IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William M. Intyre Cranston, of No. 36, Worship
Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES."-Partly a communication
from abroad by the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William McIntyre
Cranston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd July 1874.
I, WILLIAM MCINTYRE CRANSTON, of No. 36, Worship Street, Finsbury,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES" (partly communicated.
to me from abroad by the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping
Machine Company, Hoosick Falls, New York, United States of America,
and partly invented by myself), to be as follows:―
The phiects of this. Invention: which relates to self-delivery reapers; are

page_text: to render the reel and rake mechanism of such machines self-acting in a
certain sense, and to establish a controllable action, whereby the blades
which act as rakes in their rotation can be thrown into gear to act as
dummies when desired, or vice versa, the rakes being employed for
sweeping the cut grain off the platform into the wake of the horse track
or behind the machine.
The vertical fixed stem or axle upon which the blade arms revolve
with the head is hollow, or has a groove formed in it down which a wire
or rod is arranged. The upper end of this wire or rod is attached to a
latch lever, and the lower end to a bell-crank lever, from which a cord
is led to some part of the seat support to enable the driver to operate it
by his foot while the machine is travelling, and thus change the action
of a rake into a dummy or reel blade, or vice versa.
The latch lever has in addition to a catch pièce a curved or sloping
faced end to be acted upon by dogs or projections upon the rotating
arms, each projection being an extension or right-angled piece upon a
short adjustable lever fitted on the side of the arm at the inner end, on
which it can be raised or lowered, and fixed by a set screw or bolt.
If,
say, one of these dogs is set to strike against the sloping faced end as it
travels round, then the latch lever is raised, and a spring plate forming
part of a cam is pushed out of the way by the inner end of the arm, and
the blade moves over the platform as a rake, after which the spring
returns the cam piece, and the three following arm blades act as dummies
to lay the grain to the knives and upon the platform.
The inner end of each of the arms is socketed into a metal shoe with a
single pintle projecting from the side, and this takes into an aperture in
the rotating head, the other pintle being upon a detachable piece which
can be slipped into position in a corresponding aperture in the head
where the two pintles act as a joint for the arm to rise and fall upon.
The metal shoe lias a pintle projecting from it at an angle, and this
carries a small bowl to ride against the cam. The cam is on the under
side of a fixed top shield, and the spring of the shiftable piece acts upon
it from above the stem of the piece, working through a slot formed in
the shield..
For some classes of machines the main axle is hollow, and the cord or
its equivalent from the bell crank, or it may be another form of lever or

page_text: a roller, can pass through the hollow main axle to within reach of the
driver, so that he can operate the latch lever.
The under side of the head, or an inverted cup thereon, can have
projections like teeth upon its face, the teeth being at different distances
from the centre, so that on a roller being caused to come in contact to
ride over them the latch can be acted upon automatically to shift the
rakes or dummies, as desired. The roller can be operated upon by any
suitable appliance to sett it upon its shaft or axle, to determine tho
number of teeth over which it shall ride.
Instead of a roller being employed, the axle or rod may have pro-
jections upon it, and these may be caused to rotate to bring any one of
the projections into operation to strike against other projections upon
the head or cup, and thus actuate the latch lever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William M" Intyre Cranston in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 22nd January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MINTYRE CRANSTON, of No. 36, Worship Street, Finsbury, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William McIntyre Cranston,
Her special licence that I, the said William Mc Intyre Cranston, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William M Intyre Cranston, 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 makc, 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," partly
communicated to me from abroad by the Walter A. Wood Mowing

page_text: and Reaping Machine Company, Hoosick Falls, New York, United
States of America, and partly invented by myself) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William M Intyre Cranston, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Mc Intyre Cranston, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The objects of this Invention, which relates to self-delivery reapers,
are to render the reel and rake mechanism of such machines self-acting
in a certain sense, and to establish a controllable action, whereby the
blades which act as rakes in their rotation can be thrown into gear to act
as dummies when desired, or vice versa, the rakes being employed for
sweeping the cut grain off the platform into the wake of the horse track
or behind the machine.
The vertical fixed stem or axle upon which the blade arms revolve
with the head is hollow, or has a groove formed in it down which a wire
or rod is arranged. The upper end of this wire or rod is attached to a
latch lever, and the lower end to a bell-crank lever, from which a cord
is led to some part of the scat support to enable the driver to operate it
by his foot while the machine is travelling, and thus change the action
of a rake into a dummy or reel blade, or vice versa.
The latch lever has in addition to a catch piece a curved or sloping
faced end to be acted upon by dogs or projections upon the rotating
arms, cach projection being an extension or right-angled piece upon a
short adjustable lever fitted on the side of the arm at the inner end,
on which it can be raised or lowered, and fixed by a set screw or bolt.
If, say, one of these dogs is set to strike against the sloping faced end as
it travels round then the latch lever is raised, and a spring plate forming
part of a cam is pushed by its spring into the cam race, so that the
bowl of that blade arm can ride against it and cause that particular
blade to move over the platform as a dummy, after which the inner end

