14 OFFICIAL KI:TR0SPECTIVE FXlllIll HON 



"TIk-sl" guards are formed of a lop and Ixjltom piece, joined at the 

 point and near tlie base, lyin^;' nearly parallel and about one-eighth inch 

 apart, forming a horizontal mortise or slit through the guards. These 

 mortises, being on a line with each other, form a continued range of 

 openings or slits through the guards. The first guard is placed on the 

 rear of the right wheel, and the last at the e.xtreme end of the platform, 

 and the intermeiliate guards at equal distances from each other, and 

 three inches apart (more or less) from center to center. 



"The cutter, or saw (/), is formed of the triangular plates of steel 

 fastened to a straight flat rod (,4,'-) of steel, iron, or wood, one and one- 

 half inches wide. These steel plates are ranged side by side, forming a 

 kind of saw, with teeth three inches at their base and four and one-half 

 inches long, more or less, sharp on both sicks and terminating nearly in 

 a point. 



"The saw is then passed through all the guards in aforesaid range of 

 mortises, the size of the mortises being suited to receive the saw with 

 the teeth pointing forward, observing always that the points of the saw 

 teeth should correspond with the centers of the guards. One end of the 

 saw is connected with the pitman (//), which pitman is moved by a crank 

 (/' ), receiving its motion from the main axis by one or two sets of cog- 

 wheels. The vibration of the crank must be equal to the distances of 

 the centers of the guards or the points of the saw teeth, or thereabout, 

 so that when the machine is in motion the point of each saw tooth may 

 pass from center to center of the guards on each side of the same tooth 

 at every vibration of the crank." 



In the above we find the woids of a prophet. The length of his 

 "saw teeth" exceeds those mostly used at the present time by about an 

 inch, but otherwise the proportions he recommends have not been mate- 

 rially departed from for two-thirds of a century. A razor without a 

 finished cutting edge is not a finished instrument, and it is equally true 

 that all reapers before the date of Hussey's invention were unfinished 

 instruments. 



Under the United States laws patents might be extended; but Hus- 

 sey failed to acquire an extension of his 1B33 patent only because of 

 failure to apply for the same in time to conform to the requirements. 

 Mr. Hussey was a man of great ingenuity, but lacking somewhat in busi- 

 ness qualifications. He was a Friend, and in him was embodied the 

 unaggressiveness that characterizes the Quaker. His invention brought 

 him honor and wealth. His machines had been on the market more 

 than six years before any competition appeared, and ten years before 

 any was felt. 



No. 2. 



LA MOISSONNEUSE HUSSEY. 



Le 21 Decembrc lH^?, un brevet des Ktats-Unis fut octroye a Obed 

 Hussey qui merite probablement autant d'atteiition que toute invention 

 dans cet art. Son bati d'engrenag'e etait monte sur un essieu entre 

 deux roues principales de support. Tune ou les deux motrices, comrae 

 desire, L'appareil coupeur se prolongeait d'un cote. Sa machine 

 etait done adaptee pour operer de la meme maniere que celle d'Og'le, 

 mais clle avait une plate forme rig-ide sur laquelle le grain pouvait 



