IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Deas, of Carneil, in the County of Fife,
North Britain, Farmer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 17th December 1859, and dated the 17th June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Deas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
June 1859.
I, DAVID DEAS, of Carneil, in the County of Fife, North Britain, Farmer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING MACHINES," to be as follows, that is to say :--
This Invention has for object an improvement in the delivering action of
reaping machines, and in the means of dividing the grain or crop, and guiding
it upon the cutters.
In carrying out the Invention it is preferred to arrange the apparatus so as
to deliver the grain or crop laterally, as in Bell's reaper, for example. A
stationary inclined delivery board is fixed immediately behind the cutters, and
the grain as it falls on this board is moved laterally by means of endless belts
(three in number, for example), which carry spikes contrived to project
upwards through slots in the delivery board at the parts where the belts are
moving in the direction of delivery.
According to one modification the belt pulleys have their axes at right
angles to the delivery board, and the spikes are jointed upon the belts, so as to
project up in the plane thereof. The spikes are formed with tails, which, at
the proper places, come in contact with guide bars, by which the spikes are

page_text: made to stand up. At the end of the traverse the
At the end of the traverse the spike tails clear the guide
bars, and the spikes turn down.
According to another plan the belt pulleys have their axes parallel to the
delivery board, and the spikes are jointed upon them so as to stand up at right
angles from them. The spikes are actuated by means of tails and guide bars,
as in the plan previously described. The belts and pulleys being slotted or
grooved, if required, to allow of the free action of the spikes. In both arrange-
ments the line of spikes may be brought very close to the cutters, which is of
great importance. It is preferred to drive the delivery belts from the side
towards which the delivery takes place. It is proposed to arrange one or
more endless belts, with jointed spikes similar to those already described, to
one side, and in advance of the cutters, to divide the standing grain or crop,
and to guide the part about to be cut towards the cutters, and delivery board.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Deas in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
DEAS, of Carneil, in the County of Fife, North Britain, Farmer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Deas, Her special licence that I, the said David Deas, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Deas, my executors, administrators, 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 MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
David Deas, 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 David Deas, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention has for object improvements in the delivering action of
reaping machines, and is also applicable in a modified form in dividing and
guiding the standing grain or crop at the side of the machine.
In carrying out the Invention it is preferred to arrange the apparatus so as
to deliver the cut grain or crop laterally, a fixed inclined delivery board being
disposed immediately behind the cutters. The cut grain as it falls on this
board is moved laterally, by means of endless belts (three in number, for
example), which carry spikes contrived to project upwards through slots in the
delivery board at the parts where the belts are moving in the direction of
delivery.
According to one modification the belt pulleys have their axes parallel to
the delivery board, and the spikes are jointed upon the belts, so as to stand up
at right angles from them. The spikes are formed with tails, which, at the
proper places come in contact with guide bars, by which the spikes are made
to stand up, the belts being slotted and the pulleys grooved to admit of this
action. At the end of the traverse the spike tails clear the guide bars, and the
spikes are then free to turn so as to free the grain.
According to another plan the belt pulleys have their axes at right angles to
the delivery board, and the spikes are jointed upon the belts so as to project
up in the plane thereof. The spikes are actuated by means of tails and guide
bars, as in the plan previously described, or they may be thrown into action
by short guides ог springs, and held by hooks fixed to the belts. In both
arrangements the lowermost line of spikes may be brought very close to the
cutters, which is of great importance. It is preferred to drive the delivery
belts from the side towards which the delivery takes place, and to connect the
delivery board and cutting details to the driving part of the machine by joints,
admitting of the yielding of the former to the inequalities of the ground, and
with slides, admitting of their being adjusted at different heights, in which
case there should be employed two driving wheels instead of one to obtain the
requisite steadiness.
One or more endless belts, with jointed spikes similar to those already
described, may be arranged in connection with the dividing board to assist in
separating the part of the grain or crop about to be cut from that which
remains standing.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect, I have delineated upon the accompanying Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, and shall now particularly describe, an example of the
various modes of applying the same in practice.
