USRE391E - Improvement in reaping-machines - Google Patents

Description

MJ. f nfhwwh Aww n fe l 7J I ix 1U Wr H .H f..|.. -f..H |FU w w w m n N .N a w M HL ML TU F HT wim@ i guard-fingers shown in Figs. 1() and- 11.

JONATHAN READ, OF AL'ION, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,483, dated March 12, 18472 extended seven years;

- Reissue No. 391, dated-August 19, 1956,

DIVISION E.

To all whom 'it may concer-n.-

Be it known that I, JONATHAN READ, of Alton, in the county of Madison and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harvesting-Machincs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, and in which-` Figure l represents a plan or top viw of a reaping-machine embracing my said improvements. Fig.2 represents an elevation of the left side of the same. Fig. 3 represents an elevation of the front side ofthe same. Fig. et lepresents au elevation of the rear side of the same. Fig. 5 is a detached view,representing the outer or left end ot an automatic rake to discharge the cut grain from theplatt'orm, together with the mechanism for operatingit, also the platform which receives the cut grain and carries it until sufficient has acculnulated to form agavel. Fig'. 6 represents alongitudinal section of the rake, the platform of slats and spaces, the screen or roof 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 platform. Fig.

7 is a detached plan of my improved guardtngers and sickle. Of the remaining ijgures, represent-ing modifications ot' various parts of my improvements inthe reaper, Fig. 8 i's a de'- tached view, in perspective, ofamodilication of the reel; and Fig. J is a transverse section of another modification of the same Fig. l() is a panof a modification of the cutting' apparatus, and Fig. 1l is a detached View of a clearingplate used with the same. Fig. 12 is a plan of the guard-plate, also used with the cutter and Fig. I3 is a sectional view of the cutter seen in Fig. l0, ot' the clearing-plate seen in Fig. ll, and the iron guard-plate seen in Fig. 12, showing the manner' in which they are united.

When the left and right sides ot' the machine, or of any parts thereof', are mentioned in this speciticatiomit 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 of such a construction ofthe frame and arrangement of the platform, thills or tongue, and driving-wheel that the grain is deposited out of the track of the driving-wheel, and yet immediately at the end ot' the platform, thus, among other advantages, saving the labor and time that would otherwise be required to rake the grain a greater .distance to carry it past the driving-Wheel. v

The fraaie of this machine, which in its general form is quadrilateral, and consists principally of the cross-bars A, A', and A2 and the longitudinal bars A3, A4, A5, and A, is slipported and moved, like an ordinary cart, by two wheels, B and U, whose axles are respectively at the ends ofthe main cross-bar A, and bythe thills D, (hinged to the frame near the lineot' the axis of the wheels,) upon which the sligh tly-preponderating weight of the forward part otI the machine rests. Ihe whole of thc main frame ot' the machine is covered with either a tight or a slatted door, except a space near the front on the left side for the gavel of cnt grain to drop through to the ground when discharged from the platform, as hereinafter particularly described, and a space near the rear on. the left side, which is occupied bythe main gearing.

allel slats c, running across the machine parallel to the sickle F, constitutes the platform on which the cut grain is gathered by the reel and carried until a sufficient quantity to forni a gavel has accumulated.

0n the front edge ofthe frame and in front ofthe platform the cutting apparatus and the dividers G Gr G2 are situated, and immediately above these is placed the reel H. At the left rear corner of the platform a station, I, is arranged on the fioor for the driver ofthe horses, whose duty itis'also to regulate the height ot' the eut, and connect and disconnect the cutter F and the reel H with the driving-gear.

