1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



449 



ATKINS' AUTOMATON SELF-RAKING 

 REAPER. 



This machine was tested last fall, at Geneva, 

 by the New York State Agricultural Society. We 

 know nothing of it from personal experience, or 

 from any examination of our own; but as we are 

 desirous of keeping our readers informed of the 

 progress of agricultural machinery, we lay before 

 them an engraving of the Reaper, with such re- 

 marks upon it as we find at hand. 



The editor of the Albany Cultivator says, "The 

 self-raking machiue is the invention of J. Atkins, 

 of Chicago, a person of great ingenuity, as this 

 contrivance fully testifies. The rake sweeps the 

 bed where the fallen grain is deposited, presses it 

 against a toothed plate, and both, holding firmly 

 the bundle of grain thus collected, swing round 

 the quarter of a circle off behind, when they open 

 wide, and drop their contents in a neat bunch up- 

 on the ground. All these motions are accom- 

 plished by a very singular piece of mechanism; and 

 they seem so nearly the immediate result of intel- 

 ligence, that this machine was generally called by 

 the name of the Automaton Reaper. Its invention 

 is quite recent, and it had scarcely ever been used 

 before; and hence, owing to an accident, it did not 

 succeed the first day of its trial. It was, however, 

 repaired, a temporary reel attached, and tried 

 again on the 23rd with entire satisfaction, prov- 

 ing decidedly the best self-raker on the ground." 



"New American Reaping Machine. — An Ameri- 

 can millwright, named Atkins, residing at Chica- 

 o-o, has recently invented a very remarkable piece 

 of mechanism for the purpose of making the reap- 

 ing machine, after cutting corn, deliver it in bun- 

 dles ready for the binder. This was the great de- 



sideratum of the machine as first brought over to 

 this country and shown in Hyde Park ; nor have 

 our implement makers, though they introduced 

 some important improvements, succeeded in sup- 

 plying the want thus indicated. Atkins', who, it 

 appears, has been bedridden for ten 5 ears, de- 

 sio-ned an automaton arm, terminating in a rake, 

 which, as the reaper moves along, regularly sweeps 

 the cut corn in sheaves off the board on which it 

 has been deposited, drops each parcel at the side 

 by a rotary movement, and then, extending itself, 

 returns to its work again. Whether the invention 

 will stand the test of experiment in the field [m 

 England] remains of course to be seen ; but some 

 of our most eminent agriculturists regard it with 

 great interest, and appear to entertain very favor- 

 able expectations of its performance. The me- 

 I chanical arrangements by which the automaton 

 action is secured are remarkable both for their 

 novelty and simplicity; and those who wish to see 

 them should go to the Polytechnic Institution, 

 Regent Street, where the new reaper is exhibited 

 by Mr. J. S. Wright, of Chicago, Illinois. This 

 machine, which is built on model, also con 



tains a clever modification of the cutter, which, it 

 is said, entirely overcomes the tendency to clog in 

 damp weather or on unfavorable ground." — Lon- 

 don Times, Feb. I2th, 1853. 



THE MACHINE AS A MOWER. 



Mr. Atkins having planned his machine to reap 

 and rake, has had doubts about its proving to be a 

 o'ood mower, and its construction is not such that 

 m rough land it will operate equally well with one 

 arranged only to mow. Till to-day I have been un- 

 able to try it on gross. Its success was such on 

 the rough prairie, a few miles from the city, that 

 Mr. James TowNSEND, of Pontiac, Michigan, who 

 came here expressly to get a machine that would 

 be sure to mow, and who witnessed the whole trial, 

 bought and paid for one in advance $1G0, with no 

 warranty as to its mowing qualities, saying he 



