IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
REED RANDELL, of Newlyn East, in the County of Cornwall, Farmer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster
the Seventh day of October One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year of Her. reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Reed Randell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said John Reed Randell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Reed Randell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
town of Berwick upon Tweed, in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING AND
REAPING MACHINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said John Reed Randell, shall cause a particular description

page_text: of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said John Reed Randell, hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the present specification thereof,
reference being had to the drawings hereunto annexed; that is to say,
The said Invention has relation to cutting and reaping machines of
the class wherein the operation of cutting or reaping standing crops,
whether in a dry or green state, is performed by means of a series of
knives or cutters, which are kept in rapid vibration at right angles to
the grain or crop, and also at right angles to the direction in which the
machine is progressing, so as to cut or reap a succession of wide
swarths, and deposit the same on the ground in a convenient manner
for subsequent raking or for binding into sheaves.
Figure 1, of the drawings annexed is a plan of a cutting and reaping
machine constructed according to the said Invention; A, A, is the
general framework of the machine, B, is the cutter bar which carries at
its front edge the series of triangularly shaped knives or cutters C, C,
which are sharpened on both their front and back edges so as to cut
in an equally effective manner in their backward and forward move-
ments and prevent their becoming clogged.
In some cases I find it preferable to use cutters with a part cut
away, as shown at Figure 3; this form of cutter also prevents clogging
when cutting short green crops. D. D, are a series of guard teeth or
fingers which are attached to the cutter-bar, and project forward at right
angles to it, and to some extent beyond the forward edge or point of
the knives or cutters C, C. There is one of these guard teeth or fingers
for every cutter C, and they are cleft or divided, as shown in Figure 2,
in order to admit the cutters to work to and fro in the cleft, the width
of which is made very little larger than the thickness of the cutters, so

page_text: that whilst the cutters are in action their rubbing against the interior
of the teeth or fingers may keep them always in a sharpened state, and
thus render them more capable of doing their work effectually. E, is a
platform upon which the cut grain falls and upon which the raker
stands. F, is a rail within which the raker stands when removing.
the cut grain from the platform. G, is a gathering reel or holder
for laying the crop to be cut well against the cutters and ensuring
its falling back on the platform when cut. H, is the main bearing
or carrying wheel of the machine, which is also the driving
wheel by which motion is communicated to the working parts, as will
be presently explained. J, is a rigger fixed on one side of the wheel H,
from which motion is given to the gathering reel G, by means of a
strap h. On the other side of the wheel H, is fixed a toothed wheel h',
which gears into the wheel K, which latter is keyed upon the crank
shaft L, which has its bearings in the brackets 1, and ', attached to the
framing A. M, is a connecting rod by which the rotary motion of the
crank shaft L, is caused to communicate a rapid vibratory or recipro-
cating movement to the cutter-bar B, and knives or blades C, so as to
effect the severance of the stalks of grain or grass with which they are
brought in contact during the onward progressive movement of the
machine, the grain or grass being held steady whilst the cut is being
made by the teeth or fingers D, D. N, is a truck or wheel by which
the off side of the machine is carried. In some cases a skid might be
substituted for this wheel. The horses or cattle by which the machine
is drawn forward are harnessed to the front of the framework at A', a
pole or an additional pair of wheels being provided for this purpose.
A modification of this machine is represented in Figure 3, which
shows it in perspective view, as arranged for cutting grass, the platform
and gathering reel being in this case dispensed with. A, A, is the cutter
bar, which is a beam extending from the lower part of the carriage, and
lying horizontally upon the ground; along its front edge there is a
groove cut to receive the moveable cutters C, C, and there are also guide
teeth D, affixed to that edge, projecting forward, and within which the
moveable cutters work as represented and before described with refer-
ence to Figure 1. The cutter-bar is secured to two arms or braces B',

