AN IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Thomson, Robert Thomson, and Henry
Thomson, all of Buckden, in the County of Huntingdon, for the Invention
OF AN IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT"
Sealed the 8th June 1860, and dated the 9th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Thomson, Robert
Thomson, and Henry Thomson, at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 9th December 1859.
We, JAMES THOMSON, ROBERT THOMSON, and HENRY THOMSON, all of
Buckden, in the County of Huntingdon, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of an apparatus for shaking straw as it leaves the
thrashing machine and as it is carried by an elevator to the stack, so as to
prevent any corn being carried on to the stack, which is frequently the case as-
it now comes from the thrasher, this apparatus being either portable or
connected to the thrashing machine. The elevator is mounted on a suitable
framing in connection with a series of cranks which run across the elevator..
and are worked by a band wheel or drum, the elevator is raised or lowered by

page_text: a curved rack and pinion so as to keep it at all times level or above the top
of the stack; a riddle is placed beneath the shakers and is worked by a
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Thomson, Robert Thomson, and Henry Thomson,
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
THOMSON, ROBERT THOMSON, and HENRY THOMSON, all of Buckden, in the
County of Huntingdon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said James Thomson, Robert Thomson and Henry Thomson, Her special
licence that we the said James Thomson, Robert Thomson, and Henry Thomson,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said James Thomson, Robert Thomson, and Henry Thomson, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree 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 "AN IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Thomson,
Robert Thomson, and Henry Thomson, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said James Thomson, Robert Thomson, and
Henry Thomson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say,-
Our Invention consists of an apparatus for shaking straw as it leaves the

page_text: thrashing machine, and as it is carried over by an elevator to the stack so
as to prevent any corn being carried on to the stack, which is frequently the
case as it now comes from the thrasher; this apparatus being either portable
or connected to the thrashing machine; the elevator is mounted on a suitable
framing in connection with a series of cranks which run across the elevator
and are worked by a band wheel or drum, the elevator is raised or lowered by
suitable means so as to keep it at all times level or above the top of the stack;
a riddle is placed beneath the shakers and is worked by a vibrator, when
the clean corn drops into a receiver below.
In order to explain our said Invention as completely as possible, we now
proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of
Drawings hereto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference
marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side view of the machine as it would appear when in use, a, a being
the shakers, actuated by cranks beneath, so that as the straw is taken up the
machine on to the stack, by the motion of the shakers it is thoroughly shaken
before reaching the stack, the corn coming therefrom falling through on to a
revolving web band c, by which it is conveyed to the riddle d, and from thence
into the spout e, the riddle d, is suspended by vibrators fif, and is worked by a
crank 9, which crank imparts motion (by means of a connecting rod h,) to the
revolving band c, the shakers a, a, being adjusted to the required height by
means of a screw around which works a bevil toothed wheel having a female
screw cut in the centre thereof which is made to revolve by another bevil wheel
and winch handle as shewn. In order to alter the angle of the riddle to the
required pitch a series of bevilled gearing is attached to the back of the
machine to which motion is imparted by the driving pulley; the entire machine
being made either portable or stationary as necessity may require.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of "An
Improved Agricultural Machine," together with the manner in which the same
is to be performed, we would remark in conclusion that we do not confine or
restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described, as many slight modifi-
cations may be made therein without in any way departing from the principle of
our Invention, but what we claim as our Invention intended to be secured to us
by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is the shaking and stacking of the
straw and collecting the corn before it reaches the stack in the manner herein

page_text: described and shewn by the illustrative Sheet of Drawing hereto annexed and
for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Thomson, and Henry Thomson
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventh day of June in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
THOMAS BRIGHTMAN,
Little Staughton,
St. Neots.
JAME
(L.S.)
HENRY THOMSON. (L.S.)