USRE288E - Improvement in arrangements for controlling harvester-cutters - Google Patents

Description

Unirse. Srafrns PATENT @inneno JOHN H. MANNY, OF ROCKFOBD, lLLlNOlS.

lMPROVENlENT lN ARRANGEMENTS FOR CONTROLLlNG HARVESTER-CUTTERS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 8,385, dated September 23, 1851; Reissue No. 28S, dated January 2, 1855.

Division G.

descend into depressions. rllhis flexibility has proved highly advantageous, `yet it was found that when the cutter inet with anyT unusual resistance, as when it came in collision with a stone or stump, the draft, combining with the weight of the machine, would tend to depress fo all 'whom tt may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. MANNY, of Rockford, iii the county of Winnebago an Sta-te of llliiiois, formerly of Naddams Grove, in the countyof Stephenson and State aforesaid, have invented certain new and .usefu inprovements in. Beaping and Mowing h acliines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification, and in which the figure chine must either stop or break. Hence the flexibility of these machines, although useful, proved very inadequate for the purpose which it was designed to accomplish thereby. rlhis failure of the joint to perform the function for which it was designed 1 discovered, after represents-a view 'in perspective of my machine complete.

lteaping and. mowing machines may be divided into numerous classes, according to certain peculiarities in their construction and mode of operation; but jtor the purpose of giving a clear idea ot' the nature and object o the improvement which is the subject of this patent it will be sufficient to divide them into apparatus,or thereabout,iione ofthe difficulties two classes only,one in which the machines are before enumerated would occur. 1n this case rigid throughout their entire length and the the joint of the machine is constantly Jfierce other in which they have o e or more joints, downward, and the line of draft therefore has which allow them to be flexed. The objection an upward inclination and tends to untlex or to the former class of machines is that they d straighten, and of course to raise the cutter.

grain at or near a uniform height, so that, ency of the machine to keep down by its own' while their cutters,in passing across a depresweightso that in case of the collision of the sion, will often be on a level with the top of machine with a stump, stone, or other obstructhe grass or grain growinfJV therein in cro` tion the draft will raise the cutter, and thus ing a ridge, they will often cutinto the ground greatly facilitate its passage over the saine,

be passed without danger by going around it. thus producing a very great and important ini- The other class of machines, in consequence of provemen in the machine.

being jointed, avoid many of these difliculties; While machines with a free joint properly but still as heretofore constructed they ar a ranged avoid most of the defects of the invery detective, for while they can be flexed adjust their cutters at different distances from proved inferior. The first is in the great tendthe ground, and can in a short time beraised ency 'of the cutter to drop into furrows an injured or broken the same as it the machine thus cover the apparatus with grit andcause was incapable of exure, because when adthe edge of the sickle to become dull and the 'usted it is rigid for the time being, like those hearing-surfaces of the smooth parts to wear of the first division. To prevent this difculty rapidly; and the second is the absence of any some of this class'of machines have been mad .contrivance by which the driver can raise the with a free joint, with a view t enable them cutter to facilitate its passage over stones or 0 to support their cutters, so as to conform at all other protuberanccs which he perceives it is times to the inequalities of the surface, an about to meet. y equally free to rise over protuberances and 1t has been my endeavor to combine the ada ass van tages of both the rigid and the flexible masickled. The sickle is connected at one ex. chines, and at the same tiine avoid their detreinity by means of a rod, c, with the Wrist ot' i'ects. I have attained thisobject very satisa crank, d, which is secured to the front ext'actorily by means o my said improvement, tremityot' a shaft, e. This shaft extends back'- which consists iii hinging the draft-bar by ward toward the axle and carries at its which the machine is drawn to the frame hinderextremityabeveled pinion,whose teeth which supports or carries the cutter on the engage with those of a corresponding beveled line of the front odge of the cutting apparatus, wheel, F, secured to one ofthe running-Wheels or'thereabout, so that the tiexure ot the ina- ,so thatt elatt becomes the driving Wheel chine may subject the cutter to the least pose m e, and 1n iunningover the ground sible disturbance consistent with its following causes the crank sh ft to evolve d i the undulations ofthe ground close enough to a reciprocating m ement to the sickle blade To facilitate the operation of the cutting paratus, a reel, G, is employed to press thegi` or grain toward the cutter and turn it over the bar upon the ground or a platform, as the case maybe. The shaft ot' this reel turns -upon hearings in the frame of the machine. 1t is titted with a belt-pulley, H, Which is encircled by a beltleading trom a correspondingpulley, I, on the axle D, so that as the latter turns with the Wheel E the reel is caused to revolve.

