US1030950A - Grass-gathering machine. - Google Patents

Description

F. E. WAITB. I GRASS GATHERING MACHINE.

' AIPLIUATION FILED NOV. 2, 1910. I

Patented July 2, 1912.

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GRASS-GATHERIN MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2, 1912.

. Application filed November 2, 1910.- Serial No. 590,262.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK E. VVAITE,

. a citizen of the United States, residing at Oshkosh, in the county of Winnebago and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'Grass- Gathering Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a machine more especially adapted to arrange and bundle a typeof grass employed in the manufacture of grass carpets and similar articles.

The objects of the present invention are, to construct a machine which is capable of being operated upon the soft marshy ground in which this grass generally grows; to. provide means for combing out the ends of the grasses prior to their bundling to provide means for leveling the butt ends of the grasses prior to the bundling; to rovide means for conveying the grasses a ter the leveling operation to the bundling mecha-' nism; and to provide power mechanism for actuating the bundling mechanism and the conveyer for carrying the grasses across the table. And the general object is to provide a mechanism which will arrange andbundle the grasses and at the same time maintain the grasses in he same arrangement they were in before being cut.

The invention further consistsin the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Fi ure. 1 is a plan, view of the machine of t e present invention with the bundling or knotter mechanism removed; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the. completed machine. I i

The device comprises a framework 3 of suitable style, and size, which is mounted upon companion runners 4 located upon either side of the machine and connected-by. cross braces 4, and'the framework supports,

at its upper end, a horizontally extending table 5, which, as shown more clearly in Fig. 1, is somewhat shorter than the runners, so thatthe runners project consideri ably in front thereof. And it Willfurthermore be seen from Fig. 1 that the table is I not of a width equal to the distance between the outer edges. of the runners;"that is to say, the' runners project beyond the side.

\edges of the table, wherebya space is provided at either side of the table :for the opera tor or operators when they are stendinguupon Mounted upon the the runners, By this construction and a1- rangement, the runners 4, in addition to providing a mounting for the entire mechanism, also serve-as a running or foot board along the side of the device, upon which the operators stand.

The table 5is cut away in its central portion and virtually consists of a framework 6, 1n the rails of which are mounted forward and rear shafts 7 and 8 respectively. shaft 7 is a roller 9, and mounted upon the shaft 8 is a roller 10; and extending over these rollers is an endless belt or carrier 11. One of the shaftsthe shaft 7'as shown, has affixed thereto a driving sprocket or pulley 12, which is operatively connected to certain portions ofna knotter mechanism 13, although the method of driving this belt can be varied without departure from the spirit of the invention.

The knotting mechanism, as shown, is located at the rear end of the table 5 and is of any well known constructiomafor placing upon the elongated runners 4 shown in the drawings; By utilizing this mounting, a broad surface is presented for the device to travel upon over the ground. This is necessitated because of the fact that the grasses for the handling of which this machine was Inore particularly designed grow in marshy localities. Hence, it has been found impossible to operate an: ordinary binder with. anydegrees of success, owing to the fact that thetraction wheels of the binder will become so submerged into the ground as to render the progress of the machine diflicult, if not entirelyimpossible. By utilizing the runners, however, a broad flat surface is presented, which will not exert any cutting action upon the ground, and

hence its movements over the ground will be, to .all practical purposes, free and easy. :In the ordinary binder, the actuation of the cutting'.mechanism and the binding 65 "will arise.

