IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINERY
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, of Temple Gate, Bristol, in the
County of Somerset, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 12th January 1858, and dated the 21st October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st October 1852.
I, JOHN FOWLER, of Temple Gate, Bristol, in the County of Somerset,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN REAPING MACHINERY" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists,-
First, of causing the corn to be laid towards the cutters by a blast of
air, in front, directed against the standing corn, so as to lay it towards
the cutters; and,
Secondly, as the corn is cut it is received on to a platform of bars
with spaces between them, transversely of the machine, there being bars
below with points or forks which are caused to fold out and rise up
above the platform, and move the cut corn to one side of the machine,
then to fold down, and to pass to the other side again, to come into
action.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Fowler, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 21st April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN FOWLER, of Temple Gate, Bristol, in the County of Somerset,
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 fifty-two, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, Md for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Fowler, Her special licence, that I, the
said John Fowler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Fowler, 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, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINERY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Fowler,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain tho nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause tho
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 John Fowler, 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 following statement thereof (that is to say):
My Invention consists,―—
First, of causing the corn to be laid towards the cutters by a blast of
air, in front, directed against the standing corn, so as to lay it towards
the cutters; and,
Secondly, as the corn is cut, it is received on to a platform of bars

page_text: with spaces between them, transversely of the machine, there being
bars below with points or forks which are caused to fold out and rise
up above the platform, and move the cut corn to one side of the
machine, then to fold down, and to pass to the other side again, to come
into action. And in order that my said Invention may be more fully
understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, is a side view, and Figure 2, a plan of a reaping machine
having my improvements applied thereto; a, a, is the framing, which I
prefer should be wholly or chiefly composed of iron tubing, such as
generally used for gas tubing, connected together by suitable sockets a¹, a';
b, is a fan blower placed in front of the machine, having a tube c,
either flexible or otherwise, properly formed to direct the current of
air advantageously for laying or pressing the crop towards the cutters;
d, d, are the main carriage wheels; d, is the hinder or guiding
wheel; e, is a cross bar to which the horses are attached in such
manner as to move the machine before them; f, is the main axle,
having on it a spur wheel, y, taking into and driving the pinion =, on
the axis i. The axis i, carries also the band wheel j.
passing around the periphery of the wheel j, and
wheel I, rotatory motion is communicated to the axis m. The axis m,
carries another hand wheel, marked p, which, by a band around its
periphery acting on the band wheel q, communicates motion to the
fan blower b. The axis m, carries a bevelled toothed pinion r, which
takes into and drives a bevelled pinion s, on the axis t, of ono of the
rollers u, u, which carry the band of points or forks v, v, which are so
arranged that the points protrude sufficiently in the inclined table or
receiver to allow of the crop, as it is cut, being deposited clear of the
machine.
By the band k,
the other band
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is carried into effect, I wish it be understood, that I
do not confine myself to the precise details shown and described; but
what I claim as of my Invention is,--

page_text: First, the application, in combination with reaping machinery, of
blowing apparatus, for the purpose of aiding such machinery in cutting
corn or other standing crops.
Secondly, the construction and combination of a table or receiver,
and a rake or band of points, for receiving and removing of crops as
they are cut.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fowler, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
JOHN FOWLER JUN. (L.B.)
Witness, FRED HARRIS.