IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Walker, of Heriot, in the County of
Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS."
Sealed the 17th December 1869, and dated the 1st July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Walker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st July 1869..
I, ALEXANDER WALKER, of Heriot, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS," to be as follows, that is to
say:
This Invention, which consists of certain improvements in agricultural
implements, relates to reaping and mowing machines, which machines
are capable of being altered into reciprocating cultivators or harrows for
covering in seed and pulverising the land.
The essential features refer to dispensing with the use of spur and
bevil gearing as well as a crank for driving the chief parts of the

page_text: mechanism, and in using in lieu thereof a light malleable or cast-iron
driving wheel surrounded by an india-rubber tyre. In order to produce
the requisite speed of the various moving parts of the machine the
india-rubber tyre is arranged to bear against a small india-rubber roller
on an intermediate shaft, which by the friction against it of the larger
driving wheel is made to revolve at the requisite speed. On the same
shaft a pair of wypers are carried which bear upon tappets on the knife
or harrow bar, and produce the required reciprocating movement
thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WALKER, of Heriot, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the 33rd year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Alexander Walker, Her special license that I,
the said Alexander Walker, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexander Walker, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex=
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, excrcise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLE-
MENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander
Walker, 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 calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Walker, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention, which consists of certain improvements in agri-
cultural implements, relates to reaping and mowing machines, which
machines are capable of being altered into reciprocating cultivators or
harrows for covering in seed and pulverizing the land.
The essential features refer to dispensing with the use of spur and
bevil gearing as well as a crank for driving the chief parts of the
mechanism, and in using in lieu thereof a light malleable or cast-iron
driving wheel surrounded by an india-rubber tyre. In order to produce
the requisite speed of the various moving parts of the machine the
india-rubber tyre is arranged to bear against a small india-rubber or
metal roller on an intermediate shaft, which by the friction against it of
the larger driving wheel is made to revolve at the requisite speed. On
the same shaft a pair of wypers are carried which bear upon tappets
on the knife or harrow bar, and produce the required reciprocating
movement thereof:
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, that is to say:
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 is a side or end
elevation of a reaping machine constructed for being drawn by one
horse, and Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same, Figure 3. being a
vertical section thereof taken on the line a, a, Figure 2.
A large rectangular frame A, A, Figures 1 and 2, is supported by
the driving or carrying wheel B whose shaft runs or revolves in the
bearings C fixed on the upper side of the frame A, A, to which the
horse poles or shafts V are connected by the bars or straps W, W.
The outside of the wheel B is provided with an india-rubber or other
elastic tyre D which bears against the small metal or india-rubber
covered roller E, Figures 3, 4, and 5, and by its friction thereon causes
the latter to revolve, thereby doing away with the ordinary spur and
bevil gearing and crank generally used in the mechanism of agricultural
implements of the class now referred to, or the driving motion above
referred to may be communicated by means of an intervening elastic

page_text: band revolving or passing between the surfaces of the wheel B and
roller E, in which case the wheel B or roller E may or may not be
coated with india-rubber.
-
Figure 4 is a front elevation of the cam motion. The roller E is
carried in bearings wherein it is free to revolve as shown in Figure 5.
At the ends of this roller shaft the cams M, M', are fixed so as to turn
with the roller E. These cams are capable of adjustment by means of
the jamb nuts N, N, the cam shaft being supported in the bearings G, G,
fixed at the lower ends of the bell cranks H, H, the opposite extremity
of which is provided with a nut I, in which works the screw J, and at
the top of this screw a hand wheel L is fixed. The screw shaft J being
supported by the bracket L bolted to, the frame A, A, of the machine.
By turning the hand wheel L the small roller E is brought into or taken
out of contact with the elastic tyre D of the driving wheel B. The
edges of the rim of the cams M, M', rub. against the antifriction
rollers O, O, Figures 4 and 6; the studs on which these rollers re-
volve are connected together by the strap P so as to stiffen them, and as
far as practicable prevent then from shaking loose. These antifriction
rollers O, O, being by preference cast hollow, as shown at Figure 6,
enables them to hold oil for lubricating the cams M, M', and likewise
the studs on which they revolve. The antifriction rollers O, O, are
attached to the bar R, and when acted upon by the cams M, M', as
these revolve they cause the bar R to reciprocate backwards and for-
wards in the bearings provided in the brackets Q, Q, fixed to the
frame A, A. In these brackets are placed the recoil springs S, S',
formed either of india-rubber or metallic substance. To, this sliding.
bar R is attached the knife bar T which moves in guards in the usual
way. On the lower end of the shaft V, Figures 1 and 2, a ratchet and
segment wheel X is provided over which a chain a passes, the one end
of which is attached to the front of the frame A, A, and by raising or
lowering the handle Y the depth of the cut can be regulated or the
carriage raised when returning empty.
Having, now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may be
used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion
that what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-

page_text: First. The general arrangement or combination of parts constituting
the reaping or mowing machines, substantially as herein-before
described.
Second. The imparting of the driving power to the moving parts of
reaping machines by means of the friction of an elastic tyre acting upon
a roller, as herein-before set forth and shown in the annexed Sheet of
Drawings.
Third. The driving of the knife or cutter bar of reaping or mowing
machines by means of cams, as herein-before described and shown in the
annexed Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Walker, have hereunto.
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December,
Eighteen hundred and sixty-nine.
ALEXANDER WALKER. (L.S.)