US13246A - Improvement in grain and grass harvesters - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABNER WHI-TELEY, OF CLARKE COUNTY, OHIO. I

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN AND GRASS HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 13,246, dated July 10, 1855.

To all whom z'tfmay concern:

Be it known that I, ABNER WHITELEY, of the county of Clarke and State of Ohio, have invented several new and useful Improvements in Grain and Grass Harvesters and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification.

This improvement consists in making the finger-bar a center of oscillation also, in a mode of giving the master-wheel and fingerbar each an independent adjustment to the ground, while the angle of the fingers and cut are preserved; also, in an arrangement by which the driver can raise and lower the edge and alter the angle of the finger-bar at his pleasure while the team is in motion without moving` the finger-bar off the ground.

In the accompanying drawings, Plate II, Figure III is a side elevation; Fig. 1V, a top view.

'A is the master-wheel.

H is the linger-bar, and is secured to the frame C C at the rear ofthe WheelA, the tongue a being secured to the front by means of a single bolt, forming a flexible joint, or two bolts to form a rigid joint.

c c is a frame-lever placed on the top of the frame C C.

t t are boxes for the master-wheel shaft, and secured to said frame-lever, and having T- heads, which pass through slots in plates S S, which are bolted to the frame C C. The circular part of said slots retain the cog-wheel O in gear while raising or lowering said frame C C through that part of its elevation and depression whieh is designed to change the angle which the fingers and critters make to the ground; but when said frame is so elevated as to cause the heads of said boxes to pass into the reverse part of said slots, then said cogwheel will pass out of gear. rllhe linksggare made to hold said frame-lever and frame together by means of iron pins passing through the sides of said frame C C, and the lower end ot' said links and others passing through the sides of said frame-lever c e and the upper end of said links.

e is an iron bar with notches in it, and fastened to the rear of the frame C C and passing up' through theframe-lever c c.

f is an iron lever on the frame-lever e c, which latches into the notches in the iron bar, and is held in said notches by the spring d, and when it is desired to use the machine in this form for cutting grain the other bolt,.as

shown atu, must be passed through the tongue,

links g g and sides of frame C C and frame-lever c c, form flexible joints and permit the frame-lever c c to move backward and forward in the' passage of the T-heads of boxes t t upand down in the slots in plates S S, and'accommodate it t0 elevating and depressing the frame C C, and also permit it to move -back when the heads of boxes t t pass into the reverse part of said slots to throw the machine out of gear, and it will be seen that by using the links g g and plates S S, can make the short end of the frame-lever from the slots to the pins in the upper ends of the links much shorter than they would be to extend from the master-Wheel shaft to the'line of the pinionshaft, making the iiexible'joint, with its center of motion, the same as the center of the pinionshaft, which would, if so made as to support the master-wheel independent of any other connection wit the frame-work of the machine, and permitted to work freely up and down during the operation of the machine, accomplish the same object, so far as, givin g the master-wheel A and linger-bar H each an independent adjustment to the ground, but for raising and lowering the frame C C to oscillate it, having the finger-bar as a center of oscillation, and change the angle of cut when using the machine for mowing. I Since the links g gand plates S S enable me to make thc short end of the lever shorter, it of course makes it the more easily operated, and also enables me to throw the machine out of gear, and it will be seen that the flexible joints connecting the tongue a to thc frame C C and flexible joints connecting the frame C C and framelever c c are all necessary to permit the frame C C to be oscillated to raise and lower the angle of cut when the team is in motion.

To give the master-wheel A. anCbnger-bar H each an independent adjustment to the ground, the master-wheel must be hung in a separate frame and connected to the wheelt'rame by a flexible joint orjoints, and secured in gear by some suitable means. Now, in this case the master-wheel A is hung to the framelever c c, and said frame-lever-is connected to the frame() C by the linksgg with iiexible joints, andthe plates S S secure the wheels in gear while raising and lowering the frame, and also hold the master-wheel shaft parallel to the pinion-shaft, and the links r/ g hold it parallel to the piane ot' the wheel-frame; and it will be seen that by throwing out ot' gear in this manner the cogs are made to part from each other and pass out of gear, while the shafts carrying said wheel remain in their parallel position to each other, and thus the liability of breaking or wearing' oft' the corners of the cogs by moving` one end only of the shaft is avoided. Further, it' it is desired to mow with the tongue stili', it is only necessary again to detach the platform, 85o., and fasten back the iron lever]` with the pin V, when it will be seen that the linger-bar H will immediately descend to the ground, and the master-wheel A and lingerbar will each have an independent adjustment to the ground without affecting the angle of the lingers and cutter.

