IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Read, of Malton, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES.”
Sealed the 6th June 1871, and dated the 9th December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Read at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th December 1870.
I, THOMAS READ, of Malton, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE Com-
STRUCTION OF REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention applies principally to reaping machines with a con-
tinuous side delivery, and the improvements relate,-
Firstly. To an improved method of raising and lowering the delivery
platform.
Secondly. The method of driving the pulleys over which the endless

page_text: a
Fourthly. To an improved socket for supporting the rear end of the
dividing iron.
Fifthly. To the method of mounting and adjusting the reel.
And, sixthly. To an improvement in the eye of the connecting rod
which actuates the knife bar.
I construct the delivery platform of wood having endless delivery.
bands running transversely thereon, and I raise and lower it as required
by means of a ratchet lever and wheel. The driving pulleys over which
the endless delivery bands pass are mounted on a shaft driven by a pair
of bevil wheels and an endless chain passing round a stud wheel fixed to
the small land wheel, or by means of spur gearing; the carrier pulleys at
the other side of the platform are mounted each in a sliding bracket
adjustable by means of a set screw in order to tighten the bands when-
ever they become slack. Instead of placing the small land wheel
outside the "parting board" as usual I place the same inside where it
cannot run down the corn, and I mount it on a stud fixed in a toothed
quadrant fitted into a slide in the parting board, and by means of a
pinion wheel can be raised and lowered at-pleasure and the quadrant
secured in its place by a lock nut. Instead of letting the rear end of
the dividing iron merely work between two wings as ordinarily practised
I provide the same with a socket working on the point of the dividing
board .60 that it can rise and fall as required but cannot get out of its
place as hitherto frequently occurred when passing over rough ground.
I also use a reel or sails for laying the crop towards the cutters and I
drive the same by means of a toothed gearing or by means of chains 2
and stud wheels actuated by a pinion gearing into the internal wheel..
The height of this reel can be altered at pleasure to suit irregular crops
by means of a lever and quadrant without the necessity for stopping
the machine. The driving chain (when used instead of the spur
gearing) may be tightened when required by means of a sliding bracket 3
which carries the stud upon which the chain wheels are mounted. Thọ
teel is so arranged that it may be readily removed when it is desired to
use a hand rake instead thereof; clutches are also provided for throwing
the machine out of gear when necessary.
And, lastly. I form the eye of the connecting rod which actuates the 3
knives with an internal brass bush round which is an oil chamber or
reservoir, a slot or opening through the bush admitting the oil to the
pin as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Read in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
READ, of Malton, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, 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 me, the said Thomas Read, Her special license that I,
I, the said Thomas Read, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Read, my 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 IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Read, my executors or administrators, 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 Thomas Read, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention applies principally to reaping machines with a con-
tinuous side delivery, and the improvements relate,—
Firstly. To an improved method of raising and lowering the delivery
platform.
Secondly. The method of driving the pulleys over which the endless
delivery bands pass.

page_text: Fourthly. To an improved socket for supporting the rear end of the
dividing iron.
Fifthly. To the method of mounting and adjusting the recl.
And, sixthly. To an improvement in the eye of the connecting rod
which actuates the knife bar.
I construct the delivery platform of wood having endless delivery
bands running transversely thereon, and I raise and lower it as required
by means of a ratchet lever and wheel. The driving pulleys over which
the endless delivery bands pass are mounted on a shaft driven by a pair
of bevil wheels and an endless chain passing round a stud wheel fixed to
the small land wheel or by means of spur gearing; the carrier pulleys at
the other side of the platform are mounted each in a sliding bracket
adjustable by means of a set screw in order to tighten the bands when-
ever they become slack. Instead of placing the small land wheel
outside the parting board as usual I place the same inside where it
cannot run down the corn, and I mount it on a stud fixed in a toothed
quadrant fitted into a slide in the parting board and by means of a
pinion wheel can be raised and lowered at pleasure and the quadrant
secured in its place by a lock nut. Instead of letting the rear end of the
dividing iron merely work between two wings as ordinarily practised I
provide the same with a socket working on the point of the dividing
board so that it can rise and fall as required, but cannot get out of its
place as hitherto frequently occurred when passing over rough ground.
I also use a reel or sails for laying the crop towards the cutters, and I
drive the same by means of toothed gearing or by means of chains and
stud wheels actuated by a pinion gearing into the internal wheel, The
height of this reel can be altered at pleasure to suit irregular crops by
means of a lever and quadrant without the necessity for stopping the
machine, The driving chain (when used instead of the spur gearing)
may be tightened when required by means of a sliding bracket which
carries the stud upon which the chain wheels are mounted. The reel is
so arranged that it may be readily removed when it is desired to uso a
hand rake instead thereof; clutches are also provided for throwing the
machine out of gear when necessary.
And, lastly. I form the eye of the connecting rod which actuates the
knives with an interual brass bush round which is an oil chamber or
reservoir, a slot or opening through the bush admitting the oil to the
pin as required.

