IMPROVEMENTS IN MOWING MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO ADAPT THE SAME FOR BRUSHING AND SWEEPING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Warner, of 11, Old Jewry Chambers, in
the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOWING
MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO ADAPT THE SAME FOR BRUSHING
AND SWEEPING."
Scaled' the 1st April 1869, and dated the 21st October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Warner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st October 1868.
I, HENRY WARNER, of 11, Old Jewry Chambers, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MOWING MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO ADAPT THE
SAME POR BRUSHING AND SWEEPING," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application of apparatus suitablo.
for brushing or sweeping purposes to machines known as lawn mowing
) machines:
In order that the Invention may properly be understood I will proceed
to describe more fully the nature of the same.

page_text: From the mowing machine I take the rotary cutters, and into the
bearings of the cutting spindle place another spindle, on which is placed
my brushes, and which has a driving pulley or pinion upon it, and is
driven by the driving apparatus of such machine. This spindle I make
by preference square, on which the brushes having a square hole
through the centres are placed. One or more brushes may be placed
on the same spindle; by preference I make them of 4 or 6" in length.
The brush I prefer to make of a cylinder of wood with a square or other
shaped hole through the centre, and with the brushing parts arranged
spirally round such cylinder, but I do not limit myself to this form nor
to this form of brush, as the same effect might be produced by spirals
of flexible material arranged in a similar way to the cutters for mowing
purposes. To preserve the cutting plate I either take it off when
sweeping, or place on it a guard to preserve its edge. The better
to sweep up leaves and larger objects I take off the ordinary rollers
in front of the machine and replace on their spindle a narrow wheel
or wheels of sufficient height to allow of the passage of such objects
under the spindle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Warner in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 21st April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WARNER, of 11, Old Jewry Chambers, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Warner, Her special license that I, the
said Henry Warner, my executors; administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, tho said Henry Warner, my 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,

page_text: "
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOWING MACHINES,
AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO ADAPT THE SAME FOR BRUSHING AND SWEEPING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry. Warner,.
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Henry Warner, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say :--.
and by the
This Invention consists in the application of apparatus suitable for
brushing and sweeping purposes to machines known as "lawn mowing
machines," by means of which the one machine is made to answer the
purpose of mowing or sweeping by the substitution of one part or
parts adapted for the one purpose by other part or parts adapted for the
other purpose.
In order that the Invention may properly be understood I will proceed.
to describe more fully the nature of the same, and the manner in which
I prefer to carry it into effect.
To convert a lawn mowing machine into a sweeping machine I take:
from the machine the cutting spindle which carries the cutting blades
set spirally around it, and in its bearings place a spindle fitted with the
brushing apparatus, and also fitted with a pinion or pulley at its end.
so that the brush spindle may be driven by the same means as was
employed for driving the cutting spindle. To again convert the
machine into a lawn mowing machine, the brushing spindle is taken
out and replaced by the cutting spindle. For sweeping purposes
I prefer to take off the front regulating rollers and fit in their place
a narrow wheel or wheels. I prefer either to remove or shift the
cutting plate, or if this plate be retained in its place to fit the edge with.
a suitable guard.
The brushing apparatus I arrange as follows:-I employ a spindle
resembling the cutting spindle, in so far as that it will fit into the.
bearings of such spindle, and in so far as it is adapted for being driven>
by the same driving gear, and to this brushing spindle I attach, my.

page_text: brushing apparatus made of the same length or thereabouts as the
cutters of the mowing machine.. The brushing apparatus I prefer to
make in the form of a cylinder having a hole through the centre
of the same form as the spindle on to which it. is made to pass, and
the tufts of brushing material I prefer to arrange spirally upon such
cylinder.
The cylindrical brush may be made in one or more lengths according
to the size of the machine. The spindle of the brush I prefer to form
circular in section, and when round I prevent the cylindrical brush or
brushes turning on the spindle by means of a pin or screw passing
through the cylinder and spindle at right angles to the axis of the
spindle, or by other suitable method. A cylindrical brush so mounted
on a spindle and with the brushing parts ranged spirally around the
cylinder is shown at Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
The tufts of brushing material may be made either of bass, bristle,
whalebone, or other suitable material, or webs. of flexible, material
may be employed, such as india-rubber, arranged on the cylinder in
like manner as are the cutters of the mowing machine.
The cylindrical brushing apparatus may if preferred be made without
á spindle from bearing to bearing, but formed with axles at the ends
to fit the bearings and driving gear. Straight brushes also may be used
in place of setting the tufts of brushing material in spirals around a
cylinder. When straight brushes are used I prefer to set the brushing
parts so that they do not form a straight line, and so prevent their
coming into contact with the parts to be swept at the same time.
When straight brushes are employed as above described they may, if
desired, be carried from the spindle in such manner that they can be
set towards or away from the spindle, and thus the diameter of the
brush can be adjusted.
A spindle carrying four brushes is shown at Figure 2.of the Drawings;
in each brush the tufts of brushing material are ranged in rows inclined
to the spindle, as indicated by the dotted lines in the Drawing, so that,
the whole length of the brush shall not come into contact with the
ground at the same time.
In place of employing two spindles, one to carry the cutting blades
and the other the cutters, the cutters may be made removeable from
their spindle so that they may be taken off, and brushes be fixed upon
the spindle in place of them.

page_text: To prevent leaves, worm casts, stones, and rubbish, from being
pressed into the grass I remove the front rollers, and upon their spindle
place a narrow wheel or wheels instead, or I remove the rollers and
their spindle and fix other separate axles and wheels to the bearings
of the roller spindle. The cutting plate may either remain in its place
or be removed or made to shift backwards and forwards as may be
required. When the cutting plate is allowed to remain, and there is a
danger of its becoming injured by the objects swept up, I protect its
edge with a guard of metal or other suitable material, such as sheet
lead or brass, bent to its form and pushed on to to the plate from one of
its ends so that it needs no fastening to retain it in its required
position. When the cutting plate is arranged to move backwards and
forwards to move it out of the way of the materials swept up by the
brushes, I mount the plate in the following manner :-I plane truc the
surface of that portion of the frame to which the plate is attached,
leaving at the two ends beyond the length of the plate a thickness of
metal equal to the thickness of the plate, and with edges planed
perfectly true and at right angles to the front and back edges. Between
these ends the plate accurately fits, and when moved backwards or
forwards must necessarily move perfectly parallel. The plate is secured
to the frame by means of screws, and to allow the plate being moved
backwards or forwards I make slots in the plate where the screws will
be placed, so that when the screws are slackened the plate may be
shifted forward for mowing purposes, or backward for sweeping
purposes. Or in place of the above arrangement the sole plate to
which the cutting plate is affixed may be so made that it can be shifted
backwards or forwards by bolts and nuts or other suitable means in
the frame of the machine. By this arrangement I am enabled to shift
the cutting plate backwards or forwards, without removing it from its
planed or packed surface.
In witness whercof, I, the said Henry Warner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-nine.
HY. WARNER. (L.S.)