Near the station for the driver. and immediately in iront thereof, a station, J, is also arranged for the attendant whose duty it is to rake the grain from the platform, and to free the reel, dividers, and cutters from any straw The front portion, E, ot' the. iiooring o n the right, which is formed ot' paror grass that may be entangled therewith, and which, if suffered to accumulate, would clog the 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 t0 the lnechanism that drives the reel H and sickle F, is a spur-cog wheel, K, gearing into a pinion, 7c, upon the shaft M. This shaft bears also the bevel-wheel m,'which gears into at'bevel-pinion, m', on the rear end ofthe shaft N, which turns in suitable bearings in the frame, and drives the sickle F by means of the crank n 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, O, also serrated Iand shaped like a spear-head, with protuberant edges, as shown in Fig. 7, and hereinafter more fully described; or these lingers and others with 'straight edges may be used alternately, as shownin Fig. 10. The gearing-shaft M also bears a pulley, m2, carrying the band h, which, after crossing and passing over the guidepulleys h on` a standard, h2, extends to and encircles the pulley h3 on the shaft h4 of the reel H to rotate the latter. the said shaft h4, supported in suitable hearings in the standards a and al, and of two disks or heads, h5, and an intermediate disk, h6, secured upon the shaft. rlhe disks are connected by Wires or ribs hl, which in the revolutions of the reel press the grain back against the cutters and deposititupon the platform. These ribs may run straight between the heads, or they may cross diagonally.

rlhejournal of the gear-shaft M is set somewhat loosely in its hearing at its right end, and is supported at its lett 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 slot in the frame. By moving this lever the driver can at once turn back the standard m3, and thus throw thepinion lr out of gear with the wheel K and the bevel-wheel m out of gear with the pinion m', thus stopping both the cutter and the reel while the machineis in motion. A wedge, m, 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 p inions in or out of gear with each other, as may be desired.

The mechanical rake is formed with arms Z, which perform the dopble oice ot' handles for the rake-teeth and a screen or roof', the funetion or which will presently be described.

These arms are connected by cross-bars lf, and

provided with slides Z2, which work in grooves on the inside ofthe front cross-hars, A and A2. The rake is driven by bands or cords lf, (see Figs. 5 and 6,) which are attached at their ends to the right and left ends of two of the arms Z and pass around the pulleys L4 on the shaft Z5. rIbis shaft rests in suitable bearings resting on the cross-bars A and A2, and is pro- This reelconsists of vided 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 pulley, thrusts the rake over the platform E, and by reversing the motion of the handle withdraws the rake again, brings off the gavcl of grain from the platform, tand drops it through the opening in the iioor upon the ground. A cord, il, 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 thl frake determines the extent of its motion neither direclOll. t

The rake-teeth l8 instead of being attached to a common hea-d, are each in th,r .L instance. attached to the right end of oneV ot`-,.ie arms l. These teeth are so hinged to the arms that while they will readily be folded up in passing to the right by any obstruction they meet, as shown in Fig. 6, they cannot he pressed to the rightor outward beyond aeertain ac- 1teangle say eighty degrees, (shown in the dotted lines, Fig. 6.) Consequently they will readily tiex or fold inward to raise their points over the grain during the forward motion of the rake, but unfold and hang downto catch and sweep the grain ott the platform during the return ot' the rake.

In order to permit the rake-teeth to extend below the grain, and thus prevent it from being overrun, the. platform E is constructed not of an even iioor, but cfa number of slats e, with slots between them, in which the raketeeth work, as already described. The gavel ofu grain, being thus raked o', is dropped on the ground immediately at the left end of the platform, andvinslide ofand out of the path of the driving-wheel, as well as outside of the path in which the horses travel while the tnachine is cutting the next swath.

On 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 before returning to sweep it olf.

At the center of the platform, and also at the left side tl'iereof, similar guards or strippers, P P2, are placed, which, however, descend no lower than the top ot' the cross-hars l that connect the arms of the rake. These guards serve the purpose of clearingotl and deposit ing on the platform any grain which may fall upon the arms, while acting as a screen or roof to intercept the falling grain during the traverse of the rake, as shown in Fig. 6. In front of the rukes these three guards all descend nearly to the cutter, and extend forward ot' it and of the rcel, where they are armed with wedge-shaped iron caps Gr G' G2, which enter the standing grain, and serve respectively, guard G to divide that to be cut from that to be left standing, guard G2 to guide within the stroke of the cutters the grain to he cut on the left side of the swath, and guard G' to separate the grain to be eut into two parcels, which are afterward still further subdivided by the tingers O.

