IMPROVEMENTS IN THRESHING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRESHING
MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by Albert Sylvanus
Whittemore, of Willimantic, and John Edwin Atwood, of Mansfield,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd September 1869.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRESHING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The main object of this Invention is to effect the threshing of grain
rapidly and in the most effective manner with the least possible injury
to the straw. In carrying out the same rotary flails are used in
preference to beaters rigidly connected with a revolving shaft.

page_text: The principal feature of the Invention consists in providing for the
support of the grain being threshed a bearing just out of reach of the
flails, or beaters if used instead of flails, so that the flails or beaters may
operate upon the heads of the grain as they hang or project over and
beyond the said bearing and while receiving no support directly below
the point of operation of the flails or beaters, the bearing on which the
grain rests merely serving as a support to the straw or stalks during
such operation of the flails or beaters on the heads. This process or
mode of action prevents injury to the straw and economises the driving
power. The level of the bearing it is preferred shall be below that of
the flail or beater shaft. The flails are hung upon cross pins carried by
discs or wheels keyed on the shaft, and they are thus prevented from
falling back on the shaft while the straw is protected from contact with
or becoming entangled with the latter. The threshed straw as it falls
from or over the bearing will be beyond the reach of the flails or
beaters. The rotating flails may be either straight or cranked. Whon
cranked they will strike more directly in line with the straw or grain
as spread on the bearing and operate to throw the straw down and keep
it from winding around the discs or wheels which carry the flails.
When beaters are used they are made tangential, and the grain threshing
support or bearing is arranged outside of the reach of the beaters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 THRESHING MACHINES," being a communication to me
from abroad by Albert Sylvanus Whittemore, of Willimantic, and John
Edwin Atwood, of Mansfield, both in the State of Connecticut, United;
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent. Newton, 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 Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
The main object of this Invention is to effect the threshing of grain
rapidly and in the most effective manner with the least possible injury
to the straw. In carrying out the same rotary flails. are used in
preference to beaters rigidly connected with a revolving shaft.
The principal feature of the Invention consists in providing for the..
support of the grain being threshed a bearing just out of reach of the
flails, or beaters if used instead of flails, so that the flails or beaters
may operate upon the heads of the grain as they hang or project
over and beyond the said bearing and while receiving no support
directly below the point of operation of the flails or beaters, the
bearing on which the grain rests merely serving as a support to the
straw or stalks during such operation of the flails or beaters on the heads.
This process or mode of action prevents injury to the straw and
economises the driving power.
The Invention also consists in such an arrangement and mode of
attaching the flails in connection with the shaft which carries them as
that the flails are prevented from falling back on the shaft and the
straw is protected from contact with or becoming entangled with the.
latter, also whereby a more effective action is secured for the flails.

page_text: Likewise the Invention consists in such an arrangement of the shaft.
and flails or beaters carried by it with relation to the receiving bed or
floor for the straw after the grain has been threshed and to the bearing.
on which the stalks or straw rest to effect the threshing as that the
threshed straw falling from or over the bearing shall be beyond the
reach of the flails or beaters, which further prevents injury to the straw
and economises the driving power.
And furthermore the Invention consists in a peculiar construction of
the rotating flails whereby the same are made to strike more directly in
line with the straw or grain as spread on the bearing, and operate to
throw the straw down and keep it from winding around the discs or
wheels which carry the flails.
Also the Invention includes a combination of tangential beaters with
a grain threshing support or bearing arranged outside of the reach of the
beaters.
Having thus specified the object and nature of the Invention its
description will be proceeded with in reference to the accompanying
Drawing.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional elevation of a grain threshing machine
constituted in accordance with the Invention shewing flails as used
in preference to beaters having a rigid connection with the shaft that
carries them, and Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fig. 3 illustrates a
modified construction of the flails. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of the
machine with tangential beaters substituted for flails; and Fig. 5 is a
plan of the same.
Referring in the first instance to Figures 1 and 2 A in said Drawing
represents the frame of the machine of box-like character or any
suitable construction. On this frame is supported in bearings b, b, a
horizontal cross flail shaft B, to which are secured any desirable number
of discs or fly wheels C, C, that rotate together with the shaft in the
direction of the arrow 2. These discs are arranged at equal or other
suitable distances apart, and serve to carry preferably near their outer
edges and in directions parallel to the shaft B and at equal distances
therefrom any desirable number of pivot rods c, c. These pivot rods it
is preferred to arrange at equal distances from each other; they serve
as pivots or centres to the flails D, D, each of said rods carrying a flail,
while the several rods taken collectively operate as a barrier to prevent
the wrapping of the straw around the shaft B. The pivot rods c, o, each

