AN IMPROVEMENT IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Hughes, of Brampton Ash, in the County
of Northampton, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN REAPING
AND MOWING MACHINES."
Scaled the 14th January 1873, and dated the 19th August 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Hughes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th August 1872.
I, ALFRED HUGHES, of Brampton Ash, in the County of North-
ampton, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “Ax
IMPROVEMENT IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to facilitate the harvesting of laid
crops, that is to say, crops which have been prostrated by the wind
or from other cause; and the Invention consists in providing a reaping
or mowing machine with a number of horns attached to the platform
and projecting in front of the cutter bar for the purpose of raising the

page_text: crop into a proper position for cutting. These horns are fixed to the
front edge of the platform, and project over the cutter bar a suitable
distance in front of the same in order to raise the crop in advance of the
cutters, for which purpose the horns are curved downwards close to the
surface of the ground, so that as the machine advances they will pass
under and raise the stalks which have been beaten down.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
HUGHES, of Brampton Ash, in the County of Northampton, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, 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 me, the said Alfred Hughes, Her special license that I,
the said Alfred Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Alfred Hughes, 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 “AN IMPROVEment in Reaping and Mowing
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred :
Hughes, my exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Hughes, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
J
.This Invention has for its object an improvement in reaping and
mowing machines. In order to enable reaping and mowing machines
5 the better to cut laid crops it has often and long since been proposed
to employ "lifters" or prongs projecting in front of the cutting
apparatus and beyond the fingers. The points of these lifters were
intended to pass under the laid crop and to raise it off the ground, -
so that the cutting apparatus might sever each straw in one place only,
and that near to the root. Such lifters have not come into general-
use because they have not hitherto been so constructed as to work
efficiently under the various circumstances met with in actual work.
Now I have ascertained that the conditions on which success depends.
are that the lifter should be strong without being heavy or rigid. or
liable to bend, and that it should lift the crop highest when it is
immediately over the cutting apparatus, and yet not higher than is
requisite to allow the lifters to be of sufficient strength. The lifters.
of. which the use has heretofore been attempted have not fulfilled-these
conditions.
According to my Invention I make the lifters of wood, and I mount
them upon the platform of the machine or behind the fingers, placing
them immediately over, say, every third, fourth, or fifth finger. The
lifters are not attached to the fingers, but they are notched out so that
the fingers are housed beneath them. The points of the lifters arc a
foot or somewhat more in front of the finger points, and are so formed
as not to dig into the ground when, in consequence of irregularities of
the surface, the lifters come in contact with it. The greatest rise of the
lifters is immediately over the cutting apparatus, and the rise is no
more than is necessary to give the depth over the fingers which is
requisite for strength.
•
The lifters may be attached by bolts to the platform behind the
cutting apparatus, and in this case I adjust the height of the points
of the lifters as may be required, by inserting wedges beneath their
heels. When the lifters are bolted upon the platform they will have
considerable freedom to yield to and avoid obstacles, the platform itself
being very flexible. Nevertheless I prefer, in order to give the lifters
-

page_text: greater freedom, to fix them either to a spring board or to a flexible
plate jointed to the cutter bar or platform; or I cause the heel of cach
lifter to be received into and jointed to a shoe fixed to the platform, and
I provide a spring to keep the lifter down except when it is caused to
rise by meeting with an obstacle on the land. Sometimes I provide an
adjustable screw ston.

page_text: If the land on which the machine is required to work is comparatively
level, the lifters may very conveniently be bolted to the platform, as
already described; but in other cases I fix them upon a flexible iron
or steel plate, as is shewn in Figure 6, which is a longitudinal section.
is the plate, it is connected with the platform by hinges k', k³, of
which there may be three or four in the length of the plate. In this
arrangement the weight of the set of lifters keeps them down, resting
upon the tops of the fingers until either of them meets with an obstacle,
and then, in consequence of the flexibility of the plate, this lifter is
able to yield and to rise to a considerable extent independently of the
other lifters:
Figure 7 shows a similar arrangement in which a board Z. with
springs beneath it is substituted for the metal plate. In this case
the front board of the platform is removed to make room for the hinged
board, and a space is thus left through which short stuff can fall away
off the platform and leave the platform clear, which is an advantage in
the arrangement.
Still greater freedom is given to the lifters by the arrangement shewn
at Figure 8; m is a metal shoo fixed upon the platform; it is formed
O with two side cheeks m³, m³, between which the heel of the lifter enters,
and it is secured by a pin m²; an end view of this shoe is shewn at
Figure 9, and a transverse section at Figure 10. The spring n placed
under the heel of the lifter holds it down except when it meets with
an obstacle, and then the lifter rises and the spring being overpowered
5 yields. o is a screw working through a nut o¹ let into the lifter, by it
the distance the point of the lifter is able to descend below the points
of the fingers is adjusted. This arrangement is that which I prefer
where the land on which the machine is to be used is of a very uneven
character.
a
30 In each of the arrangements described it will be observed that the
form of the lifter is substantially the same, and the conditions on which
I have found that success depends are fulfilled, and in practice it will
be found that by the use of lifters such as I have described, not only
is the laid corn raised into a position to be properly cut, but also that
35 much of the loose stuff and weeds which usually pass through thé
⚫ cutting apparatus and frequently clog it are now carried clear over
ว

page_text: the top of the cutting apparatus and are lodged upon the platform
behind.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim the construction of lifters, substantially as described and shewn
in the annexed Drawings.
I also claim the application of springs in combination with lifters,
substantially as described and shewn in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Hughes, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.
ALFRED HUGHES. (L.S.)