page_text: Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "Improve-
ments in the Construction of Reaping and Mowing Machines" I will
now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is
to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order
that the same may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto' a.
Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof and have marked the same with
figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following.
explanation thereof..
.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation of the driving end
of the machine; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the reel and apparatus for
driving and adjusting the same, and Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are
detached views of various parts of the machine herein-after more
particularly referred. to.
I construct the delivery platform of wood having endless delivery
bands a, a, (see Fig. 6) running transversely, thereon, and I raise and
lower it as required by the means hereafter described. The delivery
pulleys b, b, are mounted on a shaft c, c, driven by a pair of bevil wheels.
d, d, actuated by the spur gearing e, e, or it may be driven by means of
an endless chain passing round stud wheels; one of the spur wheels e is
mounted on the stud of the small land wheelf,f, and is driven by a
paul and ratchet wheel 9, 9, as seen at Fig. 5. This paul can be thrown
out of gear when required.
The carrier pulleys at the other end of the platform (not shown
in the Drawing) are mounted each in a sliding bracket adjustable by
means of a set screw in order to tighten the bands whenever they become
slack.
. I
Instead of placing the small land wheel f, f, outside the parting
board h, h, as usual, I place the same inside where it cannot run down
the corn, and I mount it on a stud fixed in a toothed quadrant i, i, (see
Fig. 4) fitted into a slide in the parting board; and by means of the
pinion k, k, the latter (and with it the finger bar) can be raised and
lowered at pleasure, and the quadrant secured by means of a lock nut.
Instead of letting the rear end of the dividing iron 7, 1, (Fig. 4) merely.
work between two wings as ordinarily practised, I provide the same with
a socket m, m, working on the point of the parting board h, h, so that' it
can rise and fall as required, but cannot get out of its place, as hitherto
frequently occurred when passing over rough ground. ·

page_text: I also use a real or sails n, n, (see Figs. 1 and 2), for laying the crop
towards the cutters, and I drive the same either by toothed gearing or
by means of endless chains and stud wheels actuated by a pinion o, o,
gearing into the internal wheel p, p. In the Drawing it is shown as
driven by toothed gearing. The pinion o, o, drives the crank shaft q, 7,
by means of a pair of bevil wheels r,r. On this crank shaft (which
actuates the knife bar) is a worm gearing into a worm wheel 8, 8, at the
foot of the inclined shaft t, t, which drives the reel n, n, by three pairs
of bevil wheels u, u. The reel shaft is mounted in a slide bar v, q, so as
to allow of setting the sails either backwards or forwards. This slide bar
works on a stud at w, w, so that the reel can be raised or lowered with-
out any necessity for stopping the machine by means of the bar or
rail x, x, being fixed in its position when adjusted by means of a spring
bolt y, y, taking into holes in the quadrantz, 2, and released when it
requires adjustment by means of the lever 1, 1.
The endless driving chain (when used instead of the toothed gearing)
may be tightened when required by means of a sliding bracket which
carries the stud upon which the chain wheels are mounted. The reel
is so arranged that it may readily be removed when it is desired to use a
hand rake instead thereof. A clutch 2, 2, (see Figs. 1 and 3) is also
provided for throwing the machine out of gear when necessary by means

page_text: thereof constructed and operating in substantially the same or a similar
manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Read, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.