Iм- PROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES AND GRASS-MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Cuthbert and William Cuthbert, both of
Newton-le-Willows, near Bedale and Leming, in the County of York,
Agricultural Implement Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
..
"
Sealed the 21st June 1861, and dated the 22nd February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Cuthbert and
William Cuthbert at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 22nd February 1861.
We, ROBERT CUTHBERT and WILLIAM CUTHBERT, both of Newton-le-Willows,
near Bedale and Leeming, in the County of York, Agricultural Implement
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES AND GRASS-MOWING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in counteracting the tendency which is found in
reaping and mowing machines to a side or lateral draught when in operation,
and also in preventing the driving wheel or wheels from dragging or sliding
when the machine is cutting heavy crops, or when the corn or grass is damp.
This we effect by employing a driving wheel or wheels of a conical shape
(that is, so that the wheel shall form the frustrum of a cone), and fixing the

page_text: wheel or wheels to the machine on the opposite side to the cutting apparatus,
so that the periphery or surface shall press evenly on the ground, but so also
that the larger diameter of the wheel or wheels shall be next to the side of
the machine to which it or they is or are attached. By this arrangement the
side draught of the machine, caused by the leverage of the cutting parts, will 5
be counteracted by the draught in a contrary direction produced by the action
of the conical wheel or wheels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Cuthbert and William Cuthbert in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 22nd August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
CUTHBERT and WILLIAM CUTHBERT, both of Newton-le-Willows, near Bedale
and Leeming, in the County of York, Agricultural Implement Manufacturers,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Robert Cuthbert and William Cuthbert, Her special license, that we,
the said Robert Cuthbert and William Cuthbert, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Cuthbert and William
Cuthbert, our 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 REAPING
MACHINES AND GRASS-MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Robert Cuthbert and William Cuthbert, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
us, 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 Cuthbert, on behalf of myself
and of the said Robert Cuthbert, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly

page_text: 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):-
The object of our Invention is to counteract the tendency which is found
in reaping and mowing machines when in work to move laterally, and also to
prevent the driving wheel from dragging or sliding when such machines are
employed in cutting heavy or damp crops. These advantages we propose to
attain by employing a broad driving wheel of a conical shape, that is to say,
'a wheel whose periphery has the form of the frustrum of a cone, and mounting
the wheel on the opposite side of the machine to that at which the cutting
apparatus is situate, in the manner to be presently explained.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 shews in side view, and Figure 2
in partial plan view, an ordinary reaping or mowing machine with a driving
wheel constructed and applied thereto according to this Invention.
A, A, is the main framing; B is the broad conical driving wheel, mounted
on its axle with its largest diameter inwards, by which arrangement a ten-
dency is given to the wheel to turn the machine out of the line of draft, or
away from the standing corn; C is a spur wheel bolted to the arms of the
driving wheel B, and gearing into the spur pinion D. This pinion D is keyed
to and drives the shaft E, which is capable of receiving an endway motion
in its bearings. On the outer end of this shaft is a bevilled wheel F, which
gears into a bevilled pinion G, keyed to an inclined shaft H, for the purpose
of giving rotary motion thereto. At the lower end of this shaft a crank I
is fitted as usual, which crank is coupled by a connecting rod K with the
sliding cutter for the purpose of giving the requisite reciprocating motion to
the cutters L, L. M is the platform, upon which the grass or corn falls when
cut; N and O are two levers, the one N for throwing the bevil wheel F out
of gear with the pinion G, and the lever 0 (which drops into and fits between
the collars, shewn upon the shaft E,) for keeping the wheel in or out of gear,
as may be required. The shafts for the horses are not shewn in the Drawing,
but they are connected to the brackets P, P, in the usual manner. It will
now be understood that when the machine is in motion, the tendency which
the great pressure and consequent leverage upon the whole length of the
cutting apparatus has to draw the machine towards and into the standing
corn or grass will, by the operation of the conical wheel, the periphery of
which rests evenly upon the ground, be counteracted from that wheel, having
the tendency to turn the machine in the opposite direction. By the action of
these neutralizing or counteracting forces the driving wheel will also be pre-
vented from slipping when passing over damp grass or corn, the wheel having

page_text: necessarily a firmer grip or hold upon the ground than the driving wheels of
ordinary reaping and mowing machines.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in
Reaping Machines and Grass-mowing Machines," and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent we claim, counteracting the lateral drag
of the cutting apparatus, and also preventing the slipping of the driving wheels
of reaping and mowing machines in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cuthbert, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Robert Cuthbert, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Nineteenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.
WILLIAM CUTHBERT. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said William
Cuthbert in the presence of
GEORGE HUDSON,
of Leeming.