USRE2266E - Improvement in harvesters - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES WILLIAM K. MILLER, OF CANTON, OHIO.

IMPROVEM ENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 22,885, dated February 8, 1859 Reissue No. 2,266, dated June 5, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM K. MILLER,

= of Canton, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harvesting Machines for Outtin g Grass or Grain and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figurelrepresents a perspective view of the machine with the covering removed to show the gearing and parts underneath it. Fig. 2 represents a top view of a portion ofthe frame and the connection of the nger bar thereto. Fig. 3 represents a vertical section through the frame and finger-bar and portions of their connections.

Similar letters of reference where they occur in the several iigures denote like parts of the machine in all the drawings.

My invention consists, rst, in a frame composed, essentially, of a coupling or dragbar and a brace, which are hinged to the main frame at two points, and furnished with lugs by which they may be united to the shoe at two points.

My invention further consists, in connection with a yielding coupling-bar and brace, of an intermediate lu g bolted to said arm, and which extends therefrom, so as to be united to a lug placed at the heel of the shoe.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A pair of supporting and driving wheels, A A, are so connected to an axle, B, by a ratchet and pawl, a b, as to turn with or independent of said axle, as circumstances may require.

The main frame O, which is of quadrangular form, is supported on or by the axle B, so as to be as nearly balanced thereon as will best conduce with the driver or operator in his seat) to an efficient operation of its parts.

On the axle B there is a cog-wheel, D, which takes into a pinion, c, on a shaft, e, suitably supported in bearings on the main frame O, and this shaft c thus receives its motion. rIhe shaft e carries a bevelgear j wheel, E, which takes into and turns a bevelpinion, t', on a shaft, d, which shaft has its bearings in the hangers ff, which are iirmly connected to the main frame, and thus the shaft d receives its motion.

A crank-Wheel, F, is connected to the front end of the shaft d to a wrist-pin, in which one end of the pitman or connecting-rod G is attached, the other end thereof being attached to a stud or projection, g, on the end of the cutter-bar, to give motion to the cutters h.

In the hangers fj' are also supported the journals k of a rockingbar, H, to which the two braces I J are firmly attached by their ends l 2, respectively, the other ends, 34, thereof being also, when properly adjusted, rigidly attached to the hinge-plate K, and where the braces I J cross each other they are also rigidly united, as seen at 5.

It will be perceived from 4this union of the parts just above described that any motion which the hinge -plate K and the braces I J may have is solely through the rocking of the bar H on its journals, and that, though they thus constitute a rigid frame-work to properly support the finger-bar, yet they have all the free play or motion necessary to allow the finger-bar to rise and fall to all the undulatious of the ground, or to be raised or lowered and held at any desired height above the ground, or to be raised up and folded over onto the frame 0, or to be swung underneath the main frame, or even to putting the cutting apparatus 011 the other side of the machine, as some users prefer having it, and as will be hereinafter explained.

The hinge-plate K may be connected to the brace J at the point 7 by a pivot, on which it may turn as a center, or this pivot may pass through a slot in said hinge-plate if found es sential, so that said plate may be raised or lowered thereon at its rear portion as well as its front end; but generally the adjustment at its front will be found ample, and then the rear portion can turn on its pivot 7.

Slots S 8 are cut through the hinge-plate K for the set-screws 9 9, that hold it firmly to the braces, or the ianges on the ends of the braces to pass through, and thus the hingeplate is made adjustable to the braces I J; but when adjusted it is then rigidly attached, so that they can only move together, and not independent of each other.

On the adjustable hinge-plate K are two lugs, m In, to which is pivoted by its two corresponding lugs, n a, the shoe L, and to this shoe the finger-bar M is firmly connected by one of its ends, the other end being similarly connected to the outer shoe or divider,N. The joints made by the separate pivots o o may be as Well made by a single rod passing through both sets of lugs, and would be more readily removed whenl it is desirable to detach the shoe L for any purpose.

O is the tongue to which the team is hitched, and P is the drivers seat. Q is a segmental ratchet pivoted at r to a bar, 1J, that is fast to or a part of the main frame, and R is ahandle or lever attached to the ratchet and extending back to a position convenient for the driver to grasp from his seat. There is a tooth, 3,011 the plate p, upon which the notches of the ratchet will take and hold at any desired height. A cord or chain, t, connects the bar J to this segmental rack Q, and thus the driver or conductor from his seat can raise up and let down the ringer-bar at pleasure, or arrange it at any proper height, and cause itto be held at such regulated height.

rBhe pawls` b b are spring-and-pivot pawls, so that they can be thrown into and out of action and held in either position by said springs, so that the jarrin g of the machine will not effect them.

The hinge-plate K is not affected by any rising or falling motion of the tinger-bar, as it passes over and yields to the undulations or inequalities of the ground over which it is drawn when cutting; for, as seen in Fig. 3, the shoe and nger-barL M can rise Without cha-n ging the position of the said hinge-plate, they simply playing on their hinge-joints, While the hinge-plate is rigidly fastened to the braces I J, and can only move When they move, and the motion which these braces, in turn, have is that only which they receive through the rocking bar H.

The finger-bar can be raised up and folded over onto the main frame for transportation, it'

. itis desirable to do so, and the Whole machine may be transposed by swinging the braces, hinge-plate, shoes, and linger-bar and cutters underneath the frame and to its opposite side. Then detach the hinge-plate from the braces,

with the parts connected to it, and turn them over, and again connect them by the same setscrews, slots, and pivots,- which may all be readily made and arranged'for such a purpose. Shift the tongue to what was before the rear of the frame, and bring the seat back to what was before the front of the machine, and the harvesterhasbeen converted from onevvhichhad its cutting apparatus in the front to one which has its cutting apparatus at the rear of the frame. and this, too, Without any pieces being taken away or added to the machine; and in both of these positions the cutting apparatus will be on the right-hand side of the driver. rIhe machines, if made left-hand,77 as itis termed,may undergo the same changes of position of the cutting portions, but to change from right to left on the same machine would require the ref moval of some and the substitution of other parts, Which Awould be, in effect, making another machine, and not converting it, in its entirety, from a front rear cutting machine, and vice versa, by simply turning around or reversing the same parts. In my case I may say that I simply turn over or reverse the several parts to eiect thc above-described object, and do not add to them or take away anything essential to the change and the operation of the machine in either of its changes from front to rear, or vice versa.

What I claim under this invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A frame composed essentially of a coupling or drag bar and a brace, which are hinged to the main frame at two points and connected in the line of the hinges, and furnished with lugs by Which they may be united to the shoe at two points, substantially as described.

'2. In connection with a yielding couplingarm and brace, an intermediate lug bolted to said arm and projecting therefrom at such point as to make it capable of being united to a lug placed at the heel of the shoe, substantially as described.

W. K. MILLER.

Witnesses:

A. B. SToUGHtroN, EDM. F. BROWN.

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