Improvements in Hay-making Machines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 8th July, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 8th Apr., 1892-Accept:d, 14th May, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hay-making Machines.
We, OSBORN GEORGE JOSEPH THACKRAY, of Victoria Foundry, Huntingdon,
in the County of Huntingdon, Engineer, and 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:-
This invention relates to machines for turning or tedding hay or the like and
especially to that class of such machines in which a series of vibrating or oscillating
forks is employed.
The cliief object of the said invention is to provide means for adjusting such forks,
that is to say, for adjusting their height relatively to the ground, the distance they
lift, and the length of vibration or oscillation imparted to them.
According to my invention each fork is operated by an eccentric upon the main
axle of the machine, the said axle with its eccentrics being rotated by means of.
suitable gearing from the driving wheels, ratchets and pawls being arranged in
connection with the said gearing to allow for turning the machine. The strap of
each eccentric is provided with two arms one of which is connected to and com-
municates motion to the adjacent fork, whilst the other end is connected to one end
of a rocking lever pivoted upon one arm of a bell-crank or other lever upon the
eccentric shaft, and operates the same. The other end of the rocking-lever is
connected by a link to the upper end of the fork, and the other arm of the bell-
crank lever is connected by a rod to an arm on a shaft moved by a hand lever, a
spring catch and a segment plate being used in combination with the hand lever so
that the said hand lever and consequently also the bell-crank lever and the rocking
lever carried by the latter can be adjusted in any desired position thereby
correspondingly adjusting the height of the forks relatively to the ground.
The points of connection between the rocking lever and the link at one end and
the arm of the eccentric strap at the other end are made adjustable for regulating
the throw and lift of the forks.
In combination with the hand lever are arms moving therewith and so arranged
that when the said hand lever is moved to raise the forks from the ground for
travelling, the said arms will come into such a position that the pawls will impinge
against them and so be lifted out of engagement with their ratchet wheels thereby
stopping the rotation of the eccentric shaft.
Instead of using eccentrics we may use a shaft having a series of cranks and
instead of making such eccentric or crank shaft the main axle of the machine it
may form a counter shaft.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hay-making Machines.
We, OSBORN GEORGE JOSEPH THACKRAY, of Victoria Foundry, Huntingdon,
in the County of Huntingdon, Engineer, and 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 :-
This invention relates to machines for turning or tedding hay or the like and

page_text: especially to that class of such machine in which a series of vibrating or oscillating
forks is employed.
The chief object of the said invention is to provide means for adjusting such
forks, that is to say, for adjusting their height relatively to the ground; the
distance they lift, and the length of vibration or oscillation imparted to them.
According to my invention each fork is operated by a crank upon the main axle
of the machine, the said axle with its cranks being rotated, by means of suitable
gearing from the driving-wheels, the said gearing being carried by brackets which,
with a bar connecting the same, constitute the framing of the implement:
Each crank carries a two-armed rod or lever, one of which arms is connected
to and communicates motion to the adjacent fork, whilst the other arm
connected to one end of a pivotted rocking-lever and operates the same, the other
end of the rocking-lever being connected by a link to the upper end of the fork.
The rocking-levers are pivotted upon. brackets provided with bearings in which the
crank-shaft or main axle rotates and rigidly attached to the bar connecting the
gearing carrying brackets, a segment and worm or other suitable means being
arranged in connection with the said bar for adjusting the position of the brackets
and thereby correspondingly adjusting the height of the forks relatively to the ground.
The points of counection between the rocking-levers and the links and the two-
armed levers and the links are made adjustable for regulating the throw and lift of
the forks.
To enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figures 1, 2 and 3 are a plan, side elevation and a rear elevation respectively of
a hay-making machine constructed according to our invention and in which the
forks are represented as being oscillated by means of cranks, the forks on one side
of the machine being removed for the sake of clearness :
Figure 4 is a section on the line, Figure 1; and,
Figures 5 and 6, 7, and 8 and 9 and 10 are views of details of the machine
hereinafter described :
Figure 11 is a sectional side elevation illustrating a modification of our invention
hereinafter described.
