IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Albert Süwerkrop, of Leith, in the County
of Mid-Lothian, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."-Partly a communication from abroad
by François Leroy, of San Francisco.
Sealed the 3rd February 1860, and dated the 6th August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Albert Süwer-
krop at the Office of the Cominissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th August 1859.
I, EDWARD ALBERT SUWERKROP. of Leith, in the County of Mid-Lothian,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," the same being partly a communi-
cation from abroad by François Leroy, of San Francisco, to be as follows, that
is to say:
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of reaping and
mowing machines in such manner as to secure a more simple and effective
actuating movement for the cutters or reaping and mowing knives than has
hitherto been accomplished, and entirely to dispense with the use of toothed
wheels or pinions and cranks.
According to one modification of the machine, the main frame consists of
an open rectangular structure of wood or iron, principally supported upon a

page_text: single driving wheel keyed upon its axle, and having ridges across its peri-
phery to take a better hold of the ground over which it moves.
The grain
platform is connected to the main frame on one side, and at a lower level,
by means of a framing of wood or iron projecting downwards and sideways,
or laterally, the side of this platform furthest from the main frame being
supported by a light ground wheel running loose upon a stud.
A pair
of cam discs of equal diameter are fixed to one side of the driving wheel,
the diameter of these cam discs being less than that of the driving wheel.
The driving wheel and cam discs may be formed in one or more parts.
On that side of each disc which is next to the other disc, the surface for about
two inches inwards from the periphery is curved or cam shaped, the curves
upon both discs being precisely corresponding, and so placed as to form a
curved course or groove between them, having the same cross section at any
two points. Upon the front part of the main frame is bolted a cast-iron saddle
or slide rest, which carries a short horizontal shaft. This saddle is arranged to
shift backwards or forwards, and to be retained in either position by a bolt.
On the end of the herein-before mentioned short shaft, next the cam disc or discs,
is keyed a wrought-iron lever projecting downwards. At a point in this lever
is fitted a pin pointing toward the centre of the cam disc, and upon this pin
is a roller bored so as to move freely on the pin, its external periphery being
adapted to roll freely upon and between the contiguous surfaces of the cam
discs. To the lower extremity of the lever is attached, by means of a
connecting rod, the knife or series of knives or cutter of the machine. A spring
or springs may be employed, if desired, for keeping the roller in more imme-
diate contact with one or the other, or both of the surfaces of the cam disc,
being attached to the frame lever connecting rod or otherwise, as may be
found suitable. The pole projects forward from the main frame, to which it is
attached by bolts, and adjusted in order to vary the height of the cutter from
the ground. A wheel or wheels running on the ground, connected with the
pole or shafts, may be employed for the purpose of steadying the motion of the
machine, and taking the side strain off the horses. There is a gathering
wheel of the ordinary form fitted to the main frame, and inade to revolve
over the cutter or knives, and made to operate nearer to or further from
them, as required, by elongating or shortening its arms, or elevating or
depressing the whole of it. This gathering wheel is made to revolve by
means of a band or chain passing over pulleys of similar or dissimilar dia-
meters; one pulley being fitted on to the axle of the driving wheel, the
other pulley on the axle of the gathering wheel, which axle, together with
its arms and pulleys, may be constructed wholly or in part of iron or wood,

page_text: or both. The object of this gathering wheel is to bring, whilst revolving,
the grain or grass into contact with the cutting edge of the knives or cutter,
and after it is cut to place it in such a position on the grain platform as to
allow of its being easily raked off. The upper part of the main frame is so cased
in that the said casing may form a seat for the driver. A foot board is also
attached to the main frame to allow the person who rakes off to stand upon it.
The operation of this machine is as follows:-As the driving wheel revolves
with the forward traverse, the cam disc or discs being carried round with it,
communicate by means of their cam surfaces a reciprocating motion to the
wrought-iron lever by means of the pin and roller retained in its proper
position between the contiguous surfaces of the cam disc, by means of the
bolt fitted through the saddle or slide rest before mentioned, the recipro-
cating action of the lever being communicated by the connecting rod to the
knives or cutter, the grain or grass being brought between the teeth or fingers
to the edge of the cutter jointly by the forward action of the machine and by
the revolving of the gathering wheel. When the machine is required to
mow grass, the grain board is detached from the frame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Albert Süwerkrop in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ALBERT SÜWERKROP, of Leith, in the County of Mid-Lothian, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edward Albert Süwerkrop, Her special license that I, the
said Edward Albert Süwerkrop, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Albert Süwerkrop, my executors, adminis-
trators, or 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 AND MOWING MACHINES,"
(partly a communication from abroad by François Leroy, of San Francisco "),

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Albert Süwer-
krop, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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 Edward Albert Süwerkrop, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improvements in the arrangement and con-
struction of reaping and mowing machines, the object of which improvements
is the simplification of the driving gear so as to produce a more effective
working action of the machine. The principal mechanical parts of my improved
reaping and mowing machine are arranged within a rectangular framing, in
which is fitted a pair of cast-iron cam discs, which are attached to the main
driving wheel of the machine. The cam discs are arranged parallel with the
sides of the machine, and having their surfaces, which face each other for
about two inches or other convenient breadth inwards from their peripheries,
formed in continuous curves precisely corresponding, but so set as to have
the projections of each opposite the hollows of the other, so as to form a
curved course or groove between them. Into this curved course their
projects a pin, which is fixed to an oscillating lever situated before or behind
the cams, and suspended from a short shaft, which has a reciprocating motion
in a bearing placed on the main frame, which contains the main wheel and
cams. Upon this pin a roller is fitted as large as can move freely round the
curved course; this roller being alternately acted on by the two opposite
cams, causes the lever to oscillate by the progressive motion of the main
wheel over the ground. The pin is placed at a point in the lever nearer to
its upper than its lower end, which lower end acts by a connecting rod or
other convenient means upon the usual straight cutter rod, on which the
knives or cutters are fixed in the ordinary way. The lever thus gives the
usual back and forward motion to the cutters, according as the pin is placed
proportionally higher or lower on the lever; the motion given to the cutters
of course bears a greater or less proportion to the displacement of the roller
and pin by the curves. At present I leave about one-fourth of the lever
above the pin, and so multiply the displacement about four times; but these
proportions may be varied; a spring or springs may be used to keep the roller

