IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO KNIFE BARS AND KNIVES FOR REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Osborn, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, Steel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
RELATING TO KNIFE BARS AND KNIVES FOR REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 8th April 1870, and dated the 13th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Osborn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th October 1869.
I, SAMUEL OSBORN, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO KNIFE BARS AND KNIVES FOR REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object to impart increased efficiency,
security, and durability to the cutting details of reaping and mowing
machines.
One improvement consists in fixing to the knife bar the eye piece to
which is jointed the connecting rod that works the bar by means of a
wedge combined with a screw and nuts.

page_text: In one modification the end of the bar is itself tapered to form the
wedge, and a correspondingly tapered socket is formed in the eye piece to
receive it, whilst the screw hes on the face of the bar, to which it is fixed
by its inner end, and projecting through a groove in the eye piece has a
nut and jam nut applied on its outer end, by screwing which the eye
piece is firmly wedged.
In another modification the wedge and screw are in one piece, whilst
the part of the bar fitting in the socket in the eye piece is either
parallel or is made slightly thicker at its outer end. The wedge is
thicker at its inner end, its outer screwed end being entered through
the socket in the eye piece from the inner end of the eye piece, and the
nuts are applied on its outer end when projecting through the socket
and bearing on the end of the socket and also on the end of the bar
firmly wedge the parts together.
A second improvement consists in using a peculiar box for holding
the knives when being heated for the purpose of hardening their cutting
edges, whilst retaining the back and middle parts in a tough or soft
state. This box is formed with shits or grooves to receive the knives
separately, with their edges projecting so as to be licated to the necessary
extent when the box is put into a furnace. The box is made hollow and
cold water is led through it by pipes, and the water having access even
into the parts between the knives keeps the back and middle parts from
being heated and from being affected by the subsequent hardening.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Osborn in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 12th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, SAMUEL
OSBORN, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Osborn, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said Samuel Osborn, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Osborn, 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
BELATING TO KNIFE BARS AND KNIVES FOR REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Osborn,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Osborn, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to impart increased efficiency,
security, and durability to the cutting details of reaping and mowing
machines.
One improvement consists in fixing to the knife bar the eye piece to
which is jointed the connecting rod that works the bar by means of a
wedge combined with a screw and nuts.
A second improvement consists in using a peculiar box for holding
the knives when being heated for the purpose of hardening their cutting
edges, whilst retaining the back and middle parts in a tough or soft
state.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a
Sheet of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and
representing two modifications of my improved eye piece fastening,
together with an example of my improved box for holding the knives
when being heated. The same reference numerals are used to mark the
same or like parts in all the Figures in which they occur.

page_text: One modification of the eye piece fastening is shown in Figures 1 to 9;
Figures 1, 2, and 3 being views at right angles to each other of the eye
picce 1 as fixed on the knife bar 2, whilst Figures 4 to 9 represent some
of the parts as separated.
In this modification the end of the bar 2 is itself tapered to form a
wedge, as best seen in Figure 4, the bar being represented as of the
kind known as the clip bar; the form may however be imparted to bars
of other kinds in any convenient way. A correspondingly tapered
socket 3 is formed in the eye piece 1 to receive the tapered end 4 of the
bar 2, whilst the screw 5 lies on the face of the bar, to which it is fixed
at its inner end by a lateral projection on it entering a hole in the bar.
The screw 5 lies in a groove 6 in the eye piece 1 and projects out beyond
the end to receive the washer 7, nut 8, and jam nut 9, by means of which
the eye piece is firmly wedged in its place on the bar 2. When it is
wished to remove the eye piece 1 the nuts and washer are first taken
off, and the end of the bar 2 is struck by means of a common drift, such
as is shown in Figure 10, and thereby forced back out of the eye piece.
The second modification is shown in Figures 11 to 19; Figures 11, 12.
and 13 being views at right angles to each other with all the parts in
position, whilst Figures 14 to 19 represent some of the parts as separated
In this modification the screwed piece 5 is made with a wedge-shaped
or tapered body 10, whilst the part of the bar 2 fitting in the socket 6 of
the eye piece 1 is either parallel or is made slightly thicker at its outer
end, as I prefer it, and as shown in Figure 15. The wedge 10 is thicker
at its inner end, its outer screwed end 5 being entered through the
socket 6 in the eye piece 1 from the inner end of the eye piece, and the
washer 7 and nuts 8, 9, are applied on its outer end 5 when projecting
through the socket 6, and bearing on the end of the eye piece firmly
wedge the parts together.
Figures 20 and 21 are views at right angles to each other of a
convenient form of drift to be used in separating the parts.
My improved holder for the knives to be used when heating them for
the purpose of hardening their cutting edges is shown in Figures 22
and 23, which are vertical sections as at right angles to each other.
The holder is a cast-iron box formed with shits or grooves 12 to receive
the knives 13 separately, with their edges projecting so as to be heated
to the necessary extent when the box is put into a furnace. The box
is made hollow, and cold water is led through it by pipes 14, 15, and

page_text: the water having access even into the parts 16 between the knives keeps
the back and middle parts from being heated and from being affected by
the subsequent haidening.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described and delineated; but
that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The fixing of eye pieces to the knife bars of reaping and mowing
machines by means of wedges combined with screws and nuts, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
2. The applying of a water cooled box, substantially such as is
herein-before described, for holding knives for reaping and mowing
machines, when such knives are being heated, in order to their partial
hardening.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Osborn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.