IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert James at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st April
1861.
I, ROBERT JAMES, Engineer, of Faversham, in the County of Kent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the more effectual cutting of corn, grass,
etc., and the delivering of the same from the machine on to the ground in
the most advantageous position for gathering, and the effectual separation
of the cut corn, etc., when deposited on the platform of the reaping machine.
The first part of my Invention consists in fitting a row of projecting
fingers to the front of the reaping machine to which fingers are attached
horizontal steel blades with sharp edges, projecting a little on each side of the
same, over these fixed blades I place a set of knives having a reciprocating
motion so that the combined action of the moveable blades with the fixed
ones resembles that of a number of shears, and the stalks of corn, etc., on
entering between the fingers, as the reaping machine moves forward, are cut
with much greater ease and precision than heretofore. Each blade is
attached in such a manner that it can be readily removed if injured and
replaced by another.
The second part of my Invention consists in constructing, first, an endless

page_text: web or platform passing round revolving rollers and which is so arranged
that the corn, etc., falls upon it immediately on being cut, and is carried back
and deposited partly upon a second endless web or platform, and partly upon
a third one parallel to the second, which second and third platforms move
in a transverse direction across the reaping machine, and thus deposit the
cut corn at the side of the same, and the third platform upon which the ears
of the corn lie being made longer than the second one, and travelling rather
faster, the corn is deposited on the ground in the proper manner for gathering.
These endless bands or platforms carry transverse bars to keep them stretched.
The first one is provided with serrated bars which catch the corn and carry
it up the incline. When it is required to lay the corn in separate lots or
bundles suitable. for being tied up in sheaves, the endless webs deliver it upon
a sort of large fork which is dropped or upset at regular intervals by the
machine.
Canvass webs have often been tried in reaping machines, but great incon-
venience has been experienced by their expansion and contraction by change
from wet, to dry, and vice versa. I therefore construct the webs by fastening
the canvass on belts of vulcanized india-rubber or other substance not affected
by moisture, and I'pucker the canvass to such an extent as to allow of its con-
traction and expansion. I also prefer to employ waterproof canvass or
materials for the webs. When the machine is working upon inclined ground
it will be necessary to alter the position of the two transverse platforms so
as always to keep them in a nearly level position, for this purpose the frame-
work which carries them is hinged to the framework carrying the front
platform, and to this latter are attached two serrated vertical discs, into the
serrations of which pauls attached to the framework carrying the two
.transverse platforms are made to catch so as to sustain these latter in any
position in which they may be placed.
Third part of my Invention consists in constructing on the side of the
first platform furthest from the horses, and close to the standing corn, an
endless belt passing round two vertical rollers, and revolving with about the
same speed as the machine travels forward; upon this belt are fixed at
intervals. vertical sharp steel blades so arranged than any of the cut corn
projecting over the side of the machine and entangled between the standing
corn is caught between these blades and carried between two fixed edges
where the portion of the stalks that is on the platform is cut off from the
portion projecting beyond the same and entangled in the standing corn. By
this arrangement, the reaping machine is relieved of the side strain that

page_text: occurs in machines of ordinary construction consequent on their having to
drag at the cut corn which is entangled in the standing corn, and the working
of the reaping machine is thus rendered much easier for the horses. When
it is desired to employ this machine for mowing I dispense with the endless
webs or platforms, and their rollers, or merely remove the endless webs, and
the grass is then left on the ground as it is cut.