off.
The knotter here shewn is (with the exception of its gripper) very similar to
that described in the former Patent dated 3rd September 1888 No. 11419.
Figure 2 is a transverse section of the apparatus shewn by Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an elevation partly in section of the gripper.
Figure 4 is a plan of the same.
Figure 5 is a plan of the presser and
Figure 6 is an underside view of the gripper disc.
t
In Figures and 2 a is a stationary frame in which the spindles b and c of the
gripper and the knotting hook are able to rotate freely. These spindles carry
pinions and and they are turned at intervals by teeth on the knotter
cam which makes one revolution at the time when the knot is to be tied. The
parts are shown in the drawings in the positions of rest which they occupy whilst
the bundle to be bound is being collected. When the pinions and care
disengaged from the driving teeth they are locked by flanges upon the cam; these
flanges are cut away at *d* to allow the angles of corresponding flanges upon
the pinions to pass.
e is a knife, it is fixed to the knife levere which has its
fulcrum at ex. At its further end the lever e¹ carries a roller e which runs in a
guide course in the cam and this brings the knife forward and causes it to operate
at the proper time. The spindle is provided at its lower end with the usual
knotting hook having two jaws; the lower jaw is fixed to the spindle but the
upper jaw is jointed to it and it is controlled by an incline on the spring blade.
Upon the spindle at its lower end the gripper disc g is fixed and the presser
plate is mounted loosely upon it. The presser plate does not revolve with the
spindle; it is pressed up towards the dise by the spring i. The spring is held
between collars kk surrounding the spindle. The lower collar abuts on a nut
screwed upon the spindle and this may serve to adjust the compression of the
spring. The upper collar abuts upon the presser plate and can move longitudinally
upon the spindle but it is compelled to rotate with it by a pin. The gripper dise
makes one third of a revolution for each tie that is made and it has in it three
notches ggg which come into action in succession. ggare radial grooves in the
gripper disc and is an annular groove.
g
The presser plate has an arm which rests against the frame; it has also a
nipping surface extending from the shoulder 2 to the recess ³ that is to say about
half around the spindle. This nipping surface is bounded on the inner side by an
annular flange which is received into the corresponding groove g³ in the gripper
disc. There is also a flange on the outer side of the nipping surface of the
presser plate, it has at one end a shoulder 5 which being inclined serves to lead
the string into the notch of the gripper disc and at the other end it has a
shoulder which supports the string whilst it is cut by the knife.
The action is as follows:-In the position shewn by the drawings the end of the
string is held between the gripper dise and the presser and from thence it may be
traced over the top of the gripper disc, beneath the bundle to be bound, to the
needle of the binding apparatus which is not shewn in the drawings. Then when
a sufficient bundle has been accumulated the needle lays the string over the top of
the bundle and again across the top of the gripper disc by the side of the string

page_text: already there and into the same notch g' in which the string is already held. The
doubled string now lies on the knotting hook over its upper jaw and all is ready
for the knot to be tied. The knotting hook and the gripper disc commence to turn
from right to left as seen in Figure 1 and now the lower jaw of the gripper hook
passes over the doubled string which consequently becomes wound around the hook.
As the hook continues to turn its jaws again meet the strings close up to the
gripper and the jaws being open the strings are received between them. The jaws
now close on the string, the knotting hook comes to rest and the knife advancing
severs the double string close up to the gripper. The knot slips off the knotting
hook and escapes, the jaws retaining their hold on the two ends of the string until
they are drawn completely through the loop which the jaws in their rotation have
taken upon them. The gripper disc revolving at the same time as the knotter
hook carries the string of which it has hold towards the knotter hook when the
loop is forming. The gripper when rotating also takes hold again of the string
which has just been laid by the needle into the notch g₁ of the gripper disc and
against the shoulder of the presser. When the gripper disc has completed its
partial rotation and the needle has returned the string will again be held as seen
in Figure 4 but in the notch g2 which will now have assumed the position in which
the notch g' is seen in Figure 4. After the knife has operated to cut the string a
detached end still remains in the notch g' and this is carried round with the gripper
disc as it revolves. This end of string will escape and fall away out of the
machine when the gripper disc makes its next movement which will carry the
notch g' past the recess ³ in the presser and then the end is no longer nipped."
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In a sheaf binding apparatus, a string gripper consisting of a disc upon a
rotating spindle and a presser plate movable along the axis and pressed by a
spring towards the disc..
2. A string gripper substantially as described and represented by the Figures 3,
4, 5 and 6.
T
JAMES HORNSBY.
J. H. SMITH.