IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Nicholson, of Chaple House, Hensingham,
Whitehaven, in the County of Cumberland, Agricultural Implement
Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES."
Sealed tho 18th January 1861, and dated the 30th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Nicholson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th July 1860.
I, JOSEPH NICHOLSON, of Chaple House, Hensingham, Whitehaven, in the
County of Cumberland, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND Mow-
ING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machines for reaping and mowing, and consists in jointing a bent bar to the
cast-iron bracket carrying the driving gear as near as possible to the centro of
the spindle carrying the crank pin for driving the cutter bar. Another bar is
fixed to and projects from the cast-iron bracket, the end of which forms a guido
for the bont bar, and also carries a small running wheel. Another joint connects
the bent bar with the shoe piece to which the finger bar is fixed in a direct line
with the contre of the main driving wheel. The finger bar thus having free

page_text: vertical motion independant of the running wheels is able to follow all the
inequalities of the ground. Between the fixed bar and the bent bar a lever is
applied by means of which the finger bar can be raised clear of the ground.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Joseph Nicholson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
NICHOLSON, of Chaple House, Hensingham, Whitehaven, in the County of
Cumberland, Agricultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, IIer heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Nicholson, Iler special license that I, the said Joseph
Nicholson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Joseph Nicholson, my executors, administrators, or assigns; should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Nicholson, 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 Joseph Nicholson, 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 accompanying Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say: -
i
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machines for reaping and mowing, and consists in jointing a bent bar to the
cast-iron bracket carrying the driving gear as nearly as possible to the centre of
the spindle carrying the erank pin for driving the cutter bar. Another bar is

page_text: fixed to and projects from tho cast-iron bracket, the end of which bar forms a
guide for the bent bar and also carries a small running wheel. The bent bar
is jointed to the shoe piece to which shoe piece the finger bar is fixed at a
point nearly in a direct line with the centre of the main driving wheel. The
finger bar is then allowed free vertical motion independently of the running
wheels, and is consequently able to follow all the inequalities of the surface of
the ground. Between the fixed bar and the bent bar a lever is applied by
means of which the finger bar can be raised clear of the ground.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation of my improved reaping
and mowing machine; Figure 2 is a corresponding plan of the same, and
Figure 3 is a back elevation of the machino.
A is a cast-iron bracket, which carries the whole of the driving gear and is
bolted to the polo or shafts for the drawing of the machine; B is a bent bar,
which is jointed at 6 to the bracket A, and is connected at its opposite end to
the shoe picce C by a pin joint at c. This bent bar is guided and steadied in its
vertical movement by a fork d, made in the end of the bar D, which bar is
rigidly secured to the bracket A. E is a small running wheel carried in
a fork fixed to the bar D; I is a stay, which is jointed at f, to the front portion
of the shoo piece and is also connected at 9 to a stud on the bracket A
thereby steadying and supporting the fore-part of the shoe piece. The lever
G, which works on a fixed centre h, serves to elevate the bent bar B and
finger bar II, a pin i being fitted into the side of lever for that purpose,
which pin bears against the under side of the bent bar B. Motion is im-
parted to the cutter bar I by the connecting rod J, worked by the crank K
on the end of the short shaft L. This shaft is driven from the main driving
and supporting wheel M by a pinion N and internal toothed wheel or rack
fitted inside the main wheel. The pinion N is loose on its shaft, and is in
one piece with an internal ratchet wheel formed inside the case N¹, the two
being thus free to turn on their shaft. This shaft carries however an arm,
which is koyed fast thereon, and is provided at its outer extremity with a
spring pall, which carries round the shaft by taking into the teeth of the
internal ratchet wheel, when the latter rotates in one direction, but when it
is rotated in the opposite direction or that produced when the machine is
backed, then the teeth of the ratchet pass over the pall without engaging with

page_text: it, and consequently the shaft and cutting mechanism remain stationary. By
having a stud in the side of the pall. passing through a slot in a rotating face
plate, or cover of the ratchet, tho partial rotation of such plate may be mado
to throw the pall in or out of gear with the ratchet as required, any suitable
contrivance being adopted for turning the face plate. The stud of the main
axle O is made eccentric so as to be capable of adjustment by being turned
more or less. This enables the pinion N to be changed and replaced by
another having a greater or fewer number of teeth so as to regulate the speed
when required.
Having now described and [particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus
for reaping and mowing, as herein-before described.
Second, the combination of the hinged bent bar with the bracket and the
shoe-piece in a reaping or mowing machine, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Nicholson, have to this my
Specification hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth :
day of January, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOSEPHI NICHOLSON. (L.S.)