AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF CHAFF CUTTER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Hammond Bentall, of Heybridge, near
Maldon, in the County of Essex, Agricultural Implement Maker,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF CHAFF CUTTER.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Hammond
Bentall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th January 1873.
I, EDWARD HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the
County of Essex, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF Chaff
CUTTER," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to simplify the construction of chaff
cutters as materially to reduce the cost of their manufacture without
detracting from their efficiency. In carrying out this object I propose
to retain the rising and falling mouth-piece, by which the pressure on
the straw to be cut is equalized, and to provide, as heretofore, for the
adjustment of the length of cut,

page_text: Instead of driving the feed rolls directly from the worm on the fly
wheel shaft I cause the worm to gear into and drive an intermediate
worm wheel keyed on the end of an additional transverse shaft in rear
of the feed rolls, and this shaft I fit at its opposite end with a change
wheel which gears into a change wheel on the axle of the lower roll.
The two rolls I gear together with cog wheels provided with long teeth,
which will allow of the adjustment vertically of the top roll, the axle
of which has its bearings in the side levers which carry the mouth-piece.
By shifting the change wheels the speed of the feed rolls with respect to
that of the shaft of the fly wheel which carries the knives will be
changed and thus any desired length of cut may be obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Hammond Bentall in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 20th July 1873.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HAMMOND BENTALL, of Heybridge, near Maldon, in the County of
Essex, Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Hammond Bentall,
Her special licence that I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Hammond Bentall, 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 law-
fully 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 "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF CHAFF CUTTER," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describo
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

page_text: Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, 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 Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the lotters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
The object of this Invention is so to simplify the construction of chaff
cutters as materially to reduce the cost of their manufacture without
detracting from their efficiency. In carrying out this object I propose
to retain the rising and falling mouth-piece by which the pressure on
the straw to be cut is equalized, and to provide, as heretofore, for the
adjustment of the length of cut.
Instead of driving the feed rolls directly from the worm on the fly
wheel shaft, I cause the worm to gear into and drive an intermediate
worm wheel keyed on the end of an additional transverse shaft in rear
of the feed rolls, and this shaft I fit at its opposite end with a change
wheel which gears into a change wheel on the axle of the lower roll.
The two rolls I gear together with cog wheels provided with long teeth,
which will allow of the adjustment vertically of the top roll, the axle
of which has its bearings in the side levers which carry the mouth-
picce.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view of so much
of a chaff cutter fitted with my improvements as will serve to explain
the nature of the Invention; Fig. 2 is a partial side elevation of the
same; and Fig. 3 is an elevation of the opposite side to that shewn
at Fig. 2.
a, a', are the feed rolls, the former of which has its bearings in the
side levers which are weighted as usual to keep the rolls down to
their work. Secured to these levers is the mouth-piece c, which
pressing upon the straw fed forward to the cutter will hold it firmly
while the cut is being made. The lower roller a has its bearings
in the side plates or trough d of the chaff cutter; a* are the wheels
for gearing the rollers a, a¹, together, and yet allowing of the rise and
depression of the upper roll to meet the inequalities in the thickness
of the feed. Keyed on to the axle of the lower roll is a spur wheel e,

page_text: into which gears a wheel of smaller diameter keyed to a transverso
shaft which has its bearings in the side plates d. The opposite
end of the transverse shaft carries a worm wheel into which
gears a worm on the shaft, which shaft carries the fly wheel
fitted with curved knives as usual to work close up to the mouth
of the trough. On rotary motion being given to this fly wheel, the
feed rolls will be driven through the worm wheel and spur wheels
and e, and caused to advance the straw to the knives at a certain
definite rate, which rate is determined by the relative speeds of rotation
of the shaft and roll a'. By transposing the change wheels e, ♪,
or substituting others of different diameters, the speed of the feed rolls
with respect to the revolution of the knives carried by the fly wheel
will be changed, and thus any desired length of feed may be obtained
to suit the length of chaff desired to be cut.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Construction of Chaff Cutter," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement of chaff cutter
above described, whereby I am enabled to retain the rising and falling
mouth-piece, and to provide as heretofore for the adjustment of the
length of the cut.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Hammond Bentall, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.