CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE THRASHING MACHINE
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
Cox, of Fairford, in the County of Gloucester, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-third day of January now last last, did give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Cox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Peter Cox, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE THRASHING MACHINE;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Peter Cox, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereto
bad, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter Cox, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed as follows, that is
to say:-
It consists in employing an extra roller or rollers to the common thrashing

page_text: machine, and in inclosing the cylinder so as to compel the straw and what
loose corn may be with it to pass between rollers in its way from the said
cylinder, thereby preventing the grain or what may be thrashing from wasting
or flying about; and assisting in the operation of thrashing and impelling the
straw down a shaking inclined sieve or fluted plane, having a quantity of holes
in the hollows, in order that the thrashed grain, seed, &c. may be seperated
from the straw, and pass through into a proper receptacle or, receiver in a state
fit for winnowing, commonly termed made up.
Another object of my Invention consists in having a governor or regulator
to give notice to the people and animals employed in working the machine
when it is going an improper pace or velocity, which is effected by a pair of
balls, similar to what is used to regulate a steam engine, except that the
regulator I use acts on a bell, or anything else that will make a noise or give
notice, and is applicable to any machine worked by the power of men or
animals. The manner in which I apply the aforesaid improvement is described
by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and as follows:-
Figure 1st, A is the platform on which the corn to be thrashed is laid previous
to its entering the rollers B and C; D is the cylinder; E is the grooved plate;
F, F, is the cover on which the grooved plates are fastened; G, the regulating
screw (all which are now generally used, and constitute part of a common thrash-
ing machine. The improvements are, H, H, H, I, the inclosure to the cylinder,
which may be made of wood, iron, or any other suitable material; the roller
I, which works into C, and is either plain or grooved, is suspended by the
poise or leaver K, K, and-kept up to the roller C by means of the weight L,
which weight allows the roller I to give way to the quantity of straw passing
between the rollers C and I. M, M, are two boards to direct the straw to
the inclined sieve or fluted plane N, which sievo or plane is set in motion by a
crank, or any other method at present well known to mechanists.
Figure the 2d. is an end section of the fluted plane. a, a, a, a, a, shew
the edges of the flutes b, b. b; the hollows c, c, c, are the holes through which
the corn pass into the receiver. N is the side section of the fluted plane. Tho
line a represents the upper edges of the flutes; b, the hollows; c, the holes, being
largest at the under side, and the edge d, d, d, made lowest, to prevent the
passage of the straw from being impeded.
Figure 3 is the regulator. A, A, are the two balls; B, B, the irons which
support them, suspended at C, and turned in the direction D, D; E, a
lever to which a wire is fastened, which wire is connected with a bell; F is
an arch to prevent the balls spreading too far. The action of my improved
thrashing machine is as follows:-The corn, seed, &c., to be thrashed is

page_text: put upon the platform A, and pushed towards the rollers B and C,
which rollers carry it to the cylinder D; it is then driven by the motion
of the beaters against the plate E, and from thence in the direction of
F, F, H, H, I, H, to the rollers C and I, where it is rolled out on the
sieve or plane N, the straw sliding down and the grain passing through
the holes d, d, d. Now, it is evident that the straw thrashed by this
machine must have more beating than in the common way, having no way
to escape but at the rollers C and I; it is also delivered on the shaking
sieve or plane N in regular succession without the grains flying or wasting,
which makes it easy to seperate the grain from the straw. The regulator is
so well know in mechanism, that I need say no more than that my Invention
is for the applying it to manual or animal power, by causing it to act on a
boll, or in any other way that may give notice when the machine goes too
slow, it being a material object to keep the cylinder to a uniform velocity,
otherwise the grain will not be well cleared from the straw.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Cox, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
shousand
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fifteenth day of March,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Peter Cox came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Iwenty-second day of March, in the year above written.