IMPROVEMENTS IN BINDING APPARATUS FOR REAPING MACHINES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Peckett, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BINDING APPARATUS FOR REAPING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 25th October 1878, and dated the 2nd May 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Peckett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd May 1878.
THOMAS PECKETT, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster.
IN BINDING APPARATUS FOR REAPING MACHINES.'
"
"IMPROVEMENTS
My Invention relates to the apparatus for which Letters Patent bearing date the
Fifth of March, in the year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and
numbered 817, have been granted to Ernest George Cook Boniford. In the said
apparatus the delivered portions of crop were encircled with twine, and the ends of
the twine were twisted together, and in the apparatus as at present constructed the
twister which holds the ends of the twine is moved over after the first twisting and
the ends are again twisted to secure the ends more fully.
According to my Invention I arrange the twister so that when turned over the
twisted twine is slackened, whereby the inter-twisting of the ends with the band
encircling the sheaf is facilitated. I mount the twisting spindle in a carriage, which
is fitted to slide in a curved path upon or in a quadrant frame, the axis of the
spindle being out of the line of centre of motion of the said carriage, or the said
carriage may be moved inwards to effect the said slackening. I prefer to twist the
said ends in a direction contrary to the twist of the twine. I cause the holding
jaws of the twister to be opened or relieved by means of a lever or equivalent
appliance to release the twine when the twisting is completed. To ensure the
holding jaws being brought into the correct position to receive the twine I provide
the twisting spindle with two sets of inclines, so that one incline or the other will

page_text: be acted upon by the setting incline. The arm carrying the twine is curved, and
is arranged to vibrate upon a horizontal axis, and moves forwards and downwards
to receive the portion of cut crop, and when so moving passes the twine between
the holding jaws. To enclose the said portion of cut crop the said arm moves
upwards and backwards again, passing the twine between the said jaws. To cut
the twine I employ a knife which is pressed downwards or towards the twine to be
severed by a spring, and is supported out of action by a jointed prop, which yields
when the arm carrying the twine is moved in one direction, but is acted upon to
release the knife when the said arm moves in the contrary direction.
To drive the twister spindle I in one arrangement employ two friction wheels,
which are mounted within the aforesaid quadrant frame, and arranged so that
when the carriage carrying the said spindle is in position for imparting the first
twist a friction pinion which is connected with the said spindle is permitted to
came into gear with one of the said friction wheels, and when the carriage is moved
over the said friction pinion comes into gear with the other friction wheel. I
prefer to employ internal friction wheels, and to incline the axes of the wheels so
that the friction pinion can pass from one to the other.
In another arrangement the twister pinion is driven by a shaft which receives
motion from a spur wheel, the axis of which wheel is in line with the axis of move-
ment of the carriage carrying the twister. A pinion on the said shaft is brought
into gear witli the said wheel at the times when the twisting is to be effected. I
"balance" the twister spindle so as to obtain greater steadiness when rotating by
means of a shell, arm, or part which balances the projecting jaws.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Peckett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd November
1878.
THOMAS PECKETT, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer. “IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BINDING APPARATUS FOR REAPING MACHINES."
My Invention relates to the apparatus for which Letters Patent bearing date the
Fifth of March, in the year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and
numbered 817, have been granted to Ernest George Cook Boniford. In the said
apparatus the delivered portions of crop were encircled with twine, and the ends of
the twine were twisted together; and in the apparatus as at present constructed
the twister which holds the ends of the twine is moved over after the first twisting,
and the ends are again twisted to secure them more fully.
My Invention consists in improvements in the said Invention of Boniford, and in
order that such improvements may be more readily described and fully understood
I will refer to two Sheets of Drawings which I have attached hereunto. The said
Drawings are made to a scale of about three inches to the foot, and marked with
letters of reference, corresponding marks indicating the same parts in the various
Figures.
In Sheet 1 Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the binding apparatus
of a reaping machine; and Fig. 2 is a view taken at right angles to Fig. 1. In
Fig. 2 the circle A indicates the space occupied by the sheaf during the binding
process. A curved lever a is fixed by one end upon a shaft b, and to the outer end
of this lever a diamond-shaped mouth-piece a¹ is fixed. The binding twine is led
through guides from the lower part of the lever to the said mouth-piece, and issues
therefrom. During the collecting of the straw the lever a is below the grating c,
but when the sheaf has been collected by the rakes the shaft 6 is acted upon to raise
the lever into the position indicated.
*,
The twisting apparatus is carried by an arm b, which is attached to the framing
of the machine. Upon the outer end of this arm is fixed a quadrant head which is
also represented in section in Fig. 3, and upon this head are formed or fixed curved'
"vee" guides d, d, and within these guides is fitted to slide a carriage c, in which
is fitted to revolve the twister spindle e. The guides d are made concentric, and
are struck from a centre . Upon a shaft fis fixed a lever f¹, and upon the outer
end of this lever is mounted a bowl, which works in a slot c¹ which is formed in the
carriage C. The shaft f is acted upon by a spur quadrant ƒ³, which gears with a
spur pinion fixed on the shaft, and at the required times causes the shaft to rock in
its bearings, whereby the lever f' acts upon the carriage C to cause it to slide
partly around the centre .. The twister spindle is so arranged as that its axial
line shall pass to one side, or, with reference to Fig. 2, below the centre the effect
of this being that when the carriage C is moved over to effect the twisting the.
twine is slackened. The twister spindle is balanced by fixing thereon a shell or
part e, which is made heavier on the side which is opposite to the projecting
gripping or holding jaws, whereby the said spindle is caused to revolve with greater
steadiness. Upon the upper end of the twister is fixed a spur pinion g, with which
gears a spur wheel g', which is fixed upon an intermediate driving shaft o, which is
connected by bevil gearing with a shaft which passes through to the back of the
carriage, and is formed or provided with a friction pinion h. Within the head are
mounted three spur wheels i, i¹, and it, which are arranged to revolve on inclined
axes, as represented in Fig. 3, and are geared together so that the wheels i and i
revolve in the same direction. The said wheels receive motion from a shaft j. The
two wheels i and are formed to act as internal friction wheels. When the sheaf
is brought into position the carriage C is in its upper position, and the wheel h is
nearly in contact with the friction wheel 2, being kept out of contact by a detent-
lever k, against which the carriage. rests. One end of the twine is held by the