page_text: of the arm acts upon the opposite end of the spring plate and returns it
to its first position, the latch dropping by its own weight, with a noso in
front of the plate to hold it secure, the three following arm blades then
move round and act as rakes, or until one or more of the dogs strike
the latch for changing the blade into a dummy.
The inner end of each of the arms is socketed into a metal shoe with
a single pintle projecting from the side, and this takes into an aperture
in the rotating head, the other pintle being upon a detachable piece
which can be slipped into position in a corresponding aperture in the
head where the two pintles act as a joint for the arm to rise and fall
upon.
The metal shoe has a pintle projecting from it at an angle, and this
carries a small bowl to ride against the cam. The cam is on the under
side of a fixed top shield, and the spring of the shiftable picce acts upon
it from above the stem of the piece working through a slot formed in the
shield.
For some classes of machines the main axle is hollow, and the cord or
its equivalent from the bell crank, or it may be another form of lever or
a roller, can pass through the hollow main axle to within reach of the
driver, so that he can operate the latch lever.
The under side of the head, or an inverted cup or circular plate.
thereon, can have projections like teeth upon its face, the teeth being at
different distances from the centre, so that on a roller being caused to
come in contact to ride over them the latch can be acted upon
automatically to shift the rakes or dummies, as desired. The roller can
be operated upon by any suitable appliance to sett it upon its shaft or
axle to determine the number of teeth over which it shall ride.
Instead of a roller being employed the axle or rod may have projections
upon it, and these may be caused to rotate to bring any one of the pro-
jections into operation to strike against other projections upon the head
or cup, and thus actuate the latch lever.
The Invention just described will be clearly understood by the
accompanying Drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 represent in
part sectional views a fixed central stem A, as part of or attached
to a bracket B, whose lower end is bolted to the main frame of
the machine. The stem forms the shaft upon which the head g

page_text: having the dummy blades and rake blade or blades D jointed to
it, so that they can rise and fall to suit the angle at which they travel
round the stem A as a centre under the action of the bevil wheel E,
which obtains its motion from gearing F from the main bearing or
travelling wheel or wheels G, as described in [previous Specifications,
cspecially in those of Patents granted to James Theodore Griffin for
reaping and mowing machines, and for which machines the Invention
now recited is particularly intended, though not exclusively so.
The fixed stem A, in Figures 1 and 2, is formed with a groove in its
outer face, up which a wire or rod H is led from one arm I of a bell
crank pivoted to a lug J projecting from the bracket or standard B.
The wire or rod H passes up through a slot in the fixed cam K, and is
attached to a rock or catch lever L, this being connected by a joint pin
to projections on the upper surface of the fixed cam, as in Figure 3.
The outer end of the catch lever L has a depending and curved tooth M
with an inclined face, against which incline the dogs N, N, on the inner
end of the blade arms P, P, are caused to come into contact as the arms
travel round, the impact or pressure of the dogs being sufficient to lift
the catch up by a sliding action into the position shown in dotted lines
in Figure 2; at the same time a plate Q, Figure 4, is acted upon by its
spring, Figure 8, and thrown into the cam race for a bowl R on the
inner end of the arm P to bear upon or against, whereby the blade D
will be caused to travel at a higher level to clear the platform as a
dummy, the spring plate Q being then forced inwards by the bowl
striking against the tail of the plate in its travel, whereby the plate
takes up a position away from the fixed cam race, as in Figure 4, and
is held in that position by a nose on the catch lever L for the bowls of
the other blade arms to travel in succession at a lower level, to act as
rakes for sweeping the grain over and from the platform, or until a dog
lifts the catch lever again for that particular blade to act as a dummy.
The dogs N, N, are formed as projections or right-angled pieces of short
levers T (see Figures 5 and 6), and the long arm of the lever is free to
be moved on the pin a as a centre, so that the other or dog end can be
shifted further out to strike the catch piece L, or be sett further in for
the dog to clear the catch as desired, the dog piece having a slot in it to
slide over a bolt, a nut on which, when tightened up, holds the dog firmly
in the required position. This dog arrangement can be and is preferably
fitted to each blade arm of a reaping machine, and as the dog of each

