US390510A - Cutter-bar for reapers and mowers - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. D. NORRIS.

CUTTER BAR FOR REAPERS AND MOWERS.

INVENTOR Patented Oct 2, 1888.

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JOSEPH D. NORRlS, OF LA FORTE, INDIANA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 390,510, dated October 2, 1888.

Application filed March 21, 1898. Serial No. 269.022. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosErH D. NORRIS, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at La Porte, in the county of La Porto and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cutter-Bars for Reapers and Mowers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of cutter-bars in which the knives are in the form of separate cutters and are separately removable for purposes of sharpening and substitution in case of fracture by others.

The objects of my improvement are to cause the rear ends of the cutters to extend beyond the bar to which they are attached and afford an additional bearingsurfacc for the cutterbar upon the finger-bar on which it is reciprocated, to reduce the friction-surface thus produced of the cutter-bar upon the finger-bar, and thereby also render the device self-cleaning in the sense that in its reciprocating movement it operates to scrape the surface of the finger-bar, which supports it, and thereby automatically loosens any dirt or other foreign.

matter that may accumulate, as hereinafter described, and the cutters readily separable when gummcd together or held together by corrosion, and to render the cutters interchange able.

My invention consists in the construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a broken plan view of myimproved cutter-bar; Fig. 2, asimilar View, partly sectional, showing part of the upper strip broken away to display details of construction; Fig. 3, a rear edge view of a broken portion of the device; Fig. 4-, a view like that presented in Fig. 2, showinga different form; Fig. 5, a section taken on the line5 5 of Fig. I, viewed in the direction of the arrow and presenting a detail of construction; and Fig. 6, asection of the cutterbar in place on the finger-bar.

A A are two metal strips rigidly secured together to extend parallel to each other and held apart by means of pins or rivets 1', passed at predetermined intervals through both strips and secured from withdrawal at their opposite ends.

B B are the cutters, of an ordinary form as to their V-shaped cutting edges and straight, lateral, and rear edges, and the rear edges of the cutter are provided with angular slots q, preferably of the L, shape illustrated, and near the lateral edges of the cutters to coincide at their perpendicular portions with the pins 1'. The part of each cutter bounded by the straight edges thereof is wider in the direction toward the rear edge than the transverse section of the strips A and A, in order that the rear edges of the cutters may project beyond or behind the strips to cause the projecting parts to afford a slotted bearing-surface for the cutterbar, as hereinafter stated.

The cutters B are adjusted between the strips by inserting them between the latter in a manner to cause each to engage at the perpendie ular portion of its slots (1' with two adjacent pins, 1', and forcing them laterally when the horizontal portions of the slots have been brought coincident with the pins to cause the latter to enter such horizontal portions.

The cutter B at the inner end of the series of removable cutters is formed, as usual, on the knife-head O, which is rigidly secured to the strip A, as is common.

Each removable cutter B is adjusted in the manner described, whereby that adjacent to the rigid cutter B is caused to abut against the latter, and other adjacentones abut laterally against each other at their straight edges. The last cutter, B, however, or that farthest from the heel or inner end of the cutter-bar at which the power for reciprocating it is at tached, differs somewhat in construction and manner of adjustment from the others. As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and .3, it is notslottedlike the other cutters, but is provided with two rectangular openings,r, Fig. 5, to coincide with similar coincident openingsin the strips Aand A, and when the cutter B is adjusted keys 1) are driven in, whereby the last cutter is wedged laterally, and thereby firmly binds the others between it and the stationary cutter B.

To loosen the cutters, as for permitting the removal of one or more, or their transposition, for a purpose hereinafter described, the keys have first to be dislodged, which in volves an operation attended with some diffistraight edges extend beyond the strips A and A sufficiently far to cause the under sides of the projecting portions to afford a bearingsurface for the cutter-bar,which thus rests and is reciprocated upon the surface afforded by the rear portions of the cutters. The advantage of this construction is fourfold. As the wear upon the friction-surface is greatest toward the end of the cutter-bar opposite that at which the drivingpower is applied, it will wear unevenly---that is to say, more toward the free end than toward the opposite endwhereby, with time and use, the bearingsurfaces of the cutters toward the free end of the device will wear off by the friction, or, at least, wear so thin as to render the cutters useless. \Vhile I do not, by means of my improved construction, obviate this wear resultant from the friction, it enables me to prolong the usefulness of an entire set of cutters by transposing as frequently as may be desirable those most worn into the positions of those least worn,and vice versa. The second advantage referred to is due to the slots in the projecting or bearing portions of the cutters, the edges of which, in the reciprocating movement of the device, operate to scrape the surface upon which. the cutter-bar is supported, and thereby loosen the dirt, gum from the grain, and other matter that tends to accumulate and impede the reciprocating action, which may from time to time, as occasion requires, be brushed oft. The

third and fourth advantages referred to are incidental to the construction to which the sec ond advantage, thus explained, is due. The slots, which are about three-sixteenths of an inch wide, are produced by removing from the bearing surface of a cutter bar having alengt h offour feet about seven linear inches, or nearly one-seventh of the material forming it, thereby materially reducing the friction, and when the cutters are stuck together by corrosion from exposure they may be readily separated, when it is desired to loosen them for purposes of removal, by inserting any piece of wood or metal that may be at hand into a slot, q, and striking it.

The rivets or pins which secure the parallel strips A and A together and hold them apart are, comparatively speaking, close together, and thus render the two strips, practically, a solid bar,suf[icieutly rigid to avoid Warping or springing by the strain to which it is subjected in operating and any consequentefiect upon the smoothness of its movements. The cutter-bar of my improved construction, which I have used in the field, works almost noiselessly.

WhatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a cutterbar, the combination of two parallel strips, A and A, rigidly secured together and having a space between,transverse pins r, at desired distances apart, removable cutters 13, having angular slots q extending into the cutters from the rear to engage the pins, the cutters projecting rearwardly beyond the parallel strips to afford a slotted bearing-surface for the cutter'bar, aperforated cutter, B", having an angular slot, q, and a key, 10, to eX tend through perforations in the parallel strips and the perforation in the cutter B and wedge the cutter in place,substantially as described.

JOSEPH D. NORRIS. In presence of MORTIMER NYE, IRA C. NYE.

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