USRE388E - Improvement in reaping-machines - Google Patents

Description

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PATENT OFFICE.

JONATHAN READ, OF ALTON, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN REAPING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part' of Letters Patent No. 2,488, dated March 12, 1842; extended seven years; vReissue No. SSSfdated August 19, 1856.

DIVISION B.

To all whom yit may concern Beit known that I, JONATHAN READ, of Alton, iu the county ot' Madison and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Harvesting-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make part ot this specification, and in which-` Figure l represents a plan or top View of a reaping-machine embracing my said improvements. Fig. 2 represents an elevation ot' the left side ot' the same. Fig. 3 represents an elevation of the front side of the same. Fig.4 represents an elevation of the rear side ofthe same. Fig. 5 is a detached view representing the outer or lett end ot' an automatic rake to discharge the cut grain from the platform, together with the mechanism for operating it, also the platform which receives the cut grain and carries it until suflicient has accumulated to form a gavel. Fig. 6 represents a longitudinal section ct' the rake, the platform of slats and spaces, the screen or root' to receive the grain that falls while the platform is being cleared by the rake, and guards or strippers to remove the grain at the proper time from the screen and deposit it on the platt'orm. Fig. 7

' is a detached plan of my improved guard-iingers and sickle. Of the remaining iigures, representing modifications of various parts of my improvements in the reaper, Fig. S is a detached view, in perspective, of a modification of the reel, and Fig. 9 is a transverse section of another modification ot' the same. Fig. 10` is a plan of a modification of the cutting apparatus, and Fig. 11 is a detached View of a clearing-plate used with the same. Fig. 12 is a plan ot' the guard-plate, also used with the cutter and guardfingers shown in Figs. 1U and 11. Fig. 13 is a sectional view of the cutter. seen in Fig. 10, ot' the clearing-plate seen in Fig. 11, and the iron guard-plate seen in Fig. 12, showing the manner in which they are united.

When the left77 and right77 sides ofthe machine or of any parts thereof are mentioned in this specification it is to be understood that it is intended to designate those sides or parts which are respectively on the right and left hand of an observer standing on the middle of the rear side of the machine, looking toward its front side.

My invention consists, among other things, of a certain mechanical rake, hereinafter more particularly described, which, placed under the control of an attendant, is caused to traverse the platform and discharge the'grain in gavels; also, in combining with the platform and reel a root' or screen interposed mechanically at the proper time between the falling grain and the grain lying on the platform, to keep the two separate while the last named is being' discharged, whether it be discharged by hand or bya mechanical rake; also, in combining with the screen a device for discharging the grain gathered thereon upon the'piatform; likewise. in the construction of the platform with a surface of slats, with spaces between them. for the rake-teeth to traverse, whereby the action ot' the rake upon the whole quantity of grain upon the platform is secured.

The frame ot' this machine, which in its general form is quadrilateral, and consists principally ot' the cross-bars A, A', and A2 and the longitudinal bars A3, A4, A5, and AG, is supported and moved, like an ordinary cart, by two wheels, B and C, whose axles are respectively at the ends ofthe main cross-barA,and bythe thills 1), (hinged to the frame near the line ot' the axis ot' the w'heels,) upon which the slightlypreponderating weight ot' the forward part of the machine rests.

The whole ot' the main frame ot the machine is covered with either a tight or a slatted floor, except a space near the front ou the left side for the gavel of cut grain to dropthrough to lthe ground y when discharged from the platform, as hereinafter particularly described,and a space near the rear on the let't side, which is occupied by the main gearing. 11he front portion, E, ot' the ooring 'on the right, which is formed of parallel slats e, ruiming across theA machine parallel to the sickle F, constitutes the platform on which thecut grain is gathered bythe reel and carried until a sufticient quantity t0 form a gavel has accumulated. Ou the front edge of the frame and in front of the plat! -form the cutting apparatus and the dividers G Gr Gr2 are situated,- and immediately above these is placed the reel H.' At the lett rear corner of the platform a station, I, on the iioor,

' or they may cross diagonally.

2 ass for the driver of the horses, is arranged, whose duty it is also to regulate the height of the cut and connect and disconnect the cutter F and the reel H with the driving-gear. Near the station for the driver, and immediately in front thereof, a station, J, is also arranged for the attendant, whose dutyvit is to rake the grain from the platform and to free the reel, dividers, and cutters from any straw or grass that may be entangled therewith, and which, if

y suffered to-accumulate, would clogthe machine and render a stoppage for the purpose of clearing it necessary.

Connected with the inner face of the left supporting-wheel B, which is heavy and strong and gives motion to the mechanism that drives the reel H and sickle F, is a spur-cog wheel, K, gearing into a pinion, la, upon the shaft M. This shaft bears also the bevel-wheel m, which gears into a bevel-pinion, m', on the rear end of the shaft N, which turns in suitable bearings in the frame, and drives the sickle F by means of the crank a and connecting-rod n.

