AN IMPROVED REAPING MACHINE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Laurent Marcus, of the Province of Algiers, in
Africa, now in Paris, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
REAPING MACHINE."
Sealed the 29th March 1859, and dated the 16th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Laurent Marcus at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
October 1858.
I, LAURENT MARCUS, of the Province of Algiers, in Africa, but now in Paris,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED REAPING MACHINE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the application of a gathering rack actuated by
the same mechanism which actuates the other parts of the machine, the said
rack taking the crop which is cut off by the knife, and heaped up over the
gathering table, bringing it along by an alternate sweeping circular motion to
the edge of the table, and throwing it down in small heaps ready to be bound
into sheaves. This work is performed as regularly as if the crop was cut off
by hand.
The annexed Drawing is a plan of the improved reaping machine; it is
carried by two wheels, one only B being seen in the Figure; this wheel, made
of cast iron, is provided with external cogs e, e, for the purpose of traction.
The machine is drawn by two horses attached to the shaft A. The wheel B
is furnished internally with a toothed ring, which actuates all the movements
of the machine by cogging with a pinion, the shaft of which bears a grooved
pulley a, which pulley actuates a similar one E by means of an endless rope.

page_text: The pulley E is fastened on the shaft M of the fly wheel, the cross wings L
of which bring the standing crop against the sawing blade S, and throw it
upon the table T when it is cut off. The rack R is carried by a rod or shaft g,
which can move round in its bearings i, i, bolted upon the plate P, which
plate can move partially round the couter O. Under the said plate two
bearings are attached, into which the shaft I revolves, being actuated by a
forked gearing, which is fixed at the end of the shaft of the pulley a. The
shaft I carries a pinion U, which gears with an endless circular rack H, H,
and receive an alternate travelling motion, carrying along the plate P, and
with it the gathering rack R. When this rack is travelling forward, its pegs
are raised, as shewn on the Figure, whilst when it is travelling backwards for
gathering the crop over the table, its pegs are lowered by the properly combined
motion of an upright rack K gearing with a sector, carried by the shaft g; the
crop is thus gathered and brought to the edge b, d, of the table, whence it
drops down upon the ground, and is properly disposed for sheafing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Laurent Marcus in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAURENT
MARCUS, of the Proince of Algiers, in Africa, now in Paris, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Laurent Marcus, Her special licence that I, the said Laurent Marcus,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Laurent Marcus, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVED
REAPING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Laurent Marcus, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their bands 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

page_text: date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Laurent Marcus, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement:
The reaping machine of my Invention differs in many respects from those
hitherto in use, especially with regard to the greater simplicity of its mecha-
nical parts. Although the manner of cutting the cutting blade, the disposition
of the reel or beater in its rotating motion, its beating or catching paddles
which catch and hold the stalk against the cutter, and which when it is
cut throw it on the table; all these pieces bear some resemblance with the
MacCormick reaping machine.
The chief feature of my Invention consists in a gathering rack actuated by
the same movement as that of the other organs. This gathering rack takes
on the table the cut grain gradually as it accumulates thereon, and. by a
travelling motion brings it back on the table, throwing it aside in small heaps
ready for bundling. The grain thus thrown in heaps is not intermingled, the
ears are on on one side and the stems on the other as regularly as when
reaped by hand.
Another improvement is that the cutter is working in a space larger than
that in which the other pieces of the machine are actuated by the action of
the large wheel, which one is obliged to cause to pass outside of the grain
which has to be cut, that is to say, in the space which serves also for the
passage of horses, the cutter and rack should accordingly be about one foot
longer than the middle of the machine. Thus the place cleared off by the
cutter being quite free, the machine when it returns can pass along without
touching any of the grain cut, and without the necessity of removing the grain
already cut.
My reaping machine is driven by two horses or two oxen, a single man can
attend to it. In the course of twelve hours work it can cut down from twelve
to fourteen acres of grain, and lay it in heaps, and the heaps made by the
machine may be left on the ground as long as necessary for drying the straw
before tying it in bundles.
The annexed Drawing represents my reaping machine. Fig. 1 is a side
elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan one-fourth of the real size; Figures 3 and 4 are
separate views of the rack motion on a scale double of the former. The
machine is carried on two wheels, one of which can be seen in Fig. 1 and 2.
This wheel 3 is made of cast iron, it is provided externally with teeth e, e, e,

