Barnard, Bishop and Barnard - Patent No 1248 - Lawn Mowing And Rolling Machines

A.D. 1863, 19th MAY. N° 1248.

Lawn Mowing and Rolling Machines.

LETTERS PATENT to Charles Barnard, John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard, of the Norfolk Iron Works, Norwich, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN MOWING AND ROLLING MACHINES."

Sealed the 6th November 1863, and dated the 19th May 1863.

PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Barnard, John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 19th May 1863.

We, CHARLES BARNARD, JOHN BISHOP, CHARLES BARNARD, junior, and GODFREY BARNARD, of the Norfolk Iron Works, Norwich, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN MOWING AND ROLLING MACHINES," to be as follows:--

In constructing lawn mowing and rolling machines in which two drums are employed, we make the drums loose and free to revolve in one direction on the drum shaft, and fix two ratchet wheels (or other equivalent contrivance) fast on the shaft; these ratchet wheels are acted on by palls attached to the drums in such manner that when the machine is moved forward, the drum shaft revolves; but when the machine is drawn backward, the drum shaft remains stationary. By this arrangement the levers hitherto used for engaging and disengaging the drum from its shaft are entirely dispensed with. An ordinary ratchet and spring pall may be used, but we prefer to make the palls silent in their action, for which purpose we attach to them a spring embracing the shaft, so that when the machine is moved forward, the pall is brought into contact with the ratchet wheel and retained there, but when the machine is drawn backward, the palls are lifted and kept out of contact with the teeth, until the forward motion is recommenced, when the palls again come into action.

To communicate motion from the drum shaft to the spiral cutters, we employ a friction wheel on the drum shaft acting upon an intermediate friction wheel (having by preference an india-rubber periphery) to which there is attached a similar wheel, but of a different diameter; these wheels are carried on a stud fixed in a radial arm attached to the side frame of the machine, and free to move up and down, and in the direction of its length, in order that it may adjust itself between the wheel on the drum shaft and a small friction pinion on the shaft which carries the cutters. We enclose this gearing in a suitable case to protect it from dirt and injury.

Part of these improvements is also applicable to lawn mowing and rolling machines having only one drum, in which case the drum may be made fast on its shaft, and the intermediate wheels be made to rise out of contact with the drum wheel, when no motion of the cutters will take place.

SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by the said Charles Barnard, John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th November 1863.

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES BARNARD, JOHN BISHOP, CHARLES BARNARD, junior, and GODFREY BARNARD, of the Norfolk Iron Works, Norwich, Engineers, send greeting.

WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Charles Barnard, John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard, Her special licence that we, the said Charles Barnard, John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles Barnard, John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAWN MOWING AND ROLLING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Charles Barnard, John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard, our executors or administrators by an instrument in writing under our, or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Barnard, on behalf of myself, and the said John Bishop, Charles Barnard, junior, and Godfrey Barnard, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-

In constructing lawn mowing machines in which two drums are employed, we make the drums loose and free to revolve on the drum shaft, and fix two ratchet wheels (or other equivalent contrivance) fast on the shaft ; these ratchet wheels are acted on by palls attached to the drums in such manner that when the machine is moved forward the drum shaft revolves, but when the machine is drawn backward the drum shaft remains stationary. By this arrangement the levers hitherto used for engaging or disengaging the drum from its shaft are entirely dispensed with. An ordinary ratchet and spring pall may be used, but we prefer to make the palls silent in their action, for which purpose we attach to them a spring embracing the shaft so that when the machine is moved forward the pall is brought into contact with the ratchet wheel, and retained there; but when the machine is drawn backward the palls are lifted and kept out of contact with the teeth until the forward motion is recommenced, when the palls again come into action.

To communicate motion from the drum shaft to the spiral cutters, we employ a friction wheel on the drum shaft, acting upon an intermediate friction wheel (having by preference an india-rubber periphery) to which there is attached a similar wheel, but of a different diameter; these wheels are carried on a stud fixed in a radial arm attached to the side frame of the machine on the drum side, and free to move up and dawn, and in the direction of its length, in order that it may adjust itself between the wheel on the drum shaft, and a small friction pinion on the shaft which carries the cutters. We enclose this gearing in a suitable case to protect it from dirt or injury.

