IMPROVE- MENTS IN HORSE RAKES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HORSE RAKES."-A communication from abroad by Gustave
Hamoir, of Saultain, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1860.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HORSE RAKES," (communicated to me from abroad by
Gustave Hamoir, of Saultain, France,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing and fitting a lever and parts
connected with it to horse rakes, which lever takes its hold of the ground and
raises the teeth of the rake, in order to free them from their charge when
required.
The accompanying Drawing shews the manner in which the lever is fitted to
a horse rake. A, B, is a balance bar free to oscillate on an axis E, which bar,
through a connecting rod B, D, having its end D fixed to a shaft G, is capable
of raising the teeth F of the rake. A rod C, D, keeps the shaft G at a fixed
distance from the centre of oscillation. H is a balance weight to ease the 'fall

page_text: of the teeth on to the ground after having been raised; I is a stop block to
check the play of the balance rod on its back stroke; K, L, M, is a lever on
the axis E for imparting the necessary motion to the balance rod, to cause it to
raise the teeth; N, O, is a movable hinged foot with one or more hooks at
bottom, connected to the lower end of the lever K, L, M. An attendant
stationed at R moves this lever through a rod connected to the continuation
P, P¹, of the lever, and places the foot in the position N, O'. The rake being
drawn forward, the resistance of the earth to the foot at O¹ acts at P upon the
balance rod A, B, drives it up or raises it progressively until the foot becomes
released from the ground. The lever K, L, M, then returns and is checked
or eased by coming in contact with the stop I.
This Invention is applicable to all forms of horse rake; in some cases a slight
change would have to be made in the lever, as shewn in red, and by the
letters A and B¹.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 HORSE RAKES," (communicated to me from
abroad by Gustave Hamoir, of Saultin, France,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of 3
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature

page_text: 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists in constructing and fitting to horse rakes a lever and
parts connected with it, which lever takes its hold of the ground, and raises
the teeth of the rake in order to free them from their charge when required.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate the manner in which the Invention
is carried into effect. Figure 1 is a side elevation of so much of a horse rake.
as will be sufficient to describe the Invention; Figure 2 is an end view of the
same. The rake is composed of a pair of shafts or poles A, connected to two
bent rods B on the axle C, which is made of a bar of iron in the form of a T.
This axle is placed at the centre of the wheel D, and supports the whole
apparatus. The automatic action which forms the characteristic feature of
the rake, depends on the lever E which carries at its lower end a jointed
foot F. The latter receives motion from a shaft G passing through two bearings
fixed beneath the two bars of the shaft A. The lever E is placed at or about
the centre of the shaft A. This lever E carries at its upper end a chain con-
nected to another lever K, free to turn about the axis O. If the lever E is
placed in the position shown by the blue lines marked No. 2, taking care to
throw forward the jointed foot F, the latter will assume the position indicated
by F, and will form a stay close to the earth, while the instrument always
continuing its motion will draw with it the lower part of the lever E, causing
it to take a direction contrary to the upper part; the chain becomes extended
and consequently raises the lever H; the latter in its forward motion comes in
contact with a bent bar I running across parallel with the axle, and passes
under all the tines or teeth K, causes it to follow its motion about the axis O,
and thus draws with it the series of teeth which then assume the position
indicated by the blue lines at No. 3. The tines or teeth being thus raised leave
behind them the load of hay or other material which they may contain.
Being in the position indicated by No. 3, the lower arm of the lever E
departs from the perpendicular, the foot F loses its point of support,
and the weight of the tines or teeth K brings the whole apparatus into its
original position. In order to prevent the teeth from falling to the other

page_text: side of the axle, a bent bar marked L, parallel throughout its length to
that marked I, and consequently parallel with the axle, limits this motion
in advance of the teeth or tines, and their own weight draws them from their
new to their normal position. This bent bar L always rests on the part
marked B of the arms of the shafts A. On the other hand, two parallel
levers M placed on the axis O, and free to move about a pivot, but taking no
part in the movement, stops the bar I, and consequently all the tines or teeth
as they descend. These levers M are themselves fixed near their upper part
to the two ends of the axis N by two chains, similar to one another; these
chains may be lengthened or shortened at will, so as to bring the points of the
tines nearer to or farther from the earth. When the machine is not at work,
the tines may also be raised above the ground to any desired height. The
arrangement of machinery before described is applicable to all existing rakes
of whatsoever construction they may be.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the improve-
ments in horse rakes,-
First, the construction and employment of a lever which takes hold of the
ground and raises the teeth or tines of the rake to free them from their load,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second, the general arrangement and construction of horse rakes, as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
R. A. DROOMAN. (L.S.)