Im- PROVED METHODS OF FITTING MOVEABLE SEAT SUPPORTS ON OR TO REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William McIntyre Cranston, of Walter A. Wood's
Reaping and Mowing Machine Warehouse, No. 36, Worship Street,
Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVED METHODS OF FITTING MOVEABLE SEAT SUPPORTS ON OR TO REAPING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 23rd April 1875, and dated the 26th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William McIntyre
Cranston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th October 1874.
I, WILLIAM MCINTYRE CRANSTON, of Walter A. Wood's Reaping and
Mowing Machine Warehouse, No. 36, Worship Street, Finsbury, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED METHODS OF FITTING MOVABLE SEAT SUPPORTS ON OR TO REAPING
MACHINES," to be as follows :—
The object of this Invention is fitting a seat support on or to a reaping
) machine, so that it with the seat and with or without the foot tread can

page_text: .
:
be turned up over the main bearing wheel or the frame, or swung round
to the front or to the rear to give clearance in passing through gateways,
travelling along narrow lanes and other places.
The Invention is particularly applicable to those reaping machines in
which one main bearing wheel is employed, such as those known as t
"Walter A. Wood's Patent," but by slight modifications the Invention
can be employed in other one main wheeled machines.
The following will enable my Invention to be understood as applied
to a W. A. Wood's Patent reaping machine :-On the projecting portion
of the axle on the near side it is usual to fit a bracket, which has a 1
motion by a lever or chain about the axle as a centre, as is well known.
Upon this bracket I form a couple of eyes or sockets, or one long one,
into which a long pin takes the pin forming part of the seat and foot
tread support, which has also a projection to lodge under and against a
portion of the bracket to hold the support at the desired position. The 1
stem of the support is sufficiently long for the seat to pass over the
periphery of the wheel when thrown up, the foot tread going preferably
to the side of the wheel, both being retained in their respective positions
by an overbalance of the support when passing the vertical axis.
In some cases I employ two pins or pintles of different diameters on 2
the support to take into corresponding apertures in the bracket, the
position or arrangement of the support with the bracket being such that.
a vertical swing or horizontal swing motion can be given to the support
to obtain the desired clearance, the support after being brought down or
round to what may be termed the working position being there 2
secured by a stay or tie bar, which has an adjustable link to ensure
stability.
I prevent the support jumping while the machine is at work by a catch
piece taking under a lip on the bracket.
By the use of this Invention the width of a machine can be diminished 3

page_text: swivelling seat and foot tread supports on or to reaping machines so that
they can be turned up or swung round out of the way while passin
through gateways, &c., as above set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William M'Intyre Cranston in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 26th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MCINTYRE CRANSTON, of Walter A. Wood's Reaping and Mowing
Machine Warchouse, No. 36, Worship Stroet, Finsbury, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William McIntyre Cranston,
Her special licence that I, the said William M'Intyre Cranston, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William McIntyre Cranston, 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 term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, usc, excrcise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED METHODS OF FITTING MOVEABLE SEAT
SUPPORTS ON OR TO REAPING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William McIntyre Cranston, 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.
"

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
-
The object of this Invention is fitting a seat support on or to a reaping
machine, that it with the seat and foot tread can be turned up over the
main bearing wheel on the frame, or swung round to the front side
portion or to the rear to give clearance in passing through gateways,
travelling along narrow lanes and other places.
The Invention is particularly applicable to those reaping machines in
which one main bearing wheel is employed, such as those known as
"Walter A. Wood's Patent," but by slight modifications the Invention
can be employed in other one or two main wheeled machines.
"
The following will enable my to be understood as applied to a
Walter A. Wood's Patent reaping machine :-- -On the projecting portion
of the axle on the near side it is usual to fit a bracket, which has a
motion by a lever or chain about the axle as a centre, as is well known.
Upon this bracket I form a couple of eyes or sockets, or one long onc,
into which a long pin takes the pin forming part of the seat and foot
tread support, which has also a projection to lodge under and against a
portion of the bracket to hold the support at the desired position. The
stem of the support is sufficiently long for the seat to pass over the
periphery of the wheel when thrown up, the foot tread going to the front
or side portion of the wheel, both being retained in their respective
positions by an overbalance of the support when passing the vertical
axis or by an appliance for the purpose.
In some cases I employ two pins or pintles of the same or of different
diameters on the support to take into corresponding apertures in the
bracket, the position or arrangement of the support with the bracket
being such that a vertical swing or a horizontal or an angular swing
motion can be given to the support to obtain the desired clearance, the
support after being brought down or round to what may be termed the
working position being there secured by a stay or tic bar, which has an
adjustable link to ensure stability.
I prevent the support jumping while the machine is at work by a catch
piece taking under a lip on the bracket.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represent a side view of so
much of a weaning machine as is sufficient to show how I muonose in
ARA

page_text: example to carry my Invention into practice; Figure 2 is a front view.
of the same and with the seat and foot tread in the position they occupy
when the machine is ready for work or at work in a field.
Figures 3 and 4 show the seat and foot tread swung forward to the
'side to reduce the width of the machine and to enable it to be drawn
through narrow gateways or along narrow lanes or other passages, an
advantage of great importance on account of the great width of a reaping
machine when the platform is rigidly fixed to the main frame. The
machine can however be decreased much further in width by turning
up the platform on the hinged joint, as described in the Specification of
a previous Patent, No. 771", or by removing the platform and placing it
on end on the framing of the machine, as described in the Specification
of Patent No. 13007, the whole machine by the use of either of the recited
Patented methods in combination with the swing or the turn-up seat
and foot tread support being so reduced as to bring the whole width to
correspond to that of the main frame.
Figure 5 represents a swing seat and foot tread support, which can
be thrown over towards the side of a machine, and so that the seat can
project slightly over the wheel, and with the foot tread in front of the
wheel.
Figure 6 shows another arrangement by which the seat and the foot
tread can be thrown round to the side, but I do not, as before stated,
confine myself to the foregoing method of fitting, nor to any other
method of hinging or jointing the seat and support, my Invention con-
sisting, as before described, of so hinging, jointing, or otherwise fitting
the seat support that it can be turned, swung, or moved round to the
side or to the rear, or turned, swung, or moved up or otherwise acted
upon to reduce the width of a reaping machine without necessarily
being first removed or detached from the machine.
The examples shown or described with reference to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings are only given to practically illustrate how the In-
vention can be carried into effect.
' In Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 A is the main frame of a reaping machine;
B, the wheel, or one of the wheels if there be more than one; C is the
axle whose end projects for carrying a bracket D in connection with the
raising and lowering appliances, either to determine the height of cut
of the knives or to determine the angle at which the knives shall cut, as

page_text: Figure 5 shows a long pin a¹ on a bar t forming part of the seat
support, which pin passes through eyes or lugs a, a, on the bracket D,
the pin with the eyes being arranged at an angle to suit the position for
the seat.
Figure 6 represents a vertical. socket for the pin of the seat support
to take into the locking of the support in the required position when
turned being effected by a clutch and catch. The angle of the seat in
this case is also determined by an adjustment of the rod k through the
lever w with which it is connected.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, fitting
seat supports on or to reaping machines that they can be turned, swung,
or moved round to the side front, to the side rear, or be turned up to the
side to reduce the width of such machines and without detaching the
supports from the machine, substantially as described and as shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said William M'Intyre Cranston, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
WM M CRANSTON