IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Obed Hussey, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
MACHINES." Partly a communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Obed Hussey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th November 1852.
I, OBED HUSSEY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING MACHINES" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of making the cutting blades or knives with
one or more holes or slots through them, with a view to clear them and
their guards of any grass which may remain; and also in making a
longitudinal indent, with as square edges as may be, in each cutter, in
order to obtain strength, and also to aid in keeping the cutters and
their guards clear of grass or weeds. The cutter frame or apparatus
moves on the ground as a sledge, and, by cams, is raised more or less
off the ground; and, in place of the cutters working against and re-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Obed Hussey in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
OBED HUSSEY, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Obed Hussey, Her special licence that
I, the said Obed Hussey, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Obed Hussey, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REAPING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Obed Hussey, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Obed Hussey, do hereby de-
clare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
In my reaping and mowing machines already patented, the cutting

page_text: apparatus is described as consisting of a row of permanent guards or
fingers, fixed on the front edge of the platform, and projecting forwards,
and a corresponding row of blades acting in connection with the fingers.
In this present improvement, the blades and the fingers still act in con-
nection with each other in the operation of cutting, in the same manner
as in the former improvement; but in the former improvement the
blades rest on and are supported by the guards or fingers, and without
the support of the fingers the blades would have no support beyond the
connecting joint in the slide box. In the present improvement, the
blades, and the rod to which they are attached, are supported in their
position entirely independent of the fingers, and do not necessarily
touch them, while the fingers act only as protectors to the blades, and
hold the stalks of corn and other crops while being cut by the blades,
and in these respects the fingers perform precisely the same duty as in
my former improvement. The new modification, for which a Patent
has already been granted, I will describe as follows: There is no ma-
terial change in the iron frame consisting of side plates and cross beams,
or in the cog gearing, or in the application of the power to the blades.
The cutter bar a, shall be of cast iron or other metal; it will cross the
side plates of the frame, and be bolted thereto as before, and either
continue in a straight line or make an offset downwards of any re-
quired slope, beginning at the outer side plate opposite the blades, and
slope on an angle across the frame to the other plate, or the whole off-
set may be between the first blade and the contiguous side plate; this
offset is described, in my former improvement, in the latter position.
The cutter bar a, along the line of the blades, is formed in the following
manner; this bar, a, may be of any required length, according to the
breadth of sward required to be cut; the width of the bar may be from
four to six inches, more or less, and, with its longitudinal webs, may be
from one to two inches in thickness, more or less. On the front edge
of this bar a row of spurs shall project forward from the under side of
the bar, about one and a half inches in length, more or less, on which the
blades shall rest, and have as secure and firm a bearing as when they
rested on the fingers, as in the former improvements; from the. upper
side of the bar a similar row of spurs shall project, of about the same

page_text: length of the lower ones, for the purpose of keeping the blades down,
and the space between the upper and lower spurs will be sufficient to
receive the cutter rod and the blades between them. If the cutter rod
be on the upper side of the blades, then the ends of the upper spurs
shall bend down over the edge of the rod, to keep the rod back in its
place, but if the cutter rod be on the under side of the blades, then the
ends of the under spurs shall turn up, to perform the same service; the
cutter rod is supported behind by the cutter bar a. The spurs shall
either be cast solid to the bar, or be fixed to it separately; the number
of spurs will be only sufficient to form a good support to the blades, say
one pair to every three blades, more or less. The position of the spurs
may be, in some cases, between the fingers, and the spurs need not be
opposite to each other. The blades, thus supported, will have the same
free action, and will vibrate in the same manner when put in motion,
and be preserved in their position equally in every respect, whether the
fingers be on or off. The fingers are to be rivetted or bolted to either
the upper or the under side of the cutter bar a, and are to occupy the
same position, as regards the blades, that they do in my former improve-
ment; but it is intended that the blades, in their vibrations, shall not be
touched by the fingers, either on their upper or under sides, so that the
choaking matter which the blades force in shall the more easily escape,
by not being pressed upon by the blades, as in my former improvement,
when the blades rested on the fingers for support. Another advantage
in this arrangement is, that the fingers are more easily removed and
replaced by others, when it shall be required; also of their casy adjust-
ment, to correspond with the blades.
Having described the cutter bar a, and the independent support of the
blades, I now come to the blades themselves. The size and shape of the
blades are still preserved, but the proposed improvement in them for which
I desire to secure by Letters Patent consists in making a hole or aper-
tures c, c, through the blades, in a central position; this aperture may
be one and a half inches long, more or less, and a half inch wide, more
or less, either a parallelogram or of a conic shape; this aperture may
commence near the cutter rod b, and extend towards the point of the
blade, and either diminish towards the point or not. Other holes may

page_text: be made in any other part of the blade, of any size or shape; or the
blade may remain solid in the centre, and the holes be on each side of
the centre. The object of the holes in the blades is to prevent choaking;
this object is effected by the square edges of the apertures passing across
the fingers, and "chafering" out the choaking matter as fast as it is
forced in by the action of the blades into the fingers, so that no
accumulation can take place sufficient to impede the action of the
blades.
Another method to prevent the choaking I will describe, as follows:
An indentation is formed on one side of the blade, in the same position
as the hole or aperture before described, and a corresponding projection
will be formed on the other side, either by pressing or "swedging," the
same as a seal is impressed on paper by the dic and matrix. These
indentations may be about one sixteenth of an inch deep, more or
less; their square edges will operate on the choaking matter in a
manner similar to the edges of the hole, as before described. The
corresponding projections on the other side will, with their square edges,
act in the same manner. The advantage of this method over the aper-
ture plan, is, that instead of weakening the blade, by removing a part of
the metal to form the hole, the blade is strengthened, by changing the
plane of its surface, as in fluting or reeding, while the effect on the
choaking matter will be the same. Another advantage of the latter
method is, that the impression can be carried nearer the point of the
blade, where it is equally useful, than would be safe to carry the hole.
The shape of the impressions may vary in form, but the conic shape
will be most advisable.
I claim in the improvements herein described,―
First, the cutter bar a, of cast metal, by which the spurs or
supporters of the blades can be cast on and form a part of the bar:
Second, the support of the blades independent of the fingers,
whereby the blades may vibrate without necessarily touching the
fingers:
Third, the hole or aperture in the blades, as described, for the purpose
of preventing the choaking:

page_text: Fourth, the indentations in the blades, with their corresponding
projections, to prevent the choaking, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Obed Hussey, have hereunto set
my
y hand and seal, this Fourth day of May in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
OBED HUSSEY. (L.S.)
Witness, James Stones,
53, Ducie Terrace, Cheetham Hill Road,
Manchester.