US231422A - Straw-cutter - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

T. HARTLEY.

Straw Cutter.

No. 231,422. Patented Aug. 24, 1880.

lz'yf.

N, PETERS. PHOTO-UTHOGRAPHH, WASHINGTON. n c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TILGHMAN HARTLEY, OF SALEM, INDIANA.

STRAW-CUTTE R.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 231,422, dated August 24, 1880,

Application filed April 17, 1880.

= to the accompanying drawings and letters of reference marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, in which drawings Figure l is a perspective view of the strawcutter from the cutting end of the cutting-box.

Fig. 2 is a broken vertical section of the same.

Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of the rear or inner side of the cutting-blade and its stock and guides. Fig. 4c is a detail plan view of the device for parting the straw being cut. Fig. 5is a detail vertical cross-section of the cuttingbox and the straw-parting device. Fig. 6 is a detail longitudinal section of the cutting-blade and its stock or supporting-sash.

The nature of my invention will fully appear from the subjoined description, when considered with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this description.

The objects of my invention I accomplish by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which A indicates the cutterbox of my improved straw-cutter supported upon cross-ties of a supporting-frame represented in perspective view in Fig. 1. The front posts, A A of the supporting-frame are rabbeted, as at a, to receive the flanges a of the metal blatle'sash B, and said sash or stock is held in working position by cleats c secured in any proper manner to the posts A A and when said cleats are applied, as in Fig. 1, they form, in connection with the rabbets a, a grooveway in which the flanges a work as the bladesash B is operated up and down in the act of cutting straw or other like substance projected from the box A beneath the cutting or knife blade I).

A fulcrum-pin, as at g, is made to project from the knife-sash B, to which the operatinghandle H of the straw-cutter is pivoted and properly secured, as indicated in said figure. One end of this handle is pivoted, as at h, to a rod, h, whose lower end is pivotally secured in the post A so that when the handle H is (No model.)

worked in the act of cutting straw the rod h will oscillate in accord with the movements of the handle, at the same time affording it a proper support and steadiness of action.

The knife-sash B, I construct of a single piece of cast metal having its body portions 1) form an obtuse angle, as at 12 and when the cutting-blade b is secured to the inner side of said sash B,'as shown in the figures, the line of cut of the cutting-edge of the knife I), both at the right and left hand of said obtuse angle D will be at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizontal line or plane of projection of the straw from the box A, and thus cut the straw on such angle.

The cutting of the straw on an angle of forty-five degrees, as stated, not only requires less power of the operator to be applied to the handle H than would be the case were the cut made directly across or at right angles with the straw, while at the same time the oblique limbs of the knife-blade b, on either side of the angle I), possess a capacity for cutting just so much more straw at a single stroke as the united length of said limbs exceed the width of the cutter-box A at the dotted line a: in Fig. 5. To facilitate this oblique cut of the straw on either side of the angleb of theblade b, I provide the cutter-box with a cast-metal plate, 0, the outline of which is shown in plan view, Fig. 4. The forward end portion, 0 c c, of said plate is constructed to exactly register with the cutting-edgeofthe knife-blade b when set in working position, as in Figs. 1 and 2. Its sides, as at 0 are formed to abut against the inside surfaces of the side pieces, 6, of th e cutter-box A, and so be held from lateral play, and thence it tapers down to its extreme rear portion, as at 0 Near its rear end, a, it is perforated for the insertion of a screw, 8, which screws into the bottom piece, 6, of the box A, and by means of which it may be fastened fixedly in the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

The perforation through the plate 0 may conform to the size of the shank of the screw s, and thus hold the plate 0 in only one given position 5 or the perforation may be slightly elongated, as signified at s, and so admit of the longitudinal forward adjustment of the plate 0 as the cutting-face of the knife b wears away.

The upper surface of the plate 0, as shown at 0 Figs. 1 and 5, slopes away from its longitudinal central line, 0 and downwardly toward and to the sides of the cutter-box, so that when the straw is pressed upon the surface 0 by the action of the knife-blade bin the act of cutting the sloping orcurved form of said surface on either side of the longitudinal central line, a, will hold the straw firmly against the upwardly-inclined edge of the knife-blade, and thus effect a shearing cut of the straw.

Figs. 1, 2, and 5 show a metal guide-cap, D, secured to the upper edges of the side pieces, 0 e, of the box A. This cap is of angular form, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, and has its forward end slopingdownward, so as to press the straw toward the plate 0 during the operation of the machine. The extreme forward angular portions; ff, of this cap are formed so as to abut against the inner surface of the portions 1) of the blade-sash B, and thus also serve to steady the action of the sash during its up and down movements.

When it becomes necessary to remove the sash B to grind the blade I), its removal can be effected by simply detaching the handle 11 from its fulcrum-pin g, and then raising the sash B up out of its hearings in the posts A A The peculiar formation of the plateG serves to part the straw to the cutting action of the knife-blade b, and so distribute the mass of straw over the curved surface 0 and beneath the cutting-edge of the blade I) on either side of its angle b thereby producing ease in cutting, while a large amount of straw can be cut at a single stroke of the sash B, during which blade to the sash the latter has a portion of 5 its inner face cut away, as indicated in Fig. 6, so that the blade may be seated therein and the blade secured in position to the sash by screws. The blade and the sash when thus secured, and in the position as indicated in Fig. 3, will then form such an adjustment that the working-face of the blade and the inner surface of the body portions b of the sash will he flush with each other.

1 claim- 1. The combination of the angular cap D, the angular sash B, the angular blade b, and the plate (1, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The metal plate 0, provided with the sloping surface 0 on each side of its longitudinal center, and with its extreme forward end, 0 c 0, formed to register with the interior surface of the sash B and its cutting-blade I), substantially as and for the purpose described.

.TILGIIMAN HARTLEY.

\Vitnesses:

JAMEs B. BERKEY, DEMPSEY V. B. MOTSINGER.

Images