US33680A - Improvement in cutting apparatus of reaping and mowing machines - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. MCCORMICK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CYRUS H.

' MOCORMICK.

IMPROVEMENT IN CUTTING APPARATUS 0F REAPING AND MOWING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,680, dated November 5, 1861.

.To all whom it may concern f Beit known that I, WILLIAM S..MoCoa MICK, ot' Chicago, in the county ot' Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cutting Apparatus for Reaping and Mowing Machines, of which the following` is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which makes part ot' this specification, and which represents a view in perspective of a portion of the finger-beam, of the series of ingers, and of the cutter of a mowing-machine embracing my improvements.

The clearance ot tough and tine tibers of grass from the slots of the fingers through which the scalloped cutter vibrates in mowing-machines is exceedingly diflicult, and cutters have been made with variously-formed projections from their upper, under, and rear sides, for the purpose of tearing on" or cutting ofi' such ibrous matter, which, it' allowed to accumulate, would soon clog the cutter. My invention is an improvement upon such contrivances and it consists iu aiixing upon the side of the cutter a series ot' long narrow projections, inclined on one side and vertical on the other, like ratchet-teeth, and parallel to the lineof vibration ot' the cutter, so as to act by their vertical sides as a series ot' raketeeth. These projections correspond in number and distance apart with the fingers, and theyare so arranged with respect to the tin gers and the range of vibration ot'thecutteris such that the inclined side of the projection is never drawn entirely through the slot of the guard finger in .which it works; nor is the vertical side of the projection pushed through the spa-ce between the fingers into the slot ot' the next finger. This is important, because it' the vertical sides ot' the projections were swept across the spaces between the lingers into the slots of the fingers they would carry with them straws and other obstructing matter into the slot, which would not be brought out again Very readily by the inclined side of the projection on the reverse motion, and thus the clearing-projection,tor want ot a proper range of motion, would create the very tendency to clog which it was designed to cure.

The linger-beam A, ingers B, and the cutter,.as shown in the drawing; are ofthe kind commonly used in the McCormick mowers, and therefore need not be here described. The motion of the cutter is exactly equal to the distance from center to center of the fingers, and that is the exact distance between the vertical sides t ofthe projections D on the upper sides of the cutters. The motion of the cutter from the vertical toward the inclined side ofthe projection terminatesgwhen the verticalside of the projection is opposite the vertical corner b of the slot ofthe fingers, and

the motion of the cutter inthe opposite direction terminates when the side t of the projection reaches the corner b of the next finger. Thus arranged the projections are pushed I'orward into the slots of the ugers, with their slant sides foremost, and emerge from the slots with their vertical sides foremost,and as these vertical sides can only carry or detach clogging matter on their forward movement. it follows that they act only to push clogging` matter out of the slots ot' the fingers, and never to carry itin. Theinclined sides ofthe projections have but little capacity for push ing anything' forward, and tend rather to pass under clogging matter and let it slide over to the front ot' the vertical side ot' the projection, by which it isV at once seized and torn away and worked out ot' the slot of the finger.

` What I claim is- 'Ihe cutter having a series ot'- clearing-projections constructed, arranged, and Vibrating as described, in combination with the series of guard-fin gers, arranged as described, whereby the liability ot' the cutting apparatus to clog is diminished, substantially as described.

1n testimony whereof I have hereunto subA scribed my name.

TVM. S. MOCORMICK.

Witnesses:

JAMES T. GRIFFIN, j GEORGE M. EVERTS.

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