14 
Report on the Agricultural Implements at 
at Leamington. This is a rear-cut machine. The rake is driven by square- 
linked chain-gear, with self-tightening lever, as shown in the accompanying 
sketch (Fig. 8, p. 13). 
The arrangement for raising the platform and altering the angle of the 
knife-bar is very ingenious. Two speeds, according to the nature of the crop, 
can be secured by a reversible pinion. The knife gearing and driver's seat 
are outside the driving-wheel, and thus to a certain extent the weight is 
balanced. The platform hinges up for travelling in a compact form. The 
frame is well braced and very strong. 
Harvesters. — I have next to describe the Harvesters, a class 
of machines which are unknown in this country, and which 
derive additional interest from the fact that they have been used 
as the basis of the automatic binder. Before describing par- 
ticular inventions, I may remark that most of these machines 
agree in their general construction, which is as follows : — A large 
travelling-wheel, and a platform-wheel in a line, supporting a 
frame carrying a revolving cloth which travels at right angles 
to the machine ; an elevator which raises the grain over the 
travelling-wheel and transfers it from the travelling-web to 
the tying-platform. This elevator is variously contrived. In 
M'Cormick's machine the grain passes between revolving 
cloths with cross sections of wood. In other cases it is kept on 
the elevator by means of spring laths ; be this as it may, the 
object is the same, viz., to deliver the grain in a continuous 
stream, and in a direction parallel to the line of advance, on to 
a table, where two or more men stand or sit and make the 
sheaves ; when made, they are either thrown down or placed 
upon a drop platform, which is actuated by leverage from the 
driver's foot, so that the requisite number of sheaves for a 
stook can be dropped together clear of the horses' track. The 
driver's seat is placed in front of the travelling-wheel and 
elevator. The reel, which is in a line with the cutter-bar, is 
capable of being raised or lowered, placed forward or backward, 
according to the nature of the crop. The arrangement of the 
crank and pitman is peculiar. The knife is generally driven 
from the centre by a lever under the platform, as there is no 
room for the gearing in front. This is a clumsy mechanism, 
which, however, is rendered necessary from the complication of 
gearing and the form of the apparatus. It follows as a necessity 
that the cut should be high, so as to allow free play for the con- 
necting-rod under the table. 
I have said that the carrying apparatus usually consists of a travelling- 
band with cross sections of wood. In Adams and French's machine, made by 
the Sandwich Manufacturing Company, the corn is forwarded and elevated 
by vibrating rakes, which have the advantage of greater durability, but the 
motion is likely to cause loss by shedding in ripe grain. In this machine 
the knife-gear is in front. The following illustration (Fig. 9) will convoy 
a better idea of the nature of these machines than any description. 