melmnism is pcrl'ornual through the mebound.-

is necessary. to permit the grasses .to lie upon the ground for a certain period oftime between'the cutting and binding operations. Thisis because of thefact that the grasses when initially Tout are so filled with moisture that if bound at thattime, the portions in the center of .the bundle will become so compressed as to render the disentanglement' and separation of. the grasses from the bundle quite difiicult, if not impossible. It is therefore essential that these grasses be gathered and bound, when they are in a dry state, a'ndin order" to accomplish this a :certain period o ffbleachng or drying must be permitted afterthe cut-ting operation. It has furthermore been found that if these grasses should becomeentail-- .gled during the'gathering operation, a separation after suchentanglcrnent would be im- I possible. It is therefore essential that the grasses be laid upon the ground'in a dis entangled condition and be carried to "the bundle and placed in the bundle in this same condition/ And it is furthermore an extremely desirable feature to so arrange these bundles of grasses as to have their abutting ends level and unifo rm,"thus obviating the iearrangingof the grasses when they are fed- 45 into the spinning machine. Therefora'to properly gather the grasses, the following steps must be taken. First, they must be cut and laid in rows of gavels along the ground. Then they mustbe taken and gath- .ered into bundles, but cut-angling and dis arrangement of the grasses during this gathering process must be avoided. Then the butt ends of the grassesinust be leveled and thenv they must be placed into bundles and disarrangement and entan lement of the grasses must be avoidedwhilb they are being bound into bundles, so thatlthe grasses while being cut and bundled mustbe kept in the same relative position toone' 'another during 60 these-operations they were when standing. And the machine of the presentinvention is designed. and adapted to perform the leveling and bundling. operations in a manner whereby no entanglement of the grasses In -the .gathering of grasses, such as are used in the manufacture of grass carpets, 1t

After the grasses l1ave'lmen cut and laid in rows of gavels, they are left there tuna predetermined length of timein order to permit them to thoroughly dry. The 1na-" chine'of the present invention isthen placed in thefield. and is moved between the rows of gavels lying upon the ground. A numbei' of, operators gather the gavels from the ground and convey them 'tofthe operators standing" upon the runners4 of the device; orthe operators standing upon the runners 'mayreach down. and pickthe gavels up as the machine progresses through, the field,

this-depending altogether on the width be- 8O The operator standing upon the runners then-takes the grasses and. levels-thexbutttween the rows of gavels upon the ground.

ends by striking them against'one 'ot the butting boards 14 or 15;,and-if it is found that any dirt-or other foreign matter is clinging-tothe grasses, they are subjected to a combi ng operation by strikingthem against the teeth of the comb 1G. I After-the butt ends have been leveled, the grasses are laid'upon theendless con-veyer 1 1 and carriedrearward, to the .rear,end of the table, where they "are finally deposited within the hopper'of .the binding mechanism and are there packed and bound.

I claim: 1. In a' machine of the class described,

the combination withbinding mechanism of a table communicating with the binding.

mechanism, skid-like runners on which-the table and binding mechanism are mounted,

said runnersbeing of substantial width,-

whereby'the device is adapted to travel upon moist ground wit-houtbecomingembedded therein, means for conveying the grasses along thesurfaceof the table "and. sta-' tionary surface upon the table for "evening the buttcnds of the grassesprior to their being placed upon the conveying member, substantially as described. I

2. In a machine of the class described, the

"combination with binding mechanism of a table communicating with the .binding mechanism, skid-like runners upon which the table and binding mechanism are mounted, said runners being'of awidth whereby ;the device is supported, in traveling over' moist ground, to prevent" its becoming em- I bedded therein, said runners extending beyond the sides of the table and serving as footeboards for the operator's, an endless belt traveling across the surface of said table,

for conveying the grasses 'to the binding mechanism,-and' stationary butting boards arranged. along said. endless carrier, for evening the butt ends of the grasses prior to their being placed on the endless carrier, substantially as described. r

3. In a machine of the class described,'.the combination with bindingmechanism of a I table communicating with-the bindingmechanism, skid-like runners upon which the combination with binding mechanism of a table communicating with" the (binding mechanism, skid -1ike runners; upon which the table and binding mechanism are mounted, means for conveying the grasses over the surface of the table and into the binding mechanism, and' stationary butting boards spaced away from said conveying means, for evening the butt ends of the grasses prior to their insertion upon the conveying means, substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination with binding mechanism of a table communicating with the binding mechanism, skid-like runners upon which the table and binding mechanism are mountcd, said runners extending beyond the sides of the table and serving as foot-boards for the operators,

Corrections in Letters Patent No. 1,030,950.

an endless belt traveling across said table, for conveylng grasses to the binding mechanism, and stationary butting boards spaced away from said belt,

for-evening the butt ends of the grasses prior to their being placed on the belt, substantially as described.

