AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING CHAFF
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dray, of Swan Lane, in the City of London,
Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR CUTTING CHAFF."
Sealed the 13th July 1855, and dated the 23rd January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dray at the
Office of the. Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
January 1855.,
I, WILLIAM DRAY, of Swan Lane, in the City of London, Agricultural
Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention 'for
"AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CUTTING CHAFF" to be as follows:
My Invention consists in so arranging. the gearing for communicating the
necessary motions to the working parts of the machine that. I am enabled
without stopping the machine to regulate the rise and fall of the feed roller,
and thereby to determine the quantity of feed, and also the speed of the feed
roller, and consequent length of chaff cut by the knives. The method by which
I effect this is as follows:-Upon the shaft of the knife or flywheel I place a
pinion, which gears into a spur wheel keyed upon a horizontal shaft below the
fly wheel shaft. This horizontal shaft has keyed upon it a bevil 'pinion working
into a bevil wheel keyed upon a vertical shaft. On this shaft is also keyed a

page_text: mitre wheel, which gears into a similar mitre wheel on the end of the lower
roller. On the upper end of the vertical shaft is another mitre wheel, the boss
of which has formed in the inside of it a groove, into which a feather on the
shaft takes for communicating the necessary rotary motion. This mitre wheel
gears into a similar wheel upon the shaft of the upper roller, and they are so
connected together that, upon a rising motion being given to the upper roller to
regulate the quantity of the feed, the mitre wheels shall still be in gear. In
order to regulate the speed of the rollers, I key upon the same shaft with that
of the spur wheel a second and similar wheel, but of less diameter; and upon
the knife or fly wheel shaft I place a second pinion, of sufficient diameter to
gear into the lesser of the spur wheels. This pinion is keyed (together with
the first-named pinion) upon a hollow tube formed with a groove fitting upon a
feather upon the shaft, so as to be free to slide upon the fly wheel shaft when
acted upon by a fork and handle, and thereby to enable cither of the pinions
to be brought into gear with its corresponding spur wheel, which being of
different diameters the length of feed is regulated accordingly. This machine
may be driven by hand, horse, or steam power, being provided with either
winch handle, link motion, or driving pulleys. I also place the gearing within
the framing of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Dray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DRAY, of Swan Lane, in the City of London, Agricultural Implement Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Dray, Her special licence that I, the said William Dray, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Dray, 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 IMPROVED. MACHINE FOR. CUTTING CHAFF,"

page_text: anl
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Dray, by
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 William Dray, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in so arranging the gearing for communicating the
necessary motions to the working parts of machines for cutting chaff that I am
enabled without stopping the machine to regulate the rise and fall of the feed
rollers, and thereby to determine the quantity of feed, and also the speed of the
feed rollers, and consequent length of chaff cut by the knives.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn the manner in which I
carry my Invention into effect.
Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 a front elevation, and Figure 3 a side view, of
a chaff-cutting machine constructed according to my Invention.
Upon the shaft A of the knife or fly wheel B, I place a pinion C, which
gears into the spur wheel D, keyed upon the horizontal shaft E, below the fly
wheel shaft A. This horizontal shaft E turns in plummer blocks, and has
keyed upon it a bevil pinion F, working into a bevil wheel G, keyed upon the
vertical shaft H. On this shaft is also keyed a mitre wheel I, which gears
into a similar wheel J on the end of the lower roller K. L is another mitre
wheel on the upper end of the vertical shaft H. The boss of this wheel has
formed in the inside of it a groove, into which a feather on the shaft H takes,
for communicating the necessary rotary motion. This mitre wheel gears into
a similar wheel M upon the shaft of the upper roller N. The wheels Land M
are connected together by means of a fork projecting from the end of the upper
roller, which takes into a groove in the boss of the wheel L, so that, upon a
rising motion being given to the upper roller to regulate the quantity of the
feed, the mitre wheels shall still be in gear. In order to regulate the speed of
the feed rollers, I key upon the shaft E a second spur wheel O, similar to the
spur wheel D, but of less diameter, and upon the knife or fly wheel shaft A, I
place a second pinion P; of sufficient diameter to gear into the smaller spur
wheel O. The pinions P and C are keyed upon a hollow tube formed with a
groove fitting upon a feather upon the shaft A, so as to be free to slide upon

page_text: the fly wheel shaft when acted upon by the fork and handle Q, and thereby to
enable either of the pinions C and P to be brought into gear with its corre-
sponding spur wheel, which being of different diameter the length of feed is
regulated accordingly. This machine may be driven by hand, horse, or steam
power, being provided with either winch handle, link motion R, or driving
pulleys S. I place the whole of the gearing within the framing T of the
machine.
יזי
'And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
improved machine for cutting chaff is,
First, the general arrangement and combination of the gearing for commu-
nicating the necessary motion to the various working parts of the machine.
Second, I claim the method of regulating the rise and fall of the upper feed
roller; in order to determine the quantity of the feed; and I also claim" the
method of regulating the speed of the feed rollers, and consequent length of
chaff cut by the knives, by means of the change wheels O and D, together with
their respective pinions P and C; all as herein-before described, and représented
in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
***
In witness' whereof, I; the said William Dray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
(GIT)
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TALVITIT AA