AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING THRASHING MACHINES, AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
COOPER, of Layham, in the County of Suffolk, Ironfounder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-first day of January, in the fourth year of Her reign, did give
and grant unto me, the said William Cooper, my cñors, adñiors, and assigns,
Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Cooper, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself
and themselves, or by my or their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or
such others as I, the said William Cooper, my exors, adñiors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF CONSTRUCTING THRASHING MACHINES, AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL INSTRUMENTS,"
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such
manner as to me, the said William Cooper, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
any of them, should in my or their discretions seem meet, and that I, the said
William Cooper, my exors, aduiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might
have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from

page_text: time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of my said
Invention, for and during the term of years therein mentioned; in which
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said William Cooper,
should cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Cooper, do hereby declare and describe the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, as
follows:-
First, as to thrashing machines:-I make a strong wooden frame, in external
form, shape, and with beaters, in every respect similar to those parts of
thrashing machines now in use; the front and sides are perpendicular, but the
other end (wherein the man stands who feeds the machine) slopes inwards.
The whole frame is strongly built, and is boarded in, excepting at the sloping
end, which, under the box wherein the man stands who feeds the machine, is
open for the straw to be flung out of the machine by the beaters, and
excepting the roof of the machine, which contains an opening for feeding the
same. The front of the machine, or opposite end to that in which the man
stands, has at the lower part of it a flap door for taking out the corn when
thrashed. The man feeding the machine stands in a box at the extreme part
of the sloping end of the machine, and immediately in front of him is the
aforesaid opening a few inches wide, extending across the machine, and
sloping down away from him, the slope extends from side to side of the
machine, at the bottom as well as at the top of it, but narrows in width towards
the bottom of it, very near which are the beaters. The straw with the corn in
is distributed by the man feeding the machine down this slope, and is caught
by the beaters. The beaters are four longitudinal pieces of wood lined with
iron, fixed at equal distances on a circular substance at each end of a revolving.
horizontal shaft or spindle, extending from side to side of the machine under
the said slope. The circular substance at each end of the said shaft is usually
a circular piece of wood, perforated in the centre by the said shaft. This
shaft extends through the machine from side to side, and one end of it pro-
jects a few inches beyond the outside of the machine on the same side as the
drum wheel hangs. On the projecting end of the said shaft a small pinion
nut or cog wheel is fixed with about six or seven cogs, which fall into the cogs

page_text: wire screen.
of the drum wheel, and is driven by the drum wheel. At the bottom of the
front of the opening for feeding the machine a concave is fixed, the upper part
of which consists of a solid substance lined with metal, and the lower of a
This concave extends from side to side of the machine, and from
the said bottom of the opening round the beaters, as far as the opening for
the straw, within about one inch of the outside of the beaters, but there is no
part of the said concave between the said opening and the bottom of the slope.
The grain passes through the wire screen into the lower part of the front of
the machine as it is beaten out of the straw by the beaters in their revolution.
I have stated that the small pinion nut or cog wheel plays or works into the
cogs of the drum wheel hanging on the same side of the machine. This
drum wheel is fixed upon a revolving horizontal shaft or spindle, passing
through the machine parallel with the revolving shaft or spindle of the beaters,
and has on the opposite end of it, outside the other side of the machine, a fly
wheel of about the same circumference as the drum wheel. The drum wheel
has about one hundred and sixty cogs, more or less, as I occasionally vary the
number. On the outer surface of the drum wheel is an iron arın, extending
from the rim of the wheel, and thence passing in a straight line over the centre
of the said outer surface of the drum wheel to about six inches beyond the
centre of the drum wheel, and is fastened to the wheel by nails or screws, and
is also supported by two wood or iron braces, one on each side of the iron
arın, fastened in like manner, also extending from the rim of the drum wheel,
at a few inches distance from the end of the iron arm at the rim to about the
centre of the outer surface of the drum wheel. The said iron arm, after
extending from the rim of the wheel to about six inches beyond the centre of
the drum wheel, is then turned up in a right angle from the surface of the
wheel, and so forms a dip or crank, and is in length about two or three inches,
and this dip or crank has at the extreme end of it a hole and feather to pass
through it to fasten a metal rod to it, which connects a lever with the said dip
or crank. The fly wheel I make of iron, and put upon it a similar iron arm,
braces, and dip or crank, as upon the drum wheel. Across the top of the
machine, near the end which I call the front, and which is the furthest from
the man feeding the machine, I fix a large iron beam horizontally; each end
of the beam extends about one foot beyond the machine at each side of it,
and each end of the beam is lowered down a few inches by a shoulder, each
end of the beam thus lowered being continued in a horizontal straight line to
the distance of about one foot from each side of the machine, and each
extreme end of the beam I give additional strength to by supporting it by a
leg or foot, extending thence to the ground. I make the shoulders to the beam

