IMPROVEMENTS IN STRAW AND HAY CUTTERS
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Mark Fernandez at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th January
1859.
I, MARK FERNANDEZ, of No. 2, Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate Street
Without, in the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STRAW AND HAY CUTTERS," to be as
follows:
My Invention has reference to that class of straw and hay cutters in which
the rotary cylinder knives are used, and consists in an improved mode of
operating the knives; also in the manner of hanging of and operating the feed
rollers; in the method of regulating or varying the length into which the
material is to be cut; also in the application of the universal joint, and com-
pensating method of banging the driving wheel of the moveable roller, to
admit of its varying in position to accommodate a greater or less amount of
feed; and in so operating the feed rollers as to produce uniformity in length
in the material cut.
For the better understanding of the construction and operation of my machine,
I will describe it as follows:-I construct the framing and shoe or feed box
similar to that of the ordinary straw cutter heretofore used, and at or near
the end of the horizontal framing is hung a shaft, with a series of radial arms,
usually four in number, at equal distance apart at each end, within side plates,
and to the extremities of these arms obliquely, at an angle of about 25
degrees from a line parallel with the shaft, are attached knives, extending
す

page_text: from end to end; their edges at every point in their length being equivalent
from the centre on which they revolve, are consequently the arcs of segments
of a circle, whose radius is equal to their distance from the centre of motion,
and their chord equal to about one-eighth of its circumference; thus far
my cylindrical cutter is similar to those heretofore in use, but it differs from
them in the edges of the knives being set upwards instead of downwards,
revolving in a given direction, and by their oblique position effect a shearing
cut on the straw or other material against the under side of a mouth-piece or
cutting plate, which is fixed horizontally across the frame, and parallel to the
axis of the cylindrical knives in close proximity to them. The reasons for and
advantages to be derived from this mode of cutting, are, that all dry produce
which is usually cut up to feed stock contains more or less dust and dirt, and
by the variety of methods of cutting downwards, in feeding it to the cutters,
the dirt, &c., is separated from the vegetable matter, and collects on the bottom
of the feed box, and is carried forward in mass under the knives, and dulls
them very quickly; and although once separated, it is again mixed with the
feed by discharging into the same receiver, and must be very injurious to the
cattle, whilst by my Invention the feed rollers in pressing the material
between them, loosens the dirt, and on its passage from said rollers to the
cutting edges is allowed to spread, when it (the dirt) is liberated and falls
beneath the machine, and by cutting upward, no portion of it can collect on
the mout-hpiece or cutting plate to come in contact with the edges of the
knives, and nothing but clean cut feed is discharged into the receiver. :
The feed arrangement consists of a roller hung in permanent journals, in a
frame with a spur wheel on one end of its axis, and another spur wheel on the
other end; the first-mentioned spur wheel is constructed with both internal
and external gear, through which motion is communicated to the roller, either
directly by gearing into a pinion on the axis of the cutters, or through a
counter wheel and pinion, the counter wheel gearing into another pinion on
the cutter shaft, to which said pinion is attached by a set screw, so that it
may be readily moved on the shaft to gear into the first-mentioned spur wheel
or the counter wheel; the second-mentioned pinion, on the same axis as the
counter wheel, gears into the internal teeth of the first-mentioned spur wheel,
and thus transmits its motion to the roller in the same direction as if the first-
mentioned pinion were directly in gear with the first-mentioned spur wheel,
whereas, if the second-mentioned pinion on the counter shaft geared into the
external teeth of the first-mentioned spur wheel, it would move it in the con-
trary direction, and require another intermediate wheel to turn it right-way.
A stud or axis of the counter wheel and pinion is fitted in a curvilinear slot in

page_text: a side plate, so that its position may be changed to admit of different sized
pinions being used, to vary the speed of the feed rollers, and consequently
varying the length of the fragment cut. Beneath the roller, and parallel with
it, is a fluted or ribbed roller, of similar length and diameter, having its axis
in pillar boxes supported on springs, by which it is borne up against the fixed
roller, one spring on either side, independent of each other, so that it may
accommodate itself to the varying quantity of feed from side to side of the
box; another wheel gearing into that on the axis of the upper feed roller, is
hung in a yoke pivoted at each end in a framing. The axis of this wheel is
connected with the axis of the lower feed roller by a universal joint, which
admits of the various change of position of said roller, whilst the last-mentioned
wheel being hung in the yoke, accommodates itself to such change of position.
With the ordinary feed apparatus, where the rollers are of equal diameter,
the upper portion of the material to be cut, or that portion in contact with the
smooth roller, has a tendency to slip; consequently there is no uniformity in
the length of the material cut; to remedy this difficulty, I cause the periphery
of the smooth roller to travel at a greater velocity, either by fixing a smaller
wheel on its axis than that on the axis of the ribbed roller, or by making the
smooth roller of greater diameter with their axis revolving at uniform speed.
The springs at their thicker ends bear against the under side of a cross piece
in the framing of the feed box, and are supported by bolts through them, with
nuts on their under side, their thin ends bearing the pillar boxes of the lower
roller before described; when they become weak or set by long use in one
position, by taking off the nuts that support them, they may be turned the
other side up, when they will be fully as stiff as at first.
When this machine is operated by hand, the man should stand with his left
side to the feed box, turning a balance wheel by the handle with his right
hand in a forward direction, and feeding the material to the rollers with his
left, or it may be worked by horse or any other power by a band over a
pulley.
This machine is equally applicable for cutting corn stalks or other fodder.