The Mechanically-equipped Dairy Farm. Ploughing Tests on Hard, Rocky Ground. Results and Awards are Published on Page 115.
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
(By Our Special Correspondent in Parip.) This year's agrimotor exhibition and competition, held at Bourges by the Automobile Club du Centre de France, was decidedly educational. In the exhibition there were very few entirely-new machines. In the ploughing competition, one of the most important features of the movement, nearly all of the competitors had already been shown to the public either in previous exhibitions or demonstrations. It has ever been the desire of Prince Pierre d'Arenberg, the able and genial president of the club, and of those associated with him in this work, to educate the farmer to the use of motors and scientific methods in farming, and to encourage inventors in the widest possible manner. As an educative factor this meeting was undoubtedly the most successful ever held in France ; in the heart of the agricultural district, the attendance of farmers and others interested in agriculture was always large, and on Sundays the exhibition grounds were literally packed with interested sightseers.
The Model Mechanical Farm.
A valuable feature of the exhibition was a. model farm, or as it was termed, the mechanical farm, in which the fullest possible advantage was taken of the internal-combustion motor, and there the various agricultural pursuits were carried out on scientific lines. Admission to this was obtained on payment of an extra sixpence, but the keen interest of the visitors in the movement was demonstrated by a constant record at the farm of 70 to 75 per cent. of the total visitors to the exhibition. Here there was no attempt to force sales, but rather a rational desire to show the farmer how he could improve his plant and at the same time could increase the output of his farm to his personal advantage. No feature of agricultural work had been neglected. At the entrance was a demonstration of wood cutting by various types of circular and band saws driven by producer-gas engines fed on wood undergrowth, chips and saw-mill efuse. Grouped under a big shed were the various choppers and machinery for preparing and mixing food for the cattle, the whole being driven by a 10 h.p. petrol engine transmitting its power by means of belting. Horse clipping was carried out by machinery ; in the model dairy the cows were milked mechanically by power obtained from a, small gas engine, this engine also being used to drive the churns. We were told that on the first two days the quantity of milk dropped off more than 60 per cent. as the result of using the mechanical milker, but before the close of the exhibition, the cows had overcome their objection to the mechanical appliances and were yielding as much as when milked by hand. Modern methods were applied to the farm house, in which there was no unnecessary luxury, but many mechanical appliances designed for comfort.
President Reports Progress.
The mechanical farm was most opportune, for it immediately followed the practical competition held throughout the central departments by the Agricultural Commission of the Automobile Club of France with a, view to encouraging the application of the motor to agriculture. According to Prince Pierre d'Arenberg, who, as president of the club has unique opportunities of judging the movement, the agrimotor has made wonderful progress during the past two or three years on the farms in his district. He gave us several instances of farmers who, having laid out from 2500 to 21000 for the instal
lation of engines and machinery, had been able, by reason of their increased revenue, to wipe out the capital cost in three years.
While all types of stationary engines were well represented at the .Bourges demonstration, the transport of farm produce by means of motor vehicles was comparatively little in evidence. On the other hand, the small, economical touring car, and even touring cars with, double-purpose bodies for carrying either passengers or a certain amount of produce, were well represented. They were supplemented by a large number of second-hand vehicles in the motor fair, the object of this section being to give farmers an opportunity of procuring a car at low cost and thus obtaining their first experience cheaply. Inquirie:4 were numerous and business decidedly brisk in the light-car section, so proving the growing dissatisfaction with the horse and trap..
An Entry List of 17. '
There have been several motor. ploughing competitions in France, but up to the present they have been more in the nature of demon-. strationa than competitions, the number of entrants being so small and their value so low that there was little opportunity of making comparisons or of giving awards on a comparative basis. The progress made is shown by the fact that this year at Bourges there were 17 entries of machines for motor ploughing and 12 machines actually on exhibition. Among the absentees were Foster's new-design petrol tractor, the Champenoine, the l3atiche and the Linard. Out of the 12 machines, 11 were brought to the field on 1st October, the opening day of the match, and 10 started work. According to the rules, awards would' be made on the basis of the amount of ground ploughed, the case of operation, the cost per acre (including the staff and depreciation, to be fixed by the jury), the regularity of the work, the use of paraffin, and, on the third day, the depth to which the land was ploughed.
