IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Holder at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 12th October 1876.
JAMES HOLDER, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING MACHINES."
This Invention relates to the construction of reaping machines, which shall be
capable of cutting and placing into shocks Indian corn, sugar, or other similar
crops, in which the stalks or stems are tall, thick, and strong, and are grown in
comparatively thin rows situate about three or four feet apart, each row being
either continuous or separated by intervals into a number of bunches, each bunch
thus containing a comparatively small number of stalks.
My improved reaping machine, suitable for the above named and for analogous
purposes, comprises a strong framework, by preference of wrought iron well braced
together, supported upon a single pair of travelling wheels, and provided in front
but towards the near side with a shaft and other gear for the attachment of two or
more horses.
The travelling wheels are mounted upon a revolving axle, which gives motion to
the cutters and other moving parts. To enable the machine readily to turn a corner
one wheel only is made fast to the axle, the other wheel being loose and having a
moveable clutch, by means of which it can be disconnected when a corner has to be
turned, and can be afterwards re-connected so as to perform its share of the work in
turning the axle. Or instead of the said clutch an arrangement of toothed initre
wheels well known as a "jack in the box" may be employed, whereby the travelling
wheels adjust themselves when turning a corner without being disconnected by
hand.
The machine is made of considerable width, and the cutters which are situated
towards the off side of the machine occupy by preference only about one-third of
the whole width, the remainder being occupied by the driver and an attendant.
At the back of the machine the whole width is occupied by a platform or tailboard,
upon which the shocks are formed and from which they are discharged.
The cutters work horizontally at a suitable distance above the ground, and may
be either of a reciprocating or of a revolving description, provided that they are
sufficiently strong for the heavy work which they have to perform. The width of
cut being comparatively small I prefer to use revolving cutters, consisting of a pair

page_text: of flat discs placed one upon the other, the lower disc being fixed horizontally in
front of the machine, and the upper disc being caused to revolve horizontally upon
the lower disc by means of bevel wheels driven by the main axle of the machine.
Around the edge of each disc I form strong hook shaped teeth, the hooked teeth of
the lower disc being curved in the opposite direction to those of the upper disc.
The meeting faces of the discs are flat so as to fit accurately together, but their
outer faces are bevelled away from the centre towards the circumference, so as to
render the disc thinner at the teeth than at the centre.
As fast as the stalks are severed by the revolving cutter and before they have
time to fall I cause then to be taken hold of by means of two pairs of horizontal
endless belts or chains, one pair of belts taking hold of the lower extremities of the
stalks, while the other pair of belts placed at a higher elevation takes hold of the
stalks at the level of the ear or thereabouts. The said endless belts have teeth or
pegs projecting from them the better to engage into the stalks. The said endless
belts are driven by means of horizontal pulleys fixed upon vertical shafts, which in
their turn are driven from the aforesaid vertical shaft of the revolving cutters by
means of a pitch chain or toothed wheels. The said endless belts or chains extend
backwards from the revolving cutters and travel towards the tailboard at the rear
of the machine, upon which tailboard they deliver in a vertical position the stalks
which have been cut. On their way towards the said tailboard the weight of the
stalks is borne by a horizontal board, over which the stalks travel with a sliding
motion. The said tailboard is not a fixture but is hinged at its forward end, and
can be raised and lowered at its rear by means of a chain and lever actuated by
the attendant. The said tailboard is also provided at the rear with a vertical
hinged ledge; which prevents the accidental escape of the stalks. The said hinged
ledge is held in position by the same chain which sustains the tailboard, and when
the said chain is released by the attendant the said hinged ledge falls backwards,
and forms simply a continuation of the tailboard. Having arrived upon the said
tailboard the stalks are retained in a vertical or nearly vertical position by means
of a girdle of cord, the two ends of which are temporarily secured to two pegs
fixed upon elevated portions of the framework of the machine. The said girdle
does not form a complete circle, but has a gap in it formed by setting the said pegs
sufficiently wide apart to admit the stalks within the girdle. One of the said pegs
is fixed to a sliding bar which can be moved by a winch, so as to tighten the girdle
around the stalks which it embraces. When the endless belts have delivered upon
the tailboard and within the girdle a sufficient number of stalks to form a shock
the attendant tightens up the girdle by means of the said winch, and after knotting
the girdle he releases it from the framework. At the same instant he lets fall the
back of the tailboard, which thus becomes sufficiently inclined to allow the shock
to slide from it, and to be left in the field standing in a vertical position. While
the attendant is thus engaged in binding and throwing off the shock, the endless
belts continue to bring fresh cut stalks towards the tailboard.
In order to prevent the approaching stalks from crowding upon the shock while
it is being bound a loose stick or hinged bar is provided, by placing which into
position the said approaching stalks are arrested before passing on to the tailboard.
In order to prevent the arrested stalks from becoming over crowded, the said
endless belts are caused to diverge as they approach the tailboard, so as to afford a
widening space for the accommodation of the arrested stalks, and in order to prevent
the said stalks from being broken by the moving pegs of the endless belts, horizontal
guides are fixed on either side of the said widening space in such a manner as to
guide the stalks clear of the pegs before they are arrested.
After the shock has been discharged the attendant raises the tailboard and its
hinged ledge, adjusts another cord or girdle and withdraws the arresting stick or
bar. The stalks which have been accumulating in front of the arresting bar being
thus released immediately pass on to the tailboard, and the process of filling up,
binding, and discharging is repeated.
It frequently happens that the growing stalks fall over to one side or the other,

page_text: and become entangled with the stalks of an adjoining bunch. In order to separate
such entangled stalks previous to their being cut I provide two long horizontal
spars, which project from the front of the machine near to the ground, one on
either side of the row of bunches upon which the machine is operating, and to the
leading end of each horizontal spar I attach another spar, which returns in a rising
direction towards the machine, and is attached to the upper part of the framework
thereof. The two triangular frames thus formed introduce their leading ends below
the entanglements of the stalks, and as they advance gradually raise the fallen stalks
and separate them from each other.
On the near side of the machine the triangular frame has naturally but a light
duty to perform, there being no uncut rows on that side, but on the off side of the
machine the duty of disentanglement is sometimes very heavy, and in order to
assist the process I cause the top of the off side triangular frame to have a rocking
motion in a lateral direction coinmunicated to it by ineans of a crank or eccentric
worked from the upper end of one of the vertical shafts of the aforesaid endless belts.
The off side horizontal spar can he raised or lowered by the driver, according to the
nature of the approaching entanglement, the off-side inclining spar being attached
to its horizontal spar by means of a sliding joint in order to allow of the said
rising and falling adjustment.