IMPROVEMENTS IN STRAW SHAKERS FOR THRESHING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Tasker, the younger, of Waterloo Iron
Works, near Andover, in the County of Hants, Engineer and Agri-
cultural Implement Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STRAW SHAKERS FOR THRESHING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Tasker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
May 1860.
I, WILLIAM TASKER, the younger, of Waterloo Iron Works, near Andover,
in the County of Hants, Engineer and Agricultural Implement Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STRAW SHAKERS FOR THRESHING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar mode of fitting and actuating the bars
of straw shakers used in combined thrashing machines, whereby by the aid of
one crank shaft the same amount of shake is obtained at each end of the bars,
whilst at the same time facility is afforded for adjusting or regulating the
throw of the delivering ends of the shakers.
According to this Invention the shakers or bars are connected at the front
end nearest the drum to an ordinary crank shaft, and at the delivery end they
are connected by means of links to short lever arms fixed on a straight
rocking shaft passing transversely beneath the ends of the shakers; a rocking
motion is imparted to this shaft from the crank shaft by means of a connect-

page_text: ing rod, which is jointed at one end to a crank or other suitable mechanical
contrivance on the end of the crank shaft, and is connected at its opposite
end to a lever arm fast on the straight shaft. This lever arm is slotted or
provided with a number of holes, by which means the throw of the shaft may
be increased or diminished at pleasure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Tasker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TASKER, the younger, of Waterloo Iron Works, near Andover, in the County
of Hants, Engineer and Agricultural Implement Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Tasker, the younger, Her special license that I, the said William
Tasker, the younger, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Tasker, the younger, my executors, administrators, or
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 STRAW SHAKERS FOR THRESHING MACHINES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Tasker, the younger,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Tasker, the younger, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, aud in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar mode of fitting and actuating the
bars of straw shakers used in combined thrashing machines, whereby by the

page_text: aid of one crank shaft the same amount of shake is obtained at each end of
the bars, whilst at the same time facility is afforded for adjusting or regulating
the throw of the delivering ends of the shakers.
According to this Invention the shakers or bars are connected at the front
end nearest the drum to an ordinary crank shaft, and at the delivery end they
are connected by means of links to short lever arms fixed on a straight
rocking shaft passing transversely beneath the ends of the shakers. A rocking
motion is imparted to this shaft from the crank shaft by means of a connect-
ing rod,. which is jointed at one end to a crank or other suitable mechanical
contrivance on the end of the crank shaft, and is connected at its opposite end
to a lever arm fast on the straight shaft. This lever arm is slotted or pro-
vided with a number of holes, by which means the throw of the shaft may be
increased or diminished at pleasure.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed to describe the annexed Drawing, which represents a longitudinal
sectional elevation of my improved straw shaker with the supporting framing
removed.
:
A, A, are the shaker bars or boxes, composed of perforated metal or other-
wise constructed; and B, B', are links, which transmit motion to the bars from
the two transverse shafts C and D respectively. The shaft C, which is nearest
the drum, is an ordinary rotating crank shaft, the arms B, B, being connected
to the cranks E, E, whilst the shaft D is merely a rocking shaft provided with
arms F, F, which are fast thereon, and are connected by the links B, B¹, to
the opposite ends of the shakers. A single crank G, fast on the end of the
rotating shaft C, transmits a rocking motion to the shaft D, through the rod
H and arm K, fast on the end of the rocking shaft. A number of holes are
made in this arm, as shewn in the Drawing, or other suitable device employed,
whereby the rod H may be connected nearer to or further from the centre of
the rocking shaft, at pleasure, so that the amount of vibration or rocking
motion of such shaft may be increased or diminished, as desired, and the
consequent throw or action of that end of the shaker bars adjusted to suit the
nature of the straw.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general construction and arrangement of straw shakers, as herein-
before described.

page_text: Second, the application and, use in straw shakers of a rocking shaft provided
with arms or cranks, in combination with a rotating crank shaft for actuating
the shaker bars or boxes, substantially as herein-before described.
Third, the mode of regulating the throw of the shaker bars or boxes, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Tasker, the younger, have here-
unto set my band and seal, this 24th day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM TASKER, JUN³. (L.S.)