Im- PROVEMENTS IN HAY-MAKING MACHINES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Boby, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the County
of Suffolk, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN HAY-MAKING MACHINES."
Sealed the 5th September 1862, and dated the 26th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Boby at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th March
1862.
I, ROBERT BOBY, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, Agri-
cultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAY-MAKING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in hay-making machines has for, its object to
construct and arrange the several parts of these implements in such a manner
that they will operate with equal effect in either direction. This object is
attained by making the teeth or tines straight instead of curved as usual, so
that in whichever direction the rotating frame may be driven, the teeth will
act properly on the hay. The reverse action of the rotating frame is obtained.
by means of double pinions which are capable of sliding along their shaft or
axle, so that they may be put in gear with the driving cog wheel affixed to the
spokes of the travelling wheels of the machine when required. The operation
of raising the teeth further from, or lowering them nearer to the ground, is
accomplished by the aid of a simple disc or excentric adjustment which forms

page_text: part of the front of the machine. The shafts are made capable of turning
upon a central pivot, which is so situated in reference to the disc or excentric
that when the shafts are turned up the travelling wheels will be lifted off the
ground, and may then be removed or taken off the axletree without incon-
venience. The fork heads that carry the teeth project beyond the circumference
of the running wheels, and therefore when the fork heads are lowered they
will form a fulcrum on which the machine will rest when the wheels are to be
lifted off the ground.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Boby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
September 1862.
.. TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BOBY, of Bury Saint Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, Agricultural
Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Boby, Her special license that I, the said Robert Boby,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Boby, 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 HAY-MAKING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Boby
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Robert Body, do hereby declare the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement;
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-

page_text: In my 'improved hay-making machines the several parts are so constructed
and arranged that they will operate with equal effect in either direction. To
this end the teeth or tines are made straight instead of curved as usual so that
in whichever direction the rotating frame may be driven, the teeth will act
properly on the hay. The reverse action of the rotating frame is obtained by
means of double pinions which are capable of sliding along their shaft or axle
so that they may be put in gear with the driving cog wheel affixed to the
spokes of the travelling wheels of the machine when required. The teeth or
tines of the implement may be supported in a raised position nearer to or
further from the ground, as may be desired by the aid of a disc adjustment
which is adapted to the front bar of the machine. The shafts are adapted to
á hollow front bar which carries part of the disc adjustment, and they are
therefore capable of being turned upon a central point or axis which will
admit of and travelling wheels being lifted off the ground, so that they may be
removed or taken off their axles without inconvenience. The fork heads
that carry the teeth project beyond the circumference of the running wheels,
and therefore when the fork heads are lowered they will form a fulcrum on
which the machine will rest, when the wheels are to be lifted off the ground.
These advantages and facilities in managing and using the implement are'
incidental to the disc arrangement which forms the principal feature of the
Invention.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a plan view of the
principal parts of a hay-making machine with my improvements adapted
thereto; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; a, a, are the travelling wheels
which turn upon stud axles fixed to the side frames 6, 6, of the machine; c, is
the axle of the revolving fork-head cylinder, which rotates in bearings secured
on the ends of the side arms in the usual manner. If it be desired to cause
the cylinder to rotate in either direction the teeth or tines must be made
straight as before mentioned instead of curved as is usually the case. As the
straight teeth or tines are secured to the rotating fork cylinder in the usual
manner, I have not deemed it necessary to shew them in order to avoid
complexity in the Drawing; d is the front hollow shaft bar to which the
shafts e, e, are secured, and carries at each end the discs f. f. A straight
rod g, seen best in the detached Figures 3 and 4, passes through the hollow
front shaft and also through the discs f¹, f, which are secured to the
wrought-iron side bars 6 of the framing. The rod g is provided at one end
with a head, and is screwed at the other end and carries a nút g', so that by
turning or screwing up the nut g', the surfaces of the discs f and f', may be
brought into close contact and thereby form a friction clutch, which will hold

page_text: the parts together in any desired position. Fig. 3 is a sectional view; and
Fig. 4, an elevation drawn upon an enlarged scale of two forms of this disc
adjustment. In Fig. 4 simple flat discs or plain surfaces f, f¹, are employed;
but these surfaces may be made conical as shewn at Fig. 4 if preferred...If how-
ever it be considered desirable to employ discs with roughened surfaces, these
surfaces may be provided with radial teeth or projections as shewn in Figures
5 and 6, which are side and front views of modifications of my friction disc
arrangement. The conical surfaces in Fig. 4 are. also serrated. Or. instead
of teeth as shewn in Figures 4 and 5, one of the discs for fl, may be
provided with projecting pins. or studs as shewn in Fig. 6, and which may be
made to take into corresponding holes in the other disc. It will now be
understood that the side frames and shafts may be turned upon the axis of the
rod g, as a centre of motion when the nut g¹ is loosened. The relative positions
of these parts will be thereby modified or changed, and they may be secured
in their new position by simply screwing up the discs.f and f¹ tightly together.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Hay-making
Machines and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I would observe that since filing my application for Letters Patent, I have
discovered that some of the parts mentioned in my Provisional Specification as
forming part of my said Invention have been used for similar purposes before
the date of my said application, I do not therefore intend to claim such parts
as new, but I claim as the Invention secured to. me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, the adaptation to the front bar or shaft bar of hay-making machines.
of an arrangement of friction discs or surfaces as herein set forth, whereby the
position of the teeth or tines nearer to or further from the ground, may be
adjusted as may be required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Boby, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord:
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two...
Witness,
T.: NOLAN,
66, Chancery Lane. .
ROBERT BOBY. (L.S.): 30