1863-02-12 Alexander Morton - Patent No 381

A.D. 1863, 12th FEBRUARY. No 381.                  Lawn-mowing Machines.

(This Invention received Provisional Protection only.) PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Morton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th February 1863.

I, ALEXANDER MORTON, of Arbroath, in the County of Forfar, Engineer, 5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN-MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-

My Invention relates to improvements in lawn-mowing machines, and con- sists, first, in the arrangement of the driving gear. For this purpose I fix on or cast in a piece with the side frame of machine an internal toothed circle, 10 into which works a small pinion mounted on the crank pin of a crank, mounted on and revolving with the main axle of the machine, which crank pinion is thrown out or into gear by a sliding clutch in the usual way; this crank and pinion again takes into a second pinion mounted loose on the main axle out- side the framing, of a piece with or fixed to this pinion is a large wheel, 15 which takes into an intermediate stud wheel, such stud wheel transmitting the motion to a pinion fixed on the axis of the revolving cutters. By this arrangement of the gearing a high speed is obtained in the cutter with a simple and compact arrangement of the gearing.

The second part of my Invention consists in the use of India-rubber, gutta 20 percha, leather, or any other suitable substance or composition as a material for the formation of the toothed gearing or surfaces communicating the motion, which it transmits without noise. These substances may be put on wheels made of iron or any other material, and may be strengthened in various ways by iron or other suitable material being embedded in the substances, or by

Page 2  A.D. 1863.-N° 381.             Morton's Improvements in Lawn-mowing Machines.

Provisional Specification.

screws or rivets, or by discs pressed upon the material, or. by other fastenings of the material to its supporting centre or core; these substances may be made plain, grooved, or with teeth, or of any form I find most suitable for communicating motion without noise. I prefer to use metal or wood-cogged teeth for the slow motion, and for the high speeds the gutta percha, India- 5 rubber, or other noiseless material, either toothed or to drive by frictional contact alone.

LONDON: Printed by GEORGE EDWARD EYRE and WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. 1863.