Part of these improvements is also applicable to lawn mowing and rolling machines having only one drum, in which case the drum may be made fast on its shaft, and the intermediate wheels be made to rise out of contact with the drum wheel, when no motion of the cutters will take place.

And in order that the manner of performing this our Invention may be more fully understood, reference is had to the annexed Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.

Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 a plan view, of so much of the machine as is necessary to show the nature of our improvements therein; Figure 3 is an end elevation, and Figure 4 a section showing the arrangement of the drums and drum shaft, when an ordinary pall and spring are employed; Figure 5 is an end elevation, and Figure 6 a section showing the drum and drum shaft fitted with the silent palls; Figure 7 is a plan (partly in section) showing the wheels j, k, and the radial arm m and stud 1; Figure 8 is a side view of the radial arm m. The same letters are used to denote similar parts in each of these Drawings.

a, a, are the drums which run loose upon the shaft b; c, c, are ratchets fixed on the drum shaft b; d, d, are palls, one of which is centred on each of the drums a, a, and kept in contact with the teeth of the ratchet wheels by springs e, e; the teeth of the ratchet wheels being set in such directions that when the machine is moved forward, the revolution of the drums a, a, by means of the palls and ratchet wheels, gives motion to the revolving cutters. When the machine is drawn backward the palls will slip over the teeth without turning the shaft, the cutters will therefore remain stationary. With the fore- going arrangement of palls, however, a certain amount of "clicking " noise will be made in drawing the machine backward, to prevent this, we employ an arrangement, shown in Figures 5 and 6, which renders the palls and ratchets silent in their action. Each of the palls d, d, is formed with a tail having a projecting stud f which is acted upon by a spring 9, which spring clips the shaft b with sufficient force to create friction enough to move the pall into and out of gear with the ratchet wheel.

The action is as follows:-When the drums turn in the direction of the arrow, that is, during the forward motion of the machine, the stud in the tail of the pall will be pressed against the left-hand side of the spring, which, by the resistance arising from the friction on the shaft, will keep the point of the pall in gear with the teeth of the ratchet wheel, when by drawing the machine backward the drum revolves in an opposite direction, the stud on the tail of the pall is pressed against the right-hand side of the spring, by which means the pall will be lifted and held out of contact with the ratchet wheel, until the motion is reversed.

Motion is given to the revolving cutters by the following arrangement :- Upon the shaft is fixed a friction wheel g1, made (by preference) of cast iron. A similar but smaller wheel h is placed on the shaft i of the revolving cutters. Between these two wheels is placed a friction wheel (which may be advantageously covered with india-rubber) this third wheel is of a diameter rather greater than the distance between the peripheries of the wheels g1 and h.

By this arrangement the revolution of the wheel g1 in the forward motion of the machine will drag down the intermediate wheel, so as partially to jam it between the wheels g1 and h, and thus give motion to the cutters. The greater the resistance of the cutters, the tighter will the intermediate wheel be jammed between the wheels g1 and h, and the driving power correspondingly increased. On the contrary, if the machine be moved backward, the revolution of the wheel g1 will lift the intermediate wheel out of contact with the wheel h, and consequently no motion will be given to the cutters. The foregoing arrangement of a single intermediate wheel, although not shown in the Drawing will be readily understood by what is about to be described.

Instead of a single intermediate wheel two are shown in the Drawing (forming a compound wheel) placed side by side; the one j bearing against g1, the other k bearing against h. The wheels j and k which are united together, being of different diameters, enables a greater speed to be given to the cutters than when a single intermediate wheel is employed. To render the compound intermediate wheel j, k, more steady in its action, it is carried by a stud 1, fixed on an adjustable arm m attached to the side frame of the machine, as shown in Figures 7 and 8.

The friction gearing is enclosed in a suitable case to protect it from dirt and injury.

The machine herein-before described and shown has two drums, but it will be evident that our improvements may be applied to lawn mowing machines in which one drum only is employed.

In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Barnard, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.

CHARLES BARNARD. (L.S.)

Witness, WM. BADDELEY,

Patent Agent,

13, Angell Terrace, 

Islington.

LONDON:

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