US669688A - Kafir-corn header. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Mar.l2, I901. R. B. FRANKLIN.

KAFIR BORN HEADER.

(Application filed June 27, 1900.) (N0 Model.) 3 Sheets-6M I.

Patented Mar. l2, IQOI.

R. B. FRANKLIN.

KAFIR CORN HEADER.

(Application filed June 27, 1900.)

3 Sheets-Shem 2.

(No Model.)

[ ml 3 E Q 3 T 1.; Q0 xv \Q X 0 afi l M n. 5i m ,N! g I \B m MTQTQQ No. 669,688. 'Patented Mar. I2, I90l.

I R. B. FRANKLIN.

KAFIR CORN HEADER.

(Application filed June 27, 1900.)

3 Shuts-Sheet 3.

-(No Model.)

rm s "dams Pzrsns 0a.. PHmauyHo WASHINGTON. o. c.

REUEL B. FRANKLIN, OF FORT MADISON, IOWA.

KAFlR-CORN HEADER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 669,688, dated March 12, 1901.

Application filed June 27,1900. Serial No. 21,707. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, REUEL B. FRANKLIN, a

citizen t the United States, residing at Fort a machine to be used for cutting off and gathering the heads of Kafir corn; and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangement, and operation of the various parts thereof, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

One object of this invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive,and effective machine for cutting off, collecting, and transporting the heads of Kafir corn or similar growths in such a manner that the stalks, with the fodder thereon, may be left standing in order that the latter may be gathered at a later time.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the machine that it may be tilted so as to accommodate stalks of different heights that is to say, that the cutter-bar may be tilted to the proper position to cut the stalks just below the heads whatever may be the height of the stalks.

Other objects and advantages will be disclosed in the subjoined statement.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention pertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe it, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan View thereof; and Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view, taken on .line 3 3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Similar letters refer to like parts throughout the different views of the drawings.

A and A represent the collecting boxes or receptacles for the heads after they have been severed from the stalks. These receptacles are preferably rectangular in shape, as

shown, and have their upper ends open and their lower portions provided with inclined floors Ct to cause the heads to slide outwardly therefrom when the doors a, which are hinged to the upper portion of said receptacles, are

opened, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Each of the boxes is provided on its lower portion, about the middle of the side thereof, with a socket a to receive a bolt a located on the outside of each of the doors and which bolts and sockets are employed to fasten the doors in their closed positions. Secured to the upper end of each of the bolts 61. is a wire or cord 0., which has at its upper end a handpiece c movably secured to the upper portion of the boxes and employed for disengaging the bolts from their respective sockets. The boxes or receptacles A and A are pivotally mounted on shafts B, on which are the tractionwheels B, which revolve in suitable depressions or wheel-boxes a, formed in the lower part of the collectingreceptacles. These receptacles are held a slight distance apart in order to stride the row of corn by means of a frame 0, composed of uprights c, which supports the gathering and cutting mechanism. Extending from the inner surface of the upper portion of one of the boxes to the like portion and surface of the other box is an arched roof or covering A on which the heads of corn will fall after being out from the stalk and from which they will pass into the boxes. Secured horizontally to each side ofthe frame O is a cross-piece c, on the front and rear end of which is journaled a sprocket-wheel c and c ,respectively,around which pass sprocket-chains C, each of which is provided with fingers c to engage the heads of the corn and to force the stalks backwardly over the cutter-bar. Vertically journaled on each side of the frame 0 are shafts D and D, which are provided on their lower ends with beveled gears d, which mesh with similar gears 61 on the auxiliary shafts B which are journaled on the front portion of each of the collecting-receptacles. Mount-ed on the upper end of each of the shafts D and D is a sprocketwheel 0 which engages and drives the chains O,ca rrying the fingers. On each of the shafts B is a sprocket-wheel d and on each of the shafts B is a sprocket-Wheel 01 over which and the sprocket wheels (1 pass sprocketchains 01, used for driving the gathering and cutting mechanism. On one of the shafts B is mounted an eccentric E, to which is secured the lower end of a rod E, the other end of which is pivotally secured to one arm of a bell-crank lever F, which is fulcrumed on a suitable support G, secured to the frame 0 and usually at the rear thereof. To the other arm of the bell-crank lever B ispivoted at one of its ends a bar 9, the other end of which is pivotallysecu red to the cutter-bar H, which is horizontally and transversely supported at the rear of the frame 0 by means of crosspieces 6, secured tosaid frame.

