IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES." -A communication
from abroad by Louis Alexis Coutelet, of Paris, in the Empire of
France.
Sealed the 2nd February 1870, and dated the 17th February 1870..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th February 1870.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said;
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Louis Alexis Coutelet, of Paris, in the
Empire of France,) to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in machines for reaping and
mowing, by means of which such machines are enabled to act in any
direction on the corn or other crop to be cut.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a plan of the improved
machine; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same; Figure 3 is an
elevation of the driving wheel.
A is the pole, working on a pivot or pintle B in such a manner that
its direction and consequently that of the apparatus may be diame-
trically reversed without causing. the latter to turn on itself; C, C¹, are
two serrated knives or saw cutters set back to back, so that one or other
may act on the crop according as the machine is driven backward or
forward. The double-acting mechanism of these cutters derives its
motion from the pinion D, which gears with the rack of the driving
wheel E. The bevel wheels F, F', mounted loose on their shaft-are-
made to revolve in one or other direction by the ratchets G, G', the teeth
of which are reversed, and which strike or slide against two pawls H, H',
fixed behind the wheels F, F, so that as the machine moves forward or
backward the wheel For F¹ revolves and gives motion to the pinion I or
I', the excentric J or J¹, the connecting rod K or K', and the cutters
C or C. The sheaves are received as reaped by the leaf M, which is
so hinged on the shaft N as to fall back behind the working cutter
according to the direction in which the machine is driven. The form,
dimensions, and general construction of the machinery may be varied
according to circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW 2
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence that
I, the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to

page_text: 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 of “IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES," (a communication to me from abroad by Louis Alexis
Coutelet, of Paris, in the Empire of France,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing
This Invention relates to improvements in machines for reaping and
mowing, by means of which such machines are enabled to act in any
direction on the corn or other crop to be cut.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a plan of the improved
machine; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same; Figure 3 is an
elevation of the driving wheel.
A is the pole, working on a pivot or pintle B in such a manner that
its direction and consequently that of the apparatus may be diame-
trically reversed without causing the latter to turn on itself; C, C¹, are
two serrated knives or saw cutters set back to back, so that one or other
may act on the crop according as the machine is driven backwards or
forwards. The double-acting mechanism of these cutters derives its
motion from the pinion D, which gears with the rack of the driving
wheel E. The bevel wheels F, F¹, mounted loose on their shaft are made
to revolve in one or other direction by the ratchets G, G¹, the teeth of
which are reversed, and which strike or slide against two pawls H, H¹,
fixed behind the wheels F, F, so that as the machine moves forward or
backward the wheel F or F' revolves and gives motion to the pinions I
or I', the excentric J or J', the connecting rod K or K³, and the
cutters C or C¹. The sheaves are received as reaped by the leaf M,

page_text: which is so hinged on the shaft N as to fall back behind the working
cutter according to the direction in which the machine is driven. When
so desired this arrangement may be modified, as shewn in the dotted
lines Figs. 1, 2, of the Drawing, by the application to the driving seat of
a rigid bar provided at its free extremity with a cord, which is connected
with the end of another bar fixed to the trailing leaf. In this case the
shaft N and the corresponding hand lever are suppressed, the leaf being
simply hinged to the last tooth of the cutter. The form, dimensions,
and general construction of the machinery may be varied according to
circumstances.
Having now described the nature-of-the-said-Invention, and_the_manner
of carrying it into effect, I declare that what I claim and desire to protect
by Letters Patent is,―
1stly. The mobilisation of the pole, as above described and shewn in
A, B, Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawing.
2dly. The double-acting cutter, as above described and shewn in C, C¹,
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawing.
3dly. The mechanical arrangement for the operation of the cutter in
one or other direction, substantially as above described and shewn in
D, E, F, F¹, G, G¹, I, I', J, J¹, K, K¹, and H, H', Fig. 1 of the accom-
panying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.