IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO AUTOMATIC OR SELF-BINDING ATTACHMENTS TO HARVESTING MACHINES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Phillips Thompson, of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and
323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO AUTOMATIC OR
SELF-BINDING ATTACHMENTS TO HARVESTING MACHINES." A communication
from abroad by Cyrus H. McCormick, of Chicago, in the State of Illinois.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Phillips Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd November 1881.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of the Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors,
6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING
TO AUTOMATIC OR SELF-BINDING ATTACHMENTS TO HARVESTING MACHINES." A
communication from abroad by Cyrus H. McCormick, of Chicago, in the State of
Illinois.
In the McCormick twine binding harvester, introduced into England during the
past season, the automatic binding mechanism is thrown into action by the gradual
accumulation and compacting of the gavel against a tripping arm, which yields
or rocks to a certain extent under the pressure, and thereby causes the engagement
of a clutch between a shaft or pinion of the binder and a constantly driven portion
of the harvester gearing to start said binder.
For this purpose the tripping arm in said machine being located in the lower or
outer part of the grain receptacle is pivoted to a sustaining bar, and has a heel
extension beyond its pivot shank so as to form practically an elbow lever.
An eye upon this heel extension receives an arm from a rockshaft, so that the
latter may be rocked or oscillated by the leverage of the tipping arm as it yields
before the accumulating gavel, and this rock shaft is connected by intermediate
mechanism with the clutch between the harvester and binder.
The sustaining bar which carries the tripping arm is pivoted at its upper or
inner end and supported at a point along its length by a link, which in its turn

page_text: is carried by a lever mediately or immediately controlled by a cam, so that the
tripping arm may at the proper time be withdrawn beneath the decking or grain
receptacle to perinit the discharge of the bound sheaf.
In order to regulate the size of the gavels, the sustaining bar has a series of
perforations along its length, any one of which may receive the pivot pin of the
tripping arm, thus bringing it nearer or removing it further from the packing
mechanism and allowing the tripping pressure to be given by a diminished or
increased quantity of grain.
The adjustment along the sustaining bar however changes the distance between
the eye on the heel extension of the tripping arm, and the rock shaft which
controls the clutch and shortens or extends the effective length of the lever arm
passing through said eye, so as to effect a very considerable and oftentimes
undesirable change in the resistance offered by the tripping arm to tho pressure of
the incoming grain.
To remedy this and other incidental defects is the object of the present Invention,
and it consists in constructing the tripping arm in two sections, one of which is
permanently pivoted to the sustaining bar and has the heel extension and eye as
above related, and the other of which is adjustable along the top of the first so
as to increase or decrease the grain receiving and compacting space without
disturbing the pivot.
The actual apparatus Mr. McCormick has in use in the United States is as
follows:-
A sustaining bar pivoted at one point has a socket for the reception of the upper
end of its supporting and actuating link. This bar niny be made of wrought iron,
while the sections of the tripping arm will ordinarily be of sufficient strength when
composed of malleable cast iron.
To the sustaining bar is pivoted the lower section of the tripping arm, said
section having a heel extension and an eye for the reception of the arin from the
rock shaft, as herein before explained. The body part of this section is made as a
sleeve to fit over and closely embrace by its side walls the sustaining bar, while at
the same time allowing pivotal play. At the top this section is widened out to
form a broad supporting plate or base for the upper section. Centrally along this
base is a slot which receives the shank of a bolt from the upper section, and at
each side of the slot are ways or channels which precede, confine, and guide the
bead of said bolt.
Cross slots are made at regular distances along the length of the central slot in
the base, anyone of which is adapted to receive a tongue depending from the upper
section. The latter can therefore be adjusted along the base section at any timo
by simply loosening the nut upon the screw bolt and moving the tongue from one
cross slot to another, or carrying it to the extreme inner edge of the base plate as
a final adjustment.
Instead of the cross slots and tongue it is evident that the surface of the base
plate and the bottom of the upper section may be roughened or serrated with like
effect, so far as the positiveness of the adjustment is concerned.
The sides of the upper section of the tripping arm are made flaring, so that
they may in a measure saddle the lower section or project below the base, thereby
obviating any liability to clog, and presenting an unbroken curved outline or front
at all points above the decking.
The foregoing construction gives a broad range of adjustment sufficient for all
ordinary purposes, but it may be desirable in some cases to accompany it with a
limited capacity of adjustment upon the sustaining bar, so that a change of leverage
may be secured with or without an increase or decrease in the grain receiving
space. The sustaining bar may therefore have two or more pivot holes to permit
the lower section of the tripping arm to be adjusted thereupon, while the upper
section may either follow this adjustinent or be independently adjusted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Phillips Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd May 1882.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of the Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors,
6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING
TO AUTOMATIC OR SELF-BINDING ATTACHMENTS TO HARVESTING MACHINES." A
communication from abroad by Cyrus H. MoCormick, of Chicago, in the State of
Illinois.
In the McCormick twine binding harvester introduced into England during the
past season, the automatic binding mechanism is thrown into action by the gradual
accumulation and compacting of the gavel against a tripping arm, which yields or
rocks to a certain extent under the pressure, and thereby causes the engagemont of
a clutch between a shaft or pinion of the binder and a constantly driven portion
of the harvester gearing to start said binder.
For this purpose the tripping arm in said machine being located in the lower or
outer part of the grain receptacle is pivoted to a sustaining bar, and has a heel
extension beyond its pivot shank so as to form practically an elbow lever. An eye
upon this heel extension receives an arm from a rock shaft, so that the latter may
be rocked or oscillated by the leverage of the tripping-arm as it yields before the
accumulating gavel, and this rockshaft is connected by intermediato mechanism
with the clutch between the harvester and binder.
The sustaining bar which carries the tripping arm is pivoted at its upper or
inner end, and supported at a point along its length by a link, which in its turn
is carried by a lever mediately or immediately controlled by a cam, so that the
tripping arm may at the proper time be withdrawn beneath the decking or
grain receptacle to permit the discharge of the bound sheaf.
In order to regulate the size of the gavels the sustaining bar has a series of
perforations along its length, any one of which may receive the pivot pin of tho
tripping arm, thus bringing it nearer to or removing it further from the packing
mechanism and allowing the tripping pressure to be given by a diminished or
increased quantity of grain.
The adjustment along the sustaining bar however changes the distance between
the eye on the heel extension of the tripping arm, and the rock shaft which
controls the clutch and shortens or extends the effective length of the lever-arm
passing through said eye, so as to effect a very considerable and oftentimes
undesirable change in the resistance offered by the tripping arm to the pressure of
the incoming grain.
To remedy this and other incidental defects is the object of the present Invention,
and it consists in constructing the tripping arm in two sections, one of which is
permanently pivoted to the sustaining bar and has the heel extension and eye as
above related, and the other of which is adjustable along the top of the first so
as to increase or decrease the grain receiving and compacting space without
disturbing the pivot.
In the Drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sustaining bar and tripping arm
constructed according to this Invention arranged in proper relation to the binder-
arm and tripping rock shaft; Fig. 2, an opposite side elevation of the sustaining
bar and tripping arm detached and enlarged; Fig. 3 is a rear or outside view of the