The cutter-bar may be of the ordinary or any preferred construction. Journaled on the rear ends of the pieces 0 is a rock-shaft I, the ends of which are bent downwardly and have pivotally secured thereto rods or bars L, the other ends of which are similarly secured to the poles or tongues M, which are pivotally secured at their rear ends to the boxes A and A and may have at their front ends suitable means (not shown) for connecting them to horses which draw the machine. Fulcrumed atits lower end to one of the collecting boxes or receptacles is a lever N, which is pivotally connected, by means of a link 'n, to one end of 'the rock-shaft. The rear portion of the boxes or collectingreceptacles is provided with a support 0 for the seat P,'on which the driver may sit.

From the foregoing and by reference to the drawings it will be seen and readily understood that the machine is so mounted on the shafts B that the Weight of the driver will about counterbalance the weight of the collecting and cutting mechanism. By driving the horses, which may be hitched to the front ends of the boxes or collecting-receptacles by means of singletrees R or otherwise, so that the machine will stride the stalks or corn to be operated on it is evident that the heads thereof will be drawn together and backwardly over the cutter-bar, when the same will be cut off thereby, after which they will fall on the roof or cover A and from there into the boxes, from which they may be emptied when the end of the row' is reached by raising the doors a at the outside of the boxes. By pressing the lever N forwardly the machine will be tilted so that the cutter-bar and fingers 0 will reach just below the heads of the taller stalks, when by retracting the lever the machine may be raised so as to cut the heads of the lower stalks.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of two collectingreceptacles pivotally mounted on traction-wheels, with a piece inclined toward each of the receptacles and uniting their upper inner portions, a gathering mechanism and a cutterbar mounted above the front portion of the said receptacles, suitable gearing and connections between the shafts of the said wheels and the gathering mechanism and cutterbar, whereby the same are operated by the revolution of the traction-wheels, substantially as described.

2. The combination of two collecting-receptacles pivotally mounted apart from each other on traction-wheels,with a piece inclined toward each of the receptacles and uniting their upper inner portions, a cutter-bar horizontally located above the front portion of said receptacles, suitable gearing and connections uniting the cutter-bar and the shafts of the traction-wheels, substantially as described.

3. The combination of two collecting-receptacles pivotally mounted apart from each other on traction-wheels, with a piece inclined toward each of the receptacles and uniting their upper inner portions, a cutterbar horizontally located above the front portion of said receptacles, suitable gearing and connections uniting the cutter-bar and the shafts of the traction-wheels, a lever ful crumed on one of said receptacles and connection between said lever and the poles of the machine for tilting the same, substantially as described.

i. The combination of two collecting-receptacles mounted apart from each other ontraction wheels, with a piece inclined toward each of the receptacles and uniting their inner upper portions, a series of sprocket-wheels journaled above the front portion of said receptacles at each inner side thereof, a sprocketchain carrying a number of fingers and engaging each of the series of sprocket-wheels, and means to drive the said chains by the r0- tation of the traction-wheels, substantially as described.

5. The combination of two collecting-receptacles mounted apart from each other on traction-wheels,with a piece inclined toward each of the receptacles and uniting their inner portions, a series of sprocket-wheels journaled above the front portion of said receptacles at each inner side thereof, a sprocket-chain carrying a number of fingers and engaging each of the series of sprocket-wheels, means to drive the said chains by the rotation of the traction -wheels, and a lever fulcrumed on one of the receptacles and connections uniting said lever and the poles of the machine for tilting the same, substantially as described.

REUEL B. FRANKLIN.

Images