Improvements in Travelling Platforms for Self-binding Harvesters and other Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 1st May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 1st Mar., 1894-Accepted, 28th Apr.,
1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Travelling Platforms for Self-binding Harvesters
and other Machines.
I, WALTER HONORATO BARKER, of 37, Haverstock Hill, in the County of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to travelling platforms chiefly designed for use upon self
binding harvesters but also applicable for use upon other machines in which such
platforms are employed.
In carrying out my invention I use a platform having bars or slats carried by
and between suitable chains running over sprocket or chain wheels. The said bars
or slats having pins or projections upon them to ensure the material to be conveyed
being carried along by the platform.
In order to cause these pins to constantly project upwards even when at the
underside of the platform the slats or bars are connected to the chains by sockets
or joints and the wheels carrying the said chains are at one side of the said platform
placed in advance of those upon the other side of the platform so that one side of
the platform runs in advance of the other or so that the bars or slats commence to
pass around the rollers earlier at one end than the other.
In order to provide for any inequalities in the lengths of the carrying chains,
the slats in addition to being pivotally attached to the said chains are also capable
of sliding laterally relatively therewith.
I sometimes use in conjunction with travelling platforms, carrying pieces instead
of or in addition to the ordinary pins these carrying pieces being adapted to
support the material being conveyed so that it will be as much as possible out of
contact with the usual fixed platform. I also sometimes employ in conjunction
with the bars or slats small roller carriages which except at such times as the bars
or slats are passing around the carrying rollers rest upon guides and assist in
retaining the pins or carrying pieces in their required positions.
To prevent the carrying chains from sagging, rollers, preferably upon the links
having the sockets for the slats, are arranged to run upon suitable guides.
When my invention is applied to self binding harvesters the platform behind the
fingers and the elevator platform may be made to work as a single platform,
suitable guide rollers being employed at the angle.
Dated the 1st day of May 1893.
ני
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Travelling Platforms for Self-binding Harvesters
and other Machines.
I, WALTER HONORATO BARKER, of 37, Haverstock Hill, in the County of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to travelling platforms chiefly designed for use upon self-

page_text: binding harvesters but also applicable for use upon other machines in which such
platforms are employed.
In carrying out my invention I use a platform having bars or slats carried by
and between suitable chains running over sprocket or chain-wheels, the said bars or
elats having pins or projections upon them to ensure the material to be conveyed
being carried along by the platform.
In order to cause these pins to constantly project upwards even when at the
underside of the platform the slats or bars are connected to the chains by sockets or
joints and the wheels carrying the said chains are at one side of the said platform
placed in advance of those upon the other side of the platform.
To prevent the carrying chains from sagging, rollers, preferably upon the links
having the sockets for the bars or slats or on the bars, are arranged to run upon
suitable guides.
When my invention is applied to self-binding harvesters the platform behind the
fingers and the elevator platform may be made to work as a single platform,
suitable guide-rollers being employed at the angle.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a plan of the platforms of a self-binding harvester, the said platforms
being constructed and arranged according to my invention:
Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the same; and,
Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3, Figure 1:
Figures 4 and 5 are an end view and sectional plan of a detail of my invention.
A, B are the platforms, the former being arranged horizontally in the usual
manner and serving to receive the cut grain whilst the latter is arranged
to elevate the grain and move it obliquely toward the binding platform of the
machine in a similar manner to that shewn in the Specification of former Letters
Patent granted to me No. 7196 of 1891.
a, a are boards or plates constituting the platforms proper and b, b are the bars or
slats having pins or projections c, c upon them, the said pins or projections
passing between the said boards or plates so as to move the material lying upon the
latter. The bars b, b may be made flat or round but in practice I prefer to form
them of metal tubing.
d, d are the chains carrying the said bars or slats b, b, and e, e are the sprocket
wheels over which the said chains run. The sprocket wheels at each end of the
platforms are arranged on axes one in advance of the other and parallel with each
other.
ff are sockets formed upon or attached to certain links of the chains d, d. These
sockets form bearings for the bars b, b and are arranged transversely to the chains
or at right angles to the direction in which the chains move, and the bars b, b,
which, if flat, are provided with journal portions to work in the said sockets and are
cranked at the parts adjacent to the bearings, as shewn in Figure 1 and in Figure 3.
The extent to which this cranking is effected depends upon the extent to which one
set of the chain-wheels is placed in advance of the other set. The sockets f, fare
placed at equal distances apart upon the chains and the latter are so arranged that
the two sockets forming the bearings of each bar will pass around the respective
sprocket wheels of the chain to which they are connected simultaneously. By
cranking the bars b, bas hereinbefore described, and arranging the sockets carrying
the said bars one in advance of the other I ensure that the bars shall always remain
horizontal so that the pins which they carry shall always remain vertical as shewn
clearly in Figure 2.
In order to prevent any wring between the bars b, b and the sockets in case the
two bearings carrying the bars are not exactly in their proper relative positions
I prefer to form the bearing surfaces of the said sockets as shewn in Figure 5.
In Figures 1 and 3 I have represented the bars b, b as being of sufficient length
to extend beyond the carrying chains on either side. These extensions may be bent
to any desired extent relatively with the sockets carrying the said bars, for

page_text: instance, as shewn at the top of Figure 1 in the horizontal platform A the:
extensions are in alignment with the sockets f, whereas at the bottom of the said
figure they are represented as bent forwardly. The extent to which the bending of
the extensions is effected should be generally such as to bring the several pins of a.
bar as much in line with one another as possible.
In order to prevent any tendency which the chains d, d may have to sag, I
advantageously arrange between the sprocket wheels carrying the chains guide-bars
or rails d', d' upon which rollers d, on the bars b, 6 of the platform A rest, and
in order to prevent the chains from swinging laterally I form in the said rails,.
grooves or guides for the reception of projections g formed on the undersides of
the socket links f, f as shewn clearly in connection with the platform A in
Figures 1, 2 and 3, or the projections 9 may work against the sides of the
guide-bars.
Motion may be communicated to the platforms by any desirable means which.
will naturally vary according to the purpose for which the platform is employed,.
as shewn in Figure 1, two of the sprocket wheels carrying the chains of the
platform A are connected by a bar h and universal joints i, i and motion is imparted
to one of the said sprocket wheels by means of a shaft j through the medium of a
sprocket wheel k and chain from the packer shaft or other shaft of the binding-
mechanism whilst in the case of the oblique platform shewn in Figure 3 motion.
is communicated from the packer or other shaft through the medium of bevel.
wheels m, n.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The improvement in travelling platforms wherein a series of bars or slats.
carrying pins is arranged beneath boards or plates having spaces between them
through which the said pins pass, the said bars or slats being carried by sockets
attached to or formed upon the links of chains, the wheels carrying the said chains.
being so arranged that the axes of one set of wheels carrying one chain are out of
alignment but parallel with the axes of the wheels carrying the other chain,
substantially as described.
2. The manufacture and use of travelling platforms of self-binding harvesters
and other machines, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the:
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 1st day of March 1894.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.