The cutter F is made 'of plate-steel with a scalloped serrated edge, and it acts in connection with a series of guard-fingers, 0, also serrated, and shaped like a spear-head, with protuberant edges, as shown in Fig. 7and hereinafter more fully described; or these lingers and others with straight edges may be used alternately, as shown in Fig. 10. The gearingshaft M also bears a pulley, m2, carrying the band h, which, after crossing and passing over the guide-pulleys h on a standard, h2, extends to and encircles the pulley h3 on the shaft h4 of the reel H to rotate the latter. This reel consists of the said shaft h4, supported in suitable bearings in the standards t and a', and of two disks' or heads, h5, and an intermediate disk, h6, secured upon the shaft. The disks are connected by wires or ribs It", which, in the revolutions of the reel, press the grain back against the cutters and deposit it upon the platform. These ribsmay run straight between the heads, The journal of the gear-shaft M is set somewhat loosely in its bearing at its right end, and is supported at its left end by a standard, m3, pivoted at the bottom, and connected above the shaft by the link m4 to the lever m5, which passes through a s lot in the frame. By moving this lever the driver can at once turn back the standard m3, and thus throw the pinion k out of gear with the wheel K andthe bevel-Wheel m out of gear with the pinion m', thus stopping both the cutter and the reel While the machine is in motion. A wedge, m6, is provided, which, being introduced into the slot before or behind the lever m5, will retain it either in a position to hold the wheels and pinions in or out of gear with each other, as may be desired.

, The mechanical rake is formed with arms l, which perform the double office of handles for the rake-teeth and a screen or roof, the function of which will presently be described. These arms are connected by cross-bars Z and provided with slides Z2, which work in grooves on the inside of the front cross-bars, A and A1".

The rake is driven by bands or cords Z3, (see Figs. 5 and 6,) whicha-re attached at their ends to the right and left ends of two of the arms l and pass around the pulleys lJK on the shaft Z5. This shaft rests in suitable bearings resting on the cross-bars A and A2, and is provided with a winch, Z6, by the handle of which the attendant turns the shaft in one'direction, and, winding the left ends of the bands upon the pulleys, thrusts the rake over the platform E, and by reversing the motion of the handle withdraws the rake aga-in, brings 0E the gavel of grain from the platform, and drops it through the opening in the iioor upon the ground. A cord, L7, attached at one end to the left side bar. A3, of the frame and at the other to one of the cross-bars l of the rake, determines the extent of its motion in either direction. The rake-teeth ZB, instead of bei ng attached to a common head, are each in this instance attached to the right end of one of the arms l. These teeth are so hin ged to the arms that while they will readilybe folded up in passing to the right by any obstruction they meet, as shown in Fig. 6, they cannot4 be pressed to the right or outward beyond a certain acute angle-say eighty degrees. (Shown in the dotted lines, Fig. 6.) Consequentlyl they will readily flex or fold inward to raise their points to pass over the grain during the forward motion of the rake, but unfold and hang down to catch and sweep the grain off the platform during the return of the rake.

In order to permit the rake-teeth to extend below the grain, and thus prevent it from being overrun, the platform Eis constructed, not of an even iioor, but of a number of slats, e, with slots between them, in which the raketeeth work, as already described. The gavel of grain, being thus raked off, is dropped on the ground immediately at the left end of thel platform and inside of and out of the pa th of the driving-wheel, as well as outside of the path in which thehorses travel while the niachine is cutting the next swath. 0n the right side of the platform E is a fence or guard, P, to prevent the grain from falling or being pushed over upon the ground, which guard is provided with slots through which the ends of the arms and the rake-teeth may pass, and

thus get beyond the grain on the platform be-v fore returningto sweep it off. At the center ofthe platform, and also at the left side thereof, similar guard-s or strippers, P P2, are placed,

which, however, descend no lower than the top,

they are armed with wedge-shaped iron caps G G G2, which enter the standing grain, and serve respectively, guard Gr to divide that to be cut from that to be lett standing, guard G2 to guide within the stroke of the cutters the grain to be cut on the lelt side of the swath, and guard G to separate the grain to be cut into two parcels, which are afterward still further subdivided by the lingers 0.