In order that the cutting apparatus may be raised and lowered at pleasure by the driver, who is the sole conductor of the machine, to pass over stones or other obstacles, and also that the machine may be adjusted at any height at which it is desired to cut the stubble, the frame is hungor balanced upon the axes ot' the wheels B `d C, and a. regulating-lever, 1t, is used to tur` to swing the cutters up and down. This a er is pivoted, as shown in Fig. 2, to the frame by the pin i", upon which itmay be turned, a ,l it has a shoulder, r', which rests uponthe rf it side ofthe thills D. This shoulder acts rl sliding tulcrum, which, when thc handle r2 of. the lever is depressed, will slide forward and raise the cutters, and when the handle is raised will slide back and lower the cutters. The handle r2 is raised or depressed .by the driver standing on the tloor in his station at l, while at the same time he'drives the horses. The handle ot'this lever passes through a slot in a standard, fi, at the side ot' the drivers station, where by means ot' a pin, t2, and a series ot' holes in the standard it is retained in any desired position.

The dili'erent parts of this machine are so arranged, as shown in Fig. l, that a place or stand, J, isrprovided for the attendant who Takes, and another, I, for the attendant who drives, where their weight is chiefly borne by.

the wheels, and where the raker has under his immediatecontrol the handle of the ra ke-winch l, and the driver has under llis control the handle r2 ofthe adjusting-lever R 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 drilled, or, rather, that, on accountot' the shear cnt with which it operates, it cuts more easily, and so keen an edge is not requisite. 'An amount otl use which would render a straight-edged sickle untit for further service would not seriously im pair the efficiency ot' ascalloped-edge sickle. The ad vancing motion of the machinertends to canse the sickle to push the grain forward, press it down, and override it. This ditiiculty, 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 iingers in the shape ot' a spear-head, so that their edges, retreating or converging toward their shank, may render the angle betwen the edge of the blade and the edges ofthe lingers more acute, and aftord a shoulder against which the grain is held while heilig cnt; and as an additional security these retreating' edges are armed with serra.- tions, which, inclining backward, cffectnally prevent the grain trom slipping forward and Soaping from the cutter. This construction ot'- the tinger is shown in Figs. l, 7, and l0. The edge of the sickle itselt' is also serra-ted,

as well as scalloped, which gives a far better cutting-edge than has heretoi'ore been used. It is evident that it the serrations render the cutting morecertain when theyad vanreagainst the fingers in the direction in which they point or are inclined, the sickle would be less eifective on one stroke than on the other it the serrations all inclined in one direction. This dit'- ticulty is avoided by gi ving to the sicklea stroke equal to thc distance between the centers of the fingers, and at the same time serrating it .in short sections, the teeth of one section lean .ralions will ofcourse be, as represented in the drawings, at the gies ofthe blade.

The combination, with the spear-head finger,

projecting and retreating anofthe scalloped sickle with reversed serrat'ions constitutes, it is believed, the most elicient cutting apparatus t'or a harvester hitherto known.

It hasbeen t'onnd in practice that the speed at which a reaping-machine can with most et'- liciencybe used and the cutter operate most successfully is too greatfor the strength ot' a raker walking by the machine to keep up with it and rake the grain from the platform. Consequentlythelimit thus placed upon the speed is not only a loss of time, but a drawback npon the efficiency ot' the cutting. For these reasons it becomes necessaryso to arrange the several parts et' the reaper that a stand or seat may be provided for the raker, as already described,on which he can ride, and where at the4 saine time he may be 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 anyr tangled grain that may become fastened upon them.

The fatigning nature nt' the laborin manipulatinga hand-rake, and the want ot regularity, thoroughness, and nealness with which its duty is olten performed, have made it an important object to accomplish the discharge of the grain in gavels by mechanical means. I have constructed for this purpose a mechanical rake, which during the tilling of the bed or platt'ori-n is drawn back to the lel't; but when a sutiicient quantity ot' grain has been reaped to form a gavel the attendant turns the winch4 ZG and with it the shaft l5 and pulleys Z4, which, through the cords Z3, draw the rake vfrom the let't and thrust the arms Z to the right over the platform, the rake-teeth Z8 folding up as they pass oyer the grain till the ends ot' the arms pass through the vertical slots in the fence I), when the teeth l8 unt'old again and V fall 1nto nearly an upright position, beyond which they cannot pass toward the right. The rake is then withdrawn by reversing the winch ZG. Its teeth seize the grain and draw it from the platform, and deposit it in a gavel upon the ground between the left side of the plat-- form and the track of the driving-wheel, as already set forth. l

