IMPROVEMENTS IN BEAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bell, of South Inch Michael, in the County of
Perth, North Britain, Farmer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BEAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 24th February 1860, and dated the 27th August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
August 1859.
I, GEORGE BELL, of South Inch Michael, in the County of Perth, North
Britain, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to a certain extent to an Invention of "Improvements
in Reaping and Mowing Machines," for which British Letters Patent bearing
date on or about the 1st day of September 1857, No. 2291, have already been
granted to Mr. George Bell, but it is also available with reference to reaping
and mowing machines of various other forms of construction. It comprehends
under the first head an arrangement for securing the better delivery of the
cut or severed corn or grass by means of pegs or projections fitted upon an
endless chain or chains in substitution for the ordinary belt delivery apparatus
or pitch chains and delivering web previously used, this pegged chain arrange-
ment is fitted up at the lower end of the revolving rollers in addition to or in
connection with delivering belts. The lower part of the chain is below instead
of above the bars which support the cutter and holding fingers of the machine.
The pegs lay hold of the cut grain and carry it properly away to one side,
being relieved of the severed mass at the delivery side by a shield or shields

page_text: which raise the grain above the points of the pegs whilst passing over or round
the roller or chain wheels. At the back part of the machine there is attached
a species of rake for collecting the severed grain into sheaves or bundles after
having been laid in the swathe form. This rake is attached transversely to
the hind part of the framing where the horses are yoked, and it is worked as
the machine travels along in action either by hand or by means of compound
levers actuated by the working machinery. If actuated automatically a peg
in the ground driving wheel in coming round works a lever arrangement in
connection with the rake so as to raise the latter and allow it to descend at
the proper intervals. The main transverse bar of the rake is or may be attached
to the centre of the framing by a pivot to allow of the rising and falling, the
off or projecting end of the rake being prevented from taking the ground by a
small ground running wheel. These raking or sheave-making details may be
fitted up and actuated in various ways, always being attached at the back of
the main framing and operating so as to convert the newly formed swathe into
sheaves or bundles simultaneously with the rest of the operations, and whilst
the reaper is traversing over the field. On the delivering rollers above the
pitch chain and between the belts there are attached one or more swell pieces
or projections made either separate or in one piece with the rollers, and either
fluted or pegged upon their surfaces, or partly fluted and partly pegged. They
are preferred to be of a hollow or curvilinear cone form, the larger ends being
on the higher side and their special office is to assist in the proper delivery of
the severed grain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Bell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BELL, of South Inch Michael, in the County of Perth, North Britain, Farmer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
the
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
said George Bell, Her special license that I, the said George Bell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Bell, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 AND MOWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Bell, 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 George Bell, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings and certain letters or figures
accompanying the Specifications of an Invention of improvements in reaping
and mowing machines, for which Letters Patent of date the First day of
September One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, have already been
granted to me, as also to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters or
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates, in the first instance, to a better mode of delivering
the grain or grass after being cut, which is to be accomplished by means of
pegs or projections fitted or being part of an endless chain in substitution for
the ordinary belt delivering apparatus, or plain pitch chain and delivering web
formerly used. This pegged chain arrangement is fitted on or applied at the
lower end of the revolving rollers d, d, Figure 1st of my former Specifications
in addition to or in connection with one or more delivering belts or chains.
The lower or under part of said pegged chain to travel or run below instead
of, as formerly, above the bar or bars which support the cutting or fore part of
the machine. In operating, the pegs lay hold of the grain or grass immediately
on its being cut, and bear it along to one or either side of the machine more
effectively than the former methods, and are relieved of their hold by a shield
or shields A, A, Figure 3 of the accompanying Drawing, which raise the
lower part of the cut grain or grass so that they lose their hold of it. at tho
delivering side as shown at A, A, Figure 8. Thus while the pegged chain B, B,
revolves from right to left round the roller chain wheel c, c, the cut grain or
grass will be borne along, and being relieved of the hold of the pegs by means
of the inclined plane or shield A, A, will be at liberty to fall off and form a
continuous swath by the time it reaches the peg D, and will thus be prevented
from being drawn in below the cutters by the shield, which is partly made of

