IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MOWING AND REAPING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hampson, of Boothstown, near Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Farmer, and James Higson, of Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Agricultural Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MOWING AND REAPING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hampson and.
James Higson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th June 1870.
We, SAMUEL HAMPSON, of Boothstown, near Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Farmer, and JAMES HIGSON, of Manchester,, in
the County of Lancaster, Agricultural Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MOWING:
AND REAPING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the use and application to the centre
pole of double horse mowing and reaping machines of a cross piece, to the

page_text: extremities of which shafts are affixed so as to allow of two horses being
geared abreast to such mowing and reaping machine between such shafts
instead of being geared to the centre pole as hitherto. By this
arrangement the weight of the machine is thrown upon the horses' backs
instead of upon their necks as hitherto practised, and the machine is 5
thereby held steadier, rendering the work easier, and giving more control
for rounding circles and angles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Hampson and James Higson in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
HAMPSON, of Boothstown, n' Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Farmer, and JAMES HIGSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Agricultural Engincer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Samuel Hampson and James Higson, Her
special licence that we, the said Samuel Hampson and James Higson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Samuel Hampson and James Higson, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 APPLICABLE TO MOWING
AND REAPING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Samuel Hampson and James Higson, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Samuel Hampson and James
Higson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
These improvements consist in the use and application to the centre
pole of double horse mowing and reaping machines of a cross piece, to
the extremities of which shafts are affixed so as to allow of two horses
being geared abreast to such mowing and reaping machine between such
shafts instead of being geared to the centre pole as hitherto. By this
arrangement the weight of the machine is thrown upon the horses' backs
instead of upon their necks as hitherto practised, and the machine is
thereby held steadier, rendering the work easier, and giving more control
for "rounding circles and angles."
In order that the nature and object of this our said Invention may be
the more readily seen and understood, we have hereunto annexed a
Drawing illustrative of our improvements as applied to an ordinary
mowing and reaping machine and drawn to a scale of about one inch to
the foot.
Fig. 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 a side view of so much of a combined
mowing and reaping machine as is necessary to describe the application
of our improvements, similar letters of reference being used to denote
similar parts in both views.
A is the framework of the machine supported upon the ordinary
wheels B; D, represents the centre pole, which in the case of a reaping
machine is of a form peculiar to this Invention, being bent or curved as
illustrated in Fig. 2 in order not to push down the corn, which is the
result when a straight centre pole is used. Upon this centre pole the
wrought-iron cross piece E is bolted by the bolt F, and such cross piece
is stiffened and braced in position by the triangular iron stay G which is
also bolted to the centre pole by the bolt H. At the extremities of the
cross piece E the shafts I are mounted upon the bolts K, and held
securely in position by the nuts L, and further strengthened by the
curved stay M, which also assists in steadying the cross piece E by
being bolted to the centre pole by the bolt N and nut O. The shafts I
are capable of being turned up in a vertical position at right angles with
the centre pole by slightly loosening the nuts L when it becomes
necessary in coupling restive horses to the machine. Between these shafts
two horses may be geared abreast instead of gearing them to the centre

page_text: pole as hitherto practised, and thus the weight of the machine is taken
off the horses' necks and thrown upon their backs, the result being that
the machine is worked steadier and more easily, and greater facility is
afforded for "rounding circles and angles.
It will be readily apparent that these improvements are equally
applicable to new and existing machines either for mowing or reaping or
to combined mowing and reaping machines.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
our said Invention, together with the best methods with which we are
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be
understood that we claim the use and application to double horse mowing
and reaping machines of a bent or curved centre pole to which a cross
tree for carrying double shafts is affixed as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Higson, for and on behalf
of myself and the said Samuel Hampson, have hercunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Agent,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
JAMES HIGSON. (L.S.)