IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Williamson, junior, of Rubislaw, in the County
of Aberdeen, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
AND MOWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 1st October 1878, and dated the 3rd April 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Williamson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd April 1878.
GEORGE WILLIAMSON, junior, of Rubislaw, in the County of Aberdeen, North
Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."
This Invention, which relates to improvements in reaping and mowing machines,
consists in the employment of a hinged or flexible knivo bar in combination with
the ordinary back delivery apparatus applied to such machines.
In machines as hitherto constructed the back delivery apparatus has been
employed in combination with a rigid knive bar, the effect of the rigidity of which
latter is to cause variation in the height of the bar from the ground owing to the
irregularities thereof.
Now, according to my Invention, I propose to combine the aforesaid back delivery
with a knive bar jointed or hinged to the machine, and provided at or near the
joint with a wheel arranged to support it at an equal height from the ground with
the outer wheel, so that as the main body of the machine is raised or lowered by
the irregularities of the soil the knive bar, by virtue of its hinged condition, is not
affected thereby, and remains at an equable height, and thus difference in the
length of the stubble cut is obviated.
The machine thus constructed is supported on two side road wheels, in addition
to that at the neck of the pole; and farther, to relieve the weight upon the jointed
portion of the bar I provide a shaft extending across the machine, having at one
end a lever, which is attached by a chain to the seat of the driver, which latter is
pivotted at its lower end so as to act when occupied as a back balance weight.

page_text: By means of the aforesaid lever the weight can be easily regulated by shifting
the hold of the chain attached to it.
The other end of the aforesaid shaft has a barrel or crank, to which another
chain is attached, and whose lower end is united to the jointed part of the bar,
which is thus supported, and prevented from running into a wet or clayey soil.
The knife bar joint is composed of a shoe, which can be disunited by the with-
drawal of a pin, so as to permit of the removal of the bar, thus permitting the
machine to pass along or through narrow roadways or passages.
To provide for the rocking or vibration of the machine thus constructed the
shaft for driving the wings and beaters of the back delivery (and which is sup-
ported between two brackets, one on the knive bar and the other on the machine) is
jointed or hinged in its length, so as to yield freely in traversing rough ground,
and the chain pulley for driving the said shaft is so constructed that it (the shaft)
may slide through the boss of the pulley as the two supporting brackets converge
or recede from one another.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Williamson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd October
1878.
GEORGE WILLIAMSON, junior, of Rubislaw, in the County of Aberdeen, North
Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES."
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in the construction of reaping
and mowing machines, has for its object to enable the knife or cutting bar, and
with it the back delivery apparatus, and the wings or beaters of the said apparatus
when working over uneven ground, to adapt themselves to the uneven surface, and
to rise or fall or incline themselves independently of the main framing of the
machine, and without affecting the position and efficient action of the mechanism,
by which the back delivery apparatus and its wings or beaters are operated. To
effect these objects the machine as constructed in accordance with my said Inven-
tion is provided with two vertical standards, one of which is attached to the
framing, and the other on the keep of the knife or cutting bar. The wings or
beaters of the back delivery apparatus are supported by the latter standard, and
the shaft whereon the said wings or beaters are carried, and by which they are
caused to rotate, extends from one standard to the other, and is provided with an
universal joint at a point intermediate between the two said standards. The said
shaft is also so formed and arranged as to slide in or through a boss carried on the
first-mentioned standard, when the knife bar rises or falls or adapts itself to the
angle or inclination of the surface over which the machine is being worked.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I will now proceed
more particularly to describe the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had to the

page_text: accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say,-
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended Figures 1, 2, and 3 represents
different views of as much of a reaping or mowing machine as is necessary to shew
the nature and operation of my said Invention, Figure 1 being a side elevation;
Figure 2, a plan; and Figure 3, an elevation looking from the front end of the
machine.
In reaping machines as hitherto constructed it has been customary to place a
vertical standard carrying the wings or beaters of the back delivery apparatus and
other parts of the machine, either upon the main framing of the machine itself, or
upon the inner end of the cutting or knife bar keep.
Under this Invention, instead of cinploying only one such standard two standards
are used in combination, and as shewn by the Drawings one of the said standards A
is situated on the inner end of the knife bar keep B, whilst the other standard C is
secured at its lower end to the framing D of the machine. Between these two
standards A and C a shaft E extends horizontally, and on the outer end of the said
shaft the wings or beaters F of the back delivery apparatus G aro carried. The
wings or beaters are rotated from a pulley H (placed at the inner side of the left-
hand carrying wheel I) by means of an endless chain or band passed round the
pulley H and round the pulley K, which is carried in brackets a on the upper end
of the standard C.
Figures 4 and 5 of the Drawings illustrate in side clovation and in transverse
section the method employed in gearing the pulley K with the shaft E. That part
of the shaft E which passes through the bearings L on the standard A, and on
which the wings or beaters F are situated, is of circular section, and as shewn on
the Drawings that part which passes through the bearings on the upper part of the
standard C is rectangular or square in section, with channels or grooves b formed
in it longitudinally. This square portion of the shaft passes through a hollow
boss M, on which the pulley is firmly secured, and to which the said shaft is
geared by pins a screwed through the boss and entering the grooves or channels b,
as seen at Figure 5.
At the junction of the rectangular and circular portions of the shaft E an
universal joint N is made, which acts as a hinge, and enables the knife bar, and
with it the back delivery apparatus G, and the wings or beaters F, to adapt them-
selves to the inclination or irregularity of the surface, independently of other parts
of the machine; and variation in the height of the knive bar froin the ground
being by this means lessened or prevented, difference in the length of the stubble
is obviated.
By jointing and gearing the shaft E as herein-before described its efficient
working in rotating the wings or heaters F and the camb b' (which actuates the
drop of the delivery apparatus in manner well understood) is not interfered with,
for when the inner or outer end of the knife bar rises or falls (and so inclines the
standard A towards or from the standard C) the shaft E simultaneously slides
inwards or outwards through the boss M, whereby the proper relative position of
the shaft E and the driving apparatus with the inclined knife bar is maintained.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of any said
Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may
be used or carried out in practice, I would observe in conclusion that I ain
now aware that certain of the improvements in the construction of reaping and
mowing machines set forth in the Specification filed in pursuance of application for
Provisional Protection for my said Invention, and which improvements were then
considered to be novel and original, were in use prior to the date of the said
application. It is therefore to be understood that I do not claim these improve-
ments as constituting part of my said Invention, but what I do consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
berein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combination of two standards

page_text: in one reaping or mowing machine, substantially as set forth, and the shaft E and
boss M constructed, arranged, and operated substantially as and for the purposes
herein-before described, and shewn on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Williamson, junior, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.