Smithfield Exhib For Farm Profits
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Makers of Agrirnotors and Equipment for Farm Mechanizaticd are Offering Machines of High Quality and Comprehensive Scope, whilst the Agriculturist
is Actively Responding
LTHOUGH the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease may have reduced the livestock exhibits
at the Smithfield Club Cattle Show, at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, London, which remains open until this evening, it is not reflected in any paucity of the implements on view. Indeed, makers of agrimotors report good business, and "demand greater than supply" is the general cry.
Improvements in design are this year more in evidence than completely new methods, but the latter are not entirely • absent. Tyre makers, also, are keeping abreast of the requirements of the land.
The only motor vehicles to be seen are those of the Ford company, which is showing its new 10 h.p. Utility model, costing £199; the 5 cwt. 8 h.p. machine, as a butcher's van finished in bright red, the price of which is £112, and the Fordson short-wheelbase, forward-control ' 2-tonner, with a Miles cattle and general-purpose body. This body is offered for only E55 and, we understand, is arousing great interest among farmers.
There are also, on this stand, three Fordson tractors, one of which is the row-crop model which has two small front wheels close together. Several novelties are worth investigation, notably the provision of a radiator blind, the use of worm steering and an improved air cleaner.
Automatic Depth Control.
Near this exhibit are the interesting Ferguson machines, which incorporate an hydraulic implement-depth control and a system of linkage which automatically regulates the height of the implement according to the resistance of the soil. Big fuel-consumption economies are claimed for this device, and it is demonstrated by a working model. Allis-Chalmers is showing a new tractor—the model WF, of 12-20 h.p. and costing 2287 10s. on pneumatic tyres. Its prototype was a row-crop machine, but the new model is a general-purpose tractor.
Passing on to the Massey-Harris display, we find a Pacemaker coupled to a mower and equipped with a winding drum for timber work and general winch haulage. This seems to be a popular attachment this year, a number of tractors thus equipped being displayed. Another Massey-Harris is the Challenger with adjustable track.
In . an environment of small stationary engines, which are new departures for this concern, John Fowler and Co. (Leeds), Ltd., is showing time crawler-type tractors all powered by Fowler-Sanders oil engines. One of these is a three-cylindered unit.
Adjacent to this exhibit is a Lanz Bulldog machine, which is an r example of the single-cylindered two-stroke pil-engined tractor. It is definitely favoured by a certain ip.hool of agricultural thought, largely for its simplicity.
Another is the Marshall—an all-British product of 12-20 B36 h.p. It is seen equipped with a winch and a land anchor. It possesses several interesting novelties, notably Lockheed brakes, a differential lock, controlled by a simple lever and catch, and an ingenious device for giving hall compression for starting up. A lever, having at its end a small disc-like wheel, is lifted and pulled outwards on its shaft to engage with a thread on the flywheel rim. This action brings into play the half-compression gear, _but, in rotating for about six turns, the flywheel releases the lever. Sturdy construction is a notable feature.
The two-cylindered tractor is exemplified by the little Bristol, with its Jowett horizontally opposed 8 h.p. engine and rubber-jointed track. Its width is only 36 ins, and the ground pressure 4i• lb. per sq. in.
Even smaller is the Ransomes garden cultivator, also of the crawler type, and employing rubber joints. It has a single-cylindered air-cooled engine, and the price is 2150.
In contrast is a big array of International machines, all of relatively high power. A new model is the TD 35 foureylinder oiler of 37 drawbar h.p. It is the smallest International crawler-type oiler available.
As usual, the Case exhibit includes a variety of models. These are paraffin-engined, and have steel or pneumatic tyres. One is shown with winch gear. A new implement, which is causing much interest, is a pick-up baler.
A Unique Type.
Large, medium and small Caterpillar track-type tractors are shown by Jack Olding, Ltd., together with a John Deere wheeled machine. The former have oil engines, and are available with winch gear. The latter runs on paraffin and is unique in that the engine has two horizontal cylinders arranged side by side, Two Cletrac crawler tractors attracted our notice when passing the l3law-Knox stand. They are of 22 h.p. and 27 h.p., respectively, and the larger has the latest rounded grille. Another 28 h.p. oiler is au entirely new introduction. It is now available in Great Britain.
The list of "fully fledged" tractors is completed by two Olivers, 'shown by John Wallace and Sons, Ltd. One has four wheels and the other is a three-wheeled i-ow-crop machine. They are of 18-28 h.p. and run on paraffin.
Among smaller machines and cultivators may be enumerated the British Holder, which is displayed with ploughing, cultivating, spraying and dusting equipment; the Trusty 4+, h.p. two-wheeler, available with steelspudded or pneumatic-tyred wheels and having countless applications, which is made by Tractors (London), Ltd., and the Graveley, shown by the Cooper-Stewart Engineering Co., Ltd., which is powered by a 2 h.p. or a 5 h.p. engine and can be employed for ordinary or rotary ploughing; cultivating, grass cutting, etc.
A drawbar for Fordson tractors, which takes the pull from low down and well forward, is a new Miller product, claimed to give a marked improvement in efficiency. Stanhay is exhibiting a pneumatically controlled tool bar. Reverting to tyre progress, there are a new Dunlop 0.5-10 wide-tread ribbed land tyre, and a 9-36 tyre with traction tread for row-crop machines. The Goodyear company has introduced an 11.26-24 tractor tyre with a new design of tread and two new non-skid 16 x 4 land tyres. Among the Firestone exhibits we found an 8.26-20 tyre for implements, which has an entirely new tread, comprising side Jugs and a central rib. •