page_text: blade arm can be sett to strike the catch or to clear it, so will a corre-
sponding number of blades be automatically caused to act as rake blades
and as dummies or reel blades respectively, the dogs being sett previous
to starting the machine to work.
It will be seen that the spring plate Q has a lug upon it, as in
Figure 7, to ride in a slot in the cam by which it is guided in its
to-and-fro segmental movements under the action of the spring in
one direction, and the bowl of the arm acting upon the tail in the
other direction, the catch lever being caused to rise and fall vertically
by lug checks d, d, on the outer edge of the fixed cam, these acting as
guides for the purpose.
The automatic action of the dog and catch mechanism is independent
of the wire or rod appliances before referred to, but to give the driver
of the machine complete control so that he may reduce the number
of blades acting as rake blades and make dummy blades of them, I
connect to the bell crank a cord e, this being led round guide rollers f, ƒ‚.
as in plan view, Figure 9, to a foot plate g on the driver's seat frame /,
to enable him, by a depression of the foot, to lift the outer end of the
catch lever, and to thereby remove its holding power upon the spring
plate Q, which then springs outward and in the way for the blade
of that particular arm to travel over its highest position of travel, and
act as a dummy blade, all the blades being furnished with teeth i, i,
for the purpose of obtaining a hold upon the straws to carry them
from the platform like ordinary rake blades when they are sett as
such.
Instead of the catch mechanism cord e being acted upon by the
driver in the manner described above it can be arranged in a position
to be acted upon by his hand, or it can be attached to a hand lever Y
whose movement can be regulated and sett for a given time to determine
the number of blades as dummies, and as rake blades that shall be thrown
into action.
Figure 10 shows an arrangement of mechanism by which, through
the action of a sliding sleeve S, the catch plate L can be raised. The
sleeve is upon a jointed rod U, and both of these can be depressed
by teeth, pins, or studs V; upon the under surface of a circular plate W
being caused to come in succession against a roller X on the sleeve Ş.

page_text: to force it down, and by reason of the wire H being attached to its
inner end it is forced down also, and the catch lever L is raised by
this forcing down action. The circular plate shown separately in
Figure 11 is attached to or formed in a piece with the bevil wheel E
so that it rotates with it. The number of teeth, pins, or studs, against
which the roller shall come into contact is determined by the position
in which the hand lever Y is set in the quadrant bar Z, the teeth, pins,
or studs being arranged on or to the plate W at fixed distances from
the centre for the roller X to bear against one, two, or more of them,
according to the number of dummy blades required.
I provide the sleeve S with a projecting ring at its inner end to
take under the boss of the bracket B when the sleeve is pushed in
far enough, whereby the sleeve, which can be held in that downward
position, and the catch be kept in a raised position, the plate Q during
this retention being under the action of its spring in the outward position
for the bowls of all the blade arms to travel over it for all the blades to
act as dummies.
The plate W may instead of having teeth, pins, or studs upon it, as
in Figures 11 and 12, have a hollow J into which the roller X can
rise, the plate for, say three-fourths of its surface, being plain, as in
Figure 13, for the roller to bear upon when it is pushed into that
distance which keeps the wire or rod H depressed and the catch lever
raised. This plate is shown with two projecting teeth or ribs V against
and over which the roller X can travel for the depressing action to
cause two of the blades to act as dummies, the plain portion being set
when the roller is pushed in to bear upon it for three of the blades to
act as dummies.
Figure 14 shows a collar with two teeth or projecting ribs V of
different lengths on it, and if the roller is pushed in to strike against
the outer end of the longer rib the catch lever is only raised once
during the revolution, and consequently only one blade would act as
a dummy; but if the roller be set more inwards it will strike against
and ride over the inner end of the longer rib, and also against and over
the short one, which would produce two depressions of the wire or rod H
and two lifts of the catch lever, and consequently two of the blades
would be caused to act as dummies by the plate Q being pushed outwards
by its spring at each lift of the catch.

