IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN MOWERS OR MACHINES FOR CUTTING GRASS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Edwards, Agricultural Implement Maker,
of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention. of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th March 1873.
I, SAMUEL EDWARDS, Agricultural Implement Maker, of Salford, in
the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN MOWERS OR MACHINES FOR CUTTING
GRASS," to be as follows:—
My improvements consist in the application of an improved ratchet
motion in connection with the driving drum or roller. The object of
the ratchet is to allow the revolving cutters to remain stationery when
the machine is being drawn back in the act of removal from one part
of the lawn or garden to another.

page_text: is
I now proceed to describe the way in which the ratchet is applied.
Inside the centre boss of the driving drum or roller are cast a number of
angular shaped teeth, which teeth are half the length of the hole which
is cast in the boss. The roller turns upon a projection or boss upon the
shaft which I call the driving shaft; in the boss are cast one or more
longitudinal slots or grooves which are straight on the front edge and
semicircular on the back; the length of the groove is one inch and a
quarter, the width one quarter of an inch, and the depth seven-eights
of an inch or thereabouts. A. small circular part is formed in the centre
of the slot which allows a spiral spring to work freely; a key of shape
corresponding to the slot made with a square edge at the bottom, and
a bevelled edge at the top; the bevelled edge corresponds with the teeth
inside the boss of the roller; the key is made to work loose up and down
in the slot; in the centre of the key is cut a slot about two-thirds the
depth, commencing from the bottom or square edge, which is intended
to receive the spiral spring, which spring acts upon the key and causes
it to rise into the toothed rack inside of the boss of the drum when the
machine is pushed forward, thereby giving the cutting motion to the
revolving cutters; when the machine is drawn backwards the rack insido
of the boss presses the key down into the slot, the spiral spring giving
way, thereby allowing the roller to revolve and the cutters to remain
stationery. The key is made of the before described shape so preventing
the key being put into the slot the wrong way if ever the machine be
taken to pieces for cleaning. The boss on driving shaft is provided
with two collars one at each end to keep the roller in the correct position
on the shaft sideways; on the end of the driving shaft is fitted a spur
wheel gearing into and driving an intermediate spur wheel running
upon a stud fixed in the side of the frame, which intermediate wheel
gears into and drives a pinion fixed on the end of the revolving cutters,
thereby causing the cutters to revolve when the machine is pushed
forward.
.
Also an improved arrangement of the regulating rollers which consists
in so arranging the regulating rollers that they can be used either at the
book on the front of the novolving outle
1

page_text: begin to appear, the regulating rollers can be placed at the front of the
revolving cutters, in which position they will press down the worm casts
and prevent the cutters getting clogged with dirt.
The machine is fitted with the usual grass collecting box at the front,
and loose semicircular plate behind the cutters, the removal of which
plate allows the cut grass to fall on the ground under the driving
roller
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
EDWARDS, Agricultural Implement Maker, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Samuel Edwards, Her special licence that
I, the said Samuel Edwards, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Samuel Edwards, 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 LAWN
MOWERS OR MACHINES FOR CUTTING GRASS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Edwards, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Edwards, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to those lawn mowers or machines for cutting
grass driven or propelled with drums or rollers placed behind the
revolving cutters, and it consists first, in the application of an improved
ratchet motion in connection with the driving drum or roller to allow
the revolving cutters to cease their rotation when the machine is being
drawn back in the act of removal for one part of the lawn or garden
to the other; and secondly, in so arranging the regulating or supporting
rollers that they can be placed either at the front or at the back of the
revolving cutters at pleasure.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a lawn mower constructed according to my
improvements; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; Fig. 3 is a sectional
elevation of my improved lawn mower, and Fig. 4 a plan of the improved
ratchet motion; Figs. 5, 6, and 7, are three views of the ratchet catch,
and the socket in which it works forming part of my improved ratchet
motion.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a is the driving drum or roller which is made in
two parts, both of which are loose on the driving shaft b; c, c, are the
regulating or supporting rollers which are constructed as usual; d the
ordinary revolving cutters which are driven by the wheel 6* on the
shaft 6, gearing into the intermediate wheel 6, which drives the
pinion d on the axle of the cutters d; e is the stationary sole blade
against which the grass is cut; and the grass collecting box.
My improved ratchet motion is constructed in the following manner :-
To the boss of each portion of the driving drum or roller a is cast or
fixed an internal ratchet wheel a³, see Figs. 3 and 4, and to the driving
shaft bare fixed the bushes b¹, see Figs. 5, 6, and 7. Each portion of

page_text: -
the driving drum or roller a is held laterally by a shoulder on the
driving axle b, and by the face of the bushes 61. To each bush is cast a
socket 6' in which is a slot with rounded ends, as shewn in Fig. 7, and in
each slot is fitted a key g, the projecting end of which forms the catch
for taking into the teeth of the rachet wheel a'; the object of making the
slot and key flat on one face, and with rounded cnds at the other is to
prevent the key being put into the slot in the wrong direction. The
key is pressed outwards by a spiral or other spring, one end of which
abuts against the driving shaft and the other against the key, as shewn
in Fig. 6.
When the machine is being pushed forward to cut the grass the
driving drum or roller a revolves in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3;
the teeth of the ratchet wheels a¹ then come against. the catches or
keys g, thereby connecting the driving drum a with the driving shaft b
and communicating motion to the cutters d by the ordinary wheels b*, b³,
and pinion d¹; but as soon as the machine is drawn back the drum a
begins to revolve in the contrary direction to the arrow, and the teeth of
the ratchet wheels a slip over the catches or keys 9 without com-
municating motion to the driving shaft b, and consequently no rotary
motion is imparted to the cutters.
The regulating or supporting rollers c revolve in bearings c¹, which
fit between beads cast on the side frames of the machine, and the length
of the cut can be varied by raising or lowering the bearings o' which are
provided with regulating slots as usual; and in order to be able to place
the said rollers either at the front or back of the cutters d, I make
the side frames with two sets of beads for the bearings c³, as shewn in
Fig. 3. When the rollers c are placed behind the cutters as shewn in
Fig. 1, the long grass can be cut without being pressed into the ground
by the rollers, thereby enabling the machine to cut close and even, which
will be found of great advantage during the first months of the season,
but during the latter part of the season when the worm casts begin to
appear the regulating rollers c can be placed at the front of the revolving
cutters, as shewn in Fig. 3, in which position they will press down the
worm casts and prevent the cutters getting clogged with dirt.
When it is desirable to collect the cut grass in the box f the curved
plate is fixed behind the revolving cutters d to guide the grass into the
collecting box, but when the grass is allowed to fall on the ground the

page_text: curved plate h is removed and the cut grass is then thrown by the
cutters under the driving drum or roller a.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention and described the
manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I make
no claim to any of the well-known parts of lawn mowing machines
shewn in the accompanying Drawing to illustrate the mode of applying
my improvements, but what I claim is,―
roller to the
First. The improved ratchet motion placed inside the boss of the
driving drum or roller for connecting the driving drum or
revolving cutters, and disconnecting it therefrom, as
described.
shewn and
And secondly. The means of changing the position of the regulating or
supporting rollers, whereby they may be placed either at the front or at
the back of the cutters as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Edwards, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
.TTAT