page_text: more closely in contact with either side of the curved course, or with both
successively. I fix two steel springs on the part of the finger bar which
passes under the frame of the main wheel, so placed as to act one on each side
of the lever near to its lower end; but the springs may be made of india-
rubber, or of any other suitable elastic substance, and applied to the con-
necting rod, or in any other convenient way. The spring receives an impact
from the lever when it has passed through the greater part of its oscillation to
that side, and by retarding the stroke keeps up the pressure longer and more
steadily on the cam, which drives the lever in that direction. The reverse
motion by the opposite cam is then more easily communicated. The cutters
are put into and out of gear as follows:-The bearing of the lever shaft is
arranged to slide in a dovetailed groove, which is securely fixed on the frame
of the main wheel, and so placed that the bearing can only move backwards
or forwards to and from the cams. When moved forward it places the roller
betwixt the cams, and in the proper position for being acted upon by them, and
when moved backwards it withdraws the roller so as not to be acted on.
When the bearing has been moved forward, it is secured in its place by a bolt
or other convenient means. A good means for both moving it backward and
forward and of securing it is by an endless screw and nut; by turning the screw
the bearing is made to move backwards or forwards, as required. When it
has been far enough moved forward, the screw may be prevented from receding
by a catch holding into a ratchet wheel.
In the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2, a plan
or top view; Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line
Y, Z, in Figure 2, of a reaping and mowing machine, having my improve-
ments applied thereto; Figure 4 is a view of part of a finger bar, having
springs fixed on it; Figure 5 represents a portion of the two cams, with the
pin T and roller S between them. The letters of reference are the same
throughout the Figures. A is a rectangular frame of timber, which is strongly
bolted together; in this frame is fitted the cast-iron wheel B, which is forty-
one inches in diameter, and is keyed on the iron axle C, which works in
pedestal bearings on the frame A. The cast-iron cam discs D are attached to
each other, and to the arms of the main wheel B, by bolts partially shown
passing through fitting pieces on the cams and wheel, and truly faced,
marked d. Each disc has a series of undulations on its circumference, the
difference between the projections and the hollows of the corrugated parts
being one inch. At the bottoms of the hollows the discs are one inch thick
at the thinnest part, and they are two inches deep. The curved course or
groove between them is three inches wide at the outer periphery, and slightly

page_text: less at the inner, the cams being bevelled. The machine is fitted with the
usual shafts E, or, if preferred, with a single pole. The lever F is keyed on
the short shaft H, which works in the bearing G. The lever may be made
of wrought iron or, for lightness, of steel. The bearing G slides in a dove-
tailed groove, and is moved to and fro therein by the endless screw, partly
shown behind it, and which passes under it through a nut in the bearing I.
The screw is worked by the small hand wheel J. Upon the portion of the
finger bar which passes under the frame of the main wheel B, two steel
springs are fixed, as shown in Figure 4. K is the finger bar; L are the two
springs, placed on their edges, pointing forwards, and projecting enough to
receive the impact of the lever F shortly before the limit of each oscillation.
The Drawings
The rest of the machine is constructed in the ordinary manner.
show one with its finger bar K, its cutter rod M, fitted with angular cutters
of the common sort working through fingers N, the outer end borne up by
the small wheel o, and the cut and standing grain being separated by the
divider P. When the machine is in operation, the driver occupies the seat U,
his feet resting on the foot board V. When grass is to be mown, the grain
platform Q is made to lift out of the frame by unscrewing the small bolts R
which hold it down.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of the said improvements,
I distinctly declare that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement of
the machine shown in the Drawing, which may be constructed in many various
ways, nor to the dimensions, materials, proportions, and other details of the
actuating motion. herein described or shown in the Drawing; but that I claim
as new, and desire to secure by the said Letters Patent,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of two circular cam discs,
having curved or undulated surfaces, which cams are formed on or attached
to the main wheel so as to form a curved course or groove between their
external peripheries, and so driving the oscillating lever by a pin and roller
projected into the curved course aforesaid, the displacement of the pin by the
cams being multiplied by the unequal lever so as to give a sufficient speed to
the cutters of reaping and mowing machines, without the intervention of other
machinery, in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of a spring or springs to and in reaping and
mowing machines, acting directly or indirectly, through a lever on a roller, for
the purpose herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of shifting such a lever and roller of a reaping
machine out and in so as to put the cutters into and out of gear by moving
the bearing of the lever shaft backwards and forwards, and fixing it when

page_text: forward so as to keep the cutters in gear, in the manner herein-before
described, or any mere equivalent therefor.
Fourth, the system or mode of moving the bearing backward and forward
by means of a screw, and also of fixing it, when required, by a catch working
into a ratchet, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Albert Süwerkrop, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
EDWARD ALBERT SÜWERKROP. (L.S.)