REAPING AND BINDING MACHINE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 208, 8 February 1875, Page 2

REAPING AND BINDING MACHINE.

The Argus of the 27th nit gives the following notice of an improved reaping and? binding machine - “ Mr Harvey, of Preston, has recently Obtained letters patent for an improved reaping; gathering, and binding machine.. Its greatest merit, and that which will be with the farmers its chief recommendation, isits simplicity. The veriest tyro in engineering may soon learn how to manage it, although' it is no easy task to write a description. The machine is drawn by two horses, and require* two men to work it—one driving, and the other standing on a platform. The motive power is communicated to the machine by means of two driving wheels, the one being connected with a driving-rod which runs along the whole length of the machine, and manages the reaping, and the other is required for the gathering and binding portion. Between these two wheels runs a thick bar for imparting strength. By different sets of running wheels, which can be changed with ease, the wheat can be cut at any height, most farmers preferring to have it cut pretty high up, so as to have good stubble. By two fingers running out through the wheat the corn is cast back on iron planks (prepared for it on the body of the machine) as fast as it is cut, while a flap at the side of the knife, which works in unison with the reaping wheel, prevents any stray corn from falling c£E or getting amongst the cogs. The corn thus thrown on to the p T ace prepared for it is ready for gathering. This process, ‘ together with the binding, is completely under the control of the workman standing on the platform. By means of three shafts, fitted with iron teeth which, work in ‘slots’ let into the iron hand on which the corn falls, it is brought up in sections towards the operator, one shaft bringing it one-third of the way, and then, by an ingenious contrivance of gates or clicks, the ends of the shafts are fastened off from returning the way they came, and must drop to a lower groove, prepared for the return journey. Thus in going back the teeth are kept quite free from the corn, and when ready to come forward again, the gates shut the lower groove, and it must travel the upper. This in

itself is an advantage which the farmer will appreciate. When brought up to the third section of teeth it is slightly raised, and brought under the operator's platform, just high enough to give a form to the sheaf, ready for binding. And herein lies Mr Harvey’s chief improvement. By a simple but decidedly ingenious adaptation of the sewing-machine principle, the sheaf is readily bound. Underneath the feeder is placed a tape, a narrow strip of canvas (or any other suitable material) of whatever length may be required. This is firmly pressed down by a spring bar, so that the sheaf coming up to be bound passes over the small surface of tape presented. At the commencement of the first piece of tape three stitches are made in it. By a simple spring and click the needle is raised out of the way of the coming corn; this then presses against the string, which, held tight by a tension at the top, opposes its entrance into the compressor, falls over into the compartment behind the platform, and thus actually binds itself; for as soon as the sheaf has so far fallen over that the string has passed all round it, the needle is let go, six more stitches are made in the pad, a knife, acting on a strong spring and falling on a ledge of hard wood, is quickly shut down by the operator, the pad is cut at the third stitch, and the sheaf falls clear off into the compressor, while three stitches are left in the pad ready for the next sheaf, which may now be brought up. Thus every sheaf has a band round it, with a small pad under it. The needle is with the greatest ease kept out of the way of the coming corn, and the work is cleanly and quickly done. As soon as the sheaf is in the compressor, the bottom rises, and the top falls, until they meet, while a strong clinch is made to act inside in such a way that the harder it is pressed on the top the tighter the sides of it come in. When the sheaf is bound, it is thrown clean out of the road, so that it is not in the way of the machine on its return. By a simple turn of the lever, the operator detaches the binding from the gathering, so that the two operations do not proceed at once. The bar of the ‘sewing machine’ is also easily moveable, so that the sheaf may be bound at any distance from the head the farmer pleases. Though the operation takes a considerable amount of time to describe, it is in reality a very simple and rapid one. There are a number of cog-wheels which Mr Harvey intends to do away with, substituting for them a baud or bauds. There are also some parts at present made of iron which he intends in future to make of wood, so as very materially to decrease the weight; and this is a very important [consideration when the machine has to be drawn over a large farm. Those farmers and others who have seen it express themselves as perfectly astonished ut its simplicity and utility. Mr Harvey has devoted sixteen months of patient toil and study to his machine, and may be congratulated on the result.