Improve- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELLING TREES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Allen Ransome, of the Eukestons, Clapham
Common, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "Improve-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELLING TREES."
Sealed the 12th April 1876, and dated the 3rd November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Allen Ransome at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd November 1875.
I, ALLEN RANSOME, of the Eukestons, Clapham Common, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FELLING TREES," to be as follows:-
:-
The object of my Invention is to construct felling machinery to be
worked by steam in such manner as to be readily portable.
I employ a steam cylinder with a length of stroke equal to that of the
saw, and the saw is actuated directly by the steam cylinder. The
cylinder lies upon and is secured to a base plate or frame, which is so
made that it can be conveniently carried from place to place, and can be

page_text: staked down to the ground at the foot of the tree to be felled. A portable
boiler is employed to supply steam, and a flexible steam pipe or hose
conveys the steam from the boiler to the cylinder. At each stroke the
saw is moved round a short distance, and so by degrees the saw is caused
to pass through the tree from side to side. This may be effected by a
mounting the cylinder upon a pivot, and causing the cylinder to turn
slowly round on this pivot; this turning motion may be given to the
cylinder by means of a worm gearing into a tooth rack upon the cylinder,
or by other suitable arrangement of gearing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Allen Ransome in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 3rd May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALLEN
RANSOME, of the Eukestons, Clapham Common, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto mic, the said Allen Ransome, Her special
license that I, the said Allen Ransome, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Allen Ransome, 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
MACHINERY FOR FELLING TREES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Allen Ransome, my executors or administrators, 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: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Allen Ransome, 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, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to construct felling machinery to be
worked by steam in such manner and as to be readily portable.
I employ a steam cylinder with a length of stroke equal to that of the
saw, and the saw is actuated directly by the steam cylinder. The
cylinder lies upon and is secured to a base plate or frame, which is so
made that it can be conveniently carried from place to place, and can be
staked down to the ground at the foot of the tree to be felled. A portable
boiler is employed to supply steam, and a flexible steam pipe or loso
conveys the steam from the boiler to the cylinder. At each stroke the
saw is moved round a short distance, and so by degrees the saw is caused
to pass through the tree from side to side. This may be effected by
mounting the cylinder upon a pivot, and causing the cylinder to turn
slowly round on this pivot; this turning motion may be given to the
cylinder by means of a worm gearing into a tooth rack upon the cylinder,
or by other suitable arrangement of gearing.

page_text: piston rod is attached to a cross head ; it works on guide bars fixed to
the cylinder cover, and the buckle holding the saw i is also attached
to it. The saw works between adjustable packings at k.
The steam is admitted to and allowed to escape from the cylinder by
means of a semi-rotary valve shown in section at Figure 4; it is held in
its scat by the pressure of the steam, and is turned by means of the
spindle 7, which has an arm upon it, and this is connected by the
The lever n is
link m seen in the end view, Figure 5, with a lever n.
carried by a bracket e' on the side of the cylinder e, and the boss of the
lever is slotted for the twisted bar o to pass through it. The bar o is
attached to the cross head 4, and moving with the piston rod gives a
rocking motion to the lever n, and the necessary semi-rotary motion to
the valve. To press the saw up to its work there is a toothed are p fixed
to the cylinder, and with this a worm q engages; " is a wheel on the
it.
axis of the worm, and s is a hand lever with a gripping pawl 8' upon
There is another locking pawl at 1, and both the pawls take hold of the
wheel in such manner that by moving the levers to and fro the worm
can be rotated, and the saw kept up to its work.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim, the
construction of machines for felling trees, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Allen Ransome, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.