'a, a indicate the gearing carrying brackets, and b indicates the bar connecting
the same; the said brackets and bar as hereinbefore stated constituting the framing
of the implement.
c, c are the driving-wheels which are mounted upon elongated bosses.d, d formed
upon the brackets a. « in a manner which will be readily understood by reference
to Figures 5 and 6, which represent respectively a plan and side elevation of one
of the said brackets.
e indicates the crank-shaft which passes through the elongated.bosses d, d of the
brackets a, a and is adapted to rotate therein independently of the travelling-
wheels, and e',.e' are the cranks thereof.
As shown in the drawings this crank-shaft is divided into two portions, one half
being driven by one driving-wheel and the other half by the other driving wheel
in order that the machine may be readily turned without making any special
provision for allowing one wheel to move independently of the other as would be
necessary if the crank-shaft extended right through the machine,
ffff indicate the gear-wheels by means of which motion is communicated
from the travelling-wheels, to the two parts of the crank-shaft, the gear-wheelf of
each train being provided with clutch-teeth g designed to engage with corresponding.
clutch-teeth upon the hubs of the wheels c, the wheels f,keyed upon a counter-
shaft carried in the bracket a and the wheel secured to the shafte. With this
arrangement it will be readily understood that when the clutch-teethi g of the gear-
wheels are in engagement with the clutch-teeth of the travelling-wheels c, c
motion will be imparted to the crank-slinft e; the speed of rotation relatively to
the speed of rotation of the wheels c, c being variable according to the relative
diameters of the gear-wheelyff ƒ ; f

page_text: For facilitating the manufacture of the machine we have in the drawings repre-
sented each half of the crank-shaft as boing formed in two parts connected together
by a crank-arm secured to one part and having a socket to receive the crank-pin
of the other part.
are the brackets to which the rocking-levers hereinaftor described are
pivotted, the said brackets being secured to the bar band each provided with a
bearing for the crank-shaft, as will be readily understood. by reference to
Figures 7 and 8, which represent a plnu and side elevation respectively of one of
the brackets detached from the machine.
+
In order to move the gear-wheels, to effect the engagement and disengagement.
of their clutch-teeth with and froin those of the travelling-wheels etc we provide
the bars & sliding in suitable guides in the gearing carrying brackets u, a cach of.
the said bars being shaped at its end to engage with a flange, formed upon the
inner face of the adjacent gear-wheel. This arrangement will be readily under--
stood by reference to Figures 9 and 10: Figure 9 shewing the shape of the
turned-up end of the bar, and Figure 10 representing the said turned-up end in
engagement with a flange upon one of the wheels. The said sliding-bars k, k
are moved simultaneously through the medium of a lever pivotted at upon
one of the brackets; and connected to the said sliding-bars by means of
rods 1³, 1.
m, m indicate the forks, each of which, as shewn, is provided at its lower end
with spring-teeth, and n, n indicate.the two-armed rods or levers mounted upon the.
cranks e, e and serving to communicate motion to the said forks. o, o indicate
the rocking-lovers pivotted upon pins o', o' upon the brackets j, j and each.
connected at one end to one of the two-armed levers n, n and at the other end,
by a link p with the upper end of one of the forks m. With this arrangement it
will be understood that when the crank-shaft rotates in the direction of the arrow,.
Figure 2, motion will be imparted to the forks..
:
i
As each fork is not only directly connected to the crank by one of the lovers n
but also indirectly through the medium of its rocking-lever o and link p, it follows
that the fork will make a kind of double movement, that is to say, one imovement...
due to its direct connection with its crank and the other to its connection-therewith
through the said rocking-lever and link, the result of which arrangement is that cach,
fork. moves in a path somewhat like that indicated by the dotted line in Figure 2.
In Figure 2 three forks are shewn, and as the crauks operating the several forks
are shewn at equal angles apart, the position of the several forks correspond to.
positions which each of the forks takes during one revolution of its crank.
In order to adjust the length of the throw of each fork, we provide in each of the-
rocking-levers.o a series of holes o, o³, and by connecting the link with the
rocking-lever at one or the other of these boles the throw is correspondingly varied,.
that is to say, when the link p is connected with its rocking-lever at the extremity
thereof the throw is greatest and when near to its pivot the throw is least.
