provements in or relating to Mowing Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in or relating to Mowing Machines.
I, FRANZ SCHEBEN of Hennef on the Sieg in the Empire of Germany, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
:-
The fingers of mowing machines are frequently fitted with steel plates sharpened,
as the sides which form the so called "underknives" and against which the actual
cutting blades work. The underknives are either fitted separately to the fingers,
and rivetted to the same, or they are mounted side by side on a common continuous
iron bar and rivetted to the same and to the fingers. This latter is called a fixed
series of underknives.
It has the advantage over the arrangement of knives rivetted separately to the
fingers that, if any of the fingers become bent, the row of knives does not get out
of its proper direction. But both this latter as well as the arrangement of separate
knives rivetted to the fingers exhibit in practical use a great drawback, in that
when, by the frequent blunting of the knife edges, a re-setting and sharpening
becomes necessary, the whole mechanism must be taken apart, which can only be
done by a skilled workman in a workshop. In fact, the underknives or cutters
cannot be separated from the fingers if in the open fields and a long distance
from any house, so that these knives remain attached to the bar, but either the
separate fingers, together with the separate knives attached thereto, or the fingers
as a whole attached, together with the knives, to the common cutter bar, must be
unscrewed or otherwise separated from the frame bar, and the whole carried to
the workshop in order to separate the knives from the fingers and cutter bar, after
which each separate knife has to be heated, re-sharpened, re-hardened and again
rivetted or otherwise fastened on.
In order to avoid the drawback hereinbefore described, I have adopted an
arrangement which allows of the whole row of cutters being detached at once from
the fingers without it being necessary to unscrew the whole of the latter from the
frame bar. The whole set of cutters may also be easily again inserted in the
fingers, so that a reserve set of knives or cutters may be carried, and, when the first
set becomes blunt, the reserve set may be inserted in its place, which can be done
in a few minutes.
On the accompanying drawing :-
Figure 1 shows the set of knives or cutters in combination with the fingers and
the bar:
Figure 2, the set of knives alone on the common cutter bar.
Figure 3 shows an enlarged plan view: and
-
Figures 4 and 5, enlarged side views of the manner in which the under knives
are connected with the cutter bar, and also the fingers with the frame bar and the
under knives.
All the underknives a are rivetted on the knife or cutter bar 6 by rivets counter-
sunk on both sides, to the right and left contact or supporting surfaces cc of the
knives.
The fingers d are, as shown in Figure 5, only connected with the frame bar e
by means of the screws f. By this arrangement, the fingers could move sideways,
because they are not connected with the cutter bar. In order to prevent this and
to form a rigid connection between cutter bar band frame bar e, whereby a side
movement of the knives and fingers is prevented, some of the knives (in the
drawing, four are shown) which are indicated by a', are provided with an extension g
which projects over the rear edge of the cutter bar b, and this extension has a depressed

page_text: or grooved part i in order to allow of the passing of the upper cutter bar h. The
cutters a', on this bar together with their respective fingers d are attached to the
frame bar e by means of screws f¹. When fitting up the machine the fingers d
are first screwed on the frame bar e, but the fingers d¹ are omitted, the bar b with
the whole set of knives rivetted thereon is then arranged on the bar e, and pushed
from the rear forwards in such a way that the front pins of the cutters engage in
the corresponding recesses of the fingers. The separate fingers d' are then
severally pushed from the front, backwards under the frame bar in such a way that
they receive in their recesses the front pins of the corresponding knives a¹, and
then the common screws f¹ are passed through the fingers d', frame bar e and
knives a¹. The method is reversed in order to withdraw a set of cutters
and replace it with another. The screws are first unfastened and the fingers e¹
taken off, then the cutter bar with the set of cutters thereto attached is pushed
and drawn out backwards, whilst the fingers d remain attached to the frame bar e.
If one of the fingers be bent, it may, by loosening its respective screw, be drawn
out forwards, even when the cutter bar is still capable of being used, that is to
say, still remains fixed. The finger may then be at once taken to the forge, or
replaced by another, which is a further advantage of this invention.
My invention offers great advantages to agriculturists, by avoiding stoppages of
work, and lessening the cost of repairs.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
In mowing machines, an easily detachable but rigidly fixed set or row of under
cutters characterised by the attachment of the cutters a to the cutter bar b, as
well as by the arrangement of separate cutters, a' inserted between the series of
ordinary knives a, and having prolongations g which are fastened in common
with the fingers d¹ to the frame bare by means of screws f¹, substantially as
described.
Dated this 16th day of October 1893.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.