page_text: Figure 15 is another view of a sliding sleeve arrangement. In this
method the sleeve is pushed in by the driver to the desired extent, the
rod of his hand lever being passed through the main axle which is
hollow for the purpose. This rod is attached at its inner end to a
depending lever jointed to a portion of the main frame m of the
machine. The depending lever is forked at its lower end to take into
an annular groove in the sleeve, whereby the sleeve can be drawn to and
fro upon the bar U.
Instead of the rod which passes through the hollow main axle being
attached to a hand lever Y, it may lead to a foot plate; if desired again
instead of the rod a wire cord or other equivalent can be used.
Figure 16 shows a rotating sleeve S upon a bar U, which sleeve can
be turned by the hand lever Y to bring up one, two, or any larger
number of teeth, pins, studs, or projections n, which are arranged step-
wise upon the sleeve into position for other tecth, pins, studs, or
projections on the plate W, or its equivalent, to bear, strike, or rub
against to produce a depression of the wire or rod H and a corresponding
lift of the catch lever. The controllable action of converting rake blades
into dummy blades, or vice versa, according to this Invention being
automatic for any number of blades after the dog mechanism is set,
after the wire or rod mechanism is set, or after the sleeve mechanism is
set, according to the example or system adopted. Or the convertible
blade action can be exclusively under the control of the driver, as
described with reference to Figure 9, or it may be as described with
reference to Figure 15. Figure 5 and 6 also represent the the inner end
of a blade arm P with a metal socket or shoep forming one-half of a joint.
The outer side at one end has a projection 9 to serve as a pintle or
bearing pin to be received in a hole in one of the checks of the
rotating head C of the reaping machine. This shoc has also the pro-
jection which carries the bowl or roller R of the arm, the travel of which
roller against, within, or under the cam K governs the undulating or
wavy motion of each of the blades while they are at work. One face of
the shoe is hollowed for nearly the whole of its length, and after its
spindle is set in its hole in the rotating head check a plate shown
separately in Figure 17 is pushed into the hollow in a slewing direction
for its projection or spindle s to be passed into the hole of the opposito
check of the rotating head, and then for its stem u to be socketed into
the hollow of the shoe, in which it can be held secure by a bolt

page_text: being passed through both and the arm end, the two pintles then
acting as pivots or axles upon which the arm can rise and lower as
desired while it travels round. Each blade arm is fitted in the same
manner; and in case of repairs or renewal of a blade arm an easy
removal of the same can be effected by simply knocking out the binding
bolt, when the slip piece can be withdrawn and the shoe set free.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that claim is
made under the herein-before part recited Letters Patent for,-
Firstly. Improvements in reaping machines herein-before described
and shown, and all mere modifications thereof, whether employed in a
combined or partially combined manner, or singly, as separate improve-
ments and without reference to the construction or class of reaping
machines to which one or more of the improvements herein-before set
forth can or may be employed or fitted.
Secondly. Vertically grooving, slotting, or channelling internally or
externally, the vertical stems of horizontal revolving blade mechanism
of reaping machines, as shown, and for the purposes set forth.
Thirdly. The fitting of an inclined faced latch or catch lever on the
fixed head of a vertical stem fitted in or to a reaping machine, and the
lifting of such catch by dogs or appliances upon the blade arms in the
manner shown and for the purposes set forth.
Fourthly. The combined appliances shown and described whereby a
reversible action, as dummy blades or rake blades is put under the
positive control of mechanism that can be fixed or sett temporarily or
permanently as desired, such mechanism being attached to and joining
part of a reaping machine, as set forth and shown.
Fifthly. Fitting or providing a plate or its equivalent with projections
on or to a reaping machine, against which projections a roller or its
equivalent can be caused to come into contact and be depressed, as
shown, and for the purposes described.
Sixthly. The adaptation or employment of shoc and slip plates forming
when combined joints to be arranged between the checks of a revolving
head, and for supporting the blade arms of a reaping machine as set
forth, and as shown in the annexed Drawings.

page_text: No claim is made to a fixed cam on a vertical stem of a reaping
machine nor to a shiftable piece on such cam for converting rake blades
into dummy blades, or vice versa.
In witness whereof, I, the said William McIntyre Cranston, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Seventh day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
WILLIAM M° INTYRE CRANSTON. (L.S.)