IMPROVEMENTS IN HARVESTING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Manwaring, of Banbury, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HARVESTING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Manwaring at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th June 1863.
I, WILLIAM MANWARING, of Banbury, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HARVESTING MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to machines and apparatus for cutting, swathing,
gathering, and sheaving natural and artificial grasses and grain. Hitherto
reaping and mowing machines having two driving wheels, a trailing beam
(that is, a beam so hung as to slide upon the ground), and a reciprocating
knife have not been made with a so-called double-stroke cutting apparatus,
that is, one in which the knife has a stroke proportioned to the distance
between the guards, so that the extreme forward cutting parts of the cutting
sections (except as to the end sections) shall travel at least from the right
edge of one of the guards across an intermediate guard, to the left edge of
the next guard, and vice versa, as more particularly described in the Patent
granted to myself and Bernhard Samuelson, dated November 30th, 1859,
No. 2706. Now I combine with machines having two driving wheels and a
trailing beam the said double-stroke cutting apparatus.

page_text: In order to cause the above or any other reciprocating cutting apparatus to
follow the inequalities of the ground in machines having two driving wheels, I
attach the finger beam to a lever having a slot or slots which are made to
embrace two or more projections in the body of the machine, by preference
between the driving wheels, the relative form of the slots and position of the
projections limiting the play of the cutting apparatus. The beam may be
hinged or otherwise attached to the lever, but I prefer that it be attached by
a wide open hinge through which the knife and connecting rod can play. I
attach to the top of the beam a curved ratchet, and to the lever before
described a pawl, and I let the pawl drop into the ratchet when I want the
beam to become rigid. It can then be lifted entirely clear of the ground.
In reapers and mowers having only one driving wheel I make the latter
with an upright flange, which flange is geared on its inner surface, that is, on
the upright surface nearest to the standing crop. From this gearing I drive
a pinion or worm, and on the same shaft as this latter I fix a wheel, which
takes into a second pinion or worm on the shaft carrying the crank (or its
equivalent) which propels the knife or cutter bar. In order to put the cut crop
into swathe, I hinge to the off shoe of the finger beam, or to a prolongation
thereof, a so-called swathe turner or dividing board of concave form, the
concave part being next to the cut crop. In order to gather the standing
crop towards the cutters and lay it off in sheaves from a platform clear of the
track of the driving wheel or wheels on the next round I use an inclined
shaft; to this shaft, which is put in motion by the gearing of the machine in
any convenient way, I attach rake and reel arms; the latter are rigidly
connected with the shaft, so as to describe a circular path, but the former are
pivotted to a disc or to radii, so that they have a tendency to fall into the
standing crop or upon the platform and sweep it clean.
fall is limited by a stationary inclined surface or surfaces
shaft, with which the rake arms are brought in contact.
The extent of this
around the inclined
The distinctive feature of this my gathering and, sheaving apparatus is the
inclined shaft in combination with rigid reel and pivoted rake arms.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Manwaring, Her special licence that I, the said William
Manwaring, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Manwaring, 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 HARVESTING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Manwaring, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Manwaring, 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 accompanying Drawings,,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My improvements relate to machines and apparatus for cutting, swathing,
gathering, and sheaving natural and artificial grasses and grain. Hitherto
reaping and mowing machines having two driving wheels, a trailing beam
(that is, a beam so hung as to slide upon the ground), and a reciprocating
knife have not been made with a so-called double-stroke cutting apparatus,
that is, one in which the knife has a stroke proportioned to the distance
between the guard, so that the sections (except as to the end sections) shall
travel at least from the right edge of one of the guards across an intermediate
guard to the left edge of the next guard, and vice versa, as more particularly.
described in the Patent granted to myself and Bernhard Samuelson, dated
30th November 1859. Now I combine with machines having two driving
5 wheels and a trailing beam the said double-stroke cutting apparatus. In order
to cause the above or any other reciprocating cutting apparatus to follow the
inequalities of the ground in machines having two driving wheels, I attach the
finger beam to a lever having a slot or slots which are made to embrace two
or more projections in the body of the machine, by preference between tho