page_text: upper section of the tripping arm; Fig. 4 is a plan of the lower section of said arm;
Fig. 5 is a view from the inner or grain side of said lower section broken away on
the line y, y, of Fig. 2; and Fig. 6, a section on line x, x, of Fig. 2 of a portion of
the upper part of the said tripping arm.
A is the sustaining bar pivoted at a and having a socket a¹ for the reception of
the upper end of its supporting and actuating link. This bar may be mado of
-wrought iron, while the sections of the tripping arm will ordinarily be of sufficient
strength when composed of malleable cast iron.
To the sustaining bar is pivoted at b the lower section B of the tripping arm,
said section having a heel extension b' and an eye b² for the reception of the arm
from the rock shaft, as herein before explained. The body part of this section is
made as a sleeve, as indicated in Fig. 5, to fit over and closely embrace by its side
walls the sustaining bar, while at the same time allowing pivotal play. At the top
this section is widened out to form a broad supporting plate or base C for the upper
section D. Centrally along this base is a slot c which receives the shank of a bolt E
from the upper section, and at each side of the slot are ways or channels c² which
receive, confine, and guide the head e of said bolt.
Cross slots are made at regular distances along the length of the central slot
in the base, any one of which is adapted to receive a tongue d depending from the
upper section. The latter can therefore be adjusted along the base section at any
time by simply loosening the nut upon the screw bolt and moving the tongue from
one cross slot to another, or carrying it to the extreme inner edgo of the base plate
as a final adjustment.
Instead of the cross slots and tongue it is evident that the surface of the base
plate and the bottom of the upper section may be roughened or serrated with like
effect so far as the positiveness of the adjustment is concerned.
The sides d' of the upper section of the tripping arm are made flaring, as in
Figs. 3 and 4, so that they may in a measure saddle the lower section or project
below the base, thereby obviating any liability to clog, and presenting an unbroken
curved outline or front at all points above the decking.
The foregoing construction gives a broad range of adjustment sufficient for all
ordinary purposes, but it may be desirable in some cases to accompany it with a
limited capacity of adjustment upon the sustaining bar so that a change of leverage
may be secured with or without an increase or decrease in the grain receiving
.space. The sustaining bar may therefore have two or more pivot holes to permit
the lower section of the tripping arm to be adjusted thereupon while the upper
section may either follow this adjustment or be independently adjusted.
Having now described this Invention as communicated to me I wish it to be
understood that what I claim and desire to protect under the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. A yielding tripping arm made in sections one of which is adjustable upon
the other to increase or decrease the grain receiving space.
2nd. The combination of the sustaining arm or bar, a section of a compressing
and tripping arm pivoted thereto and a second section adjustably connected to the
first so as to increnso or diminish the grain receiving space.
3rd. The combination of the sustaining arm, the lower section of the tripping
arm pivoted thereto, and the upper section of said tripping arm adjustable along
the other.
4th. The combination of the sustaining bar, the lower section of the tripping arm
pivoted thereto and having heel extension and eye, and the upper section adjustable
along the top of the lower.
5th. The combination of the lower section of the tripping arm, its base plate
having longitudinal and cross slots and channels, the upper section formed with a
pendant tongue, and the bolt uniting the two.
6th. The upper section of the tripping arm formed with flaring sides embracing
'or saddling the lower section or shank.

page_text: 7th. The combination of a tripping arm made in sections, one of which is
adjustable along the top of the other, with a sustaining bar to which the lower
section is pivoted and along which it is adjustable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Phillips Thompson, have hereunto set
•
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
W. P. THOMPSON. (Ls.)