In order that the cutting apparatus may be raised and lowered at pleasure by the driver, who is the sole conductor ot' the machine, to pass over stones or other obstacles, and also that the machine may be adjusted for any height at which itis desired tocut the stubble, the frame is hung or balanced upon the axis ofthe wheels B and C, and a regulating-lever, R, is used toturn it to swing the cutters up and down. This lever is pivoted, as shown in Fig. 2, to the frame by the pin r, upon which vit may be turned, and it has a shoulder', r',

which rests upon the right sideot' the thills D. This shoulder acts as a sliding fulcruir, which, when the handle r2 of the lever is depressed, will slide forwardand raise the cutters, and when the handle is raised will slide back and lowerthecntters. Thehandler2israisedordepressed by the driver, standing on the lioorin his station at I, while at the same time he drives the horses. The handle ot' this lever passes through a slot in a standard, t', at the side ol' the drivers station, where, by means ot' a pin, ft2, and a series of holes in the standard, it is retained in any desired position.

The dilt'erent parts ot' this machine are so arranged, as shown in Fig. l, that a place or stand, J, is provided for the attendant -who rakes and another', I, for the attendant who drives, where their weight is chieliy borne by the wheels, and where the raker has under his immediate control the handle of the rakewinch l and the driver has under his control the handle r2 of the adjusting-leverR and the gearing and ungearing lever m5.

An advantage ot' the scalloped cutter over one with a straight edge is that it is not so quickly or easily dulled, or, rather, that on ac count of the shearcut with which it operatesit cuts more easily, and so keen an edge is not requisite. An amount ot use which would render a straigh t-edged sickle unlit for further service would not seriously impair the efficiency of a scalloped-edge sickle.

The advancing motion ofthe machine tends to cause the sickle to push the grain forward, press it down,and overrideit. This difficulty, however, in the scalloped blade is compensated by the bite upon the grain due to its oblique approach to the lingers, and this compensation is still further increased by making the fingers in the shape of aspear-head, so that their edges retreating or converging toward their shanks may render the angle between the edge of the blade and the edges of the lingers more acute, and adord a shoulder against which the grain is held while being cut, and, as an additional security, these retreating edges are armed with serrations which, inclining backward, eft'ectuallypreventthe grain frdtn slipping forward and escaping from the cutter. This construction ot' the tinger is shown in Figs. 1,7, and 10. The edge ot' the sickle itseltis also serrated, as well as scalloped,

which gives a far better cutting-edge than has heretofore been used. Itis evident thatit' the serratons render the cutting more certain when they advance against the fingers in the direction in which they point or are inclined the sickle would be lesseliectiveon one stroke than on the other it' the serrations all inclined in one direction. This diflicultyis avoided by giving to the sickle a stroke equal to the distance between the centers of the lingers, a nd at the same time serrating it in short sections, the teeth ot' one section leaning in one direction and those of the next section leaning in the opposite direction, those points vi hich reach the centers of the lingers at the extremes of' the strokes being those at which the change of direction in the motion ot' the sickle is made, and l'rom which the serration is reversed. Thus in each stroke all the serrati'ons which act with the tingersinthat stroke will advance with their points foremost toward the edges of the tngers. In the scalloped sickle the points of reversal ot' the serrations will of course be, as represented in the drawings, at the projecting and retreating angles ot' the blade.

The combination, with the spear-head linger, of the scalloped sickle with reversed serrations constitutes, it is believed, the most et'- iicient cut-ting apparatus for a harvester hitherto known.

It has been found in practice that the speed at which a reaping-nmchine can with most et'- ficiency be used andv the cutter operate most successfully is too great for the strength of a raker walking by the machine to keep up with it and rake the gra u from the platform. (Jonsequently the limit thus placed upon the speed is notonly a loss ot' time, but a drawback upon the efficiency ot' the cutting. For these reasons it becomes necessary so to arrange the several parts ofthe rea per that a stand or seat may be provided for the raker, as already described, on which he can ride, and where, at the same time, he may he able, by a rake, to discharge the grain from the platform, and also be ready at once to relieve the reel, cutting apparatus, or dividers of any tangled grain that may becomelfastened upon them.

The fatiguing nature ot' the labor in manipulating a hand-rake and the want of regularity, thoroughness, and neatness with which its duty is often performed have made it an important object to accomplish the discharge ot' the grain in gavels by mechanical means. I have constructed tor-this'purpose a mechanicalrake which, during the tilting ot' the bed or platform, is drawn back to the left; but when a sufficient quantity of grain has been reaped to t'orm a gavel the attendant turns the winch l, and with it the shaft 5 and pulleys t4, which, through the cords i3, draw the rake from the 4 ses lett and thrust the arms l to the right overthe platform, the rake-teeth t8 folding up as they pass over the grain till the ends of the arms pass through the vertical slots in the fence P, when the teeth l unfold again and fall into nearly an upright position, beyond which they cannot pass toward the. right. The rake is then withdrawn by reversing the winch lf". Its teeth seize the grain and draw it from the platform and deposit it in a gavel upon the ground between the left side offthc platform and the track-ot' the driving-wheel, as already set forth. To secure the action of the rake-teeth upon all the grain on the platform, the latter is constructed of a number of slats or provided with a number of slots, along which the teeth pass,

I and, reaching thus below the grain, entirely remove it. While the rake is discharging the grain its arms extend over theplatform, like a roof, to receive the falling grain and keep the same separate from the gavel. The guards P P2 strip olf the arms what grain may have fallen thereon during their passage to and fr0. and leave it upon the platform to make part of the next gavel. The lett guard P2 only would ordinarily be sufficient for this purpose.