6. In a machine of the class described, the. I

combination of a supporting framework and binding mechanism thereon, skid-like runners upon which the framework is mounted,

of a nature to permit travel of the machine over moist ground, and an endless conveyer supported upon said framework, and

arranged to travel-in a substantially horizontalline and to lie on top of the machine, said-conveyer being adapted to receive cut grasses manually placed thereon, said conveyer and binding mechanism terminating said grasses are conveyed to said binding mechanism in a substantially horizontal line of the movement and are maintained in their natural order of parallelism during at substantially thesame height, whereby such conveying operation, substantially as described;

' 7. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a supporting framework and binding mechanism thereon, skid-like runners upon which the framework isjmounted, of a nature to permit'travel ofthe machine over moist ground, an endless conveyer sup- .ported upon said framework and arran ed to travel in a substantially horizontal line and to lie at the top. of the machine, said conveyer being adapted to receive cut grasses-manually placed thereon, said conveyer and binding mechanism terminating at substantially the same height, whereby said. grasses are conveyed to said binding mechanism in a substantially horizontal line of movement and are maintained in their natural order of parallelism'during such conveying operation, and means for evening the butt ends of the grasses prior to the building operation, substantially as described. v

FREDERICK EJVVAITE. WVitnesses C. W. BLAKEMAN,

WM; DoMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addresshig the commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). 0.

ment in Grass-Gathering Machines, requiring correction as follows: Page line 54, strike out the article the; page, line 77, for the Word building read din/dang,- Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of February, A. D.,-'1914.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No; 1,030,950, granted July 2', 1912,

upon the application of Frederick Waite, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for an improveerrors appear in the printed specification.

same

and that the said. Letters conform J. T. NEWTON,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

anism, skid-like runners upon which the combination with binding mechanism of a table communicating with" the (binding mechanism, skid -1ike runners; upon which the table and binding mechanism are mounted, means for conveying the grasses over the surface of the table and into the binding mechanism, and' stationary butting boards spaced away from said conveying means, for evening the butt ends of the grasses prior to their insertion upon the conveying means, substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination with binding mechanism of a table communicating with the binding mechanism, skid-like runners upon which the table and binding mechanism are mountcd, said runners extending beyond the sides of the table and serving as foot-boards for the operators,

Corrections in Letters Patent No. 1,030,950.

an endless belt traveling across said table, for conveylng grasses to the binding mechanism, and stationary butting boards spaced away from said belt,

for-evening the butt ends of the grasses prior to their being placed on the belt, substantially as described.

6. In a machine of the class described, the. I

combination of a supporting framework and binding mechanism thereon, skid-like runners upon which the framework is mounted,

of a nature to permit travel of the machine over moist ground, and an endless conveyer supported upon said framework, and

arranged to travel-in a substantially horizontalline and to lie on top of the machine, said-conveyer being adapted to receive cut grasses manually placed thereon, said conveyer and binding mechanism terminating said grasses are conveyed to said binding mechanism in a substantially horizontal line of the movement and are maintained in their natural order of parallelism during at substantially thesame height, whereby such conveying operation, substantially as described;

' 7. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a supporting framework and binding mechanism thereon, skid-like runners upon which the framework isjmounted, of a nature to permit'travel ofthe machine over moist ground, an endless conveyer sup- .ported upon said framework and arran ed to travel in a substantially horizontal line and to lie at the top. of the machine, said conveyer being adapted to receive cut grasses-manually placed thereon, said conveyer and binding mechanism terminating at substantially the same height, whereby said. grasses are conveyed to said binding mechanism in a substantially horizontal line of movement and are maintained in their natural order of parallelism'during such conveying operation, and means for evening the butt ends of the grasses prior to the building operation, substantially as described. v

FREDERICK EJVVAITE. WVitnesses C. W. BLAKEMAN,

WM; DoMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addresshig the commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). 0.

ment in Grass-Gathering Machines, requiring correction as follows: Page line 54, strike out the article the; page, line 77, for the Word building read din/dang,- Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of February, A. D.,-'1914.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No; 1,030,950, granted July 2', 1912,

upon the application of Frederick Waite, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for an improveerrors appear in the printed specification.

same

and that the said. Letters conform J. T. NEWTON,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

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