USRE358E - Improvement in grain and grass harvesters - Google Patents

Description

lUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABNFR WHITELEY, oF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,212, dated February 5, 1856; -Reissue No. 358, dated March 11, 1856.

To all whom t 'may concern;

Be it known that I, ABNER WHITELEY, of Springfield, in the county of Clarke and State of Ohio, have invented 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 same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, forming part of this specification.

In using mowing-machines it has ever been apparent to even the unskilled that one of the greatest difficulties to their successful use has been the liability to injury by bringing the tingers or guards and cutters in contact with obstructions that would injure or ruin them, and to obvia-te this difficulty innumerable methods have been tried. The one which admits of raising and lowering the finger-piece, cutters, &c., to and from the ground at the will of the operator, as set forth and embraced in the patent of Jonathan Haines, in 1849, is one of the most prominent; but this was very defective, as the linger-piece was placed some distance forward of the Wheels which sustained it, and consequently the height of the stubble was determined by the wheels, and not by the fingerpiece resting on the ground. Thus the cutters sometimes cut at the top and sometimes at the bottom of the grass, and sometimes, when the ground is very uneven, run over the top ofthe grass, and at other times would run into the ground. Thus it was ascertained that this was too defective to give anything like satisfaction The mostimportant mod e, and one that has long been in use, even from the earliest application of machines to cutting grass, is one that consists in' changing the angle of the fingers and cutters to the ground, and when it was desired tio cut grass on a meadov that was perfectly smooth and produced fine soft grass the Afinger-piece and frame were so' adjusted as tobring the plane of the fingers and cutters about into the. horizontal plane, and sometimes,when

very close cuttingfwas desired, to give the points struction that came below the point of the fingers, or anything the angle of which does not exceed the angle of the fingers. All of these various changes were made by stopping the team and adjusting the parts and then securing them in a tixed position, there to remain rigid until necessity required another change, which again required the same loss of time. Now, this was far better adapted to mowing than the former, inasmuch as the heel of the finger-piece in this case rested on thel ground, forming a gage for the height of the stubble; but it was soon found that this plan had serious defects, some of which are the following: In many meadows thereis avarietyiu the kinds of land as also in the kinds ot' grass. Some of the finest meadows in the world have strips of moist land in which craw-ish nests abound. Now, when the machine is set to cut the fine grass close to the ground, and it has to pass through the moist strips, cutting through the craw-sh nests ruins the edge, so that it will not cut at all; and if it is set, as described, to run over the craw-tsh nests and other obstructions, as described, it will cut so high that it will leave a large portion of the fine grass on the drier land and will run entirely over lodged grass if it lies close to the ground.

. Now, this improvement is designed to obviate all these difficulties by changing the angle ofthe cut at any time, when desired, While the machine is in motion, and xing it in any desired position without removing the {ingerpiece oi the ground. Now, as this, when once understood, can be accomplished in Avarious ways on diierent machines, I shall not confine myself to any particular machine nor to any nection with attaching the finger-piece carry ing the fingers and cutters tosaid frame, in such manner that the nger-piece and cutters lie on the ground in or nearly in the vertical plane passing through the master-wheel shaft, so that when the end of the frame at said joint is elevated it will move thenger-piece forward and elevate the points of the fingers and cutters without moving the linger-piece off the ground; and when said joint is depressed the linger-piece will move backward and the points of the fingers and cutters will descend close to the ground again, and also provide mea-ns for elevating and depressing the front end of said frame, at the option ofthe driver,while the team is in motion; Now,it will be observed that this elevating of the points of the fingers and cutters causes them to ascend and pass over obstructions with ease, while at the same time the rearof the finger-piece resting on the ground forms a gage for the height of the stubble and adaptsit to the unevenness of the ground, causing it to cut the stubble of a uniform height. This adjustment becomes necessary in mowing meadows where strips of moist land occur wherein craw-tish nests abound, as described; and from the gravel therein it is necessary to avoid as far as possible cutting into them, and when that cannot be avoided, and the top of y the nest must be passed through, the evil may be abated by the inclined position of the n gerpiece, which passes the gravel and clay ot' the l nest quickly off the blades, instead ot' leaving it thereon until ground up and the edges of the blades ruined; and to further secure said blades from injury and render the cutting more easy and certain, I make the tops or caps of the guards wider than the lower portion of the same, and so wide asto prevent any gravel or small stones that may come .into the cut to drop out of the cut without being brought against or supported by the lower part ofthe guard. I can thus cut over with ease and safety not only the above but other obstructions-as clods of earth, stones, 8va-at the will of the driver while the machine is in motion, and also throw the cutters and fingers down and cut good and clean grass closeto the earth. This could not be done if the machine did not admit of an immediate adjustment without stopping the team.

1n the drawings, A is the tongue, passing through an upright slot in F, placed on the front portion, B, of the main frame B B', and

extends back to a point near the line of the master-wheel shaft. The tongue A is pivoted atfin the jaws or hounds H.

E is an upright, rising on the main frame between the front andrear portions of B B, and it is furnished with holding-notches for retaining thelever D. This lever is pivoted i'n F at g. C is the finger-piece, connected in the usual manner with the frame B B', and carries the fingers and cutters in colnmon mode. The lef ver D has a spring, I, secured on its outside,

which operates a staple passing through it and around the upright E, which spring and staple secure the lever D in the notches in E.

Gr is a metal or wooden bar connecting the ear end of the tongue and the lever D together,

and is pivoted in A at c and in D at b. Now, from the manner in which the lever D and tongue A are pivoted and connected, when the lever D is depressed it will depress the front end of the frame B, and with it the points of the fingers and cutters, and the rear, B', will ascend and is held in any desired position by the notches in E, and by elevating the leverD the reverse will be produced.

O is the shoe or divider.

J is the cutter.

K is the cutter-bar, which is made a rasp on the side opposite that on which the cutters are secured.v

4 4 are upper side lingers, and 5 5 are the opposite, and are alternately placed with 4 4, and having their points terminate at the points of the blades.

6 6 is a double cap or top of two guards, and have their edges extending over the edges of the bottoni portions of the same. 7 is a single one, made similar to the double one.

In noticing the changes of position that the shoe, the cutter, and the fingers assume it must be borne in mind that the front end of the tongue is the stationary point.

In the drawings the extreme elevation ofthe point of the shoe is shown, also the position of D at the top of E, together with the position of all the parts, and in red line is shown the greatest depression of the point of C, with the lever D locked down on the frame B B', together with the position of all the parts, and it will be readily understood how the intermediate' changes may be made, as well as the facility given the driver, when seated on L, to quickly raise or depress the rear end of thelever D and effect the desired changes in the position of the finger-piece, cutters, &c.

Having thus described my improvement, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Changing the angle, of the fingers and cutters of reaping and mowing machines while the machine is in' motion and .the inger-piece resting on the ground, as described, and for the purposes set forth.

2. I donot here claim oscillating the fingerpiece about an axis within itself, irrespective of the relations between the main frame and the master-wheel shaft; but I do claim so constructing the machine as described or otherwise, the result being substantially the same, that the driver is enabled, while the teamiis in motion and the boxes of the master-wheel shaft being rigidly connected with the main frame, to change the angle of the lingers and cutters without moving the iinger-piece from the ground.

ABNER WHITELEY. Witnesses:

A. D. GooMBs, THos. V. CLARKE.

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