IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN REAPING MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by Cyrus Hall
McCormick, of Chicago, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 13th May 1862, and dated the 18th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1861.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES," (communicated to me from abroad,
by Cyrus Hall McCormick, of Chicago, in the United States of America) to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain arrangements of mechanism hereinafter
described, in which a rake is used, and has motions given to it, so that during
one part of the revolution of the gathering reel the-rake shall act as one of
the vanes of the gathering reel in gathering the crop towards the cutting
blades, and so, that when the rake has been brought (with its teeth down-
wards) into a line with the cutting blades in front of the platform, or nearly
so, it shall cease to revolve round the reel shaft, and it is then made to move
horizontally upon a vertical hinge above one end of it, with the ends of the
teeth near to the surface of the platform, so as to push the cut crop off the
platform at one side of it. Motion is then given to the rake; so as to cause it
to rotate around the shaft of the reel, and also so that the rake shall be

page_text: brought into a line (or nearly so) with the shaft of the reel at that part of its
revolution when it again begins to act as one of the vanes of the reel.
During the intermittent motions of the rake above described, the rotary
motion of the reel shaft is continuous.
The arrangement or combination of mechanism by which the motions of
the rake and the reel are effected, is as follows:-To the inner side of the
outer reel post is fixed an excentric, or cam guide, within the track of
which a roller moves round one end of the axle of the reel, at varying
distances from the axle during each rotation. The rake is fixed upon one
end of an arm, which moves it into all its various positions when the
machine is in operation, the other end of the rake arm is attached by a
hinge to a hollow shaft, by means of which hollow shaft rotary motion is
given to the, rake. One part of the hinge is fixed upon the hollow shaft,
so that the hinge pin shall be at a, right angle with the shaft. To the
hollow shaft, and upon the side opposite to that. at which the rake arm is
attached to it, I prefer to fix a counterbalance weight, to act as a counter-
poise to the weight of the rake and its arm. A continuation of one end of
the reel shaft passes through the hollow shaft, and also through the excentric
guide, and is mounted and revolves on a bearing in the reel post above men-
tioned. The reel shaft and the hollow shaft have each of them an arm fixed
upon it at a right angle with the shaft, and each of those arms has a link or
connecting rod hinged to its outer end, and the two link or rods are hinged
together by means of a pin which passes through holes in their ends, and
through the roller working in the track of the excentric guide, the roller
revolving freely upon the pin within the track. The two, connecting rods
or links form an angle with each other, and during rotation the angle is
varied by the roller in the guide track, which draws their uniting pin further
' from or nearer to the rotating shaft, and in this way varies the positions of
the arms upon the reel shaft and upon the hollow shaft with respect to each
other. Rotary motion is given to the reel. shaft, which, through the medium of
the connecting links, communicates rotary motion to the hollow shaft, except
when the excentric guide draws the connecting pin of the links away from the
axle to such an extent as to cause the.rotation of the hollow axle to cease..
…One side of the rake arm is connected by means of a connecting rod to the
arm fixed-upon the reel shaft, and the connecting rod has a ball at each end,
and the balls work in sockets on the arms, so as to act as universal joints.
The connecting rod and its joints or hinges may, however, be made in any
other way which will permit it to act in the same manner. So long as the
reel shaft and the hollow shaft both revolve at the same speed (whilst the rake

