IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HAY AND CHAFF, OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Gregory, of the City of Manchester, in tho
County of Lancaster, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HAY AND
CHAFF, OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 10th December 1861, and dated the 18th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Gregory at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
June 1861.
I, FRANCIS GREGORY, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Agricultural Implement Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING
HAY AND CHAFF, OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, of fixing upon the driving shaft, or the shaft
to which the knives or cutters are attached, a pin. wheel, with one or more
teeth, pins, or pegs working in a tangent, star, or intermittent wheel, for the
purpose of giving an intermittent feeding motion to the hay, chaff or other

page_text: matter. The edge of the intermittent wheel being of such concavity as to fit
the circular part of the pin wheel, which thereby prevents the turning of the
intermittent wheel until the tooth or teeth, peg or pegs, come in contact with
the slots or openings.
Secondly, in placing the vertical shaft used in some machines for driving
the top roller in a friction box, in order to enable it to rise and fall with ease
according to the thickness of the feed. To the shaft is fixed a pin on each
side at right angles to its length, which pins are mounted with friction bowls
working in grooves in the box, which is driven by toothed wheels from the
bottom roller.
These improvements are intended to be applied either separately or con-
jointly to the aforesaid machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Gregory in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
GREGORY, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Agricultural
Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Gregory, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Gregory,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Francis Gregory, 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 OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HAY AND CHAFF, OR OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis
Gregory, 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

page_text: Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Gregory, 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 fol-
Jowing statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists, firstly, in fixing upon the driving shaft, or the shaft
to which the knives or cutters are attached, a pin wheel, with one or more
teeth, pins, or pegs working in a tangent, star, or intermittent wheel, for the
purpose of giving an intermittent feeding motion to the hay, chaff, or other
matter to be cut. The edge of the intermittent wheel is formed with con-
cavities corresponding with the circular part of the pin wheel, for the purpose
of proventing the turning of the intermittent wheel until the tooth or teeth,
peg or pegs, on the said pin wheel enter the slots or openings of the said
intermittent wheel.
Secondly, in employing a vertical shaft for driving the upper feed roller.
The said shaft works in an antifriction box, in order to enable the roller to
rise and fall with ease according to the thickness of the feed. To the shaft is
fixed a stud on each side at right angles to its length, which studs are mounted
with antifriction bowls working in grooves in the box, which is driven by
toothed wheels from the bottom roller.
These improvements are intended to be applied either separately or con-
jointly to the aforesaid machines.
This Invention will be clearly understood by referring to the figures and
letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents &
front, and Figs. 2 and 3, end elevations of a hay or chaff cutting machino
having my improvements attached. Figs. 4 and 5, are detached vertical and
transverse sections of the antifriction box; and Fig. 6, a modified arrange-
ment of the intermittent and pin wheels.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a represents the driving shaft of the machine; b, the
fly wheel; c, the cutting knives; d, e, the feeding rollers, and f, g, the shafts
to which they are attached. At the end of the driving shaft a is fixed the pin
wheel, having one or more teeth, pins, or pegs i for giving motion to the inter-
mittent wheel k, which has any required number of slots and concavities m,
and fixed to the shaft n, working at one end in the bearing o, which swivels
on the lower roller shaft g to enable the feeding motion to be disengaged when
required. To the shaft n is fixed the bevil wheel p gearing into the bevil
wheel a fixed to the lower roller shaft g. The teeth, pius, or pegs i of the pin

page_text: wheel hare of such dimensions that as the wheel revolves they can enter the
slots of the intermittent wheel and give it intermittent motion, which is
transmitted by the bevil wheels p, q, to the lower roller shaft g, and thus cause
the rollers to feed the hay, chaff, or other matters at intervals just before the
knife is about to act. For giving motion to the upper feed roller d, and at
the same time enable it to rise and fall according to the thickness of the feed,
I place the vertical shaft r in an anti-friction box s, (also shewn in the
detached' sections Figs. 4 and 5,) fixed to the bevil wheel t, which gears into
the bevil wheel u on the lower roller shaft, and thus causes the antifriction
box to revolve. To the vertical shaft r is fixed a stud v at each side at "right
angles to its length, which studs are mounted with antifriction bowls w
working in grooves in the box, so that the shaft r can rise up and down and
yet be turned by the box. At the top of the shaft 7 is fixed the bevil wheel y;
gearing into the bevil wheel fixed to the top roller shaft f, which with the shaft
r revolve in bearings in a moveable carriage or frame a¹ held by the lever b', the
bearings passing through spaces in the main side frame c' of the machine.
The said frame a¹ is pulled down by the weight d, which causes the top
roller to exert sufficient pressure to keep the feed close, but rise and fall
according to its thickness.
In Fig. 6, I represent a modified arrangement of the pin and intermittent
wheels for giving intermittent motion to the feed rollers. The pin wheel is
shewn at e¹ fixed to the driving shaft of the machine. It is made of a bevilled
shape, and has one or more teeth, pins, or pegs fon its periphery, working in
slots g' in a bevilled intermittent wheel h¹ fixed to the shaft of the lower feed
roller, on which is also fixed the spur wheel ³, gearing into the spur wheel on
the shaft m' of the upper feed roller. At each revolution of the driving shaft
the intermittent wheel is advanced the distance from one slot to the other for
each pin or peg on the pin wheel, which intermittent motion is transmitted by
the gearing to the feed rollers.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood that
I claim in machinery or apparatus for cutting hay and chaff, or for other
similar purposes,―
First, the employment of a pin wheel having one or more teeth, pins, or
pegs acting upon a tangent, star, or intermittent wheel, for giving an inter-
mittent feeding motion.
Secondly, the employment of a vertical shaft and antifriction hox for
enabling the top feed roller to rise and fall according to the thickness of the

page_text: feed, as such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Gregory, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within-named Francis
Gregory, in the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
17, Cross Street,
Manchester.
FRANCIS GREGORY. (L.B.)