IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William James Burgess, of Brentwood, in the County
of Essex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING AND MOWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 16th May 1865, and dated the 6th December 1864. ·
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William James Burgess
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1864.
I, WILLIAM JAMES BURGESS, of Brentwood, in the County of Essex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REAPING
AND MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in reaping and mowing
machines. For these purposes the gearing is combined and arranged in such
manner as to be contained within and protected by the main wheel. The
gearing receives motion from the rotation of the main wheel by means of teeth
formed on the interior of the main wheel. The main wheel turns freely on
its axle, from which is suspended the cutter bar by means of a cast-iron frame
connected to the axle. The teeth on the interior of the main wheel take into
and drive an intermediate wheel, the stud or axle of which is carried by a
projection formed on the suspended frame before mentioned. The inter-
mediate wheel takes into and drives a pinion on the boss or nave of a bevil
wheel, which by an upright crank shaft gives motion to the cutters, there
being a bevil pinion on such crank shaft, which is driven by the bevil wheel.

page_text: The bevil wheel and its pinion turns freely on the axle of the main wheel, and
are contained within such main wheel. The shafts are attached to arms, the
back ends of which are carried by and move freely on the axle of the main
wheel. On the suspended frame is fixed or formed a curved tooth rack,
which gears with a screw, the axis of which is in bearings affixed to one of
the projecting arms, by means of which the position of the cutter bar can be
regulated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William James Burgess in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JAMES BURGESS, of Brentwood, in the County of Essex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William James Burgess, Her special licence that I, the said
William James Burgess, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as J, the said William James Burgess, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 AND MOWING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William James Burgess,
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 William James Burgess, do hereby
declare 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in reaping and mowing

page_text: machines. For these purposes the gearing is combined and arranged in such
manner as to be contained within and protected by the main wheel. The
gearing receives motion from the rotation of the main wheel by means of
teeth formed on the interior of the main wheel. The main wheel turns freely
on its axle, from which is suspended the cutter bar by means of a cast-iron
frame connected to the axle. The teeth on the interior of the main wheel
take into and drive an intermediate wheel, the stud or axle of which is carried
by a projection formed on the suspended frame before mentioned. The inter-
mediate wheel takes into and drives a pinion on the boss or nave of a bevil
wheel, which by an upright crank shaft, gives motion to the cutters, there
being a bevil pinion on such crank shaft which is driven by the bevil wheel.
The bevil wheel and its pinion turn freely on the axle of the main wheel, and
are contained within such main wheel. The shafts are attached to arms, the
back ends of which are carried by and move freely on the axle of the main
wheel. On the suspended frame is fixed or formed a curved toothed rack
which gears with a screw, the axis of which is in bearings affixed to one of
the projecting arms, by means of which the position of the cutter bar can be
regulated.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shew opposite side
views, and Figure 3 shews a cross section of a machine constructed according
to my Invention, the gearing for transmitting motion to the knife being
combined together in such manner as to be contained within and protected by
the main wheel.
a is the main wheel, around the interior of the periphery of which are
formed teeth a', into these teeth the intermediate wheel b gears and transmits
motion to the toothed wheel c, which is cast in one piece with the bevil
wheel d; the wheels c and d turn freely on the axle of the main wheel, and
the bevil wheel d drives a bevil pinion e on the axis el, on the lower end of
which is a crank that gives the requisite to-and-fro motion to the knife f.
The intermediate wheel b and the axis e¹ are both carried by a frame 9, the
form of which is clearly shown by the Drawings; the frame is suspended from
the axle of the main wheel, and to it is connected the cutter bar, which carries
the knife to the frame, is also attached a curved rack h, into which a worm i
gears; the axis of this worm is carried by one of the angle iron arms k, to
which the shafts are attached-; these arms are carried by and are capable of

page_text: turning freely on the axle of the main wheel; on the axis of the pinion i is a
hand wheel by which the axis can be turned, and so when the shafts are
properly supported, the position of the frame g and consequently the position
of the cutter bar and its distance from the ground can be regulated; the axis
of the pinion i can be held from turning so as to retain the cutter bar in the
desired position by means of a catch 7 being dropped into one or other of the
notches in the wheel m.
In order that the machine may be drawn from one place to another when
not at work without driving the knife, the toothed wheel c and bevil wheel d
are capable of being moved endwise on the axle by means of a clutch worked
by the lever n, so that the bevil wheel d may be moved into or out of gear
with the bevil pinion e. The machine shown in the Drawing is what is called
a-hand delivery machine, the crop as it is cut being received on to a platform
behind the knife, and being raked off at intervals by an attendant sitting on
the seat p. The cutting knife of machines provided with any arrangement of
self-acting delivery may, however, have motion imparted to it by gearing
combined together in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William James Burgess, have. hereunto
set.my hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.