USRE287E - Improvement in the arrangement of joints for attaching trucks to harvester-frames - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.Io'HN n. MANNY, on nocKroEn, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT lNTHE ARRANGEMENT OF JOINTS FOR ATTACHING TRUCKS TO HARVESTER-FRAMES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 8,385, dated September 23, 1851; Reissue No. 287,` dated J annary 2, 1855.

DIVISION B.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. MANNY, of Rockford, in the county of'VVinnebago and State of Illinois, formerly of Waddams Grove,

in the county ot' Stephenson and State afore- Reaping and mowing machines may be divided into numerous classes, according to certain peculiarities in their construction and Inode of' operation 5 but for the purpose of giving a clear idea of the nature' and object of the improvement which is the subject ot' this pat ent itwill be sufficient to divide them into two Aclasses only, one in which the machines are rigid throughout their entire length and the other in which they have one or more joints which allow them to be dexed. The objection to the former class ot' machines isthat they do not conform to the undulations ofthe surface ofthe ground suticiently well to cut grass or grain at or near a uniform height, so that, while their cutters in passing across a depression will often be on a level with the top of the grass or grain growing therein, in crossing a ridge they will often cut into theground, and a protruding stone or stump can only be passed without danger by going around it. The other class ot' machines, in consequence of being jointed,avoid many of these ditiiculties, but still as heretofore constructed they are very defective, for while they can he flexed to adjust their cutters at different distances from the` ground, and can in a short time be raised or lowered to pass obstructions, yet in case the cutter should come in collision with an unobserved bowlder or like obstruction it will be injured or broken the same as if the machine were incapable of Ilexure, because when adjusted it is rigid for the time heilig, like those of the first division. To prevent this difticulty,

scend into depressions. This dexibility has proved highly advantageous, yet it was found that when the cutter niet with any unusual resistance, a-s when it came in collision with a stone or stump, the draft, combining withthe weight of the machine, would tend to depress the cutter, and thus keep it in contact with the obstruction, instead of tending to make it rise over and pass the same, so that the machine must either stop orv break. Hence the tlexibility of these machines, although useful,V

provedvery inadequate forthe purpose which it was designed to accomplish thereby. This failure of the joint to perform the function for which it was designed I discovered, alter lnuch thought and many experiments, resulted from its not being placed in the proper position;

and I further found that when it was placed in the line oi' the front edge ofthe cutting apparatus, or thereabout, none of the diiicul- 'ties before enumerated would occur. In this case the joint of the machine'is constantly liexed downward, and the line of draft there fore has an upward inclination and tends to unliex or straighten, andof course toraise the cutter. This tendency to raise the cutter by the ordinary draft is nearly sufficient to neutralize the tendency otl the machine to keep down by its own weight, so that in case of the collision ot' the machine with a stone, stump,

or other obstruction the draft will raise the cutter, and thus greatly facilitate its passage over the samea simple changeintheposition of the hinge thus producing a very great and important improvement in the machine.

The machine represented in thetaccom panying drawing, to which my improvements are applied, consists of two principal parts connected together by a hinged draft-bar. The rstis a two-wheeled truck or leading-carriage, to which the horses are harnessed, and which carries the driver. The second is also a twowheeled carriage, and it supports the cutter and gearing. vThis cutter-carriage consists ot' a pair of parallel side rails, A A', connected by transverse bars m and a. These together constitute the frame which supports the driving-wheel and driving-gear. From the inner rail, A', the bar C, `which supports the cutter and the tingers, projects at right angles, and its outer extremity is held up by the end ofthe lever extending across to the rear end of the a as? gear-frame and resting between its extremities upon an axle, D, on which the supportingwheels E E turn. will be seen that the outer end of the fingerhar is supported on the outer end of the lever B. This end of the lever, with the weight of the bar supported thereon, is counterbalanced and held up-by the weight of the frame, to which its inner end is att-ached. As the gearframe and the lever are both rigid and turn u'pon the axle as their common fnlernm, it follows that when, by the raising of the front end of the gear-frame, the inner` end of the iingerbar and cutter is raised the rear end of the gear-frame and the rear end of the lever B will be depressed proportionately, and will raise in a corresponding degree the outer end ot' the finger-bar, so as to maintain it at the same elevation under all circumstances as the inner end, so far as rigidity in the frame can accomplish that object.

