IMPROVE- MENTS IN CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick William Follows, John Bate, and
Samuel Edwards, all of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Agricultural Implement Makers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINES."
Sealed the 3rd December 1872, and dated the 7th October 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick William
Follows, Jolin Bate, and Samuel Edwards at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 7th October
1872.
We, FREDERICK WILLIAM FOLLOWS, JOHN BATE, and SAMUEL
EDWARDS, all of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Agricultural
Implement Makers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAPF-CUTTING MACHINES," to be as follows:―
The nature of our Invention consists in so arranging and constructing
the various parts of a chaff-cutting machine that the rollers can be put
in motion and reversed, and the length of cut can be varied by one
starting lever.

page_text: The chaff-cutting machine consists of the usual toothed rollers and of
the fly wheel with cutters; the direction of motion of the toothed rollers
is varied by two bevel pinions on the fly wheel shaft gearing into one
wheel on the top line shaft, on which are two spur pinions of different
diameters gearing into wheels on the bottom line shaft, which gives
motion to the bottom roller by a pinion and wheel.
Our improved starting lever is mounted on a double swivel bearing,
and has four motions imparted to it to effect the various changes.
When the lever is vertical both the clutch boxes for connecting the
bevel pinions on the fly wheel shaft, and for connecting the spur pinions
to the top line shaft are out of gear. When the lever is moved from the
frame side it moves the clutch box to give the slow speed; when moved
towards the frame side it gives the quick speed; when moved to the
right hand it gives the advancing motion to the rollers, and when moved
to the loft it causes the rollers to go backwards, or vice versa.
The starting lever is connected to the two clutch boxes by links,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick William Follows, John Bate, and Samuel
Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
WILLIAM FOLLOWS, JOHN BATE, and SAMUEL EDWARDS, all of Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Agricultural Implement Makers,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Frederick William Follows, John Bate,
and Samuel Edwards, Her special licence that we, the said Frederick
William Follows, John Bate, and Samuel Edwards, our exccutors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick William
Follows, John Bate, and Samuel Edwards, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to

page_text: $6
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 CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Frederick
William Follows, John Bate, and Samuel Edwards, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or onc
of our or 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Frederick William Follows, John
Bate, and Samuel Edwards, 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 (that is to say) :-
:-
The nature of our Invention consists in so arranging and constructing
the various parts of a chaff-cutting machine that the rollers can be put
in motion and stopped or reversed, and the length of cut can be varied
by one starting lever, which has four motions imparted to it to effect the
various changes.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Fig. 1 is an end view; Fig. 2 a back view; and Fig. 3, a plan of a
machine for cutting hay, straw, and other vegetable substances to which
our improvements are applied.
a is the upper toothed feed roller; b, the lower toothed feed roller; c,
the driving shaft, to which is keyed the fly wheel d with the cutting
blades; and e is the line shaft. The parts above enumerated, and the
other parts of the machine not particularly referred to hereafter, are
made as heretofore customary. On the driving shaft c are fitted loose
the two bevel pinions c¹ and *; these pinions are provided with half
catch boxes, and they both gear into the bevel wheel e¹ keyed on the
line shaft e; between the pinions c' and c² is the double catch box c³,.

page_text: which fits on a key on the shaft c, and is moved to and fro thercon to
connect either one or other of the pinions c¹ or c³ with the wheel e'. On
the shaft e are fitted loose the two spur pinions e* and e³, which are pro-
vided with half catch boxes, and between the two is the double catch
box e', fitting on a key as before described. The smaller pinion e³ gears
into the wheel on the bottom line shaft, and the larger pinion e' gears
into the smaller wheel, which is also fixed on the shaft the
pinions and e, and the wheels in which they gear give the desired
slow and quick speeds to the toothed rollers a and b, the pinion ƒ³ at the
end of the shaft ƒ gearing into the wheel b' on the end of the axle of the
lower roller. The sliding catch box c' is moved to and fro on the shaft c
by the forked lever g', and the catch box e' is moved by the forked
lever g; both these forked levers are on the shaft g, the lever g' being
connected to the shaft by a key on which it slides, and the lever g³ being
connected to it by a shoulder and pin; to the outer end of the shaft g is
jointed the starting lever shewn detached in Fig. 4.
This starting
lever vibrates on the fulcrum for moving the shaft g to and fro
endwise, as shown in Fig. 2, and it also vibrates on the shaft g as
fulcrum for moving the catch box c to and fro on the shaft c, and in
each position the starting lever is held in retaining notches in the
bracket fixed to one end of the table of the machine.
The mode of operation is as follows, and the machine is shewn in the
positions the various parts occupy when the starting lever is in the centre
outside notch of the bracket j, and when no motion is imparted to the
toothed rollers. When the attendant moves the starting lever into the
position shewn by the dotted line A in Fig. 4 the catch box is brought
into gear with the pinion c', which then drives the shaft e; and the catch
box e* being in gear with the pinion & drives the shaft ƒ and toothed rollers
in the reverse direction, and with the short cut. When the starting lever
is moved into the position shewn by the dotted line B in Fig. 4 the catch
box is brought into gear with the pinion c³, which drives the shaft c
in the contrary direction, and the pinion e² being still in gear with the
wheel drives the toothed rollers forward, and with the short cut.
When the starting lever is moved from the position shown in Fig. 2 to
that indicated by the dotted line C the catch box e' is drawn out of gear
with the pinion e³, and thrown into gear with the pinion e³, thus giving
the reverse motion to the toothed rollers with the long cut, and when
the starting lever is moved from C to D in Fig. 3 the rollers would be

page_text: driven so as to give the forward motion with the long length of
cut.
If the starting lever is left in the centre retaining notch between
C and D all the parts would be stopped.
By means of these improvements we not only save one starting lever,
and the apparatus for connecting it to its catch box, but we avoid the
accidents that may occur owing to the attendant moving the wrong
handle.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described a con-
venient mode of carrying the same into operation, we wish to observe
that we do not limit ourselves to the particular combination of machinery
shewn and described, as the same must be varied or modified according
to the peculiar construction of the chaff-cutting machine to which our
Invention is applied; and we claim so constructing and arranging the
various parts by which the requisite motions are communicated to the
toothed rollers of chaff-cutting machines that the starting, stopping,
reversing, and changing of the cut may all be effected by one starting
lever.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Edwards, for myself and
on behalf of the said Frederick William Follows and John
Bate, have hereto set my hand and seal, this Second day
of April, One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.
SAMUEL EDWARDS. (L.S.)