a)id on Miscellaneous Inventions at the Birmingham Show. 273 
•on the principle invented by the Rev. Patrick Bell, in Fife- 
shire, as long ago as the year 182G. Of the engine, it need 
simply be said that it is made with all the improvements 
peculiar to the engines of the Rochester firm ; the bearings of 
the crank-shaft, countershaft, and driving-axle being carried by 
the side-plates of the fire-box casing, extended upwards and back- 
wards for the purpose ; the cylinder placed in a forward posi- 
tion above the boiler, and the steerage worked promptly, easily, 
and securely by the well-known chain-and-barrel motion. The 
crane is worked by a chain passing under the fore-carriage 
boiler and fire-box to a barrel with brake placed under instant 
command of the engine-driver just above the fire-door. The 
engine is of 8-horse nominal power, and weighs 8 tons. Two 
angle-iron bars connect the forward or smoke-box end of the 
engine with the rear of the reaping machine, with a distance of 
i) feet between ; and while the bars are so attached to the 
reaping-machine frame as to be adjustable to different vertical 
angles by means of wedge packing, they are coupled to the 
engine by a bolt passing through their ends and through the 
smoke-box, forming a joint, so that the machine is free to rise and 
fall in travelling over uneven ground independent of the changes 
in the level of the engine ; and by means of the crane the reaping 
machine can be lifted altogether, and carried high enough to 
clear any gate-posts of reasonable height. The reaper, manu- 
factured by Messrs. W. Crosskill & Sons, of Beverley, Yorkshire, 
takes an enormous cut, no less than 12 feet wide, the total 
breadth of the machine being 13 feet 9 inches. The old form 
of finger of the Bell reaper is retained ; that is, not the original 
scissor clips, but fixed fingers at 3-inch intervals with 3-inch 
broad knife sections, with a stroke of the same length. The 
X-piece by which the crank connecting-rod is united with the 
knife-bar reciprocates through three collars or guides, 3 feet 
9 inches apart. The wood main wheels, of 2 feet 9 inches 
diameter, with plain 4-inch-wide tires, are employed only as sup- 
ports, and not to drive the mechanism ; this being accomplished 
by a long pitch-chain from a pinion on the engine crank-shaft 
to a wheel upon the main driving-axis of the reaper. For 
supporting the upper and lower plies of this chain in position, 
both when the reaper is in work and when it is elevated for 
turning round at the ends or for travelling along a road, two 
triction or guide rollers are mounted upon that angle-iron bar 
which is on the same side as the chain. The reel is formed 
with six fans or blades ; and the throat or space at the side of 
the platform through which the swathe has to be delivered 
measures 6. feet up the slope of the platform, with an average 
height of about 3 feet. Though the breadth of cut is 12 feet, 
VOL. XIII.— s. S. T 
