IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE BINDING OF CUT CORN INTO SHEAVES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Hughes, of Brampton Ash, Market
"Harborough, in the County of Northampton, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE BINDING OF CUT CORN
INTO SHEAVES.”
Sealed the 11th September 1874, and dated the 13th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Hughes at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th March 1874.
I, ALFRED HUGHES, of Brampton Ash, Market Harborough, in the
County of Northampton, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE BINDING OF
CUT CORN INTO SHEAVES," to be as follows:-
:-
The object of my Invention is to facilitate the binding of cut corn

page_text: In order to raise the cut corn from the ground the front and lower
edge of the inclined platform is fitted with a set of jointed lifters lying
close to each other, under-running the swath, lifting and landing it on
the front of the slope. This sloping platform is fitted with sides of
suitable height to keep the corn together, forming a trough. Travelling &
up this trough and over pulleys at either end is an endless chain,
provided with spikes or gatherers similar to that used in straw clevators.
This part of the apparatus is driven off the nave of one of the land
wheels. As soon as the corn is placed on the front of the slope by the
lifters it is drawn up the trough by the elevator, and discharged over the 1
upper edge of the trough upon an apron or table of sufficient height
from the ground to enable a man seated at the back of it to place his
knees underneath it.
I prefer that each sheaf should be tied with a separate band of suitable
cord with loop and grummet or hook. A supply of these bands is ]
strained upon a rack or slide beneath the table, and propelled to the
tieing place. At the ticing spot there is a narrow slit in the table or
apron parallel and corresponding in length with the tie or band. Each
tie in succession is propelled immediately under the slit, and is there
held until released.
Immediately under the slit and acting parallel with it there is a
hinged pair of horn-like calipers opening and shutting vertically through
the slit. The horns are worked by the man's foot and retire downwards
through the slit below the level of the table as soon as the pressure of
the foot is removed. The corn being discharged upon the table or apron
at right angles to the slit is collected into a sheaf of proper size by the
man's hands; the man then applies his foot to a suitable treadle and so
the horns are thrown up. The horns are of a round form at their upper
ends, and are provided with forked ends; they seize the loop and
grummet or hook and crushing the sheaf into a compact mass bring the
loop and grummet together on the top of the sheaf. The grummet or
hook is then pushed into the loop and the pressure of the foot being
removed the two horns retire below the platform and the sheaf slips to
the ground.
The whole of this arrangement may be used in duplicate, placing two
sets of the apparatus on one axle so as to gather two swaths at once, the

page_text: It may also be adapted and attached to the platform of an ordinary
reaper, in which case the elevator may be dispensed with, the form of
the platform and course of the rakes being somewhat modified. But as
corn may frequently be cut when it is too damp to lie I prefer the
independent tieing machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Hughes in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 12th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
HUGHES, of Brampton Ash, Market Harborough, in the County of
Northampton, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventli year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Hughes, Her special license that
I, the said Alfred Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Alfred Hughes, 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 APPARATUS TO
FACILITATE THE BINDING OF CUT CORN INTO SHEAVES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Hughes, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to
facilitate the binding of cut corn into sheaves.
My apparatus consists of a carriage or frame mounted on wheels, and
drawn by a horse or horses harnessed to it, either at the front or to one
side, as in a reaping machine.
The frame supports a light platform or trough inclining upwards from
front to back, and over and within the platform or trough an elevating
apparatus works. There are lifters jointed to the front of the platform,
and these under run the cut crop as it lies on the land; they act so far
in the same way as the reaping machine lifters for raising laid crops
described in the Specification of my Patent, No. 2468, in the year
1872.
When a portion of the crop is upon the lifters the elevating apparatus
(which consists of endless chains having teeth and passing around
rotating drums) takes it up the platform and delivers it on to the front
of the binding table, which is inclined in the opposite direction. The
attendant is seated behind the binding table, and in consequence of the
inclination of the table the crop descends towards him; he receives and
collects it in a hollow in the table. Near the centre of the binding table
is a longitudinal slit, and beneath it there is a sickle-shaped lever or
compresser; it is mounted on an axis and connected with a treadle so
arranged that the attendant by pressing on the treadle can bring the
point of the compresser up through the slit and towards himself. The
compresser when it is thus caused to rise passes over the bundle of crop.
collected in the hollow of the table, and presses down upon the top of it.
The point of the compresser brings with it within easy reach of the
attendant the end of a cord for binding the bundle into a sheaf. The
other end of the cord has remained in the attendant's hand during the
operation, and the cord having now been passed around the bundle it
remains only to connect its two ends. For this purpose the end in the
hand of the attendant is provided with a wooden clasp or hook. This
clasp or hook the attendant hooks on to the other end of the cord,
which becomes wedged or jammed in the notch, so that it will not slip,
and a knot or knots may be tied in the end of the cord as a further
security. The sheaf when thus bound is pushed off the binding table at

page_text: the side by the attendant, who also attaches the end of another binding
cord to the compresser before he allows it to return by lifting his foot
from the treadle or reversing the action of the treadle. The binding
cords for the supply of the apparatus are wound upon a reel and
attached end to end, so that each as it is drawn off the reel brings
forward the next. At the same time that the compresser is raised spikes
are protruded through the binding table to retain the crop delivered by
the clevator, and keep it out of the way until the binding and delivery
of-the preceding sheaf is completed.
In order that my said Invention may be more fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 is a side view partly in section of a machine arranged
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a back view; and Figure 3 is a
plan.
a, a, is the frame mounted on a pair of main travelling wheels b, b,
and it has a third or swivel wheel at c beneath the seat. d, which carries
tho attendant. The horse or other draft animal or animals is harnessed
to this carriage in any convenient manner, and when the apparatus is in
use should be led by a boy. e is an inclined corrugated platform fixed
to the frame; and f,f, are lifters jointed to its lower and leading edge;
g, g, are two endless chains carrying transverse slats with spikes upon
them; they pass around drums h, h, the axes of which are carried in
suitable bearings, and the upper one has a belt pulley fixed upon it to
receive a driving belt, which also passes around a pulley b¹ attached to
one of the wheels 6, and if desired the same arrangement for driving tho
elevator may also be applied on the other side of the machine. The
machine is drawn over the ground in such a direction that the cut crop
lies across its path. The lifters fif, insert themselves beneath the crop,
and when it is upon the lifters the teeth of the elevating apparatus take
it and rake it up the platform e; they deliver it at the upper end of the
binding table i; it slips down either until it reaches the hollow it, or
until it is arrested by the prongs k, k, which are thrown up whenever
the attendant seated at d places his foot upon the treadle m. The
prongs k, k, thus serve to keep the crop back whilst the binding of a

page_text: 2nd. The compresser rising through a slit in the binding table,
bringing up with it the end of the binding cord and passing it around
the bundle or sheaf, substantially as described.
3rd. The arrangement of the binding cords and the means of providing
a continuous supply of the binding cords to the operative parts of the
machine, substantially as described.
4th. The arrangement of the apparatus substantially as described and
shown in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Hughes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.