IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Collinge, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
AND MOWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 7th June 1872, and dated the 14th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Collinge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th March 1872.
I, JOHN COLLINGE, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in giving to the knives or cutters of reaping
and mowing machines a forward or oscillating motion in addition to the
ordinary sliding one, in order to imitate the double movement given to
knives when they are. skilfully used by hand. The knives or cutters of
the machine are fixed to a bar placed in guides, and on this bar there

page_text: are plates having curved slots in which there are bows or rollers placed
on pins fixed to the finger plate of the machine, and the bar is con-
nected to a crank in the usual manner, and when the crank revolves
by the travelling of the machine the knives or cutters have the
compound motion given to them and reap the corn or mow the
hay or grass with greater ease and expedition than in the old machines,
even when the knives are worked at a slower speed.
are plates having curved slots in which there are bows or rollers placed
on pins fixed to the finger plate of the machine, and the bar is con-
nected to a crank in the usual manner, and when the crank revolves
by the travelling of the machine the knives or cutters have the
compound motion given to them and reap the corn or mow the
hay or grass with greater ease and expedition than in the old machines,
even when the knives are worked at a slower speed.
The main object of the Invention is to give the compound motion to
the knives, and this can be effected not only by curved slots but by
cranks or cams.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Collinge in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
COLLINGE, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Collinge, Her special license that I,
the said John Collinge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Collinge, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 REAPING
AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Collinge, 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

page_text: Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Collinge, 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 figures on the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings and to the letters of reference marked
thereon (that is to say): :-
These improvements consist in giving to the knives or cutters of
reaping or mowing machines forward or oscillating movements in
addition to the ordinary "sliding ones in order to imitate the double
movements given to scythes, sickles, or knives when they are skilfully
used by hand, the additional forward or oscillating movements being
obtained by links, cranks, slotted cams, or other means for the same
object, and by these compound movements of the knives the speed of
the machine can be considerably lessened, and the power to work it
reduced without diminishing the amount of work effected. The knives
or cutters are at their highest positions when in the centre betwixt the
fingers, and have downward and oscillating motions, whilst in the act
of cutting similar to the guillotine paper-cutting machine, and as the
fingers are open at the bottom the compound action of the knives or
cutters prevents any choking whatever.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan repre-
senting one arrangement of my improvements drawn about quarter
size; Fig. 2, an end view of part of the same; and Fig. 3, a plan of part
of Fig. 1 drawn about full size.
The knives or cutters marked a are fixed to the to-and-fro oscillating
bar b, which is jointed by the connecting rod c to the block d which
slides in guides e in the frame f, and is jointed to the connecting rod g,
which is worked by the main crank of the machine. The bar b is con-
nected by links to the finger plate i, and when the main crank is
turned by the travelling of the machine the connecting rod g, the sliding
block d, the connecting rod c, and the links move the bar b and
knives or cutters to and fro in an oscillating manner.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and one
arrangement in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that in reaping and mowing machines I claim the system of

page_text: giving to-and-fro oscillating movements to the knives or cutters by
means of links, cranks, slotted cams, or other means for the same
object.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Collinge, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named John Collinge, in
the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN COLLINGE.
(L.S.)