IMPROVEMENTS IN HAY MAKING MACHINES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Newzam Nicholson and William Mather both
of Newark-upon-Trent, in the County of Nottingham Agricultural Engineers
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAY MAKING MACHINES"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Newzam Nicholson
and William Mather at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
30th November 1881.
Et
WILLIAM NEWZAM NICHOLSON and WILLIAM MATHIER both of Newark upon
Trent in the County of Nottingham Agricultural Engineers IMPROVEMENTS IN
HAY MAKING MACHINES."
Our Invention consists of certain improved methods of connecting the fork bars
of hay-making machines to their carriers and of new arrangements by which the
forks are made to yield to any obstruction, which also allow the angle at which
the forks are set to be adjusted. We arrange the fork carriers, which we make
by preference of steel or flat iron, in pairs, attached to a cylinder revolving round
the axle in the usual manner, one pair to each fork-bar. On the outer ends of
these carriers, we attach metal discs, or segmental pieces having on one face a series
of hollows or inclined planes. Similar discs or segmental pieces with hollows that
correspond with those on the carriers are attached to the fork bars, and a bolt
passing through both pairs of discs, and through a spiral spring, or its equivalent,
keeps the fork bar in position whilst the nut on the bolt renders the strength of
the spring adjustable. The fork bar carriers may also be made of tempered steel
so that the forks are held in position without the aid of the spiral spring. When
the forks meet with any obstruction, the fork bar with its discs or segmental
pieces partially rotates on the inclined planes, and when the obstruction is passed
the spring causes the fork bar to resume its original position. By moving the
fork bar disc from one inclined plane to another, the angle of the teeth can be
varied.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent and
of an Order of the Lord Chancellor filed by the said William Newzani
Nicholson and William Mather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th June 1882.
WILLIAM NEWZAM NICHOLSON and WILLIAM MATHER, both of Newark upon
Trent, in the County of Nottingham, Agricultural Engineers, * IMPROVEMENTS IN
HAY-MAKING MACHINES,"
Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section and Figure 2 is a partial end
clevation of our improved method of connecting the fork bars of hay making
machines to their carriers. We arrange the fork carriers A and A' in pairs one
pair to each fork head B and attach them by their inner ends to the cylinder C
which revolves round the axle D in the usual manner. On the outer end of the
carriers A and A' we attach metal discs or segmental pieces E and E', these are
shown in section in Figure 1 and in end and side elevation respectively in Figures 2
and 5 and have on their inner face a series of hollows or inclined planes e. Similar
discs or segmental pieces G and Glare attached to the fork bar B and aro provided
with hollows or inclined planes that correspond with those on the discs E and E
that are attached to the fork carriers A and A. A bolt H passing through both
pairs of discs and through a spiral spring K or its equivalent, keeps the fork bar B
in position whilst the tension of the spring K can be regulated by the nut i to
keep the pairs of discs E G and E¹ G₁ pressed together with any required degree
of force, so that whilst in ordinary work the fork bar B is retained in position by
the inclined planes e on meeting any obstruction they can slide over one another
and allow the fork bar B to give way. The spring K returning it to its original
position when the obstruction is passed.
In Figures 1, 2 and 5 the discs E E' and G G¹ are shown having four inclined
planes each, of these the two in line with the fork bar B are rather deeper than
the other two, so that when the fork bar B is open in the position shown in the
Drawings the deeper inclined planes engage, and take the full force of the spring K;
but when the fork bar B is closed and at right angles to the position shown the
shallower inclined planes engage, and the tension of the spring K is taken off when
the machine is not in use.
Figure 3 shows in elevation a modification of a pair of discs E and G and
Figure 4 is a view of the face of the disc G, in these the number of inclined planes
is increased so that the fork head B can be set at different angles by moving
the disc G from one inclined plane to another as shown in dotted lines in
Figure 4.
Figure 5 shows a modification of our Invention in which the discs E G and
EG are retained in position by making the fork carriers A and A' of tempered
steel, so that they act as springs and take the place of the spiral spring K before
described,
Having now described our Invention and in what manner the same is to bo
carried into effect, what we claim is :—
The method of connecting the fork bars of hay making machines to their
carriers substantially as above described and shown or any mere modification
thereof.
In witness whereof I the said William Newzam Nicholson have on behalf of
myself and the said William Mather hereunto set my hand and seal this
Twenty ninth day of Juno in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty tme
WILLIAM NEWZAM NICHOLSON. (L.S.)
WILLIAM NEWZAM NICHULSUN. (L.S.)