US129247A - Improvement in hay-knives - Google Patents

Description

G. W. PARSONS & W. S. FINN'EY.

Improvement in Hay-Knives.

N0.12 9,247. Patented July 16,1872! Inventor.

Witnesses.

less resistance.

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

GEORGE W. PARSONS AND WILLIAM S. FINNEY, OF HARRISBURG, PA.

iMPROVEMENT lhl HAv-KN lvESa Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 129,247, dated July 16,1872.

Specification describing certain Improvements in Hay-Knives, invented by GEO. W. PARSONS and WM. S. FINNEY, of Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin, State of Pennsylvania.

Our invention relates to a knife for cutting hay or straw in mows, stacks, or ricks, &c., commonly called a hay-knife; and it consists,

' first, of the construction of a hay-knife of bifurcated form of the cutting-edges, with the steel blades in two sections; second, of the plan for securing the shank in the head on which the blades are fastened by forcing the metal of the head into notches in the shank; third, of the combination of a square shank with a handle adjustable vertically fourth, of the adjustability of the upper handle.

Figure l is a view of the knife complete. Fig. 2 is a reverse view of the head. Fig. 3 is a view of the lower end of the shank. Figs. 4 and 5 are views of different adjustments of the-handles. Fig. 6 is a view of the form of the head when the blade is one piece.

A is the shank, made of iron or steel, square, and provided with notches f for securing the shank in the head. The ordinary iron or steel, in bars, is used, being simply cut to proper length and notched. B is the head, (or socket,) made with flange projections suitable for attaching and securing the steel blades 0, and made with an open slot or mortise to fit and receive the shank A. The more common form in which the socket of hay-knives has been made hitherto is to surround that portion of the shank within it on all sides. Ours differs in surrounding the shank on only two sides, leaving the socket flush with the shank on two sides. This makes the thickness of the knife less, so that it passes into the cut made by the blades with The head is secured on the shank A by hammering or beating a portion of the head (it being made of malleable castiron or any other malleable metal) contiguous to the notches f, so that the metal of the head at these points will be swaged and forced into the notches f. This method of fastening the head on the shank is very permanent and secure, and also expeditious and cheap. The

head may also be fastened on the shank A by.

the end of the shank being made pointed and fitted into a recess, r, at lower end of the mortise in the head B, and a rivet or screw through the shank and upper part of the head at g. G and G are the steel blades, made in two sections, exactly coinciding at the ends, to form a forked cutting-edge. One of the blades is permanently attached by rivets, and the other is secured by screws, so that it can be removed when sharpening is necessary or the knife is used for pruning. By removing one blade both of them may be properly ground their entire length without injury to either edge, and thus it is practicable to make the angle of the cutting-edges more acute than in any forked knife with solid blade, and therefore the knife will be easier of operation. The knife can also be made on our plan with the steel blade in one straight piece and set obliquely, as shown in Fig. 6. Dis the lower handle, made so as to slide on the shank A, and projecting at right angle to the cut made by the knife, and adjustable up and down, being secured at any desired point by the gibbed wedge H. E is the upper handle, made to go on the shank, and projecting obliquely to the cut of the knife, either obliquely to the right, as shown in Fig. 4, or obliquely to the left, as shown in Fig. 5. I

By making the upper handle adjustable the knife can be used with equal facility by either right-handed or left-handed men, the upper handle being simply adjusted obliquely, as may be required to suit the operator.

We are aware that hay-knives with a forked cutting-edge are not new, and that handles adjustable vertically have been used; but we are not aware of forked knives being made with blades in sections, in the manner shown and described; nor are we aware ofhay-knives being made with adjustable handles on a square shank, as shown and described.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a hay-knife with a bifurcated cutting-edge, of the malleable cast 3. The handle E, adjustable obliquely, in

socket B and the cutting-blade composed of combination with the shank A, as shown and two sections, 0 0, attached and arranged in the manner described.

2. The malleable cast socket B, formed with the open slot, in combination with the square shank A, when the said shank and open slot are flush on their front and rear surfaces sub stantially as set forth.

described.

GEO. W. PARSONS.

W. s. FINNEY.

Witnesses Onns. J AMESON, C. L. HERMAN.

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