page_text: to enable me to make the levers hereafter described work lower. I fix in
each end of the beam two eyes, with two brass collars, about three or four
inches asunder. A small iron bar connects and plays in each pair of eyes.
Each small iron bar has an iron or metal pin or stump, about three inches
long, rising perpendicularly from it, and standing midway between each pair of
eyes, with a screw nut at the top of it to fasten a lever upon it. The levers I
make of iron, and about eight feet long, and they are fastened upon the iron
or metal pins or stumps before mentioned by the pins or stumps passing through
them, and then securely fixed by the screw nut upon the top of the pin or
stump; the length of the lever next the drum and fly wheels, from the pin or
stump to that end of the lever, is as near as may be double the length that the
dip or crank is from the centre of the drum and fly wheels, and when the
lever is held horizontally, that end of the lever extends two inches beyond a
perpendicular line drawn from the centre of the drum and fly wheels. This
end of the levers is fastened or connected with the said dip or crank by a
metal rod, in length also double the distance the dip or crank is from the
centre of the drum and fly wheels. One end of the metal rod is fastened to
the end of the lever by a screw bolt, and the other end of the metal rod is
fastened to the dip or crank by the dip or crank passing through a hole at
that end of it, and is fixed thereon by the feather passing through the end of
the dip or crank. I fix the drum and fly wheels upon their horizontal revolving
shaft or spindle, so that the dip or crank is lowest in the one wheel when it is
highest in the other; the thrashing machine is thus worked by a man at each
lever alternately pressing upon each lever, the mechanism of each lever being
the same. And I also work this thrashing machine by one or more horses by
adding the following machinery to the above machine:-I erect a strong
wooden frame, and put therein a large horizontal cog wheel revolving upon the
lowest extremity of a perpendicular shaft or spindle. The cogs of this large
wheel fall into and drive two small cog nuts, each fixed upon the end of two
revolving horizontal shafts or spindles. The ends of these two shafts or
spindles upon which these two small cog nuts are fixed are at a small distance
from each other, and their respective opposite ends are under the respective
levers. Each of these shafts or spindles is made into the shape of a throw
crank, and cach throw crank revolves in a box fastened under that end of the
lever which would otherwise be used by the man working the machine. The
middle of the throw crank is about three feet from the centre of each shaft or
spindle, if a straight line were drawn from one extremity to the other of it, but
I claim to vary the length of it; each throw crank is fastened to each lever by
a metal rod, one end of the metal rod to the lever by an eye and the other end

page_text: of the metal rod to the throw crank by an eye or screw nipped by the throw
crank. The length of-the metal rod varies according to the throw of the
crank, that is, if the throw were one foot, the length of the metal rod would
be about two feet; this is about the proportion in which I prefer to make
them. I fix the ordinary shafts to the top of the revolving perpendicular
shaft or spindle on which the large horizontal cog wheel is fastened, for one
or more horses, as may be desired.
As to the chaff-
The part of the above description which. I claim as an improvement on the
old, method of making thrashing machines is, the application of the levers to
the drum and fly wheels (whether worked by horse or hand), so as to set the
beaters in motion by the power derived from the lever.
cutting machine, I make the ordinary stand frame and box, and a beam
along one side of the box to the end of the frame farthest from the box, which.
11
is higher than the small frame next herein after mentioned; and a small
frame to that side of the machine,, and fix therein an iron revolving shaft or
spindle, running parallel with the box, upon which are fastened and revolve
with it.a drum wheel. and fly wheel, about one foot distant from each other,
the. drum wheel being at the outer end of the revolving shaft or spindle. The
drum wheel is, as is above mentioned, a large wheel with cogs playing into and
turning a small cog wheel on the spindle, on which the wheel with the knife,
or knives is fixed. Levers are fastened upon the beam, and connected with"
the drum and fly wheels by dips or cranks, in the same manner as in the
thrashing machine.
The part of the above description of the chaff-cutting machine which I
claim as an improvement on the old method of making such machines is,. the
above-mentioned, application of the lever, so as to set in motion the wheel on
which the knives are fixed by the power derived from the lever..
As to the mealing mill:-I fix two millstones in the ordinary manner, as in
a windmill, in a large box, and I fix a beam across a frame which I add to the
side of the box containing the said stones. At the foot of or near the chair on
which the centre of the upright spindle turns round with the stone I fix a
large iron sidus cog wheel, which falls into the cogs in and near the bottom
of the said upright spindle, and turns it. At the other end of the spindle on
which the sidus cog wheel revolves, about one foot or thereabouts from the
sidus cog wheel, I fix my fly wheel, about the size of the "sidus cog-wheel.
I fix the dip or crank upon the sidus cog wheel (which I also call the drum
wheel) and fly wheel, with the lever upon the beam, in the same manner as
before mentioned. The part of the above description of the mealing mill
which I claim as an improvement on the old method of making such machines

page_text: is, the above-mentioned application of the lever, so as to set in motion the mill-
stones by the power derived from the lever. I prefer in each machine to
make the drum and fly wheels of nearly equal diameter. And I claim to
work cach of the machines with a rigger and strap or band instead of the
cogs upon the driving and driven wheels.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cooper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid William Cooper came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One 2
thousand eight hundred and forty-one.