AN IMPROVEMENT IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Burgess, of the Firm of Burgess and Key,
of Newgate Street, in the City of London, Agricultural Implement
Makers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 3rd May 1859, and dated the 26th February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Burgess at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th February 1859.
I, WILLIAM BURGESS, of the Firm of Burgess and Key, of Newgate Street,
in the City of London, Agricultural Implement Makers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN REAPING AND MOWING.
MACHINES," to be as follows:-.
My Invention consists in constructing reaping and mowing, machines in:
such manner as to facilitate their ready turning while in motion. One means.
of attaining this end is by forming a joint behind the finger beam in the side.
frame, to which the small or inner bearing wheel is connected.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Burgess in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BURGESS, of the Firm of Burgess & Key, of Newgate Street, in the City of
London, Agricultural Implement Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Burgess, Her special licence that I, the said William
Burgess, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Burgess, 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 Ire-
land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Burgess, 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 William Burgess, 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 constructing reaping and mowing machines in
such manner as to facilitate their ready turning. while in motion; and is parti-
cularly applicable to those machines where the inner bearing wheel is in a line
behind that of the main wheel. I attain this end by forming a hinge joint
behind the finger beam in the side frame, to which the small or inner bearing
wheel is connected. In consequence of this arrangement, I provide an
additional side frame, to which the upper part of the back framing of the
machine is connected.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a reaping machine complete, with my

page_text: improvement applied thereto; Figure 2 is a detached view, shewing in side
elevation the particular parts to which my improvement is applied.
A, B, is the side frame; C is the hinge, which opens outwards, and which I
fix in a line behind the finger beam D; E is the inner bearing wheel, connected
to the side frame B; F is lifting gear of the ordinary construction, which is
attached to and moves with the frame B; G is the additional side frame for
supporting the upper framing.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ment in reaping and mowing machines, connecting the fore part of the side
frame to the rear part, or that to which the inner bearing wheel is attached,
by means of a hinge joint, substantially in the manner herein-before described,
and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burgess, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
W. BURGESS.
(L.S.)