Year: 1887

page_text: I HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to mowing or harvesting machines and comprises various
improvements in the cutting apparatus of such machines.
A finger bar is employed composed of a flat metal strip having teeth at its forward
edge and guard fingers attached to its underside at the rear of and in contact
with the under surfaces of the teeth and interlocked with the points thereof and
having guards projecting back over the upper surfaces of the said teeth.
A central rib is sometimes provided on the upper side of the finger bar and an
endless chain of knives is so arranged that it will be guided by the said rib and will
co-operate with the said teeth.
The said endless chain of knives is preferably composed of numerous gangs or series
so connected that any gang or series can be readily removed from the chain or
replaced therein.
Each of the said gangs or series of knives is secured to links revited together
or otherwise united and having connections at the ends whereby the said gangs or
series may be connected in such a manner that they can be readily separated or
detached.
The construction of the machine may be somewhat modified, if desired, without
departing from the nature of the said invention.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: от полусвица маслице.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relatos to that class of mowing machines or harvesters in which
the knives are arranged on an endless chain and move progressively instead of
reciprocating.
The invention consists in the improvements hereinafter described, in the finger-bar
on which the endless chain and the knives thereon are supported, and to which the
guard-fingers, which co-operate with the knives in cutting the grass, are attached, and
in the form of the knives and of the fixed edges on the finger-bar, with which they
co-operate.
In the accompanying drawings-
Figure 1 represents a top view of a portion of my improved finger-bar, showing a
part of the knives and guard fingers.
Figure 2 represents a section on line x, x, Figure 1.
Figure 3 represents a top view of a portion of the finger-bar, showing a different
form of cutting-knife.
Figure 4 represents a top view of a series of knives.
Figure 5 represents a top view of parts of two series or gangs of knives.
Figure 6 represents a section on line y y, Figure 5.
a represents the finger-bar, which constitutes a support for the knives or cutters b, b
and the guard-fingers cc co-operating therewith, the knives being connected in an
endless chain or series and moved progressively by means of sprocket-wheels supported
by the said plate, one of the said wheels being positively rotated by the motion of the
machine, as shown, for example, in Letters Patent of the United States No. 211,377
dated January 14, 1878. One of the sprocket-wheels is shown in dotted lines in
Figure 1. The guard-fingers are attached by bolts d to the finger-bar, and their rear
portions bear against the under side of said plate, while their forward portions bear on
the under sides of the teeth or ledger-plates, hereinafter described. On the upper
side of the said plate is a bar or rib e affixed preferably by the bolts d, and serving as
a guide for the knives b and as a support for the adjustable cover f, whereby the
knives are protected against dust, dirt or the like.
In carrying out my invention I make the finger-bar a from a single piece or plate
of steel of uniform thickness, using, by preference, saw-plate steel, and provide its
forward edge with teeth or projections a¹, which extend forward into the slots or
openings e¹ in the guard-fingers, through which the knives pass, and constitute the
wearing-surfaces or ledger-plates, which co-operate with the moving knives b in

