The Emerson Farm Tractor.
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An Ingenious Power Hoist Attachment.
Having taken up the agency for the Emerson farm tractor for Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset, Messrs. Bentley and Bentley, Ltd., of Hanover Court Yard, Hanover Street, London, W. 1, have recently had one of the latest type, the model E-B.. of 30 h.p R.A.C. rating, in the valley of the river Darent in Kent illustrating its capabilities to, local landowners and farmers.
By invitation, we drove one glorious June day from 51,variley Junction through Farningham on the Maidstone .Road, and then along a narrow rane on the east of the valley, and finally over a farm track which carried us over the spur of a hill, until we came to that which looked like a field of mustard seed with a wheat field above and below it, and a, barley field to one side of it ; but on closer inspection we found that the field, a blaze of yellow, was covered with nothing more important than a crop of charlock in fulebloom, interspersed with an extraordinarily generous supply of healthy, hard-leaved, sharp-spined thistles—altogether a magnificent hunting ground for a team of donkeys ! There were two broad bands of newly--turned soil across the blaze of yellow.
A Foul Piece of Land. • This pieceof ground had beeia left by the farmer to lie fallow afterbeing ploughed some months ago, but it was an exceedingly foul fallow, and would have been absolutely idle for many more months to come. but for the fact that the Emerson was on the snot, and
had already ploughed up two fields and. was looking for other land to conquer. The original ploughing of this .field, which was ten aeres in extent, had not apparently been well set out At any rate, the pegging out for the Emerson lay across the line of original furrows at a slight angle, 'and this proved a considerable disadvantage. If this had been foreseen the old furrows would have been followed more closely, or cross-Ploughing deliberately adopted by those in charge, because there was always a tendency for the plough to be deflected from its course by the diagonal setting of the original furrows.
Deep and Heavy Ploughing.
The ground was very flinty ,and not by any means in good heart. The,three-furrow plough was not able to make a very good job, but the tractor was standing up to the difficulties of the work extremely well, and whenever a stop was called, during the day's test which we witnessed, it was only because of ,a need for clearing the weeds froth the ploughshares. In oilier to bury the weeds, the land was being ploughed to a depth of S ins., with a 10-in. 'bottom. The tractor was pulling throughout the job on its intermediate gear, which gives a speed of about 2.66 miles per hour, but, as a matter 31 het, it Was travelling a shade faster than this. In the pull up from the lowest part of the ground at the southern end of the field the first speed was employed.
Never throughout the day did the note of the engine, . alter in the slightest degree. The cooling was efficient throughout, as the hand could be borne on any part of the engine jachet. The draught through the radiator caused by the fan was extremely powerful.
The engine is a four-cylinder in two blocs vertically disposed, with a 4k-in. bore and 5-in, stroke, the crankshaft being carried in three bearings. The normal engine speed is about 850 revolutions per minute, at which 12 h.p. is given at the draw bar, which means a draw bar pull of about 1700 lb., the total weight of the tractor being about 27 cwt. The steering is of the Ackermann type, and the machine turned on the " headlands in about a 15-ft. radius.
The front axle takes the form of a trussed girder, Divotted on its centre and riding between horn plates on the frame, and as the front axle is considerably wider than the rear axle, the off-side front wheel would run in the last furrow, but the tilting of the axle did not affect the tractor, which was able to retain its vertical attitude. The drive is taken through a gearbox fully enclosed, all the gears running in oil, the driving pinions engaging with master wheels riveted to the driving brackets on the inner rim of the wheels.
Steering is controlled through a raked steering column and motorcar steering wheel, the Feroda-lined clutch being disengaged by means of the right-hand pedal, which, on its fullest depression, applies a brake, whilst the usual engine control levers are fitted. The driving wheels are of more than usual strength, the spokes all being held in tension with nuts and locking nuts on the flanges of the hub, the heads of the s.p ok es being riveted o v e r. Should a spoke break, which woukl be a most unusual circumstance, it would he quite easy to remove and replace it. A pulley is attached to the cross-shaft of the transmission case for operating various belt-driven machines.
The Power Hoist Attachment.
Another very interesting feature of the Emerson \is the power plough lift. This is a feateare exclusive to the Emerson. Asdeep groove is turned on the forward face of the flywheel, and carried above it, in a housing, is a clutch pinion on thet end of a shaft, which extends rearwards to an enclosed worm gear at the rear of the chassis. On the worm wheel shaft butside the worm gear casing is a crank, to the collar on • which is attached a chain. The chain passes over the end of a derrick, which extends outward from the rear of the chassis. By depressing a pedal the tapered clutch pinion can be brought into engagement with the groove on the flywheel already mentioned, and power is. transmitted through the shaft to the worm gear ; the worm wheel,is caused to rotate, rotating the crankshaft at a slow speed, and as the plough can he attached to the rear end of the derrick,ithe act of Coupling up this plant to the engine causes the plough to be lifted completely off the ground. This power hoist attachment, by enabling the plough so to be lifted, permits the tractor to be backed into an otherwise inaccessible corner of a field, and it also enables the tractor and ploughito be handled by one man alone.
The driving wheels are 5 ft. in diameter and 12 ins. wide, so that the weight is well distributed. Con
• c30 sidering the character of the land on which the tractor was working, we should have expected to have seen evidence of packing of the soil, but, as a matter of fact, it was almost impossible to detect. the mark made by the left-hand driving wheel.
After we had seen the Emerson at work for some time, and working exceedingly satisfactorily, we went further up the valley and inspected two fields previously ploughed by it. One had 'a two years lay of sainfom. It was hard and very flinty on the bottom, and in many places the angle of the ground was about I in 4, the furrows being pegged out across the grade; hence at times the machine had seemed to be lying over at a dangerous angle, but there has never been any semblance of a tendency to turn over. This field was nine acres in extent and was ploughed up in two days. There were no involuntary stops of any sort, but there were innumerable stops to .show visiting farmers, who displayed keen interest, the various points of the machine.
Re-ploughing Ploughed Land.
The second field that was ploughed up was about four acres in extent, and had already failed twice this year. The last crop of cabbages had got the fly., and so the land had to be reploughed. Thbse two jobs had been completed to the entire satisfaction of farmer and representative.
The consumption of fuel is about 2i gals. of paraffin per acre, but over the first two fields ploughed, with their heavy grades on the headlands, the consumption was about 3.2 gals. per acre ploughed.
The Emerson is in every way a substantial vehicle, and is a real engineering lob from start to finish. It could easily pull a four-furrow-plough in light land and can be used for threshing, chaff-cutting, sawing, road haulage, rolling, binding, moving, cultivating, and any other purpose for which power may be required.
There are in this country, and on the way for delivery by early August, 176 Emerson tractors, and there is-every expectation that a large number—large considering, all circumstances—will be available for service in -.this country for the autumn and spring ploughing of 1917-1918.