THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



343 



answer for English cropping. Messrs. Garrett showed 

 at Chester a reaper with self-acting delivery, consisting 

 of two rakes continuously revolving upon an upright 

 spindle, sweeping a curved platform, and raised by a 

 circular incline during their return to the front of the 

 machine, ready to drop upon the platform at the proper 

 place. Rotary motions being so much smoother than 

 reciprocating ones, we should like to see this delivery 

 thoroughly developed and brought out in combination 

 with the best machine capable of such an attachment. 



And now let us introduce to our readers the new 

 machine with a "self-acting side-delivery in sheaf," 

 which we have just had an opportunity of seeing 

 in successful operation — delivering in sheaf, yet its 

 price £10 less than that of our well-known machines 

 which deliver in swathe / It is the invention of Messrs. 

 Seymour and Morgan, of Brockport, near New York, 

 and is introduced into this country as the " Britannia 

 reaping machine" by Mr. B. Samuelson, of Banbury, 

 who is the sole licensee for its manufacture. The North 

 of England Implement Company, who have their central 

 establishment at Stockton-on-Tees, and a branch depot 

 at Driffield in Yorkshire, have been trying the machine 

 near the latter place, under the superintendence of Mr. 

 F. C. Matthews, the well-known manufacturer of nitro- 

 phosphate and ammonia-phosphate manures ; and we 

 witnessed its performances upon a piece of late oats, and 

 also many acres of its work done upon the farm of one 

 of Lord Middleton's tenantry on the Wold hills, near 

 Malton. The latter work consisted of a piece of late 

 wheat on a thin light stony soil, the straw not more than 

 2| feet long : the cutting was beautifully done, the 

 stubble 3 or 4 inches high (just clearing the pebbles), 

 very evenly shaved, and quite free from littered corn. 

 The bunches were delivered at every five yards, laid 

 3i to 4 feet clear away from the standing crop ; and 

 while lying nearly at right angles to the direstion of the 

 reaping, were only spread out some 3 or 4 feet, so that a 

 man ties up the sheaf without any " gathering" being 

 necessary. The sheaves when tied were very neat, the 

 ears being more together at one end than other sheaves 

 gather and tied after a common scythe. In fact, some 

 mowmen at work in the same field confessed that the 

 machine made far better work in every respect than they 

 did. The oats which we saw cut were certainly very light, 

 but laid a little by the wind ; the cutting was well done, 

 and the bunches were beautifully delivered for binding. 

 What the action of the rake would be able to compass 

 in a very long-sttawed storm-broken crop we cannot 

 say ; but our impression is, that the sole difficulty in 

 such a case would be the great draught of the machine— 

 the light work we saw being just fair pulling for a pair 

 of horses throughout a day. However, we consider the 

 self-delivering rake to be a great success for all ordinary 

 cropping ; and various minor alterations in the me- 

 chanical details, as in driving the cutter-bar, &c., will 

 tend much to diminish the friction and consequent power 

 required. 



The horses precede the mac'aine on one side, 

 drawing either two abreast by a pole, or "tandem" 

 with a pair of shafts, the latter being the form in which we 



saw it. The shafts are attached to a rudimentary pole, 

 the hind end of which can be raised or depressed by 

 the driver, and thus alter the height ol' the cutters 

 above the ground, so as to cut from two-inch to ten- 

 inch stubble. The driver's seat is behind the main tra- 

 velling-wheel, and by simply pressing down or lifting 

 his foot, he can slop or set the rake in action, in order 

 to accumulate corn upon the platform and deliver 

 bunches of any size at i)leasure. There is a reel for 

 bending the crop to the platform, easily adjusted to dif- 

 ferent heights, or set backwarder or forwarder ; and a 

 good dividing point and board for entering the standing 

 corn. The platform is curved, so as to deliver behind 

 the driver, in the track of the horses, and out of the way 

 of the next course. The main travelling-wheel is three 

 feet in diameter, and the off-side wheel two feet diame- 

 ter, thus being able to cross furrows, water grips, or 

 uneven ground without the hindrance so frequently met 

 with. To the main wheel is affixed an annular wheel, of 

 about eighty-five cogs, within which gears a pinion of 

 thirteen cogs ; on the shaft of this pinion is a mitre- 

 wheel of seventy-two cogs, gearing with another of fif- 

 teen cogs on the crank-shaft, which drives the cutter bar, 

 giving about thirty-one revolutions of the crank shaft for 

 one of the main travelling- wheel, A small fly-wheel is 

 also fixed upon the crank-shaft, to give steadiness of 

 motion. The cutters are acute-angled, with scissor-like 

 edges, vibrating through fixed fingers, the extent of the 

 stroke being four inches, that is, from centre to centre 

 of the fingers. The width of the actual " cut" is four 

 feet nine inches, or, measured to the point of 

 the dividing-board, five feet. The extreme breadth 

 of the machine (for going through a gate) is just eight 

 feet ; and the framing is strong and well braced, dif- 

 ferent to the flimsy construction or defective arrange- 

 ment of the woodwork seen in some machines. The 

 self-acting rake, however, is the chief novelty and merit 

 of this reaper ; but the mechanism by which its motions 

 are obtained is difiicult to describe without drawings, 

 though in reality very neat, compact, and free from 

 delicate working-parts. When raking off, the rake 

 (with its long t^eth pointing downward, and with a light 

 " guard" fixed upon it, to better separate the corn in 

 delivery from that whijih is falling upon the platform) 

 sweeps radially over the curved horizontal platform ; 

 the centre, where its supporting pivot turns, being on 

 that side next the driving-wheel work before described. 

 Having delivered the bunch, the rake is then lifted in 

 the air by a partial turning of the horizontal bent stem 

 by which it is supported, and returns to the front of 

 the machine, sweeping over the platform, but raised 2 

 feet 2 inches above it. A twisting or turning of the 

 stem (which is bent like a crank axle) the reverse way 

 then drops the rake again upon the platform, intercept- 

 ing a platformful of the falling corn, and another de- 

 livery commences. At a pace of about 2 miles an hour 

 the sheaves are delivered at the rate of about 12 per 

 minute, or one at every 5 yards ; but, as we said 

 before, the driver can stop the rake by the same 

 easy movement of his foot that an organist opens the 

 "swell" or draws a "couplet" with, and either 