cnt giass or grain at the proper height and in limiting the range of Hexure downward by an adjustable stop, so as to prevent the cutter from running too low on a smooth surface or rise freely to run over obstructions, thus corngrain and is in operation the grain out falls upon a platform, K, behind the cutting apparatus, and is raked oft' at the side of the ma riage, to which the iorses are harnessed, and a person who stands upon the frame which carries the driver. The second is also i.

a tvvo-wheeled earriage, and it supports the cutter and gearing. his cutter-carriage conat which the grain s discha g perfectly free sists cfa p it of parallel er il A A conor the action o erakcr, th y which nected by trai vers bars m and These tomo ion is c uveved to thereel sb t, is ellected bether constitu th rame which supports the rom its l' ec cou e between th riving and rivin -w ddriving-g a From ding pulleys I and H by passing it under ner rail A the ar C, which supports the out guide-pulleys Which are pivoted to the frame ter and g projects right ang es, the machine beneath the front edge of the and its outere emit; is h ld u by th end rm.

The eading carriage, to which the team is harnessed, consists of a pair of wheels, M, an axle, N, a stand, L, for the driver, a tongue, hounds, Cc., to harness the horses to, and a standard for aiding in maintaining the cutter at the proper height: he hinder extremity of the draftbar, which, in this example, is forked, is connected by a horizontal bolt, y, With the finger-bar on the hinder carria e, so that this finger-bar is supported on the outer end of the lever B. This end ofthe lever, with the weight ofthe ar supported thereon, is counterbalanced and held up by the weight of the trame, to which its inner 's attached. As the gear-frame, as Well as the lever, are both rigidl and turn upon the axle as their common fulcrum, it follows that when by the raising of the ront end of the gear-frame the inner end of the nger-bar and cutter is raised, the rear end of the gear-frame and the rear end ofthe lever B will be depressed proportionately and will raise in a corresponding degree the outer end of the nger-bar, so as to maintain it at the saine elevation under all circumstances at the inner end so far as rigidity in the frame can accomplish that object.

T e front bar, C, of t e frame sustains the cutting apparatus. This consists of a series carriage over the frame of the front one and the standino sickle-blade, e re resented in the drawing, an its edges are apparatus is lit-'ted from the ground.

riage is correspondinglyraised and the cutting Itis then prevented from lowering down again by passing the pin 7L through the standard in the hole immediately beneath the bar P. This pin, althoughit prevents the barP, and consequently the front ofthe hinder carriage, from sinking too low, does not prevent it from rising when the finger-bar strikes an unobserved protuberance ou the ground; and hence, while thisarrangement affords a convenient means of regulating the distance of from the ground, it diminishes the risk ofthe breakage from collision with an unnoticed bowlder or other hard protuberance on the'snrface of the ground.

When this machine s used for cutting grain the driver stands upon the platform ot' 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 ot' 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 y stands upon the frame ofthe hinder carriage,

behind tberaking-platform K, where he can readily rake oi 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 the cutting apparatus side ofthe machine nearer the standing grass would be in the Way of the team and Wheels when making asucceedingcut,and would also be injured by being trampled, I secure an adjustable hinged guard-plate, R. to the inner side ofthe oblique leverB. \Vhen the raking platform K is in use this guard-plate is turned up, as represented in Fig.l; but when the platform is removed this guard-plate is depressed, .and then turns, the eut grass t'a-lling at that end ofthe cutting apparatus away from the standing grass, thusvleaving a clear space for the wheels to run on and the team to walk in while making a succeeding cut.

What I claim as my invention, and desireA to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Controlling theexure of the machine hinged so that it will bend in the line of thefrontedge ot' the cutting apparatus, or thereabout, by means of an adjustable stop and arm, or their equivalenuin such manner that the cutter will be kept at theV proper elevation on smooth ground, will be free to rise and'fall to conform to a gently-undulating surface, and will be restrained from descending into I'urrows orother sudden and narrow depressions, While it will be free to rise to any extent required for passing over bowlders, stumps, or other like protuberances in its path, substantially as speci- In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JOHN H. MANNY. Witnesses:

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

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