'To secure the action of the rake-teeth upon all the grain on the platform, the latter is constructed of auumber of slats, or provided with a number of slots along which the teeth pass, and reaching thus below the grain entirely remove it. While the rake is discharging the grain its arms extend over the platform like a roof to receive the falling grain and keep the same separate from the gavel. The guards P I)2 strip off the arms what grain may have fallen thereon during their passage to and fro, and leave it upon the platform to make part of the next gavel. The left guard, P2, only would ordinarily be sufticient lor this purpose.

In deciding where, with reierence to the machine, the gavel or bundle of grain raked from the platform should be deposited upon the ground,two objects are to be held in viewviz the greatest reduction of the space over which the grain is to beraked, and the advantage, so far as even and clean work is concerned, of raking the grain from the platform in a straight line at rightangles to the stalks, and, secondly, depositing it where it will not be liable to disturbance either from the Wheels during the cutting ofthe same swath or vfrom the horses during the succeeding passage of the machine in cutting the next swath. These two advantages l have succeeded in uniting at the same time that I relieve the horses, in a great measure,i'rom 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 ot' draft, the opposite side ot' the machine being supported by a wheel inside ot' thatline. Thus the resistance ofthe driving-wheel on the left side of the horses balances the resistance of the cutting and ot' the supporting-wheel on the right, making the draft even and parallel to the line of mot-ion of the machine.

Between the end of the platl'orm 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. i

Certain modifications in the construction ot' the reel and of the cutting apparatus are .de-y

scribed as follows: Instead of one vibrating cut-ter, I provide one vibrating bar, T, Fig. 10, 1o which a number of small cutters, t, are attached, each made of plate-steel and nearly in the shape of a heart, the'points being carried foremost. Both sides ot' 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 holt, t2, connecting with the vibrating bar T. As the bar T vibrates the points of the cutters t are thrown to and fro, cutting the grain against the shoulders o. The distance between the bolt t and t2 is sufficient to allow the points of the cutters to play nearly twice as far as the vibratory bar T moves. A dat plate, t3, of thin iron rests on the cutters, and is permanently attached to the top ot' the front cross-bar A2. (This plate is better seen in Figs. 12 and 13.) Above each cutter a semicircular slot, t, Fig. 12, is cut through the iron plate. A small iron stud, ti", is permanently fastened to the top of each cutter, andeXtends up through each slot l a short distance above the top of the iron plate.

0n the top ot' each stud is a clearing-plate. t,

Fig. 1l, of the same size as the cutter t, Fig. 10, but having deep circular notches, Fig. 11, on each side, curved backward from the point. The back ot' each clearing-plate is bent down. so that the back end is held by the same bolt that holds the back of each cutter. By this arrangement the clearing-plates'move with theI cutters and keep the cutters always clear of the jfallingr grain.

The reel, instead of being formed with ribs vof wire and heads, as represented in Figs. 1,

2, 3, and 4, is constructed, as represented in Figs. 8 and 9, with thin slats or ribs bt' wood. From the periphery of each head u a number of arms, n', extend radial, as inFig. 8, or tan'- gential, as iu Fig. 9, forming an angle of not more than twenty-two degrees with a line drawn through the center of each head. These last-mentioned arms incline down and forward on the front side ofthe reel and up and backward on its rear side. On the ends of these. arms are placed slats a3, ot' thin wood or other suitable material, extending the whole length of the reel, aml uide 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 harvesiingmachine and some of the modifications thereof, what I claim The arrangement of parts whereby a clear space is obtained and the grain discharged between the platform and the path of the driving-wheel before the latter has passed the discharged grain, as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JONATHAN READ.

Witnesses:

Geo. S. CARMIGHAEL, WM. Gr. PINGKARD.

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