AN IMPROVED REAPING MACHINE, TO BE CALLED 'COMB BEATER
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Gilbee, of 4, South St., Finsbury, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED REAPING
MACHINE, TO BE CALLED 'COMB BEATER.""-A communication from abroad
by Napoleon Gorel, of Bourges, France.
Sealed the 3rd October 1861, and dated the 16th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Gilbeo at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
May 1861.
I, HENRY GILBEE, of 4, South St., Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN IMPROVED REAPING
MACHINE, TO BE CALLED COMB BEATER,'" to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object the taking up and cutting off the ears of
corn, beating them during the travel of the machine as they are taken up,
and conducting them into a receiver, which is emptied by the conductor at
every journey. Such machines, by a system of rocking axle, can be placed in
the necessary plane, according to the height of the grain to be gathered, and
is as follows:-
Upon two suitable sized wheels is mounted the thrasher or beater, which is
composed of a shaft or axle provided with arms, to which are attached a suit-
able number of beaters; such apparatus is mounted in a comb box, and is
made to revolve by means of an endless chain working round a wheel attached

page_text: to one of the driving wheels of the machine and passing round a small chain
wheel is on the axle outside the box. The height of the combs are regulated
by means of two racks attached to the framework of the machine, and which
follow the movement of the axles. The combs are supported on a table, and
are covered with plates of tin, the whole being covered with a metallic covering.
The handles by which the machine is pushed along can be regulated to suit
the height of the attendant by means of a couple of segment pieces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
GILBEE, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, 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
me, the said Henry Gilbee, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 of "AN
IMPROVED REAPING MACHINE, TO BE CALLED 'COMB BEATER,'" communicated
to me from abroad by Napoleon Gorel, of Bourges, France, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Gilbee, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 Gilbee, 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 follow-

page_text: ing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me has for its object the taking up and
cutting off the ears of corn and other grain, beating them during the travel
of the machine as they are taken off, and conducting the grain into a receiver,
which is emptied by the conductor at every journey. The comb or cutter of
such machine can be placed, by a system of rocking axle, in the necessary
plane according to the height of the grain to be gathered in.
The machine is constructed as follows:-Upon two suitably sized wheels is
mounted the thrasher or beater, which is composed of a shaft or axle provided
with arms, to which are attached a suitable number of beaters.
Such appa-
ratus is mounted in a comb box, and is made to revolve by means of an end-
less chain working round a wheel attached to one of the driving wheels of the
machine, and passing round a small chain wheel working on an axle outside the
box. The height of the comb is regulated by means of two racks attached to the
framework of the machine, and which follow the movement of the axles. The
comb is supported on a table, and is covered with plates or blades of tin; the
whole being covered in with a metallic gauze covering. The handle, by which
the machine is pushed along, can be regulated to suit the height of the
attendant by means of a couple of segment pieces.
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure X represents a complete perspective
view of the improved reaping machine or comb beater, and Figure Z is a plan
view of the comb box, shewing the thrashers or beaters. 1, 1, Figure X, are
the two wheels upon which the comb beater is mounted, one of which is furnished
with a toothed wheel 9, which by means of an endless chain 7 turns the small
chain wheel 8 of the beater or thrasher. The apparatus for regulating the
height of the comb 10 composed of two racks 0, 0, attached to the shafts
2, 2, and the rack frame or support 3, 3, which follow the movement of the
axles; 4, 4, are two quadrants for regulating the height of the driving
handles 5 according to the requirement of the attendant, who pushes the
machine before him by means of the handle 6; 12 représents the comb
table; 18, the cloth or receiver suspended to the machine, into which the
grain falls after undergoing the thrashing and beating operation; 15, Figure Z
is the shaft of the thrasher or beater, supported in bearings at 17, and fur-
nished with four tin blades 16, provided with triangular teeth for tearing off
the ears of corn; 18 is a metallic gauze which covers in the whole; 19, tin

page_text: blades placed longitudinally.across the comb, and 20 a hinged table, on to
which the grain falls before entering the trough or receiver 13.
To put the improved reaping machine into operation, the attendant pushes
the apparatus before him, when the blades of the comb coming in contact
with the ears of corn seize and tear them off by the impulsive force given to
them by the attendant. The grain which falls into the box or receiver which
contains the beater is then threshed out by the beater, and falls into the cloth
or receiver, whence it is passed into sacks. The straw remaining behind is
afterwards cut by a suitable machine. The weight of the machine is so small
that it may be worked by one man, and does not cause any appreciable damage
to the straw.
Having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to me,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details of construction of the
machine, as the same may be modified, provided the main feature or prin-
ciples of construction be preserved; but what I claim as new and intended to
be protected by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of a machine which I call
"comb beater," in which the reaping and thrashing operations are combined,
as herein-before described and represented in the annexed Drawing.
Secondly, the arrangement of a rocking axle for adjusting the height of the
comb, as herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Gilbee, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one..
H.
(L.S.)
GILDEE.