IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: Sealed the 14th February 1868, and dated the 17th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Mark Frow at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th August
• 1867.
I, MARK FROW, of Leake, in the County of Lincoln, Farmer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in reaping machines, and
consists of a new mode or method of arranging the gathering and sheafing
parts of reaping machines, and in constructing additional parts thereto in such
a manner that one or more of the raking boards will gather the growing crop
towards the cutters and deposit it upon the table or platform when cut, and
also in such manner that one or more of the raking boards will gather the

page_text: growing crop as above stated, and also deliver the cut crop off the table or
platform in quantities suitable for sheafing. Or one or more of the raking
boards will gather the growing crop and one or more of them will deliver the
cut crop off the table or platform as above-described by a double action of the
raking and sheafing parts.
The gathering and sheafing parts of reaping machines may (according to
my Invention) be constructed and arranged to work with any suitable number
of arms and raking boards exceeding four, or two or any convenient number
of raking boards may be used in this arrangement. The raking boards may
be constructed either with teeth or without them, and they are attached to and
carried by arms which extend from an upright cranked shaft or axis around
which when working they are caused to revolve obliquely, motion being
communicated to them primarily by the driving wheel of the reaping machine.
In self-acting raking and sheafing reaping machines heretofore constructed
the raking boards and arms have been supported in horizontal or oblique
positions whilst revolving around the axis by either one set of radiating ties
or bearing rods, or by one continuous circular cam giving the same
positions to each successive arm and raking board at certain portions of its
revolution.
Now according to this Invention 'two or more sets of radiating ties or.
bearing rods are used to support the arms and raking boards, one set having a
central point upon the upright or cranked shaft higher than that of the other
set, each set having a different axis. The
he upright shaft is fitted either with
eccentrics, or is doubly cranked' in order to give varied and two or more
different positions to the arms and raking boards in their respective revolutions.
When cam surfaces are used to support and guide the arms and raking boards
during their rotation one or more cams continuous.or otherwise, or one cam
may be continuous and parts of one or more not continuous cam surfaces, of
different horizontal levels are connected together, upon which the arms of the
raking boards travel, and by which they are supported and guided as they
rotate in two or more distinct positions. In order to regulate the respective
heights of the raking boards suitable adjustable inclines or cam surfaces are
employed.
:
. One or more of the raking boards have two or more bearings and friction
rollers attached to them at various distances from the central line of the arm.
.
10

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Mark Frow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARK
FROW, of Leake, in the County of Lincoln, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Mark Frow, Her special licence that I, the said Mark Frow,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Mark
Frow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should, at any time agree
with, and no. others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during
the terin 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.
REAPING MACHINES," upon the condition, (amongst others) that I, the said
Mark Frow, 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 Mark Frow, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described, and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
•
The Invention has for its object improvements in reaping machines, and
consists of a new mode or method of arranging the gathering and sheafing
parts of reaping machines, and in constructing additional parts thereto in such
a manner that one or more of the raking boards will gather the growing.crop.
towards the cutters and deposit it upon the table or platform when cut, and
also that one or more of the raking boards will in addition to gathering the
growing crop as above stated also deliver the cut crop off the table or platform
in quantities suitable for sheafing..
The gathering and sheafing parts of reaping machines may (according to
my Invention) be constructed and arranged to work with any suitable number
of arms and raking boards exceeding four, or two or any convenient number.

page_text: of raking boards may be used in this arrangement. The raking boards may
be constructed either with teeth or without them, and they are attached to
and carried by arms which extend from an upright or cranked shaft or 'axis,
around which when working they are caused to revolve obliquely, motion being
communicated to them primarily by the driving wheel of the reaping machine.
In self-acting raking and sheafing reaping machines heretofore constructed
the raking boards and arms have been supported in horizontal or oblique
positions whilst revolving around the axis by either one set of radiating ties or
bearing rods, or by one continuous circular arm giving the same positions to
each successive arm and raking board at certain portions of its revolution, or
one or more of the raking boards have been caused to travel in a higher path
than the others.
་
Now according to this Invention two or more sets of radiating ties or
bearing rods are used to support the arms and raking boards, one set of the
radiating ties having a central point upon the upright or cranked shaft higher
than that of the other set, each set having a different axis. The upright
shaft is fitted either with excentrics or is doubly cranked in order to give
varied and two or more different positions to the arms and raking boards in
their respective revolutions. When cam surfaces are used to support and
guide the arms and raking boards during their rotation, one or more cams,
continuous or otherwise, or one cam may be continuous and parts of one or
more not continuous cam surfaces of different horizontal levels may be connected'
together, upon which the arms of the raking boards travel, and by which they
are supported and guided as they rotate in two or more distinct positions.
In order to regulate the respective heights of the raking boards whilst gathering
the standing corn towards the cutters suitable adjustable inclines or cam
surfaces are employed. One or more of the arms of the raking boards may
have two or more bearings and friction rollers attached to them at various
distances from the central line of the arm.
"
And in order that my Invention may be more fully understood, and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying Drawings, more
fully to describe the same..
4.
"
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 are elevations of so much of a reaping machine. as. will
enable me to describe one mode of carrying my Invention into effect. a is an
upright fixed shaft or axis doubly cranked, and supported-in any suitable manner

