USRE2268E - Improvement in harvesters - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

WILLIAM K. MILLER, OF CANTON, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT I N HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part ofLcttcrs Patent No. 22,885, dated February 8, 1859; Reissue No. 2,268, dated June 5, 1866.

DIVISION D.

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 Cutting Grass or Grain; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, cleaigand eX- act description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to thc accompanying' drawings, making a part of this specilication, in which-- Figure l represents 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 of the frame and the connection of the linger-bar thereto. Fig. 3 represents a vertical section through the frame and linger-bar and portions of their connections.

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

My invention consistsiu a draw-bar hinged to the main frame, in combination with the adjustable hinge-piece and one or more tightening bolts 5 and my invention further consists in a yielding coupling-arm, made of two or more pieces or parts, in combination with a pivot and tightening-bolts for adapting one part to the other part thereof 5 .and Inyinvention further consists in making the hin ge-piece adjustable for the purpose of raising or lowering the platform or the points of the fingers or guards.

'Io 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 eicient 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 mainframe C, and this shaft e thus receives its motion. The

shaft e carries a bevel-gear wheel, E, which takes into and turns a bevel-pinion, t', on a shaft, el, which shaft has its bearings in the hangers f f, which are firmly connected to the main frame, and thus the shaft el receives its motion.

A craiilcwheel, 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 Vmotion to the cutters It.

ln the hangersff are also supported the journals k of a rocking bar, H, to which the two braces I J are firmly attached by their ends 1'2, respective] y, the other ends, 3 4, 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.

lt will be perceived from this 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 I-I on its journals, and that though they thus constitute a rigid frame-work to properly support the linger-bar, yet they have all the free play or motion necessary to allow the finger-bar to rise and fall to all the undulations ofthe ground, or to be raised or lowered and held at any desired height above thc ground or to be raised up and folded over onto the frame (1,011 to be swung underneath the main frame, or even to putt-ing the cutting apparatus on 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, it' found essential, 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 8 S are cutthrough the hinge-plate K for the set-screws 9 9, that hold it firmly to the braces, or the flanges on the ends of the braces to pass through, and thus the hingeplate is made adjustable to thebraces I J 5 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 m, to which is pivoted, by its two corresponding lugs, a 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 0 o may be as Well made by arsingle rod passing through both sets of lugs, and would be more readily removed when it is desirable to detach the shoe L for any purpose.

0 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, p, that is fast to or apart of the main frame, and R is a handle 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, s, on the plate p, upon which the notches of the ratchet .will take and hold at any desirable height. A cord or chain, t, connects the bai1 J to this segmental rack Q, and thus the driver or conductor from his seat can raise up and let down the inger-bar at pleasure, or arrange it at any proper height, and cause it to beheld at such regulated height.

The 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 jarring of the machine will not affect them. v

The hinge-plateK is not affected by any rising or falling motion ot' the finger-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 Fin'. 3, the shoe and finger-bar L M can rise without changing the position ofthe 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 linger-bar can be raised up and folded over onto the main frame for transportation, if it is desirable to do so, and the whole machine may be transposed by swinging the braces, hinge-plate, shoes, and finger-bar and cutters underneath the frame and to its opposite side. rIhen 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 pur pose. 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 harvester has been converted from one which had 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 these positions the cutting apparatus will be on the right-hand side of the driver.

The' machines, if made lefthand,77 as it is 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 removal of some and the substiA `tution ot' other parts, which would be, in effect, making another machine, and not converting it, in its entirety, from a front to a rear cutting machine, and vice versa, by simply turning around or reversing the sa-me parts. In my case I may say that I simply turn over or rcvcrsc the several parts to ei'ect the 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 draw or coupling bar hinged to the main frame, in combination with an adjustable hinge-piece and one or more setting or tightening bolts, substantially as described.

2. A yielding coupling-arm made of two or more pieces or parts, in combination with a pivot and tightening-bolts for adapting one part to the other part thereof, substantially as described.

3. Making the hin ge-piece adjustable for the purpose of raising or lowering the points of the lingers or guards, substantially as described.

W. K. MILLER.

Witnesses:

A. B. SroUGHroN, EDM. F. BROWN.

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