page_text: wood and faced with zinc or other material, and is fastened along the back
part of the cutting finger plate, and rises at each end as shown in the Figure 3
immediately in front of the pegged chain.
This Invention relates farther to an apparatus for collecting the grain or
grass after being delivered into a continuous swath so as to forin small bundles
or sheaves. This operation is to be performed by means of a pronged instru-
ment resembling a rake, being placed transversely behind the delivering
apparatus of reaping machines, and more particularly on propelling machines
such as that known by the name of Bell's reaping machine, it will be most
conveniently placed a little behind the driving wheels D, D, of my former
Specifications Figure 1st, and at a short distance from and along the beam to
which the propelling pole is attached at HI, the rake end protruding about
three feet beyond the wheel tract and immediately above and over the swath.
This rake can either be worked by the hand or by means of levers or other
gearing actuated by the machine. Thus in Figure 4 of the accompanying
Drawings A, A, represents a sheafing rake to be raised at intervals either by
the handle at B, or by means of levers actuated by the driving wheels, which
may be performed as follows:-A lever working on a fixed pivot in the frame
of the machine Figure 1st of former Specifications at S, and lying along the
inside and above the axle of the driving wheel D, to a point where it will
come in contact with and under the head of the transverse rake at C, of the
accompanying Drawings, can be raised the required height at the point C, by
means of a peg or pegs in one or more of the spokes of the wheel D, coming
against an excrescence on the side of the first-mentioned lever at the required
distance behind the axle, thus lifting the outer end of the rake a sufficient
height to leave the collected grain, when, as the machine progresses, the rake
will again fall and collect immediately on the peg of the wheel passing the
lever, the gathering teeth will be kept out of the ground by the small wheel
at D, and the outer part of the rake will be kept forward by a small chain or
cord E, connecting it with the fore part of the machine, the eye at F, working
on a stud above the propelling pole at H, Figure 1st of former Specifications.
Or the gathering rake may have the teeth constructed in a curved form,
similar to an improved hay or stubble rake, and instead of the outer part of the
rake being raised up, it can be partly turned round so as to collect and leave
the cut grain at intervals by means of levers actuated by the driving wheels or
main axle, as follows:-If a lever A, A, Figure 5 of the accompanying Draw-
ings, is placed along about the centre of the machine in the same direction as
the draught pole and right under the main axle to a point about two feet
before it, and is there fitted on a stud fixed in a cross bar at B, having a

page_text: somewhat flattened part at C, and a bend down immediately behind it, then.
it will be seen that a paw D, fixed upon the main axle every time the driving
wheels go round will depress the other end of the said lever E to F, which
being connected to another lever G, G, which is key'd at right angles to the
middle part of the transverse rake heads at H, will raise the far end of it
from I to J, and the curved teeth being fastened at K through the rake head
will be raised in its point from L to M, which will allow the collected bundle
or sheaf to remain while the weight N, suspended at the point of the lever G, G,
immediately on the paw D passing at C, will bring down the gathering teeth
to their former position, when, as the machine progresses, they will again
collect another sheaf or bundle. This form of sheafing apparatus which I
have tried and adopted, as well as the former mentioned one, Figure 4, will
like it be placed behind the delivering apparatus and transversely to the
draught pole and framework of the machine, and is so arranged as to work on
each or either side of the machine where such is propelled, as Bell's, but on
machines drawn at one side, only one will be required, and that either with or
without folding up joints as now to be described, both or either of which I
claim as my Invention. For the better illustrating the working of this latter
sheafing apparatus Figure 6 of the accompanying Drawings is a back elevation
of the machine showing how the sheafing rakes are put in and out of gear,
and how they are disposed of when sheafing is not required, &c. A, A, repre-
sents the transverse shaft, which, when required, is put in connection with the
sheafing rakes B, B; C, C, are two brackets fixed to the back bar of the
machine at D, D, having round eyes or holes through which said shaft works
at C, C, then other two curved brackets E, E, also having round eyes at E, E,
are, hinged to the rakes B, B, at F, F, when it will be seen that one or both
rakes can be raised or put out of gear, and their extremities will meet at G, a
bracket H, H, being fixed on the top rail of the machine with a pulley at the
top, a cord or chain attached to the extremities of the rakes is passed over it,
and when working, the one rake being pulled down in a position to collect as
at I, the other will be resting on the top at C, to which both can be fixed as
shown in the Figure, when not required and being out of gear, the weight N
being linked up to the draught pole, will relieve the lever A, A, Figure 5, of
the paw D, and allow the shaft A, A, Figure 6, to remain at rest, the gather-
ing teeth being turned up as stated. Then, upon the rake being let down, it
will move at the joint F, and the knee J will be clasped into the open shear K
which will so attach the rake as to give it the same reciprocal motion as the
middle shaft A, A, which being actuated as before described, while in the
position of the dotted lines as at I, will turn the rake teeth about quarter

page_text: round leaving the grain in sheaves or bundles while the middle shaft is at
liberty to work in the open eyes E, C, C, E, and without attaching the off
side rake B, and it will be seen that the curved brackets E, E, are kept from
turning too far round by small chains connecting them to the rail D, D.
Figure 7 is a bird's-eye view of the same apparatus, and will more fully show
the position of the levers and the connecting joints at K, K.
The remaining part of my Invention as included in the Provisional Specifi-
cation; viz. bulges or swells on the revolving rollers between the delivering
belts having proved ineffective on trial, I hereby renounce; and now having
described the nature of this my Invention, and the manner in which the same
may be used or carried into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not
confine or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had
occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom
without deviating from the main features of my Invention, but 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 use and application of pegs or projections fitted on or being
part of a pitch or other chain in addition to or connection with other chains
or belts for the delivery of grain or grass from reaping and mowing machines,
the lower part of such pegged chain or other pegged belt to work below
instead of above the bar or bars which support the front or cutting part of such
machines.
Second, the use or application of a shield or shields, or inclined planes, to
relieve the cut grain or grass where pegs or projections are used in delivering
grain or grass from reaping or mowing machines or any modifications thereof.
And, lastly, the use and application of an apparatus for collecting the cut
grain into bundles or sheaves after being laid in swaths simultaneously and in
connection with the working of reaping machines, all as herein-before described,
or any one of these Inventions or improvements separately or modifications of
the same, all which I claim as my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bell, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.