IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Tasker, the younger, of the Waterloo Iron
Works, near Andover, in the County of Hants, Agricultural Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Tasker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
July 1868..
I, WILLIAM TASKER, the younger, of the Waterloo Iron Works, near
5 Andover, in the County of Hants, Agricultural Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the spings or bars which support the shoes, riddles,
or caving boards of thrashing machines, and to the connecting rods which com-,
municate motion from the crank shaft to the shoes, riddles, or caving boards of
those machines.
According to this Invention I make these springs or bars and connecting
rods of two separate blades or bars of wood, steel, or other suitable material,
in place of in one single piece as heretofore. These blades or bars are of
equal thickness throughout their length and are kept separate or asunder by a
block of wood or metal introduced between them at each extremity, such blocks

page_text: serving also as the attachments for the spring bars or connecting rods to the
parts to be moved or to any fixed part of the framing. These connections
may be either rigid or otherwise as preferred.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Tasker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TASKER, the younger, of the Waterloo Iron Works, near Andover, in the
County of Hants, Agricultural Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William. Tasker, the younger, Her special license that I, the said William
Tasker, the younger, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Tasker, the younger, my executors, administrators, or
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 THRASHING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Tasker, the younger, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under
the hand and seal of one of them, 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.
11.
..:
ד' *
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Tasker, the younger, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say.
My said Invention relates to the springs or bars which support the shoes,
riddles, or caving boards of thrashing machines, and to the connecting rods which

page_text: communicate motion from the crank shaft to the shoes, riddles, or caving boards:
of these machines.
According to this Invention I make these springs or bars and connecting:
rods of two separate blades or bars of wood, steel, or other suitable material, in
place of in one single piece as heretofore. These blades or bars are of equal
thickness throughout their length and are kept asúnder by a block of wood or
metal introduced between them at each extremity, such blocks' serving also ás
the attachments for the springs, bars, or connecting rods to the parts to be
moved or to any fixed part of the framing. These 'connections may be either.
rigid or otherwise as preferred.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawing's hereunto annexed;:
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation of my improved spring,
and Figure 2 is a corresponding edge view of the same.
_A, A, are two flat bars of equal thickness throughout composed of wood,
metal, or other suitable material, between which at their extremities are inter-
posed blocks B, B, of wood, metal, or other suitable material; C, C¹, are two
metal shoes or sockets into which the ends of the bars A with their interposed
blocks B are inserted, the whole being securely held together by a bolt a and b
passing through each shoe or socket and also through the ends of the bars-and
the intervening blocks, as shewn. "A flange D may be cast on the upper shoe
or socket C for the facility of rigidly securing the upper end of the spring to
the framing of the thrashing machine, whilst an eye E may be cast upon the
lower shoe or socket C³, in which eye a stud or pin connected to the riddle, shoe,
or caving board is introduced, thereby forming a jointed connection, but if
preferred the lower end of the spring may be rigidly connected to the riddle,
shoe, or caving board in the same manner that the upper end is connected to
the framing of the machine or the spring may be reversed so as to form a
jointed connection with the framing of the machine whilst it is rigidly con-
nected to the riddle, shoe, or caving board. Figures 3 and 4 represent respec-
tively in side elevation and plan a connecting rod for transmitting the vibratory
motion to a riddle, shoe, or caving board, such connecting rod being constructed.
on precisely the same principle as the spring herein-before described. and
illustrated by Figures 1 and 2 of my Drawings.'
A, A, are the two flat bars of equal thickness throughout kept apart by
interposed blocks or distance pieces, not shewn in Figures 3 and 4, and having

page_text: their ends inserted into metal sockets or shoes C, C¹; F is a portion of a
riddle, shoe, or caving board to which one end of the connecting rod is rigidly
secured by bolts a, a, passing through the shoes C, through the bars A and
interposed block, and through the riddle, shoe, or caving board, as shewn by the
Drawing. G is a flange cast on the shoe or socket C¹ to afford facility for the
attachment thereto of the bearings H, H, by the bolts c, c; the crank pin,
which by its rotation vibrates the riddle, shoe, or caving board, works in the
opening I between the two bearings, clearly shewn in Figure 8; b, b, are the
bolts which secure this end of the connecting rod in its socket Ct.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the peculiar construction of
the springs and connecting rods for supporting and actuating the riddles, shoes,
or: caving boards of thrashing machines, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Tasker, the younger, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM TASKER, JUNIOR. (LS.)