US22032A - Improvement in harvesters - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOSEA W. READ, OF WEST WINDSOR, VERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT lIN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 22,032, dated November 9, 1858.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HOsEA W. READ, of West Windsor, in the county of Windsor and State of Vermont, have invented an Improved Machine for Mowing Grass as well as for Reaping Grain; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which- Y Figure l is a plan or top view, Fig.2 a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section, of said machine Fig. 4, a transverse section of it, such being taken through its drivingwheels and axle. cutters and their operating-slides.

The nature of my invention consists principally in a peculiar mechanism or application of mechanism forthrowing the driving-pinions into or outvof engagement with their drivinggears.

In carrying ont my invention I employ a carriage, A, whose front end is supported by a shaft or axle, B, sustained by two drivingwheels, O D. The journals of the said shaft B extend beyond the carriage A or the boxes a a thereof and into boxes b bofa tilting frame,

y E, formed and arranged with respect to the carriage A, as shown in the drawings. The rear part of the said carriage is sustained by two swiveling wheels,F F, from the upper end of whose forks or holders GG two arms, H H, extend horizontally and parallel to one another and directly over a rack, I, arranged upon the platform K of the carriage. A slot, c, is made through each of the said arms, and receives a stud, d, which projects upward from a rack, I. Furthermore, a pinion, e, carried bya vertical shaft, f, works in the teeth of the rack, such shaft being arranged and having a hand-wheel applied to its upper part, as shown inthe drawings.

The attendant or person who operates the machine is to stand on the platform K and in rear of the horse or animal by which the machine may be impelled forward, such animal beingplaced within the carriage A and in rear of the shaft B, and attached to a whiffletree, h, arranged below the shaft f, as shown in the drawings. When on the said platform K, the attendant, by laying hold of the hand-wheel and turning it horizontally, can easily cause the rear wheels to beswiveled or turned in a hori- Fig. 5 is a top view of thezontal plane into such an angle with the vertical longitudinal plane of the machinhe as circumstances may require, in order to change the direction of movementof the machine over the surface of the ground. He can also press downwardl upon the rear part of the tilting frame E, so as to tilt the same and raise the cutters oft' the ground or above the same to such extent as may be desirable. These cutters or knives, which are shown at i it' ls lo k, are supported by lthe t-ilting frame or a cutter frame or holder, l, attached thereto. The said cutter frame or holder (an -under side view of which is shown in Fig. (5) is furnished with a series of prongs or teeth projecting from it, which are surmounted by angular stationary cutters m m, Sto. Each ofthe movable cutters t' or lc consists of a lever having the opposite edges of its front arm made to operate with two of the cutters m m. Furthermore, each lever-cu tter t' or lc is arranged over and between two of the stationary cutters and turns on a vertical pin or fulcrum, o, and has its rear end or arm jointed to one of two slide-barsp p', or otherwise so connected to the said bar as to be vibrated on its fulcrum owhen the bar has a reciprocating rectilinear motion given to it. i From-the above it will be seen that there are two sets of cutters or cutting mechanism,

each being operated separately from the other.

One ofthe driving-wheels G D, or that marked O, should be capable of rotating freely on the shaft B, the other of said wheels being fixed to the shaft. Thus the two wheels will revolve independently of one another in suchv crank-wheehu, connected with one of the slidebarsp Orp', by a pitman, lv. By such means' each bar por p will have a reciprocating motion imparted to' it when the driving-wheel next adjacent to it is in revolution.

Areel, R, may be arranged over the cutters in the ordinary way and rotated by an endless band, w, Working around two grooved pulleys, my, one of which may be carried by the shaft of the reel, While the other may be fixed on the driving-shaft B.

In order to force the pinions r r out of e11- gagement with the gears q q, a rod, 2, extends across the tilting frame and in front of the driving-wheel. This rod has a screw, a', cut in it near one end of it, and made to screwr into one ofthe bars 1) b of the tilting frame. The other end of the rod extends into the other bar b, and is provided with a shoulder, c', to rest againstthe said bar ora bearer applied thereto. ln the middle ofthe rod is a wheel, d', or contrivauce to enable the rod to be rotated. By revolving the rod on its axis the two bars of the tilting frame may be sprung apart from one another, so as to throw the pinions r r out of gear with their wheels, whereby, when the machine is moved over the surface ot' land, the action of' the cutters may be arrested. By thus having the driving-wheels to rotate independently of each other, and by having two separate sets of cutters, each operated by a separate mechanism, pnt in operation by one ofthe driving-wheels, and the whole being arranged as shown in the drawings, I am enabled to gain important advantages, particularly while it is beingturned about on the ground, in which case, as one dri\'ing\vheel will revolve faster than the other and is not controlled by it, the cutters ofthe former Will operate much faster than those of the other, and thus there will be no clogging of them, and the machine will be made to perform its duty with much better effect While being turned and with less labor for the horse than would be the case had it but one set of cutters, and those were operated by the two driving-wheels so xed on or to the shaft that one could control the motion of the other.

In cutting grass or grain the machine is impelled forward by the horse, which, by being directly behind the cutters, is not subjected to the lateral twist or strain Which results to a horse when the cutter-bar is made 'to project entirely on one side of the line of draft. Practice has demonstrated the great utility andadvantage of my machine. When constructed of a proper working size a horse can readily step over the tilting frame and into or out of his place Within the carriage.

I claim- In its arrangement and combination with the tilting frame and the machinery for operating the cutters applied thereto, as described, a screw-rod or mechanism for spreading the bars ot' the tilting frameasunder, so as to throw the pinions of the cutter mechanism out ot' engagementwith the gears ofthe driving-wheels, substantially in manner and for the purpose as specified.

HOSEA W. READ.

`\VitneSSeS: y

T. V. SHEPARD, D. T. CHASE.

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