page_text: driving wheels, the relative form of the slots and position of the projections
limiting the play of the cutting apparatus. The beam may be hinged or
otherwise attached to the lever, but I prefer that it be attached by a wide open
hinge, through which the knife and connecting rod can play. I attach to the
top of the beam a curved. ratchet, and. to the lever before described a pawl,
and I let the pawl drop into the ratchet when I want the beam to become
rigid; it can then be lifted entirely clear of the ground. In reapers and
mowers having only one driving wheel I make the latter with an upright
flange, which flange is geared on its inner surface, that is, on the upright
surface nearest to the standing crop. From this gearing I drive a pinion or
worm, and on the same shaft as this latter I fix a wheel, which takes into a
second pinion or worm on the shaft carrying the crank (or its equivalent)
which propels the knife or cutter bar. In order. to put the cut crop into
swathe I hinge to the off shoe of the finger beam, or to a prolongation thereof,
a so-called swathe turner or dividing board of concave form, the concave front
being next to the cut crop. In order to gather the standing crop towards the
cutters and lay it off in sheaves from a platform clear of the track of the
driving wheel or wheels on the next round I use an inclined shaft; to this
shaft, which is put in motion by the gearing of the machine in any convenient
way, I attach rake and reel arms; the latter are rigidly connected with the
shaft, so as to describe a circular path, but the former are pivoted to a disc or
to radii, so that they have a tendency to fall into the standing crop or upon
the platform and sweep it clean; the extent of this fall is limited by a sta-
tionary inclined surface or surfaces around the inclined shaft, with which the
rake arms are brought in contact. The distinctive feature of this my gathering
and sheaving apparatus is the inclined shaft in combination with rigid reel and
pivoted rake arms.
And in order that my said Invention of improvements in harvesting machines
may be more fully understood I shall now proceed to describe the Figures in
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, which I have hereunto appended for the
purpose of showing certain modifications under which my said Invention may
be carried out in practice, that is to say:-
Figures 1 and 2 in the accompanying Drawings represent a harvesting
machine having two driving wheels A and A and a trailing beam B. Motion
is given to the knife from the crank wheel C, which is of sufficient eccentricity
to give the knife motion through two of the guards D and D, as more parti-
cularly described above.
Figure 3 represents a harvesting machine in which the beam is attached to
the frame by means of an extension piece-A, having curved slots B, B, working

page_text: on pins C, C, projecting from the framework of. the machine, the whole being
arranged in such a manner that the beam, when passing over inequalities of
ground, rises and falls in a line which is perpendicular as respects the frame-
work of the machine. In order that the beam shall be flexible in each
direction I hinge it at D, Figures 2 and 3, and I further attach to the exten-
sion piece A (Figure 3) a pawl E and ratchet R (Figure 2), in the manner
shown, for the purpose of raising the beam from the ground when necessary.
Figure 4 represents an arrangement of gearing applicable to one-wheeled
machines, A being the driving wheel cast with bevil teeth on its inner surface
at B; C is a bevil pinion taking into said teeth; D, a spur wheel keyed to the
same shaft as the bevil pinion, and E a spur pinion keyed on the crank shaft.
Figure 5 represents a portion of an automatic or self-raking reaping machine.
A is an inclined shaft carrying arms B and C. The arm B, which is provided
with a rake D, is pivoted to the upright shaft A at E, and is provided with a
friction roller F, rolling on a cam G; this cam is of such a form as to cause
the rake D to sweep parallel across the platform H, on which the cut grain falls.
The arm C is furnished at its extremity with a reel-or dummy board I, which
brings the standing crop towards the cutter bar on the revolution of the
shaft A; the arm. C with its reel board I is not pivoted to the upright shaft A,
but firmly fastened thereto, partaking of its motion and describing its own path
without being guided by the cam G; any number of arms, either furnished
with rakes or reel boards, may be used at pleasure, but in all cases the rake
arms are pivoted to the shaft A, and guided by the cam G, while the reel or
dummy arms are firmly fixed to the said shaft A.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same may be carried out, what I
consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
First, the combination of the "double throw" knife, as more particularly
described above, with machines having two driving wheels or a trailing beam.
Second, the arrangement of the slotted extension piece for carrying the
beams of barvesting machines so that, in passing over inequalities of ground,
the beam always rises and falls perpendicularly in regard to the framework of
the machine.
Third, the arrangement of gearing for single wheel machines shown in
Figure 4, substantially as set forth.
And, fourth, the arrangement of rakes and reels in a self-raking machine, as
described, so that by the use of an inclined shaft and cam, which in themselves
are not new, the pivoted rake arm may be guided parallel over the platform,

page_text: while the reel boards are not pivoted but firmly fastened to the inclined shaft,
and describe their own path without guidance from the cam.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Manwaring, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM MANWARING. (L.S.)