In deciding where, with reference to the machine, the gavel or bundle of grain raked from the platform should be deposited upon the ground, two objects are to beheld in viewviz., the greatest reduction of the space over which the grain is` to be raked and the advantage, so far as even and clean work is concerned, of raking the grain from the platform in a straight line at right angles to the stalks, and, secondly, depositing it where it will not beliable to disturbance either from the wheels during the cutting of the same swath or from the horses during the succeeding passage of the machine in cutting the next swath. These two advantages I have succeeded in uniting, at the same time that I relievethe horses in a great measure from the oppressive side draft usually attendant upon reapers and mowers in which the horse is in advance of the machine. This I have accomplished by placing the main driving-wheel outside of the line of draft, the opposite side of the machine being supported by a wheel inside of that line. Thus the resistance of the driving-wheel on the left side ofthe horses balances the resistance of the cutting and of the supporting wheel on the right, making the draft even and parallel to the line of motion of the machine. Between the end of the platform and the gearing, and immediately behind the horses, there is left a clear space, where the gavel can be deposited by the rake, as already fully set forth.

Certain modifications in the construction of the reel and of the cutting apparatus are -described as follows: Instead of one vibrating cutter, I provide one vibrating har, T, Fig. l0, to which a number of small cutters, t, are attached, each Inade'of platesteel and nearly in the shape of a heart, the points being carried foremost. Both sides of these cutters are sharp, with sickle-teeth reversed or inclining backward.

The back of each cutter is fastened to the top of the front cross-bar, A2, by a bolt, t', on which it plays freely. A little forward of the center of each cutter is another bolt, t2, connecting with the vibrating bar T. As the ba-r T vibrates the points of the cutters t are thrown to and fro, cutting the grain against the shoulders o. The distance between the bolts t and t2 is suiicient to allow the points of the cutters to play nearlytwice as far as the vibratory bar T moves. A iiat plate, t3, of thin iron, rests on the cutters, and is permanently attached to the top of the front crossbar, A2. (This plate is better seen in Figs. 12 and 13'.) Above each cutter a semicircular slot, t, Fig. l2, is cut' through the ironV plate.

A small iron stud, t5, is permanently fastened to the topofeach cntterand extends upthrough each slot a short distance above the top of the iron plate. 0n the top of each stud is a clearingplate, tf", Fig. Il, of the same size as the cutter t, Fig. It), but having deep circular notches, Fig. 1L, on each side, curved backward from the point. The back of each clearing-plate is bentdown, so that the back end is held by the same bolt that holds the back ol' each cutter. By this arrangement the clearing-platcs move with the cutters and keep the cutters always clear ofthe falling grain.

The reel, instead of being formed with ribs of wire and heads, asv represented in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, is constructed, as represented in Figs. 8 and 9, with thin slats or ribs of wood. From the periphery of each head u a number of arms, u', extend radial, as in Fig. 8, or tangential, as in Fig. 9, forming an angle of not more than twenty-two degrees with a linel drawn th ron gh the center of each head. These last-mentioned arms incline down and forward on the front side of the reel and up and backward on its rear side. 0n the ends of these arms are placed slats tts, of thin wood or other/ suitable material, extending the whole length ofthe reel, and wide enough to draw in the grain to the cutters and deliver it upon the platform.

Having thus described my improvements as applied to one form of harvesting-machine, and some of the modifications thereof, what I claim isl. The combination, with the platform of a y reaping-machine, of a mechanical rake which traverses said platform at intervals and draws off the grain gathered thereon, substantially as herein set forth. 4

2. The combination, with a mechanical rake,| of the root" or screen herein described, or the equivalent thereof, to intervene and keep the gavel of grain collected on the platform separated, during its discharge by the rake, from the grain just cut and falling toward the platform, thereby avoiding the scattering and entanglement which take place when the grain passing o' and thatfalling upon the platform are not kept separate. l

3. The combination, with the roof or screen of a mechanical rake, of a stripper or guard, P or P2, or its equivalent, to sweep from the screen any grain which may have fallen upon it during the passage ot' the rake to and fro over the platform, substantially as described. 4. Constructing the platform with slats or ribs for the grain to lie on and intermediate l spaces for the teeth of the rake to run in to pass below the grain, and thus avoid all dangerofoverrnnningandimperfectlydischarging it, as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JONATHAN READ.

In presence of-' GEO. S. GARMIGHAEL, WM. G. PINKARD.

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