IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES." AND MOWING
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Atkinson Fell, of the Bridge Iron-
works, Windermere, m the County of Westmoreland, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
MACHINES."
AND MOWING
Sealed the 1st June 1875, and dated the 3rd April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Atkinson Fell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd April 1875.
I, WILLIAM ATKINSON FELL, of the Bridge Iron Works, Windermere,
5 in the County of Westmoreland, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES,"
to be as follows :-
Heretofore when a rotatory motion has been imparted to the main
shoes of reaping and mowing machines a fixed bar is employed to
prevent the dropping of the finger or cutter bar below the level of the
machine, rendering it difficult to cut as close and evenly as desired

page_text: when the cutter bar has to follow in a hollow the driving wheels which
are on a higher plane, also the coupling of the eye of the knife on the
shoc with the connecting rod has heretofore been effected by the use of
a cap under which the knife or sicklo is fastened by bolts and nuts,
which have to be removed every time the sickle is taken out, thus
causing great trouble and delay.
The object of my Invention is to obviate these various inc on-
veniences.
One part of my improvements relates to means for readily enabling
the driver to raise or lower the finger or cutter bar horizontally and
evenly from or to the ground, and in whatever may be the position of
the machinery for the time. This I effect by means of a taper-headed
key which is capable of being brought into contact with a similar taper
or incline on the frame of the machine, and of being worked by a hori-
zontal lover fixed in the shoe, and connected by a chain to the ratchet
lever operated by the hand of the driver. The cutter bar has at all
times perfect freedom to rotate and allow of its following the inequalitics
of the surface of the ground.
Also I couplo the knife to the connecting rod on the shoc by merely
slipping the pin on the connecting rod into the joint of the knife, and
then pushing down a hinged plate which thereby keeps the connecting
rod in position, and then the head of the knife is retained by a per-
manent plate, so that there is nothing loose or to unscrew in taking out
the knife This arrangement, by dispensing with bolts, nuts, and screws,
enables the operator to perform in a few seconds what generally takes as
many minutes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Atkinson Fell in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 30th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 3
ATKINSON FELL, of the Bridge Ironworks, Windermere, in the County
of Westmoreland, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, beaung date the Third day of April, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Atkinson Fell, Her special license
that I, the said William Atkinson Fell my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Atkinson Fell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thercafter 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 William Atkinson Fell, 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 Scal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Atkinson Fell, 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 :—
Heretofore when a rotatory motion has been imparted to the main
shoes of reaping and mowing machines a fixed bar is employed to
prevent the dropping of the finger or cutter bar below the level of the
machine, rendering it difficult to cut a sclose and evenly as desired
when the cutter bar has to follow in a hollow the driving wheels which
are on a higher plane; also the coupling of the oye of the knife on the
shoe with the connecting rod has heretofore been effected by the use of
a cap under which the knife or sickle is fastened by bolts and nuts,
which have to be removed every time the sickle is taken out, thus
causing great trouble and delay.
The object of my Invention is to obviate these various incon-
veniences.
The first nont of me immutamento salates to manna fou unadelantı:

page_text: into the eye of the knife F, shown by dotted lines in Figures 3 and 5.
When the latch B is raised, as at Figure 4, the connecting rod is sprung
from underneath a permanent plate which retains in position the head
of the knife. The knife can then be most readily slipped out without
loosening a single nut.
To replace the knife, spring the connecting rod C into cyc of knifo F,
push down the hinged plate or latch B, and the knife is then ready for
cutting.
Having thus described my Invention and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I
claim is, the improvements in reaping and mowing machines, substan-
tially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Atkinson Fell, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-eighth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
fivn