IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING THRASHING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Ruston, of the Sheaf Iron Works, Lincoln,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING
THRASHING MACHINES."
Sealed the 29th May 1874, and dated the 18th February 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Ruston at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th February 1874.
I, JOSEPH RUSTON, of the Sheaf Iron Works, Lincoln, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR FEEDING THRASHING MACHINES," to be as follows:―
This Invention has for its object to improve apparatus for feeding
thrashing machines. For this purpose I place transversely above the
top of a thrashing machine a number of parallel rollers or spindles, each
having curved teeth or spikes thereon, and all made to revolve in the
same direction to carry any corn resting thereon towards the thrashing
drum.

page_text: The teeth on each roller or spindle pass between the teeth on the
which
rollers or spindles on either side of it, and so form a grating upon
the corn rests. At the delivery end of this series of rollers or spindles,
and above the thrashing drum is placed another roller of similar con-
struction, but made to revolve at a quicker speed and in the opposite 5
direction to the other rollers. The corn is dropped through a short
hopper on to the top of the series of rollers, and is carried forward by
them to the drum into which it then falls; the falling and opening of the
sheaves being facilitated by the spikes or blades on the roller which is
above the drum, and which revolves at a quicker speed and in the
opposite direction to the other rollers.
In some cases also teeth or blades mounted on an oscillating bar above
the spiked rollers may be employed to open the sheaves. Beneath the
series of spiked rollers I place a light board inclining slightly downwards
towards the thrashing drum, and give to it a reciprocating to-and-fro
motion to convey into the drum any ears or grains which may be
detached as the corn is being carried forward, instead of letting them
fall through unthrashed on to the shakers as in other apparatus for
feeding thrashing machines. The several spiked rollers have motion
transmitted to them by light cog wheels or otherwise from the running
spindles of the thrashing machine, and the reciprocating board has also
motion transmitted to it from these spindles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Ruston in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
RUSTON, of the Sheaf Iron Works, Lincoln, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Ruston, Her special
license that I, the said Joseph Ruston, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Ruston, my executors,

page_text: 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
3 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING THRASHING MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Ruston, my executors 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Ruston, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
feeding thrashing machines. For this purpose I place transversely above
the top of a thrashing machine a number of parallel rollers or spindles
having teeth or projections upon them, and all caused to revolve in the
same direction to carry forward the corn to the thrashing drum.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings here-
provided with feeding apparatus constructed according to my Invention;
Figure 2 is a plan, partly in section of the same.
a, a, is the framing of the thrashing machine, and b, b, the wheels on
which it is mounted; c is the thrashing drum. Above the drum c and
on the top of the machine are mounted the parallel rollers or spindles
d, d, carrying the curved intersecting teeth or spikes d', d. They are
enclosed in the casing e, in which is a feed opening or hopper e¹. The
rollers or spindles d are all geared together, each carries a pinion, and
between them are intermediate pinions f. f. One of the rollers or
-

page_text: spindles carries two belt pulleys d², and by a belt passing around one of
these, as the Drawings shew, the series of rollers or spindles is driven a
speed of about 70 revolutions more or less per minute is suitable. The
other belt pulley d² receives a belt passing to a pulley on the axis of
another toothed or spiked roller g, which is thus caused to rotate in the
opposite direction and at a higher speed, and so the corn which is fed in
at the hopper e¹ is conducted to the thrashing drum c; h is a bar which
may be mounted in the position shewn over the rollers or spindles d, it
has teeth or blades h¹ fixed in it, and it is hung upon pivots h³, h³, on
which it is able to swing. This oscillating bar with its teeth or blades
serves to equalise the feed to the thrashing drum; i is a sloping board
placed under the rollers or spindles d, it receives any ears which may
drop through between them; it has a shaking motion communicated to it
so that the ears pass along to the lower end of the drum into the
thrashing apparatus.
In place of passing the corn to the thrashing drum along the upper
side of the rollers or spindles, it may be passed along on the under side
of them; Figures 3 and 4 shew a machine in which the feeding is thus
effected. Figure 3 is an elevation partly in section, and Figure 4 is a
plan partly in section of the machine; a is the frame; b, the carrying
wheels;
and c, the thrashing drum as before; d, d, are the rollers or
spindles with projecting beaters and spikes, but three only are here shewn,
and they are driven in a direction opposite to those in Figures 1 and 2;
e is a casing with a feed opening e'; f are the intermediate pinions which
gear together the spindles d. The spiked roller g and the oscillating bar
h shewn in Figure 1 are omitted in this arrangement, and the board i is
fixed. The corn, as the Drawing shews, is conducted along the board i
on the under side of the rollers or spindles d.
In order to ensure the corn entering between the thrashing drum and
the concave an adjustable curved guide board k is fixed over the
concave.
In this machine the feed board ex is supported upon a lever 1, and if
from any cause, as for example from something falling into the feed
opening e', an undue pressure comes upon the feed board, it yields,
moving the lever 7, which in turn moves the hand lever m, lifting it out
of a retaining notch, and a spring then throws the lever m over,
senarating out of gear the parts of the clutch through which the rollers