258 Report on the Trials of Reaping Machines at Leamington r 
Fig. 3. — Vertical Section of Messrs. R. Hornsby and Sons' Reaping,' 
Machine Finger and Knife. 
point fingers are most liable to break. C and D are the lower and upper 
plates of steel cast in one piece with the finger ; A is a knife-section, and B- 
the knife-bar. The fingers are 3 inches apart, centre to centre ; the knife- 
sections, riveted above the bar, measure the same, and the traverse of the knife- 
bar, or throw of the crank, is 5j inches, and thrust upwards. It is claimed 
that friction and motive-power are saved by jointing the crank connecting-rod 
to the knife-bar, not at the end, but at a point some distance along the bar. 
In this machine the six rake-arms are hung to the revolving horizontal 
rake-wheel by hinges which allow them to rise and fall ; and each arm is sup- 
ported by a rod, connected at its lower end to the arm by a small ball-and-socket 
joint, and hooked at its upper end, higher than the rake-wheel, to a centre,, 
rotating upon the upper end of the fixed delivery-motion axis. This fixed 
axis is bent and cranked so as to support two centres, a few inches apart, above- 
the rake-wheel and leaning over the reaper platform ; and by hooking any rod 
to the lower of the two centres, the rake so lowered will sweep close to the plat- 
form, acting as a delivery-rake ; while, by hooking the rod to the upper centre, 
the rake will sweep at sufficient height over the platform to leave the com 
still collecting, and thus operate as a gatherer. This is, therefore, a remark- 
ably simple adjustable delivery ; but not controllable while the machine is- 
working, as in other of Messrs. Hornsby's reapers. In the trial, two opposite 
arms out of the six were set to deliver, while four were set as gatherers ; each 
sheaf-bunch being thus gathered and brought to the knife by three arms, and 
swept off the curved platform by the third. A very effective dividing-iron is 
attached to the machine, and a shelf-divider on the side of the platform is 
raised or lowered to suit great or light crops. The width of the machine over 
all is 8 feet 1£ inch. 
The machine was worked with ten " spring-clearers " upon the platform — 
spikes or fingers, about 5 inches long, upon joints, so that they will either stand 
upright or fold backward, each being held up in position by a small spiral 
spring which allows the finger to fall back when the sheaf-bunch is being 
swept off the platform, and to jump up again directly the pressure of the com 
has been removed. These clearers placed in a line about lj ft. back from 
the cutter-bar, and at intervals permitting the rake-teeth to pass between, 
are designed to effectually separate the sheaf-bunch from the corn following, 
when the lay of the crop is much over the platform ; but this operation was 
not observed to be of particular advantage during the trial. 
The superb Grantham team (one horse nineteen, the other 
seventeen years old, the same pair which worked the machines 
in 1869, at Manchester, and also in 1875, at Taunton) took the 
machine along at a moderate pace ; the cut was clean, making 
a 3-inch to 4-inch stubble ; and the sheaf-bunches, delivered. 