The front bar, C, of the frame sustains the cutting apparatus. This consists of a series of stationary lingers, a a, which project forward, and as the machineis advanced enter the standing grain, and of a reciprocating sickle-blade,

b. The latter is serrated, as represented in the drawing, and its edges are sickled.- The sickle is connected at one extremity by means of a rod, c, with the wrist of a crank, cl,which is secured to the front extremity of the shaft e. This shaft extends-backward toward the axle D, and carries at its hinder extremity a beveled pinion, whose teeth engage with those of a corresponding beveled wheel, F, secured to one of the running-wheels, E,so that the lat-l ter becomes the driving-wheel of the machine, and in ruiming over the ground causes the crank-shaft to revolve and impart a reciprocating movement to the sickle-blade.

To facilitate the operation ofthe cutting apparatus, a reel, G, isv employed to press the grass or grain toward the cutter and turn it over the bar u`pon the ground or a platform, as the case may be. The shaft of this reel turns upon bearings in the frame ot the machine. 1t is 'litted with a belt-pulley, H, which is encircled by a belt leading from a corresponding pulley,

. I, on the axle D, so that as the latter turns with the wheel E the reel is caused to revolve.

When the machine is arranged for cutting grain and is in operation the grain cut falls upon a platform, K, behind the cutting apparatus, and is raked off at the side of the machine bya person who stands upon the frame behind the platform.

In order to leave the side of the platform at which the grain is discharged perfectly free for the action ofthe rake, the beltf, by which motion is conveyed to the reel-shaft, is deflected from its direct course between the driving and leading pulleys I and H by passing it under guide-pulleys, which are pivoted to the frame ofthe machine beneath the front edge of the raking-platform The leading carriage, to which the team is harnessed, consists of a pair of wheels, M, an

From this arrangement it axle, N, a stand, L, for the driver, a tongue, hounds, Sac., to harness the horses to, and a standard for aiding in maintaining the cutter at the proper height. Thev hinder extremity ofthe draft-bar, which iuthis exam ple is forked, is connected by a horizontal bolt, g, with the finger-bar on the hinder carriage, sothat this carriage can tilt or turn upon the axleD of its runuingwheels without affecting the front axle-tree, N, to which tne tongue O is secured. In order to control this tipping of the hinder carriage, and consequently to regulate the distance of its front rail and the cutting apparatus thereto attached from the ground, a strong bar or arm, P, projects from the frame ofthe hinder carriage over the frame of the front one, and moves up and down by the side of a standard, Q, erected upon the front part of the driving-platform on the forward carriage. The bar P may be held against the standard Q by a rectangular staple,vwh'ich embraces the standard. This standard is perforated with a series of holes, t', to which a pin, h, is fitted that'can be shifted from one hole to another. The projecting bar P is lrigidly connected with the front part of the hinder-carriage frame, and hence when it is raised this portion of the carriage is correspondingly raised and the cutting apparatus is lifted from the ground. It is then prevented from lowering down again by passing the pin h through the standard in the hole immediately beneath the bar P. This pin, although it prevents the bar P, and cousequently the front of the hinder carriage, from sinking too low, does not prevent it from rising when the finger-bar strikes any unobserved protnberance on the ground, and hence while this arrangement affords a convenient means of regulating the distance of the cutting apparatus from the ground it diminishes the risk from the breakage from collision with an unnoticed bowlder or other hard protuberance on the surface of the ground.

Then this machine is used for cutting grain the driver stands upon the platform L of the front carriage, where he can drive the horses, observe the height of the grain, the nature of the surface of the ground, the position of obstructions, and can at the same time regulate the height of the cutter by raising or lowering the bar P, and with it the cutting apparatus, as circumstances may require.

The raker stands upon the frame of the hinder carriage, behind the raking platform K, where he can readily rake off the grain falling thereon and discharge it at the side of the machine most distant from the standing grain.

When the machine is used for mowing grass or other substances which do not require to be bound into sheaves the platform is removed and the cut grass falls directly over the fingerbar and cutter upon the surface of the ground behind it and is left in the track or wake of the machine. As the cut grass falling at that side ofthe machine nearer the standing grass would be in the way of the team and wheels when making a succeeding cut, and would also be injured by being trampled7 I secure an adjustable hinged guard-plate, R, to the innerv side of the oblique lever'B. When the rakingplatform K is in use this guard-plate is turned up, as is represented in Fig. l; but when the plat-form is removed this guard-plate is de pressed and then turns the out grass falling at that end of the cutting apparatus away from the standing grass, thusleaving a clear space for the Wheels to run on and the team to walk in while making` a succeeding eut.

Having thus described my improvement in reapingand mowing machines, what I elaim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of a exible joint in the line of the cutter, or thereabout, in such manner that the machinewill bend freely up and down along this line to keep the cutter as nearly as may he at a unitbrm height from the surface of smooth or undulating ground.

1n testimony whereof I have hereunto suhserihed my name. Y

JOHN H. MANNY.

Witnesses:

P. H. WATSON, F. G. DE FONTAINE.

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