US27356A - Improvement in corn and cane harvesters - Google Patents

Description

FLINN & HAYES. y Corn and Cane Harvester.

No. 27,356. Patented March 6, 1860.

N. VETERS. Photolittwgraplnr. wamingion 4 i;

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

D.. P. FLINN AND B. S. HAYES, OF LE BOY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN AND C-ANE HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 27,356, dated March lvSGO.

To all whom it may concern:

-Be it known that we, DARWIN P. FLINN and RICHMOND S. HAYES, both of Le Roy, in the county of Genesee and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Corn and Cane Harvester; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan or top view of our invention, Fig. 2, a side sectional view ofthe same, taken in the linex x, Fig. l; Fig. 3, a detached view of the gearing by which the rotary cutters are operated.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several iigures.

This invention relates to a new and improved machine for cutting standing maize or Indian corn and sugar-cane, and gathering the same, as it is cut, into gavels, so that they may be readily bound by an attendant and cast from the machine as the latter moves along.

The invention consists in a novel means ernployed for gathering and presenting the stalks to the cutters, and also in the Ineans employed for conveying the cut stalks to rotary and intermittingly-moving platforms or beds, whereby the desired end is attained.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct our invention, we will proceed to describe it.

A represents a rectangular frame, to each side of which a lever, B, is attached, said levers being fitted loosely on horizontal shafts a, which pass into the sides of the frame A, and have each a pinion, b, on their outer ends. These pinions b b gear into spur-wheels B B', which are attached concentrioally to wheels C C, the axles of said wheels being secured to the levers B B.

To the frame A two uprights, c c, are attached, to the upper ends of which, and to the outer part ofthe frame A, segment-bars cl are secured, on which slides e are litted, the outer `parts of the levers B being attached to said slides. The segment-bars d form guides for the levers B, and it will be seen that by adjusting the levers B the frame A may be raised and lowered to the desired height.

On the front part of the frame A the drivers seat I) is placed, and on the front part of said frame, and at each side of the seat D,there G, is placed and permanently attached.

are two inclined shafts,ff. These shaftsf are rotated as the machine moves along by bevel-gears g g', thelatter gears, g', heilig on vertical shatts h h', whichare placed in the frame A. The-shaftsff at each side of the driver-7s seat D are not quite parallel with each other. Their lower ends are farther apart than their upper ends, as shown clearly in Fig. l. On each shaft f a wire, E, is wound spirally. These wires form spiral conductors, and their convolutions gradually increase in diameter from their lower to their upper ends, the latter nearly touchingeach other. The innermost vert-ical shafts, h--that is to say, those nearest the drivers seat D-have also wires F wound spirally around them. These wires F have their convolutions of equal diameter from the` lower to the upper ends of the shafts, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The shafts h have cylinders placed on them. The cylinders may beof wood, and their peripheries nearly touch the wires F ofthe shafts h.

Directly back of each shaft 7L a curved pltjlwte, he form ot' these plates is shown clearly in Fig. 1. They extend from the bottom to the upper ends of the shafts It, and may be described as forming curbs to the wires F of the shafts h. On the frame A there are also placed two vertical shafts,j lt. The shaftj is allowed to turn in its bearings, and has a series of horizontal curved lingers, l, attached to it. The other shaft, 7c, is fixed, but has curved fingers l attached to it. The form of the lingers ll of the shaftsj lc is shown clearly in Fig. 1. These lingers form feeders between which the gavelsm are formed, as will be hereinafter fully described.

ln the front part of the frame A two rotary] cutters, H H, are placed. These cutters are placed Justin front of the shafts h h', and in line with the spaces between theinclined shafts ff. The cutters are rotated from the shafts a, to which the levers B are attached, by means of gearing a, which is shown clearly in Fig. 3.

On one of the shafts a of the levers B a toothed wheel, o, is ttcd, said wheel having an endless chain, p, passing around it, which chain also passes around a toothed wheel, q, that is placed on a shaft, r, in the frame A. The shaft r has two pinions, s s, placed on it, and these pinions gear into racks t, which are on each side of sliding platforms I I, said plat- .forms being fitted on suitable guides or ways in the frame A, and one platform I being above and the other below the pinions s s, so that when the pinions s rotate the two platforms will move in opposite directions-that is to say, when the pinions s are in gear with The guides n, on which the platforms I I rest and move, are curved at fw, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, so that the platform which is at the front part of the frame A will be above the pinions s s. vWhen the platforms I I are at rest the pinionsss are not in gear with either of thennsuicient space being allowed to permit the pinions to rotate free from the racks t. (See Fig. 2.) Each platform I has a pendant, it', attached toits under surface, and two shafts, b cf, are placed transversely in the frame A, each being provided with an arm, d'. The shafts b c are connected by arms e toa lever, J. K represents the attendants platform, which is placed at the back part of the frameA.

The operation is as follows: As the machine is drawn along the shafts fhlt are rotated from the shafts a by the gearing mand the standing stalks are drawn toward the cutters H by the spiral wires F on the shaftj', each pair of shaitsfpassing over a row of corn or cane. The stalks are cut by the cutters H at the required height'from the earth by adjusting the levers B, and the stalks, as they are cut, pass between the wires F and cylinders t', and are carried around by the wires F,between said wires and the plates G, into the space or inclosnre formed by the lingers Z Z, the butts of the stalks resting on the bed u of the front platform, which bed rotates, and by its rotation keeps the stalks in a compact symmetrical form. When a sufficientnumber of stalks have passed between the fingers to form a gavel the attendant on the platform K actuates the lever J, and the arms d of the shafts b 'c' will move the racks t of the platforms in gear with the pinions s s on shaft r, and the platforms will simultaneously move in opposite directions, the front platform, with the gavel upon it, moving to the back of theframe, and the empty platform moving to the front to receive the stalksito form asucceedinggavel. As each platform reaches the termination of its forward movement on the frame A the teeth of its bed u fall' in gear with the Wheel n and the bed immediately rotates. When the filled platform reaches the back part of the frame the attendant binds the gavel and casts it from the machine, and atthe proper time again actuates the lever in order that the succeeding gavel may be conveyed to the back part of the frame A. In consequence of the sha-ftj being allowed to turn in its bearings, the tingers Z' are allowed to yield or give to compensate for the increasing size of the gavel, and also to allow the gavel to pass out from the space between the fingers Z Z when the platform on which it rests is moved to the back part of the frame A.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Ihe employment or use of the shaftsf, provided with the spiral wires E, and the shafts h h', provided respectively with the spiral wires F and cylinders t', in connection with cutters H, arranged to operate substantially as ,and for the purpose set forth.

2. The stationary and yielding fingers Z Z', in connection with the shaftsflt h', .provided respectively with the spiral wires and cylinders, arranged forjoint operation, as set forth.

3. Ihe movable platforms I I, provided with the rotary beds a, in connection with the lingersZ Z', or an equivalentstalk-holding device, for the purpose specified.

DARWIN P. FLINN.

RICHMOND S. HAYES.

Witnesses: y Y

C. M. SMITH, SAML. J AoKsoN.

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