page_text: jointed to a sleeve or hollow axis c, to which rotary motion around the fixed
axis a is given by suitable gearing driven by the driving wheel of the machine,
as is now well understood. The arms bare supported and governed in-the-
desired paths by one set of radiating ties or bearing rods & pin-jointed thereto
and to a collar d capable of revolving around the lower crank a' on the shaft
or axis a, whilst the arms 6' are supported and governed in the desired paths
by another set of radiating ties or bearing rods 63 pin-jointed thereto and to a
collar e capable of revolving around the upper crank a³.
The following is the mode in which the rakes are caused to operate according
to my Invention:- When passing through the standing corn they all assume
the positon shewn in Figure 2, that is to say, they all dip to about the same
depth in the standing corn, until they arrive at or near the line of the cutters,
when the rakes 62 are caused to pass over the table, as shewn by the red lines
in Figure 1, and rake the cut crop off the platform; then the rakes 6³ are
caused to rise above the level of the standing
therein and bring the crop up to the cutters.
acted to bring the crop up to the cutters are
shown by the black lines in Figure 1, and pass clear above the cut crop on
the platform.
crop in readiness again to dip
The rakes 6s when they have
caused to rise into the position
Figure 3 is a plan, Figure 4 is a sectional side view on the line 1, 1, of
Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a sectional side view on the line 2, 2, of Figure 3,
of so much of a reaping machine as will enable me to describe another mode
of carrying my Invention into effect; similar parts are marked with similar
letters of reference to those employed in Figures 1 and 2. In this case the
rakes are caused to traverse in the desired paths by their arms being supported
and guided by the cams f, f¹, and fa, such rake arms being pin-jointed to the
vertical shaft or axis a which in this case is caused to revolve by means of
suitable gearing driven by the driving wheel, as is now well understood. The
cams f, f¹, are carried by supports fixed to the framing of the machine in any
suitable manner, as will be well understood, and the rake arms b, 61, are as
usual provided with friction rollers 6, 65. If desired those portions of the
cams f, f¹, marked f; may be supported with capability of adjustment by
being carried at one end on pins or axes whilst they are fixed in the desired
position by pins passing through suitable holes formed therein and through
the fixed parts of the cams or through fixed supports, as will be well understood.
By these means the amount to which the rakes 6, 6¹, are caused to dip into
the standing corn may readily be adjusted. The arms b are controlled in the
desired paths by the cam f, whilst the arms b' are controlled in the desired
paths by the cam f¹.

page_text: In Figure 4 is shown the position all the rakes will assume whilst in the
standing corn and gathering it towards. the cutters, whilst in Figure 5 the
position the rakes 62 will assume whilst raking the sheaf off the platform. is
shown by red lines, and the position assumed by the rakes 63 when passing.
clear above the cut crop on the platform is shown by the black lines.
..
Figures 6 and 7 are sectional views, and Figure 8 is a plan of so much of
a reaping machine as will enable me to describe another mode of carrying my
Invention into effect, and illustrates the mode in which I adapt my Invention
to one of Samuelson's reaping machines in. which six, rakes are employed.
In this case one continuous cam f is employed, and cams f¹, f², not continuous
are fixed thereto, whilst adjustable, cams f* are employed to act upon the
rake arms and regulate the depth to which, they dip when gathering the
growing crop towards the cutters. The rake arms 6 are provided, with two
sets of bearing, rollers 64, 65, and are supported and guided in the desired
path whilst the rakes carried thereby are gathering the standing corn towards
the cutters by the rollers 6 running, upon the adjustable cams f, but when
raking the.cut crop.off the platform the arms bare guided in the desired path
by one of the rollers b³ running upon the cam f³, whilst one of the rollers 6*
the opposite portion of the continuous cam f.
provided with long rollers 6%, which when the rakes
armis bare gathering the standing corn towards the cutters are supported
and governed in the desired path by the adjustable cams f, and when passing
clear above the, platform the rakes carried by the arms are supported and
governed in the desired path by the rollers 66 running upon parts of the
continuous cam.f and cam f. I have not thought it necessary to give a profile
of the cams, as such aided by the Drawings and description already given will
be readily understood. If desired the arms may be mounted on separate
axes of motion, as in Figures 1 and 2, and may be kept up to their cams by
springs or otherwise as will be well understood, by which if desired only one
or any number of arms may be used for raking the platform.
r
runs
upon
.
The armis 6' are
carried by the
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode in
which I carry the same into effect, I would have. it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein shown and described, nor do I
claim the mechanical parts separately considered; but what I claim is,―
The giving motion to the rakes in such manner that they shall all dip to about
the same depth in the standing corn whilst gathering it towards the cutters,
and also that one or more of the said rakes may be caused to rake the cut crop.
off the platform whilst the other rakes are caused to rise above and pass clear
over the cut corn on the platform, substantially as herein shown and described.

page_text: I also claim the mode of regulating the depth to which the rakes are
caused to dip when gathering the standing corn towards the cutters, substantially
as herein shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Mark Frow, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
MARK FROW. (L.S.)