IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINERY
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Maynard, of Whittlesford, in the County of
Cambridge, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE
CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 25th October 1867, and dated the 6th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Maynard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
June 1867.
I, ROBERT MAYNARD, of Whittlesford, in the County of Cambridge,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PORTABLE CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in chaff-cutting machinery.
It is very desirable to be able to pass the straw direct from a thrashing
machine into a portable chaff-cutting machine to be made into chaff as rapidly
as the thrashing machine discharges it, but the chaff-cutting machines at
present constructed do not cut sufficiently finely and rapidly to allow of this
being done.
According to my Invention I construct portable chaff-cutting machines with
a greater number of knives than heretofore; I use at the least five knives; I
mount them on the arms of a wheel, as is usual. Also I make the mouth at
which the straw is presented to the knives of a greater width than heretofore,
that is to say, fifteen inches at the least, and I prefer that it should be six-
teen inches. The machine has a riddle for separating. the perfectly cut chaff

page_text: thus
from any long pieces which may have escaped cutting. According to my
present Invention, however, I make the riddle or a part thereof of strips of thin
metal bent to a zig-zag form, say
these strips are laid side
by side, and soldered or fixed the one to the other so as to form a surface
with numerous holes of hexagonal or other form through it. Such a riddle I
find to pass the perfectly cut chaff very rapidly, whilst the passage of long
uncut material is effectually prevented in consequence of the considerable
depth of the holes or passages, the straw as it comes from the thrashing machine
is passed down an inclined platform, and a workman compresses it and passes
it forward to the nip of the chaff-cutting machine.
I would remark that this Invention applies exclusively to portable sifting
chaff-cutting machines. By portable sifting chaff machines I mean such as
are fitted with a sieve or riddle for separating the perfectly from the imper-
straws, and are designed and used for accompanying
fectly cut chaff or short
and being worked by portable steam engines or by portable horse powers, and
not such as are fixed or worked principally by fixed powers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Maynard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MAYNARD, of Whittlesford, in the County of Cambridge, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert
Maynard, Her special licence, that I, the said Robert Maynard, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Maynard,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAPY-CUTTING
MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Maynard, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 Robert Maynard, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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, that is to say:-
In order to bring cut straw chaff into a fit state for storing, it is necessary
that it should be cut fine, and that it should be passed through a riddle to
separate from it the cavings or imperfectly cut pieces. It is desirable that
the machine for performing these operations should be easily removeable from
place to place so as to accompany a portable steam engine and thrashing
machine, and that it should be so constructed as to receive the straw and
reduce it to a proper state as fast as the thrashing machine can deliver it, as
thereby a great saving in the expense of the preparation of the chaff is
effected; but the chaff-cutting machines as at present constructed do not cut
and riddle sufficiently fine and rapidly to allow of this being done.
According to my Invention I construct chaff-cutting machines with a
multiplicity of knives; I fix at least five knives on the arms of a vertical
wheel which is made to revolve against a mouth of a greater width than is at
present used in machines for this purpose, that is to say, I make the mouth at
the least fifteen inches in width, and I prefer that it should be wider.
Through such a mouth the straw is expelled in the usual manner, and I find
that by thus using a greater number of knives than heretofore, and passing
them in rapid succession over a wider mouth I can cut up straw into short
chaff as fast as an ordinary portable thrashing machine can deliver it.
It being desirable to sift the chaff as fast as it is cut without having to
extend the riddle to a size inconvenient for a portable chaff engine I make
the riddle or part thereof of strips of thin metal bent to a zig-zag form, and
soldered or fixed the one to the other so as to form a surface with holes of a
hexagonal form; by this mode of construction a greater number of holes for
the passage of the chaff is obtained within a given surface than heretofore,
and in consequence of the considerable depth of the holes or passages the long
uncut material is effectually prevented from passing through. For facility
of removal from place to place I mount the machine fitted as described on
travelling wheels.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Figures 1 and 2 represent &
portable sifting chaff machine. A being a platform upon which the straw is

page_text: received as it is delivered by the thrashing machine; it is then passed between
the rollers B, B, by which it is compressed and carried through the mouth C
to the knives D, D, D, D, D, D, on the wheel E, by which it is cut, the
chaff falling into the riddle F, which separates it from the imperfectly cut
straws. Figure 3 represents a portion of the riddle composed of strips of
metal soldered together at their junctions a, a, a, a, and forming hexagonal
holes for the passage of the chaff.
I claim as of my Invention,―
First, the constructing portable chaff-cutting machines with a riddle with
holes or passages constructed with strips of metal, as described.
Second, the constructing portable chaff-cutting machines with a vertical
wheel armed with five or more knives, and working against a mouth not less
than fifteen inches wide, the machine being fitted with travelling wheels and
with a riddle for the purposes stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Maynard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
ROBERT MAYNARD. (L.S.)