To regulate the point at which ench fork shall enter the bay or other material
and the point at which it shall leave the same we form in the link a series of.
holes p', p': when the link p is at its greatest length, as shewn in Figure 2, the
fork enters the hay at the nearest point to the axis of the machine and as the link >>
is shortened so is the distance between the axis of the machine and the point at
which the fork enters the hay correspondingly lengthened.
Holes n', formed in the two-armed lovers n serve for affording greater-
variations in the forward and backward throw of the forks than can be effected by
means of the holes p¹ only, and also for varying the extent to which the forks lift.
In order to adjust the height of the forks relatively with the ground we secure to.
the bar b a toothed segment q shewn most clearly in Figure 4, and to the cross-.
bars r, of the draught-shafts s, (which are pivotally connected with the
brackets a, a) we attach a bracket carrying a shaft to which a worm v engaging
with the teeth of the segment is secured. It is obvious that when, by means of.
this frame and segment, the pivots o' of the rocking-levers are lowered, the:

page_text: forks will be moved further from the ground and vice versa when the pivots o'
are raised.
to indicates the standard for a seat, the said standard being carried by the cross-
'bars r, r.
In the modification of our invention shewn in Figure 11 we have shewn how
eccentrics may be used instead of cranks. In this case the shaft carrying the
eccentrics is driven independently of the wheels through the medium of suitable
gearing such as that herein before described in order to obtain the requisite speed.
As, however, in this modification it is advisable to extend the eccentric carrying
shaft right through the machine it is requisite to provide suitable mechanism for
allowing one wheel to move independently of the other when turning the machine:
this can be effected by any suitable mechanism such, for instance, as that shewn,
which consists of a ratchet-wheel to secured to the shaft of the gear-wheel and
a pawl secured to the said gear-wheel and serving when the machine is travelling
under ordinary conditions to communicate the motion of the shaft to the said
gear-wheel In Figure 11 we have represented the lifting of the forks relatively
with the ground as being effected by means of a hand-lever y, and in connection
with the said lever we have shewn a second lever having a lug or projection z' at
its end which, when the lever y is pulled back to lift the teeth from the ground, say,
when passing from one field to another or when travelling along a road, will come
into the path of a lug upon the pawl 10 so that as the wheel is rotating the
said lug will impinge against the lug &', whereby the said pawl will be lifted out
of engagement with the ratchet-wheel to and so stop the mechanism.
=
In the drawings we have represented forks outside the driving-wheels in order to
increase the width of the machine. These forks are operated in precisely the same
Inanner as the other forks by means of cranks upon the crauk-shaft and their
rocking-levers are pivotted. upon arms, secured to the bosses d, d of the
brackets u, a and serving in lieu of the brackets j. It is to be understood, however,
that we make no claim to this arrangement of outside forks.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare 'tlint what we
claim is :-
1. In a hay-making machine having a series of forks vibrated or oscillated by
means of cranks or eccentrics, connecting the said cranks or eccentrics with the
forks at two points, substantially as, and for the purposes, described.
2. In a hay-making machine having a series of forks operated by cranks or
eccentrics as described the employment of a crank or eccentric shaft for operating
the forks on the same axis as the driving-wheels, substantially as described.
3. In a hay-making machine having a series of vibrating or oscillating forks, the
combination with the said forks of a shaft having a series of cranks or eccentrics,
a series of rocking-levers, rods connecting the cranks or eccentrics with the forks
and with the rocking-levers, links connecting the rocking-levers and the forks and
means for enabling the said levers, rods and links to be adjusted, substantially as,
and for the purpose, described.
4. In a lay-making machine having a series of vibrating forks operated as
described rendering the pivots of the pivotted levers adjustable in order to vary
the height of the forks from the ground.
5. The improved hay-inaking machine herein before described and illustrated in
Figures 1 to 10.of the accompanying drawings.
6. The modification of our invention substantially as described by reference to
Figure 11 of the accompanying drawings.
and shelf: 100D
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.