IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Rignall, of Bury Saint Edmunds, in the
County of Suffolk, Agent for the Sale of Agricultural Implements,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Rignall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd October 1869.
I, JAMES RIGNALL, of Bury Saint Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk,
Agent for the Sale of Agricultural Implements, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in manual delivery
reaping machines, for delivering the cut crop at the side of the machine
clear of the horse walk and in separate bundles or sheaves with much
greater case to the man who rakes off the corn than heretofore. For
this purpose I employ a tipping platform supported on joints at the back
of the cutting apparatus. The platform is of a curved form, with a
guard or ledge on the side next to the standing crop and passing partly
around the back to prevent the crops escaping at these parts. The

page_text: platform is supported by a counterbalance weight or spring or like con-
trivance, so that when the crop has accumulated on the platform in
sufficient quantity to form a bundle or sheaf the platform falls, and
the crop is then raked off at the side, and the platform is again raised to
its position for receiving the next sheaf by the counterbalance weight
or spring. The size of the sheaves may be varied by an arrangement
for adjusting the counterbalance weight or by altering the strength of
the spring. The platform may be also raised and lowered by a suitable
cam, but in that case the size of the sheaf would be governed by the cam
and not by the weight of corn on the platform.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Rignall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RIGNALL, of Bury Saint Edmunds, in the County of Suffolk, Agent
for the Sale of Agricultural Implements, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Jamos Rignall, Her special licence
that I, the said James Rignall, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Rignall, 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, exercisc, 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
James Rignall, 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 James Rignall, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in manual delivery
reaping machines for delivering the cut crop at the side of the machine
clear of the horse walk and in separate bundles or sheaves with much
greater case to the man who rakes off the corn than heretofore. For
this purpose I employ a tipping platform supported on joints at the back
of the cutting apparatus. The platform is of a curved form, with a guard
or ledge on the side next to the standing crop and passing partly around
the back to prevent the crops escaping at these parts. The platform is
supported by a counterbalance weight or spring or like contrivance, so that
when the crop has accumulated on the platform in sufficient quantity to
form a bundle or sheaf the platform falls, and the crop is then raked off at
the side, and the platform is again raised to its position for receiving the
next sheaf by the counterbalance weight or spring. The size of the
sheaves may be varied by an arrangement for adjusting the counterbalance
weight or by altering the strength of the spring. The platform may be
also raised and lowered by a suitable cam, but in that case the size of
the sheaf would be governed by the cam and not by the weight of corn
on the platform.
id Invention mas

page_text: linked by a chain. The lever is mounted at c¹ on a stud on the standard
supporting the scat, and it carries a weight sufficient to keep the
platform up until a sheaf or bundle of the desired size and weight has
accumulated upon it, it then falls, and the driver who is mounted on
the scat d with a rake which he holds aids the sheaf or bundle in
passing off the platform. Immediately the sheaf or bundle is delivered
the weight c raises the platform into position to receive another
quantity. e is a guide fixed on the shaft to support the lever c and to
limit its motion. In the place of the weight a spring may be
employed but not so conveniently.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I
claim is, the constructing manual delivery reaping machines delivering
the cut crop at the side of the machine, with a tipping platform of a
curved form, and with a guard or ledge on the side next the standing
crop, such platform being counterbalanced or supported so that when it
has received upon it sufficient of the cut crop to form a sheaf or bundle
it may automatically descend to deliver it and then again rise to receive
a fresh sheaf or bundle, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Rignall, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.