The various ways in which this machine can be made to perform its work are shown in dotted lines in Plate H, Fig. lll. The curved dotted lines above and below the wheel A show its greatest elevation and depression while passing over uneven ground, and the front end ot' the tongue is the stationary point, and is shown at the lowest point to suit a small team and at the highest point to suit a tall team, (the size of the horses causing the end ofthe tongue to vary in height,) and when both bolts are in the tongue, making it stiff, the ascent and descent ofthe finger-bar on uneven ground are shown in dotted lines, andwhen the bolt at U is withdrawn the elevation and depression of the front end of the frame C C are shown, and the different positions of the frame-lever c c in elevating and depressing the front end ot' the frame C U are also shown in dotted lines.

The operation of this machine is as follows for mowing: The linger-har H being secured to the rear end of the frame C C, and the driver being placed in the rear of the iron 1everf on the frame-lever c c, and with his hand can move the lever to any point he desires while the team is in motion, the shaft ot' the master-wheel A being the fulcrum on which the frame-lever c c works, and the frame O C being fastened to the front end ot' the framelever c c, and when the driver depresses the rear end of the frame-lever c c it willraise the'front end offrame C @,which will raise thefront edge ofthe linger-bar H, which carries the fingers and cutters so as to make them run with ease over any obstruction, and when he raises said frame-lever o cit will throw the edge down again to cut the fine grass close to the ground. Thus he can change the angle of the cut from high to low or throw the machine out of gear while passing over a space of two or three feet, the team beingin motion. Thus,it` itis necessary to raise the edge to pass over lumpy ground, crawlishnests, or gravelly spots ot' ground to avoid injuring the edge ot' the cutter, he can doit and throw the edge down again to cut the line grass without stopping the team, and when the bolt at U is put in through the tongue it will easily be understood that the Whole arrangement will be adapted to reaping,

the other appendages having been attached.

It will also be seen that by fastening back the iron lever j' with the piu V the iinger-bar H will descend to the ground ready to mow. The tongue a now being stiff, the master-wheel A can ascend or descend without affecting the linger-bar H and cutter, the heads of the boxes t t playing up and down in the slots in plates S S to suitl the unevenness of the ground. The linger-bar H can ascend or descend without affecting the master-wheel, the plates S S working up and down on the heads of boxes t t, and thus the master-wheel A 4and tingen bar H each have an independent adjustment to the ground; and thusitwill be seen that in passing over uneven ground the master-wheel A can ascend or descend without affecting the finger-bar H, wheel-frame G @,ortongue. Thus theangle ot' the iingers and cutters is preserved when passing over uneven ground, and the diiiculty of the iingers and cutters running into the ground when the master-wheel drops into a hole, as they will, with the flexible joint connecting the wheel-frame and tongue a, is et't'ectually overcome.

Having thus described my improvements, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. So constructing the machine that when the joint between the tongue and frame is iiexible the latter may, while the team is in motion,

be raised and lowered in a sector ot' a circle whose center is the finger-bar, and thereby enable the operator at once to change the angle of out, and this I claim irrespective of the mechanical device by which the motion is produced.

2. The frame-lever c c, provided with means of tixing its position at will, and linked, as described, to the main frame G G, in combination with the guiding slotted plate S S as a means, when used with the iiexible joint between the tongue and frame, (for mo\ving,) of oscillating the frame about the linger-bar as a center, and thus varying the angle of out, and when used with a rigid joint (for reaping) of raising and depressin g theframe and finger-bar.

3. rlhe combination, with the links gg, ot' the receding curve in the bottom of the slots in plates S S, in which the axis of the drivingwheel plays, or of their equivalents, respectively, for the purpose of enabling the driver to throw the cutter-pinion out of gear, substantially as described.

4. Suspending the main frame C C and its attachments from they driving-shaft, substan tially in the manner set forth and described, 1n testirnonywhereof havehereuntosigned in order that, whether used in reaping or mowname.

ing the drivinO-Wheel and the finger-bar may T be independenly adjustable, and the wheel ABbER WHHELEY may rise over obstructions or descend into de- Witnesses:

pressions without altering the angle of out or CHS. P. WANNALL,

otherwise affecting the Glitters. v Gr. W. CHERRY.

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