PROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH BINDING SHEAVES, OR CEREALS OR other Cut CROPS, AND IN THE MATERIAL AND APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREIN."
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William George Cowlishaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th April 1878.
<IBI-
WILLIAM GEORGE COWLISHAW, of Newcastle, in the County of Stafford.
PROVEMENTS IN OR CONNECTED WITH BINDING SHEAVES, OR CEREALS OR other Cut
CROPS, AND IN THE MATERIAL AND APPARATUS TO BE USED THEREIN."
The object of this Invention, which relates to the antomatic binding of sheaves,
or bundles of cereals, or cut crops, is to utilize a material for the binding which has
not hitherto been used for that purpose, and is capable of continued re-use, whereby
considerably economy in the quantity and cost of the binding material required is
effected, and which can be manipulated by very simple apparatus of the following
construction or modifications thereof, capable of being easily applied or adapted to
reapers or other machines in which self-binding apparatus is used.
:
The material which I purpose using for the tieing or binding, and which is very
advantageous as regards strength, durability, and economy, is light hoop iron which
in its manufacture is rolled, punched, and cut, or otherwise suitably manipulated so
as to be of any desired length, say, of about 3 feet, and to have one end broadened
out and slotted at short intervals to allow for variation in the size of the sheaves,
and the other end tapered, or narrowed, and hooked, so as to clip into one of the
slots at the broad end and secure the sheaf.
In adapting the necessary mechanism for causing the automatic binding of any
cut crop by such ties to existing or any suitable form of reaping machine, I make
some slight alterations in the arrangements or dispositions of parts of such
inachines, and some of which are not altogether directly relevant to the action of
my improved apparatus, while others are.
In addition to rendering the usual gathering reel adjustable to suit various heights
of crops to be cut, I make the heaters thereof feathering after the manner of a
feathering paddle wheel in cases where such an alteration would be expedient.
The cut crop is elevated over the usual inclined frame by endless spiked bands,
and falls against catches adjacent to the position of the binding attachments which
I render (as is usual) capable of lateral adjustment so as to tie up the corn in the
most advantageous position. Whilst one bundle of the cut crop is being bound into
Din 077

page_text: a sheaf, the crop being raised by the spiked bands is gathered by other catches
higher up the inclined frame so as not to interfere with the binding of the sheaf;
these higher catches are withdrawn as soon as the binding of the sheaf is effected
so as to allow the gathered crop to fall into the position for being bound.
The hoop-iron bands or ties are placed on a cloth or wire band made to carry
a convenient number, which, when exhausted, could be easily replaced, the band
being refilled by a boy or otherwise. The rolled up band, when full, is placed in
bearings in the front of the machine, and its end is passed under the inclined
frame on to a roller placed at the back, and it is moved each time a tie is taken off
it the distance required to bring the next tie opposite a lever which conveys it into
position.
The ties are removed from off the roller by the lever on to a grooved beam; the
motion involved in this requires simply an arrangement of levers working as in
the parallel motion of a beam engine, so that the part which actually moves the
tie has no vertical vibration. When the tie has been moved into position on the
beam it lies over two curved jointed levers which have a common centre but move
in opposite directions thereon, and they are caused either to fall down when the
crops can accumulate and the ties can be placed in position, or to rise and enclose
the cut crop and place the tie or band around it by a suitable arrangement of levers
on a shaft under the beam, and which shaft at each movement receives one half a
turn only. Thus when the driver, who is placed in an advantageous position, con-
siders that he has sufficient cut crop in the lower catches to form a sheaf he puts
the said under shaft in gear with that from which it derives its motion by a lever
or other similar arrangement (or in a very average crop the apparatus could be
arranged to work automatically) and the ends of the jointed levers which are
actuated therefrom through the intervention of suitable connecting rods or levers
then begin to rise, carrying the ends of the tie with them, the tie being clipped
centrally to prevent it turning or shifting its position, which could be effected by
raised pieces within the jointed levers or otherwise. When the jointed levers are
raised to their full extent the hooked end of the tie slightly overlaps the broad
end; this is caused by the lever carrying the broad end having a slight start of
the other lever; it is also forked or slotted at its extremity to allow of the end of
the lever carrying the hooked end of the tie to pass through. A beam is then
caused to descend, causing the ends of the jointed levers to press the sheaf, and the
tie to travel slightly, the broad end in one direction, and the hooked end in the
other, and thus the hook is caused to enter one of the holes in the broad end and
bind the sheaf. The beam then rises, the levers are caused to fall back by their
connecting arrangements, and the sheaf is left to fall to the ground, either being
started by a lever or otherwise, or lifted up by an arm and placed on the
ground.