IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Drummond at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
August 1872.
I, JAMES DRUMMOND, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows, that is
to say:
This Invention relates to improvements in the arrangement and
construction of reaping and mowing machines whereby such machines
are rendered more efficient in operation.
The mechanism constituting the present Invention consists of a
framing supported on a pair of wheels, to the axis of which it is
attached. The wheels referred to constitute the driving wheels of the
machine, one of them being provided at the inner side of its felly or rim
with a spur wheel into which is geared a corresponding spur pinion
situate on the outer extremity of a horizontal shaft placed in the rear of
the said driving wheel. On the inner extremity of the said horizontal
shaft a bevil wheel is fixed, which is geared into a corresponding bevil
pinion situate on the upper extremity of a vertical shaft whose lower
end is provided with a crank which is connected to the knife or cutter
bar by means of a connecting link. At the rearward part of the finger

page_text: bar in which the knives or cutters are supported an inclined board is
fixed, on to which the stalks of grain or grass, according as the machine
is being employed as a reaping or mowing machine, fall after being cut
by the reciprocating action of the knives or cutters.
Under this Invention the sheaf delivery board is arranged so that the
attendant who occupies a seat on the framing in close proximity thereto,
may with a rake or its equivalent draw off the sheaves of grain
transversely to their lengths from the side of the delivery board, in licu
of over the rear end of the board as in ordinary arrangements of reaping|
machines. By means of this arrangement the sheaves are delivered in a
more regular and even manner than under arrangements wherein the
sheaves are raked over the rear end of the delivery board, as in such
arrangements the stalks of grain being raked in the direction of their
length are found to be delivered irregularly, whilst further, much of the
grain is lost by the friction of the rake head on the full cars.
In the arrangement of machine embraced by this Invention, the
roller employed to support the outer end of the finger bar is dispensed
with, and in licu thereof the finger bar is formed at the said extremity
with an arm to which one extremity of a lever supported on a universal
joint on the framing of the machine is attached. The opposite end of the
lever is furnished with a counter weight in order to retain the finger bar
in its proper position relatively with the ground. By means of this
arrangement the sido draught caused by the roller usually employed is
obviated, and the weight of the cutting apparatus thrown more towards
the centre line of traction, and in operating over uneven ground the
liability of the finger bar to be broken by coming in contact with the
ground is also counteracted.
A reel supported at one end on the vertical arm of the finger bar, and
at the other end on the framing, is employed to press into close contact
with the knives or cutters, the crop to be cut, the said reel being
operated by a band or strap passed over a pulley situate at its inner end
and also over a pulley formed on or fixed to the driving wheel opposite
to that whereon the spur wheel herein-before referred to is fixed.