page_text: by means of which it adheres to the ground in its progress forwards. Two
horses put to the shaft A drive the machine along on the field, the driver is
seated on the seat Q. When the wheel B moves forward, its rotary motion
The wheel B is pro-
impels all the organs of the machine, as will be seen.
vided inside with a toothed ring G, which gears with a pinion D; a grooved
pulley a is fixed on the shaft f of the pinion; the pulley a actuates the pulley
E by means of the endless rope F; the pulley E is keyed on the shaft M of
the beater, the paddles L, L, L", of which bring and hold the stems of the
grain against the cutter S, and throw it when cut off on the table T.
The cutter which is composed of separate small blades, triangle shaped on
the sharp side, receives a to-and-fro motion from the connecting rod b, driven
by a small crank G, fixed at the end of a shaft V, which bears at its other end
a level pinion, which is not visible on the Figure; this pinion gears with the
level wheel d, shewn by dotted lines Fig. 2, and a blue circle Fig. 1. The
blade of the cutter slides in mortices cut through the teeth a, a, a, which hold
the stems of the grain steadily during the cutting. The most complicated
motion is that of the rack, which forms the chief feature of the Invention;
the handle or rod g of this rack can move round 0; it has underneath two
bearings h, h, into which the shaft I can move. The pinion H keyed on the
end of this shaft gears in a steady endless rack K, K', which is bent in the
shape shewn in Figs. 2 and 4. The other end of the shaft I is disposed as
shewn Fig. 4, with two figures t, t, which gear with and are driven by a catch
carried by a moveable disc N on a shaft X. When the shaft I revolves, the
pinion U gears in the rack H; the shaft I carries along the plate P, which
moves on the segment U, W, either from right to left or from left to right,
according to the position of the pinion running either on the upper part K³, or
on the lower part of the endless rack. The shaft I follows the motion of
the pinion U, which by turn brings it up or down; the braces of the bearings
h, h, are so arranged so as to be lifted or depressed with the shaft I, by
sliding in the bearings. The braces of the bearing H carry along in this
alternate motion an upright rack, which runs through an aperture cut through
the plate P; the said rack gears with a toothed segment carried by the handle
of the gathering rack, which is thus actuated by a partial alternate rotary
motion. From this description and looking at Figs. 2, 3, and 4, it is obvious
that when the pinion U is beginning to run over the upper portion H of the
steady rack, the burning of the shaft I raises up the small. moveable rack k,
the latter impels the segment carried by the handle g of the gathering rack,
the fingers of which have been brought in a horizontal position as shewn
Fig. 2 they remain afterwards in this position during the whole travelling

page_text: motion of the gathering rack down to the edge 1, 2, of the table T; the
pinion U moving down to gear with the lower portion H of the endless rack,
the shaft I or its bearer h, carrying along the small rack h, causes the handle g
to move round in a sufficient degree to bring the fingers of the gathering rack
in a vertical position. The said fingers catch the grain that has been cut and
thrown on the table T by the paddles L, L', of the beater. The pinion U con-
tinuing to revolve and to gear with the lower portion H of the steady rack,
its shaft I brings back from left to right the plate P and gathering rack, the
fingers of which gather all the stems of the grain on the table T, without
disturbing the position of the said stems, the ears of which are all turned in
the same direction; these stems are brought down to the edge 2, 3, of the
table, and fall down upon the ground in sheaves, where they may be easily
picked up for bundling; now the fingers of the gathering rack are raised up
by the pinion U gearing with the upper portion H¹ of the endless rack, and
the same repeated motions perform the same work as long as the machine
keeps travelling on. A gearing box m, which slides upon the shaft f, allows of
the motion of the gathering rack to be stopped at pleasure.
The novelty of my Invention consists chiefly as related, at the beginning,
1st, in the disposition and performance of a special travelling rack gathering
the grain, which has been cut down and thrown upon a table or platform,
gathering it on the said table, and dropping it down upon the ground in
regular heaps or sheaves ready to be bundled up.
2nd, in the special performance of the cutter which works by the side of
the machinery, thus leaving a free passage for the driving horses, which
travel in advance of the reaping machine without touching upon the grain.
In witness whereof, I, the said Laurent Marcus, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
PARDAIR.
L. MARCUS. (L.S.)