Improvements in Gathering or Picking Apparatus for Agricultural Purposes
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 17th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 6th Feb., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gathering or Picking Apparatus for Agricultural
Purposes
I, JOSEPH BARTHE, Professor, of Castanet, Department of Haute Garonne, in
the Republic of France, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to an agricultural gathering or picking up machine consisting
of a chain with buckets or receptacles the gathering border of which is toothed and
serves to pick up spikes, seeds, branches, berries, flowers etc. such bucket chain being
operated by suitable gearing communicating with the driving or travelling wheels of
the machine.
This apparatus is formed of a number of buckets or receptacles, the gathering or
collecting borders of which are toothed; these receptacles are passed over shafts by
means of an endless chain to which they are fixed. The upper shaft is operated
by the travelling wheels of which the axle forins also the axle-tree of the machine,
and is joined to a gearing wheel which drives a wheel transferring its movement
by means of a flat chain to a pulley fixed upon the axis of the before mentioned
shaft.
The materials picked up by the toothed edged receptacles are thrown upon
an inclined plane which conducts them to a receiver conveniently arranged upon
the cart.
Dated this 17th day of February 1896.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gathering or Picking Apparatus for Agricultural
Purposes.
I, JOSEPH BARTHE of Castanet, Department of Haute Garonne, France, Professor,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
The above-named apparatus affords to persons engaged in agricultural and
horticultural occupations, a novel and efficacious means of quickly gathering and
saving the seed, flowers, leaves, buds, or other useful parts of the plants which they
cultivate, the method adopted being to detach from the plant, as it stands, all its
valuable products without cutting the stalk and without uprooting it. Leaving the
novelty of my process out of the question, the realisation of the plan I propose, even
if attained by means already known, deserves to be regarded as an inventio..
The process consists, substantially, in the use and operation of one or several
recipients, furnished with appendices for gripping, or seizing, similar to those with
I'rice 8d.]

page_text: which Nature bas endowed most animals, in the form of teeth, tusks or the like.
These appendices in my apparatus vary as regards number, dimensions, and arrange-
ment to correspond with the special use to which it is to be applied, the kind of plant
to be treated, the motive power employed and other circumstances.
The motive power may be that of a man, or a horse, an ox, or other animal, while
such power as that of a fall of water, the wind, steam, gas, petroleum or any other
motive agency may be employed.
I now proceed to give an example of the construction of my apparatus and a
description of the parts constituting it, referring to the accompanying drawings.
The chief organ of this machine is a recipient, the front face of which is formed of
a rake or comb, made of sheet-steel. This rake or comb is riveted to the three other
sides of the said recipient and may be changed, or even removed, at will.
A certain number of these organs are hinged the one to the other with the help of
a rod, and so arranged as to form an endless chain, which is actuated by drums, as
in a Paternoster-work or chain of buckets. The axles of these drums are supported
by a vehicle or limber-like carriage.
As is shewn in the drawings this vehicle may be drawn by oxon and the reaping
apparatus advances with it, as it is taken through the field, the crop of which is to be
reaped. The forward or progressive movement may be compared to that of a reaping-
machine, or even an ordinary mower. But, whereas in the two last named machines,
the drive-wheels communicate to the reaping apparatus, an alternate motion that is
almost horizontal, by means of which its blades cut the stalks of the crop, in the
machine under description two toothed wheels A, B, and two chain wheels C, D..
carried by the three axles a, b, c, give to the recipient chain, above described, a
vertical movement from the front backward, a movement which, by the help of a
fourth axle d, describes a elliptic trajectory shewn in the accompanying figures.
Thanks to this arrangement, the rakes or combs E of the Paternoster-work seize,
with an upward and backward movement, the stalks of the plant to be deprived of its
grain. They move with a speed of about 0-72 of a turn per second, so that during
this lapse of time several teeth seize the same stalk and hold it in a bent position, the
curve being that of the trajectory described, until the spike, or ear, becomes detached
and falls into one or other of the buckets of the Paternoster-work, which, having
reached a certain point in its course, projects (by the action of rotatory force) the
contents of its several recipients into one large receiver G provided for that
purpose and spacious enough to contain all the ears that can be detached in about
an hour's time.
The level of the Paternoster-work may be raised or lowered, at any moment, by
means of the screws H which are used to lift or to lower the front part of the frame
on the wheel-forks J of the vehicle. This method of arrangement lessens the
resistance and aids the tractive power, without allowing the escape of any heads of
grain worth reaping.
The straw, which is very much in the way of the harvesters uring the sickle, or
scyther, or even reaping machine, is, according to my system, left standing until a
convenient time for cutting it presents itself. It may even happen, in some cases,
that the farmer will prefer to leave it standing, to serve for nanuring the soil.
proceed to give a more detailed description of my apparatus with reference to the
drawings. K represents the pole to which the oxen are attached, and L. the frame
supported by 4 wheels, M, M, m, m.
On the wheel-forks J of the two little wheels, are placed the two screws, which
allow the frame and, with it, the Paternoster-work recipients to be raised or lowered.
a, b, c, d represent four axle-trees the first three carry the four gearings adapted to
transmit the motion given by the drive-wheels. The fourth of these axle-trees
carries the upper drum O of the Paternoster-work. The lower drum of the said
Paternoster-work are operated by the axle c.
P shows the engaging and disengaging device, Q the fly-wheel.
Finally R is a thin partition, forming the upper and rear wall of a kind of cage
which serves to protect the Paternoster-work from wind and rain. This wall i

page_text: intended to stop the grain projected by rotatory force and to cause it to slide into the-
large recipient. G whence it is removed to be put into sacks as the work proceeds.
The vehicle will also serve to transport the sacks, so filled, by the help of another
recipient S and thus the grain reaped may be stored immediately after the crop has
been gathered from the field.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1.) The proposed method of gathering directly and from the plant, as it stands in
the ground, the whole of the crop of grain, seed, fruit, flowers, leaves, or other useful
portion, which hitherto has been reaped or gathered by a process involving the cutting
down or the uprooting of the stalks.
2.) The proposed plan of gathering crops, as claimed under No. 1, by the help of a
mechanical apparatus, which may be compared, in its action, to the teeth, tusks and
other similar organs of animals, or even to the mouth and the claws of vertebrates.
and, lastly, to the hand of man.
3.) With respect to the gathering in of cereals, forage, leguminous and other crops,
the plan of utilising a Paternoster-work, that is to say, the principle of a chain-pump
or chain of buckets, which Paternoster-work is furnished with a certain number of
buckets or recipients each of which carries on its front face a rake, or comb, which is
moveable, this Paternoster-work being actuated by an endless chain, the elliptical
trajectory of which is in an inclined plane with regard to the horizon.
4.) The plan or method of giving to the above-named Paternoster-work an upward
and a backward motion, that is to say, in a contrary direction to that of the vehicle,
thus giving the advantage of utilising rotatory force to make the rakes or combs
perform the part of cleaners, stripping the grain of a portion of its envelope, for, in
turning with the speed above indicated, the said Paternoster-work fulfils, to a certain
extent, the office of a rotary fan.
5.) The whole substantially as described in the above specification and shewn in the-
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 16th day of November 1896.
L. DUVINAGE,
Agent for Applicant.