Figure 1 is a plan of the cutting details and delivery board of a reaping
machine, in which the delivery board is supposed to be turned down from its
proper inclined position into a horizontal one; Figure 2 is an edge elevation,
and Figure 3 is a plan, showing one kind of endless spike belt, whilst Figures 4
and 5 are elevation and plan of another kind of belt. Figures 2 to 5 are
drawn to an enlarged scale, and the same reference letters mark the same or
like parts in all the Figures. The delivery board is in this example a
rectangular frame, covered by three pieces A of thin boarding arranged to
leave a narrow slit or-space immediately behind the cutting details B, and two
somewhat broader slits in the positions shown. Immediately beneath the
narrow slit next the cutting details B there runs one side of an endless belt C,
disposed edgeways, and with the spindles of its pulleys D at right angles to
the boards A. The other side of the belt C is covered by the boarding A.
The two other slits in the boarding A are occupied each by one side of an
endless belt E, which runs flush or nearly so with the surface of the delivery
board. These two belts pass round driving pulleys F at one side, and guide,
pulleys G at the other, the return sides of the belts being below. The driving
pulleys F are fast on a spindle H, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1, and
this spindle has fast on it a pulley I, which receives motion by a belt from the
driving mechanism of the machine; or the spindle H may be driven by
toothed gearing, or in any convenient way. One of the pulleys D of the belt
C next the cutting details B is driven by means of bevil wheels J, shown in
Figures 4 and 5. The belts E have jointed to them, as best shown in
Figures 2 and 3, a number of spikes K, formed with tails L, which, when the
spikes are at the top side of the belt, slide upon a guide plate or bar M fixed
beneath the belt, and keep the spikes upright, so as to carry forward the cut
grain. When, however, each spike reaches the pulley F, and begins to be
carried downwards round it, its tail L clears the end of the guide plate M,
and the spike is free to turn over, and so clear itself from the grain. To
admit of this turning of the spike the belt E is slotted, and the pulleys F, G,
are deeply grooved; or the same effect may be obtained by jointing the spikes
to the edge of the belt, the tails being then free to turn accross the face or side
of the pulley. The belt C next the cutting details has its spikes arranged
somewhat differently, as shown best in Figures 4 and 5. The spikes K are
jointed upon the face of the belt C, so as to turn in the plane thereof, and

page_text: they are brought into vertical positions as they come round at one end by their
tails L coming in contact with a guide or fixed spring tappet. They are held
vertically by hooks N rivetted to the belt, the bending of the belt round the
pulleys D causing the points of these hooks to leave the surface of the belt,
and so admit the spikes at one end and release them at the other. The
spikes are prevented from turning down too far by stop pins P fixed in the
belt. In both arrangements of belts and spikes that have been described the
spikes may be made capable of acting with a reversed motion of the belts,
either by forming them with duplicate tails, or by shaping the spike and tail
alike, each acting as spike or tail, according to the direction of the motion.
One mode of applying a spiked belt to the dividing board Q is shown in
Figure 1. The belt R runs on a couple of pulleys S, T, carried upon studs on
the under and outer side of the dividing board Q; and the spikes K, jointed
upon the belt in the manner described in reference to Figures 4 and 5, project
through a slit in the dividing board. One S of the pulleys is formed broader
than the belt R, and is grooved to receive a strap from a pulley U (indicated
by dotted lines) fast on the spindle of the pulleys G, by which means the belt R
is driven.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state that
I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein-before described or
delineated, and that I do not claim to have invented, every separate detail
herein-before described and delineated; but that what I consider to be novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
The herein-before described improvements in connection with the delivering
action of reaping machines, and more particularly the effecting the delivering
action by means of endless spiked belts, and the using of endless spiked belts
to assist in dividing the grain to be cut from the standing grain.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Deas, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow.
DAVID DEAS. (L.S.)