page_text: cutting the grass, the under surfaces of said knives b being in close contact with the
upper surface of the guard-plate and with the upper surfaces of its teeth or projections.
The guard fingers bear on the under sides of the teeth a' and the guards on the said
fingers project rearwardly over the said teeth, and are separated therefrom by spaces
of sufficient width to permit the knives to pass between the guards and the teeth.
The teeth or projections a¹ have notches or recesses in their outer ends, which fit
against or engage with the correspondingly-formed ends of the openings c¹ in the
guard-fingers, said fingers being thus interlocked or engaged with the guard-plate, so
that they cannot turn on the bolts d that attach their rear ends to said plate, a single
bolt being thus enabled to secure each guard-finger. The knives bare wider than the
spaces between the teeth or projections, so that there is no liability of any knife being
tilted downwardly between the said teeth by pressure from above and caused to injure
its edge and that of the tooth a', with which it co-operates.
It will be seen that by attaching the rigid guard-fingers to the under side of the
plate a
and extending them forward in contact with the under surfaces of the teeth
or projections and interlocking them with the points or extreme forward ends of said
teeth, I cause the said guard-fingers to stiffen and hold the teeth or projections, so
that the latter and the plate a (on which they are formed) may be made thin and light
without danger of the breakage of the teeth.
I am aware that a finger-bar having teeth integral therewith and forming ledger-
plates is not new: but such plate has never been combined with guard-fingers formed
and arranged, as above specified, to stiffen and protect the teeth or ledger-plates.
The ledger plates for the guard fingers may be made wider than said fingers and
project from the sides thereof, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 1 so that said teeth
can be sharpened by filing without injury to the guard-fingers, and without necessity
of removing the same from the guard plate.
may bo
The cutting edges of the knives and the corresponding edges of the teeth a¹
straight, as shown in Figure 1. In some cases, however, I prefer to make said edges
curved, as shown in Figure 3, the cutting-edges of the knives having a convex
curvature at their outer portions while the edges of the teeth a', co-operating with
said cutting edges, are concave. This form of the cutting edges prevents the
knives, in moving across the teeth a', from pushing the grass forward or crowding it
out from between the knives and the teeth a' without cutting it. This tendency
exists to some extent when the knives and teeth are shaped as shown in Figure 1 but
is prevented by the form shown in Figure 3. The same result might be attained by
making the cutting edges of the knives concave and the corresponding edges, with
which they cooperate, convex as shown in Letters Patent of the United States
No. 230,858 August 10 1880 but the form here shown is better, in that the knives
with concave cutting-edges cannot be easily ground, while the convex edges can be
ground nearly or quite as conveniently as straight edges.
The edges of the teeth a' opposite the convex edges may have convex projections a²,
as shown in Figure 3 to decrease the width of the spaces between the teeth and thus
enable said teeth to better support the knives in their passage across the teeth and
prevent possibility of the knives tipping downward between the teeth.
The last-described feature viz. :-the convex cutting edges of the knives and the
concave fixed edges co-operating therewith may be used in machines having
reciprocating knives as will be readily seen.
The plates or links b¹ are provided with ears 6, each ear being pivotally connected
to the plate of the next knife. I prefer to connect the knives permanently in sets
or gangs of five or therabout, by using permanent rivets to connect said knives,
and forming a hook 64, at one end of the gang to engage with a pin, 6, at the end of
the next gang, as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6. This construction enables the chain
of knifes to be disconnected but reduces the number of separate hooks employed, thus
increasing the strength of the construction.
Whenever a knife is broken, the gang of knives to which it belongs can be readily
removed and a fresh gang substituted for it, thus avoiding loss of time. The removed
cang can be repaired

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
First A finger bar composed of a metal strip or plate of uniform thickness, having
a series of teeth or projections at its forward edge integral therowith, forming ledger-
plates and provided with a series of rigid guard-fingers attached to the under side of
the plate behind said teeth and in contact with the under surfaces thereof, and inter-
locked as described, with the outer ends or points of the teeth, and having guards
projecting backwardly over the upper surfaces of the teeth the said guard-fingers
holding and stiffening the teeth or lodger-plates, as set forth.
Second-In a cutter mechanism for mowing or reaping machines, the combination
of a finger-bar composed of a metal sheet or plate of uniform thickness having a
series of integral teeth at its forward edge forming ledger plates, a corresponding
series of guard fingers attached to said plate and bearing against the under sides of
the teeth and provided with guards projecting over and separated from the teeth by
knife-receiving slots or spaces, a longitudinal rib bearing on the upper side of said
finger-bar, and an endless chain or series of knives bearing on the upper side the said
finger-bar and guided by the said rib, the knives at the front side of the rib passing
through the slots between the teeth and the guards and co-operating with said teeth,
as described, and means for impelling said knives all substantially as set forth.
Third An endless chain or series of knives composed of gangs secured to links
which are permanently riveted together, and are provided with soparable connections
at the ends of the gangs whereby any gang can be removed from the endless chain or
sories as set forth.
Fourth A gang of knives secured to links which are permanently riveted together
end to end the links at the ends of the gang having connecting devices whereby the
gangs may be separably connected with the corresponding ends of similar gangs, as
set forth.
11
1000