page_text: ordinary gripping jaws of the twister, and the said twine passes below the sheaf.
The arm a now rises, and twine is passed around the sheaf into the gripping jaws
and below a knife l.. The said knife is fixed to a spindle l', which is acted upon by
a spring which tends to force the knife towards a block , in which is formed a
slit. The twine passes over the said block, and when the knife is released the knife
descends and severs the twine, the edge of the knife entering the said slit. The
knife is kept out of action by a prop 1, which is formed with a jointed limb, which
is rigid when the lever a rises, but yields when the said lever descends. When the
said lever has brought the twine below the knife a pin upon the lever "knocks off"
the prop, and the knife descends and severs the twine.. The lever know rises into
the position indicated in Fig. 2, and thereby by acting on the spindle ¹ sets the
.knife for the next action, and at the same time releases the carriage C. A spring m
acts upon a lever fixed on the shaft f in such a manner as to tend to force the
wheel h into contact with the wheel i or the wheel 23, according to the position of
'the carriage. When the carriage is released the wheel h is forced against the
wheel 2, and is thereby set in motion, and as a consequence the twister revolves and
gives the first twist to the twine. I prefer to twist the ends of the twine in a
direction contrary to the direction in which the strands of the twino are twisted
together. The carriage C is now moved over by the action of the shaft f, whereby
the twisted ends of the twine are slackened, as herein-before mentioned, and the
wheel is forced into contact with the wheel i. The twister is again set in motion
by the action of the wheel i, and the second twisting is given to the ends of the
twine which completes the binding. The carriage C is now moved back to be ready
for another sheaf, and the lever a retires below the grating c and when retiring
passes the end of the twine between the gripping jaws, which hold the twine, so
that when the said lever has retired a length of twine extends from the mouth-
piece a¹ to the gripping jaws. The next sheaf is received on to this length of twine
as in the old machine.
The Figs. on Sheet 2 illustrate a second method of actuating the twister spindle.
In this example a shaft n which is used in lieu of the short shaft carrying the
wheel in Sheet 1 is provided with a bevil wheel which gears with the bevil wheel
on the shaft o, which is in gear with the said twister spindle. Upon the other end
of the shaft n is fixed a friction pinion p, which is acted upon at intervals by a
friction wheel r, which is arranged to revolve at a suitable speed. The end of the
said shaft is fitted to revolve in a bearing which is carried by an arm 8, which is
mounted upon a fulcrum at t. Upon the shaft f which actuates the carriage C, as
in the previous example, is fixed a lever u, which engages with the arms so that
the said arm is caused to move in unison with the carriage C. As the radius of
motion of the pinion p is shorter than the radius of the wheel r the said pinion is
brought into contact with the said wheel at two points, the parts being so pro-
portioned and adjusted as that the pinion shall be in contact with the driving
wheel at the times when the twine has to be twisted.
Other arrangements for moving the said pinion into contact with the wheel might
be adopted.
In Fig. 5 and in Fig. 2, Sheet 1, a curved lever vis mounted upon a fulcrum at w;
and is acted upon at intervals by a tappit a which is fixed on the same shaft as the
detent lever k. The end of the lever opposite to the end so acted upon is nearly in
contact with the outer end of the twister spindle during the second twisting. When
the second twisting is completed the tappit a raises the end of the lever v, whereby
the opposite end is forced against the twister spindle end, and by pushing the said
spindle inwards against the action of the ordinary spiral spring effects the opening
of the jaws which hold the twisted ends of twine, whereby the said ends are released
and the sheaf is then ready to be discharged.
Having now set forth and indicated the nature of my said Invention, and means
whereby the same may be carried into effect, I would have it to be understood that
I claim,―
First. Moving the twister spindle carriage in, curved guides, and arranging the.

page_text: twister spindle with regard to the axis of motion of the said carriage so that the
twine is slackened for the second twisting, substantially as set forth and indicated
herein-before and in and by the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The lever v, or an equivalent lever, acting substantially as and for the
purpose set forth and indicated.
Thirdly. Arranging the twisting mechanism above the position occupied by the
sheaf, and arranging for the lever carrying the twine to vibrate upon an axis
situated below the sheaf, and to move downwards to receive the sheaf and upwards
to enclose the said sheaf and to deliver the twine to the holding jaws, substantially
as set forth and indicated.
Fourthly. Severing the twine by means of a knife which is forced into action by
means of a spring, and is kept out of action by a prop or support, which is knocked
off by the lever a, substantially as set forth and indicated.
Fifthly. The arrangements for driving the twister, substantially as set forth and
indicated.
And, lastly. Balancing the twister, substantially as and for the purpose set forth
and indicated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Peckett, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.
THOMAS PECKETT. (L.S.)