AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Bragg, of Hensingham, Whitehaven, in the
County of Cumberland, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 26th December 1861, and dated the 29th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Bragg at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th June
1861.
I, ISAAC BRAGG, of Hensingham, Whitehaven, in the County of Cum-
berland, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REAPING AND
MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the cutting parts of reaping and mowing machines,
the object being to prevent the grass collecting on the point of the fingers or
guards, and also to preserve the knives from choking. To this end, I make
each finger in two parts, and attach one part to the upper side and the other
to the under side of the finger bar. These fingers extend no farther forward
than the points of the knives, and thus the working of the knives will always
keep the points clear.

page_text: For keeping the spaces between the fingers clear, the knives are placed
alternately on opposite sides of the knife bar; the spaces thus left allow the
knives to keep the fingers clear. The knife bar is tapered towards its front
edge to permit of the knives on the opposite sides of the bar standing in a
line with each other at the points. A reciprocating motion is communicated
to the knife bar in any well known manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Bragg in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
BRAGG, of Hensingham, Whitehaven, in the County of Cumberland, Agricul-
tural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Isaac Bragg, Her special license that I, the said Isaac Bragg,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Isaac Bragg, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Brag, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Isaac Bragg, do. hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-

page_text: This Invention relates to an improvement in the cutting parts of reaping
and mowing machines, the object of which is to prevent the grass from col-
lecting on the points of the fingers or guards, and also to preserve the knives
from choking. To this end, instead of constructing the fingers against which
the blades cut after the ordinary manner, I make each finger or guard in two
parts, which I attach respectively to the upper and under side of the finger
bar. For the purpose of keeping the spaces between the fingers clear I
place the knives alternately on opposite sides of the knife or cutter bar, the
space thus left allows the knives to keep the fingers clear.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in plan view so much of a
finger bar and cutter bar, fitted according to this Invention, as will serve to
explain my improvement, and Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same.
A is the finger bar, which is to be supported in any approved way in front
of the machine, and made capable of vertical adjustment as usual; upon this
bar the fingers B, B*, composed of two parts, are mounted, the part B being
secured to the upper side of the bar and the part B* to the under side by screws
or otherwise. Within the space left between the parts B and B* the knife or
cutter bar C works as usual, it being operated by any approved arrangement
of mechanism. The bar C, it will be seen in Fig. 2, is made slightly wedge-
shaped or tapered towards its front edge; this is for the purpose of allowing
the point of the knives D, D, which are attached to the opposite sides of the
bar, working in the same plane. The inner faces of the fingers are made to
correspond with the dip or angle of inclination of the knives; no accumu-
lation, therefore, of grass or other produce can accumulate so as to clog the
action of the knives, as the knife edges by working close up the fingers will
immediately remove the obstruction.
By reference to the Drawing, it will be seen that the points of the fingers
extend no farther forward than the points of the knives, and thus the working
of the knives will always serve to keep their points clear. This arrangement.
of cutting apparatus, it will be understood, may be adapted to reaping and
mowing machines generally, and as its operation will be precisely similar to
that in general use, I have not thought it necessary to shew the apparatus in
its place in a reaping or mowing machine.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improvement
in the Construction of Reaping and Mowing Machines," 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
cutting apparatus above described, whereby the accumulation of cut grass or

page_text: other produce upon the fingers of reaping and mowing machines, and the
consequent tendency of the knives or cutters to choke is prevented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Bragg, have hereunto set my band
and seal, the Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
ISAAC BRAGG. (L.S.)