page_text: serve as a stop to the flail in advance thereof, so that when the flails are
folded back they will rest upon the pivot rods next adjacent to those
which carry them individually and thus be restrained from falling back
on the shaft B. Such support to the flails when thrown or folded back
secures to them a much more rapid unfolding or forward action, as the
flails will not only have less distance to travel in swinging outwards, but
will be in a position to obey more readily the action of centrifugal force..
It is preferred to clothe these rods c, c, with thimbles or small loose
sleeves d, d, to facilitate adjustment of the flails to different positions on
or along the rods. The flail shaft B may be rotated by means of gear
wheels E, F, through a crank or handle G, or the shaft may be other-
wise operated either by hand, animal, steam, or other power. H is the
fixed bearing or platform upon which the grain is supported during the
threshing out of the kernels, the said bearing being at that end of the
frame towards which the flails fall during their rotary motion produced
by the rotation of the shaft B, and which is the feeding end of the machine.
The bearing H, which may have its front or operating edge e sheathed
with metal, it is preferred to arrange so that it lies below the level of
the shaft B, and its edge e should be at such distance therefrom as that
the flails in their rotation with the shaft B will a little more than clear
the same so as not to strike it or any portion of the grain lying thereon.
I is a surface or screen to direct and deliver the grain after it has been
threshed and to carry the straw into a lower space J over the bed or
floor of the machine and out of the reach of the flails. The grain to be
threshed is fed into the machine over the bearing H, either loose or in
bundles with the straw, parallel with the planes of rotation of the flails,
the heads of the grain being allowed to project over the said bearing
towards the flails and to remain so projecting while the flails beat out
the kernels from them, after which the straw is pushed forward and
allowed to fall over the said bearing to make room for a fresh supply of
grain to be fed in the same manner. The kernels of the grain, or such
of them as are not carried in a loose manner along with the straw, fall
through the screen or guide, while the straw is carried down or over the.
same by the action of the flails into the space J below, where the kernels
and straw may be separated by means of a riddle or other suitable
separating device, the kernels passing through while the straw com--
paratively uninjured by its exemption from the beating action of the
flails
may be removed by an endless carrier or raked away as desired.

page_text: In Fig. 3 the flails D, D, are shewn as crooked or bent where pivotted to
the discs or wheels O by the rods c, c, which construction causes the
main or working portions of the flails to hang or operate out of radial
lines, so that they strike more directly in line with the straw or grain
as spread upon the bearing H, and whereby they more effectually
throw the straw down and keep it from winding around the discs or
wheels C.
"
Figures 4 and 5 represent substantially a similar construction of
machine to that shewn in Figures 1 and 2, but with beaters of a
peculiar character applied thereto. In these Figures (4 and 5) B¹ is the
cross beater shaft and D¹, D¹, the beaters rigidly secured to it and
arranged side by side successively the one in advance of the other.
H' is the bearing (that may be adjustable by screw from below) on
which the grain is supported during the threshing of it, said bearing
being arranged just out of reach of the beaters on the front side or
edge of their travel and below the level of the beater shaft. These
beaters D', D', which revolve as indicated by the arrow ³, are shaped or
arranged to be tangential to a circle outside of their shaft, but struck
from the same centre.
The general operation is the same as has herein-before been described,
but where beaters having a rigid connection with their shaft are used
instead of flails it is preferable to give them a tangential construction
or arrangement, as in Figures 4 and 5, as by such beaters there is little
or no liability of their becoming entangled with the straw, or of the
straw lapping around the beater shaft, which straight beaters would
have a tendency to produce. Also the tangential construction of the
beaters secure a more direct or straight threshing action on the grain in
line or thereabouts with the feeding surface of the bearing, over
which the heads of the grain are projected to effect the threshing, as
described.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Threshing Machines," as communicated to me from abroad, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I
claim,―
First. The construction of threshing machine as represented in
Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawing, and operating in the manner specified.

page_text: Second. The rotating flails D, D, bent as described with reference to
Fig. 3 and for operation in connection with the bearing H to the grain,
essentially as herein set forth.
Third. The combination of the tangential beaters D', D³, with the
grain support or bearing H' arranged outside the reach of the beaters,
essentially as described with reference to Figures 4 and 5 of the
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.