A MACHINE FOR REAPING, CUTTING GRASS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1846

page_text: GIBSON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
MATTHEW GIBSON, of Wellington Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Ma-
chine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster the Twenty-second day of August One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six, in the tenth year of Her reign,
did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Matthew Gibson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Matthew Gibson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Matthew Gibson, my executors, administra-
tors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter 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
Tslands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A MACHINE
FOR REAPING, CUTTING GRASS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Matthew
Gibson, shall cause a particular description 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 scal, to be inrolled 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,

page_text: 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
Matthew Gibson, do hereby declare, that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon; (that is to say,) my Invention
consists of a novel arrangement of mechanical parts into a machine
whereby standing corn, grass, or other standing crop may be reaped
or cut during the progressive motion of the machine, and laid in swaths,
which may at the same time (if desired) be raked up at intervals, in
order to form the same into shocks or sheaves, such machine operating
by firstly parting and bending on one side a certain quantity of the
material to be reaped or cut, and then operating upon the same by
means of a rotating instrument upon which are mounted a series of
knives or cutters. In order most fully to describe my Invention and
the mode of carrying out the same, I will proceed to describe the draw-
ings hereunto annexed, in the several figures of which similar letters
or numbers denote the like parts. Figure 1, is a side elevation of the
machine complete; Figure 2, is a longitudinal section; Figure 3, a plan,
or horizontal view of the same; and Figure 4, a similar view, having
part of the upper portion thereof removed, the better to show certain of
the operating parts; Figure 5, is an elevation, looking at the left-hand
or front end of Figure 1; Figure 6, is a transverse section, taken
through the framework and cutting instrument of the machine; Fi-
gure 7, is a partial section of the machine, showing the construction of
the rotating instrument; and Figure 8, is an under-side view of the same.
The working parts of the machine are enclosed within a wooden or
other case a, a, and the whole is supported upon four wheels, two b, b,
at the hind part, and two c, c, at the fore part thereof; at the hind part of
the machine are also placed a pair of shafts d,d, which are connected thereto
as shown at e. Upon the axle of the hind wheels b, b, is affixed a bevel
wheelf, taking into a bevel pinion g, mounted upon a short shaft h, which
turns in bearings i, i, attached to the framework of the machine; at the
other end of the short shaft h, is affixed a bevel pinion j, taking into a

page_text: bevel pinion k, which is mounted upon a hollow axle l, which hollow axle
turns in a bush-bearing ', adapted to the framework of the machine,
and is supported therein by means of collars, as shown in the drawing.
Upon the under part of the hollow axle 2, is mounted the cutting
instrument of the machine, it consists of a hollow frame m, m, of the
form of an inverted cone, within the circumference of which the two
fore wheels c, c, are situated; the knives or cutters which are intended
to operate upon the corn or other material to be reaped or cut are
shown at n, n, n; they are affixed by means of screws or other con-
venient means to the under side of the inverted conical frame m, m;
one of these knives, of the form which I prefer, is shown detached,
on an enlarged scale at Figure 9; the outward or cutting surface at o, o,
is bevelled off, in order to bring it to a sharp edge, (these knives
or cutters may, particularly when cutting corn, have serrated edges,)
and there is a slot p, formed in the inward part thereof, through
which the screws, pass for the purpose of attaching it to the conical
frame m, and which slot admits of the knife or cutter being adjusted as
may be required. The fore wheels c, c, are mounted upon an axlen', n',
from which axle a vertical shaft o', o', extends, passing through the
hollow axle, and from thence through the top part of the framework of
the machine. Upon the upper part of the vertical shaft o', o', a screw
p', ', is formed, which works in a female screw, formed within a
socket 9, that turns in a bush-bearing adapted to the framework a, a;
a shaft r,, turning in suitable bearings, is provided at one end, with a
bevelled pinion s, which takes into a pinion t, formed upon the female
screw socket 9, and to the other end of the shaft r, r, is attached a
agency of
handle u, by turning which the screw socket 9, (through the
the pinions s, and t,) will be caused to revolve upon the screw p',p', and
raise or lower the fore part of the machine, and thus bring the knives
or cutters nearer to or further from the ground, as may be required.
To the upper part of the vertical shaft o', a pulley v, is affixed, around
half the circumference of which a chain or band w, is passed; the two
ends thereof being affixed to another pulley a, which is mounted upon
a pivot y, affixed to the framework of the machine. To the last-
5 mentioned pulley two handles z, z, are attached, so that the attendant
setting on the machine at A, by moving these handles, causes the
pulley, and consequently the upright shaft o', to turn round, and lock
0

page_text: the wheels c, c, attached thereto, thus guiding the machine in the
direction desired. The fore part of the machine, as shown in the
drawing, is formed to an angle, and the side B, thereof curved inwards,
so as to resemble the shape of one half of the fore part of a boat.
The operation of the machine will be as follows: A horse (which I
believe to be the best means of propelling the machine) is placed in
the shafts d, d, with his head towards the machine; and on moving
forward, the running wheels b, b, by their revolution will cause the tooth
wheelf, also to revolve, carrying around the pinions, g and j, and thus
communicate rotatory motion to the hollow shaft 7, the conical frame m,
and knives or cutters n, which, by revolving rapidly in the direction of
the arrow, Figure 4, will reap or cut the standing corn
or other
material, the shape of the front of the machine bending on one side a
portion thereof to be so reaped or cut, separating as it advances the cut
from the uncut material, and by its peculiar form causing the former
to fall over towards the near or left-hand side of the machine, 'the
revolving conical frame m, and the knives or cutters n, n, also carrying
it in that direction. By these means the material will be laid in a
swath by the side of the machine; and in order to facilitate the
subsequent operation of making it (if required) into shocks or sheaves,
there is a rake (1) connected to the framework of the machine by means
of bearings (2) (2) in which it is capable of turning freely. To this
rake (1) is attached a lever (3) which, projecting upward, is under the
command of the attendant sitting at A. In the position shown in the
drawing it is supposed that the rake is gathering up the material, and
when it has continued this operation until a sufficient quantity is accu-
mulated, the attendant raises the lever to the position shown by dots in
Figure 1, letting it fall again when the rake has passed the gathered
shock, in order, that another may be collected, a pin (4) being adjusted
in one of the several holes formed in the plate (5) for the pur-
In order to
pose of preventing the rake from falling two low.
facilitate the operation of throwing the corn or other material into
a swath by the side of the machine, a number of projecting pins,
projecting half the length of the knives, may be fixed upon the peri-
phery of the conical case above each knife; these will be found
useful when the corn is laid or entangled. According to the arrange-
ments described and shown in the drawings, the swath of reaped or cut

page_text: materials will be thrown on the near or left-hand side, but it will be
obvious, that if it be desired, the machine may be arranged to throw to
the off or right-hand side. In the drawings, I have shown eight knives
or cutters mounted upon the revolving conical frame, but a greater or
less number may be used if desired.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood, that
I do not claim the separate mechanical parts, nor do I confine myself
to the details shown and described, so long as the peculiar character
of my Invention is retained. But I declare that what I claim is the
mode of constructing a machine herein described, whereby the corn,
grass, or other standing crop to be reaped or cut is bended laterally
by the form of the front part of the machine, and then cut by a
revolving instrument carrying cutters, the fore wheels being within
such revolving instrument, and the cut crop may, when desired, be
raked up, as above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Gibson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-