page_text: stretching from the back and front cross framing of the carriage, the
ends of which terminate in guide grooves B², and are held in position
firmly by bolts and nuts. By this arrangement the inner end of the cutter
bar may be raised from or lowered to the ground and fixed at different
heights; and in order to preserve its horizontal position slides of different
degrees of thickness may be affixed under the outer end of the cutter-bar,
according to the height the bar is raised. The cutters C, C, are a series
of angularly shaped knives, having their pointed edges projecting
forward; a triangularly shaped opening is cut in the centre of each
of the blades for the purpose of preventing the knives from becoming
clogged by the accumulation of grass or straw, which gathers in fine
particles along the front of the cutter-bar, and enters between the
knives and the guide teeth, and would also work into the groove in
the bar but for these openings, through which the particles, instead of
accumulating upon the blades, drop on the ground, and hence the
blades are always kept free and prevented from choking or clogging.
The guide teeth D, D, are placed at right angles to the face of the
cutter bar, there being one for each blade of the cutters. The cutting
is effected by the angular edges of the cutters passing between the
upper and the lower parts of the guide teeth by reason of the vibration
of the former in the groove of the cutter-bar, and the grass or grain
having a bearing upon the upper and the lower parts of the guide
teeth is severed by the cutter coming between those bearings. The
cutters have a very rapid vibratory motion while the machine is going
over the ground, and this is obtained by a train of gearing from the
large wheel supporting the framing. E, is a connecting rod attached
at one end to the cutters C, and at the other to a crank. Rapid
rotatory motion is given to the crank by the wheels F, G, H, of which
F, is a large spur wheel fixed to the axis of the bearing wheel. G, is a
pinion actuated by it, and driving the bevil wheel H, which imparts
motion to the crank; and thus, when the machine is moved forward,
the cutter is put in vibration.
A variation may be made in the cutting arrangement of this and the
machine before described by changing the form of the guard teeth from
that shown to one in which they will resemble the cutting blades, that

page_text: is, to have angular edges given them and an interior opening cut for
clearing the grass, &c. in the same manner as before described for the
cutters. This arrangement is shown in plan and side view in
Figures 4 and 5. When this shape is employed the angle of the
cutting teeth may be reduced, and the clearing aperture in them may
be omitted. When this machine is to be employed for cutting grain,
such as wheat, oats, &c., it will be necessary to have a platform rigged
on to the cutter-bar to receive the falling grain and straw; an attendant
follows to rake it off into sheaves. T, is an apparatus for clearing the
track before the inner end of the cutter-bar at that part where it joins
the shoe in which it rests. This apparatus consists of a board placed
angularly to the direction of the machine, so that as the machine pro-
gresses it scrapes up the loose grass or grain which may have been
left by the rake upon the edge of the swarth, and throws it off at one
side, thus preventing the collection of a mass upon the end of the
cutter-bar and shoe, as if this were allowed to form it would interfere
with the free motion of the cutters. The scraper, it will be seen, rests
upon the ground by its own weight, and has free play up and down, so
that it may ride over stones and other obstructions.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
in respect thereof is,
First, the employment of wheel gearing for giving rapid motion to
the cutters or knives of cutting and reaping machines, as represented
in Figures 1 and 3, and before described:
Second, the mode of constructing the guard teeth or fingers in such
manner that they shall not only clear but sharpen the cutters, as repre-
sented in Figures 1 and 2, and before described:
Third, the mode of forming the cutters, open or with a portion
removed from their centres, so that they may readily clear themselves
when cutting, as represented in Figure 3, and before described:
Fourth, the peculiar arrangement of open guard teeth or fingers,
represented in Figures 4 and 5, and before described:
Fifth, the means of adjusting the cutting-bar with its cutters or
knives, as represented in Figure 8, and before described: And

page_text: Sixth, the employment of the board T, or its equivalent, for clearing
the track of the machine, as represented in Figure 3, and before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Reed Randell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the Twenty-eighth day of
March in the year of our Lord 1853, the aforesaid John Reed Randell
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein con-
tained and specified in form above written, and also the specification
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for
that
purpose.
Enrolled the Seventh day of April in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.