page_text: is acting as one of the vanes of the reel) the rake remains in a position
parallel to the shaft of the reel, but when, by the action of the excentric cam
above mentioned, the rotation of the hollow shaft ceases, the arm of the reel
shaft, by means of the connecting rod, presses against the arm of the rake, and
causes it to turn upon its hinge, and thus gives the rake motion in a horizontal
plane, as before mentioned. The action of the roller in the excentric guide
then draws the connecting pin of the links nearer to the shaft, and rotary
motion is then again given to the hollow shaft, and the arms upon the two
shafts are thus gradually brought into the same position with respect to each
other, and the rake is brought into a line parallel with the reel axle as before.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that 1, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard- Archibald Brooman, 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 MACHINES," (communicated to me
from abroad by Cyrus Hall McCormick, of Chicago, in the United States of
America) upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in certain arrangements of mechanism; herein-after
described, in which a rake is used, and has motions given to it so that during
one part of the revolution of the gathering reel the rake shall act as one of
the vanes of the gathering reel in gathering the crop towards the cutting
blades, and so that when the rake has been brought (with its teeth downwards)
into a line with the cutting blades in front of the platform, or nearly so, it
shall cease to revolve round the reel shaft, and it is then made to move
horizontally upon a vertical hinge above one end. of it, with the ends of the
teeth near to the surface of the platform, so as to push the cut crop off the
platform at one side of it. Motion is then given to the rake, so as to cause
it to rotate around the shaft of the reel, and also so that the rake shall be
brought into a line (or nearly so) with the shaft of the reel at that part of
its revolution, when it again begins to act as one of the vanes of the reel.
During the intermittent motions of the rake above described, the rotary motion
of the reel shaft is continuous.
The arrangement or combination of mechanism by which the motions of
the rake and reel are effected will be best understood by reference to the
accompanying Drawings; Figure 1 being a front elevation, and Figure 2 a
plan, of such mechanism; Figure 3 is a section, through the line x, y, of
Figure 1; Figure 4 is an end view, with the excentric or cam guide removed;
and Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 are views of parts in detail, to be
hereafter referred to. Similar letters refer to like parts in all the Figures.
a, a', are the reel posts; b is an eccentric or cam guide, a detached view of
which is given at Figure 5, fitted to the inner side of the reel post a; c is a
roller, free to travel, as will be hereafter described, within the track of the
cam guide b; d is the rake, shown detached at Figure 6, connected to its
arm e, and hinged at f to a hollow shaft g, shown detached at Figure 9;
h-is-a-piece, forming part of the hinge, fixed to the hollow shaft g, and i is the
hinge pin; k is a counterbalance weight; is the reel shaft; m is an arm,
shown at Figure 9, connected to the hollow shaft g, and n-is-an-arm, shown-
at Figure 10, connected to the reel shaft l; o, Figure 8, is a link on the
arm m and p; Figure 12 is a link on the arm n; q is a pin passing through
both; r is a rod, shown at Figure 7, for connecting the rake arin e with the
fixed arm n; it is provided with a balls at one end, working in a socket t on

page_text: the arm, and with a universal joint at the other. Figure 11 shows a cap
för fitting on the outer end of the reel shaft 1. The action is as follows:
The roller.c moves within the track of the excentric or cam guide round: one
end of the axle of the reel, at varying distances from the axle during each
rotation. The rake d is fixed upon one end of the arm e, which moves it into
all its various positions when the machine is in operation. The other end of
the rake arm is attached by the hinge f to the hollow shaft g, by means of
which hollow shaft rotary motion is given to the rake. That part marked h
of the hinge is fixed upon the hollow shaft g, so that the hinge pin-i-shall be
at a right angle with the shaft. To the hollow shaft, and upon the-side
opposite to that at which the rake arm is attached to it, I prefer to fix a
counterbalance weight k to act as a counterpoise to the weight of the rake
and its arm.
A continuation of one end of the reel shaft-l passes through
the hollow shaft, and also through the excentric guide, and is mounted, and
-revolves in a bearing in the reel post a above mentioned... The reel shaft
and the hollow shaftig have each of them an arm m, n, as before mentioned,
fixed
upon it at a right angle with. the. shaft, and each of those arms has a
link or connecting rod o, p, hinged to its outer end; and the two links or rods
are hinged together by means of the pin 9, which passes through holes in
their ends, and through the roller c, working in the track of the excentric
guide 6, the roller revolving freely upon the pin within the track. The two
connecting rods or links form an angle with each other, and during rotation
the angle is varied by the roller in the guide track, which draws their uniting
pin further from or nearer to the rotating shaft, and in this way varies the
positions of the arms upon the reel shaft and upon the hollow shaft with
respect to each other. Rotary motion is given to the reel shaft l, which,
through the medium of the connecting links, communicates rotary motion to
the hollow shaft g, except when the excentric guide draws the connecting pin
of the links away from the axle to such an extent as to cause the rotation of
the hollow axle to cease. One side of the rake arm e is connected by means
of the connecting rod r to the arm fixed upon the reel shaft, and the con-
necting rod has a ball at one end, which works in the socket t, and is united
at the other through an adjustable screw connection, so that the length thereof
may be increased or diminished to the universal joint. The connecting rod
and its joints or hinges may, however, be made in any other way, which will
permit it to act in the same manner. So long as the reel shaft and the hollow-
shaft both revolve at the same speed (whilst the rake is acting as one of the
vanes of the reel) the rake remains in a position parallel to the shaft of the
reel, as shown in Figure 1, but when, by the action of the excentric cam-

page_text: above mentioned, the rotation of the hollow shaft ceases, the arm of the reel
shaft, by means of the connecting rod presses against the arm of the rake, and
causes it to turn upon its hinge, and thus gives the rake motion in a horizontal
-plane across the platform z, as before mentioned, and as indicated by the
dotted lines in Figure 2. The action of the roller in the excentric guide then
draws the connecting pin of the links nearer to the shaft, and rotary motion
is then again given to the hollow shaft, and the arms upon the two shafts
are thus gradually brought into the same position with respect to each other,
and the rake is brought into a line parallel with the reel shaft as before.
•
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the improve-
ments in reaping machines, the arrangement or combination of mechanism
herein-before described, whereby a rake in such machines is made to act in
manner and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here- 1
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
K. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)