An international. character was given to the competition by the presence of two American machines : the International Harvester Co. (known in France as the C.I.M.A.), and a steam tractor entered by the Case Co., of Racine, Wis. All the others were of French construction. The C.I.M.A. is now a well-known machine on the French market, having been in numerous competitions and several being in use on French farms. The model in the competition was the 25 h.p. type, having a single horizontal cylinder 10 in. by 15 in. bore and stroke. It is the smallest of the tractors made by the company, and was entered in preference to the others on account of the cost basis of making the awards. The Case, which has only recently been introduced into France, was the firm's 30 h.p. steam tra,ctor and the only machine on the field that was not of the internalcombustion type.
The French machines were of most varied types, the only point of similarity, indeed, being the use of an internal-combustion motor. The Bajac, one of the most interesting and also one of the most carefully prepared, is really the joint
production of the Bajac Co. at Lia,ncourt and the De Dion-Bouton Co., this latter firm being responsible for the motor section of the output. It comprises a tractor driven by a 30 h.p. four-cylinder motor of the type used on the Paris omnibuses, the motor being in front, immediately behind a coil-tube radiator, and transmitting through a clutch, gearbox and jack shaft, having pinions meshing with an internal gear on the large disc road wheels. An extension of the propeller shaft transmits the power to a vertical shaft on which is mounted a _big winding drum, the tractor being anchored at one end of the field and hauling the plough by means of a, cable. The tractor has its fourcylinder motor mounted on a subframe, with clutch, gearbox and transmission practically the same as on the De Dion-Bouton trucks. It was only the rear portion, providing a winding drum immediately under the short platform body, which was interesting. The method of anchoring the tractor, when brouaht into position at the headlands for hauling its plough. was most effective. It consisted of a triangular frame, the base of which was at steel plates, through which projected blades forming the extremity of one of the sides of the triangle. One of the sides came in contact with the face of the rear wheel, another rested on the ground, and the projecting extremity of the third was pushed into the ground as soon as the machine was backed. Thus to lock the tractor in position it was only necessary to drop the scotches —this being done by means of a winding drum and flexible cables— and to back the tractor until the projections were firmly wedged into the ground. No outside assistance was required, and to get away again when a furrow was finished it was only necessary to move ahead' a few inches and haul up on the winding gear. The entire operation required the services of two men, one at the plough and another to drive the tractor.
The Lefebvre caterpillar type of machine has been seen in previous competitions, and this year's models only differed from the earlier types in a few detail matters. Like the Bajac, it has a fourcylinder 30 h.p. motor in front, with the same type of coil-tube radiator, the two power plants having a certain general similarity. The machine has a cone clutch and a fourspeed gear set, with two distinct methods of driving. The jack shaft, to the rear of the back axle, has two chain sprockets, one transmitting the drive forward to the rear live axle, and the other, only used when ploughing, carrying the power to a large chain sprocket on each side of the tractor. There is a trussed frame, the forward end of which can be raised or lowered, and at the forward end of this
frame is a second chain sprocket equal in diameter to the rear one. The two are encircled by a roller chain having attached to it a broad endless leather band with projecting metal paddles at intervals. For the purpose of ploughing, the front end of the frame is lowered by a screw and nut, engine driven by means of belt transmission, this revolving endless band with its projecting paddles giving sufficient adhesion to haul the machine along the ground. A single steering wheel is employed, with a worm and sector control and a motorcar type of steering column, the wide turning angle of the steering wheel making it possible for the tractor to swing roundin almost its own length. The Lefebvre agrimotor operates by direct haulage, generally using a three-blade balanced plough. One of the smallest of the machines was the De Mesmay, or ..kbeille single-cylinder tractor. It was distinctive by reason of its Front drive and steering, the motor, a single-cylinder of about 12 h.p., being mounted to the rear of the frame and transmitting through a clutch, gear set and propeller shaft to a vertical shaft, and through enclosed differential gearing to the two closely-set front drivers and steerers. The machine is really only a motor hoe, but for the purpose of the competition a two-blade plough was hitched to it, and by this means it gave a demonstration of regular if not very deep ploughing.
M. Gilbert's little machine met with ill luck. Soon after coming to the ground it broke an essential part of its single-wheel driving mechanism, and was unable to do
any really effective work. Since its first appearance a year ago, considerable improvements have been carried out in the machine, and as its original condition was crude this was not a difficult matter. The main idea, however, remains unchanged, the twincylinder motor, of 90 by 110 rum. bore and stroke, transmitting through a cone clutch and twospeed gearbox to a cross shaft at the extreme rear of the frame, and then forward by means of a chain to the right-hand side rear wheel, Within this wheel is an eccentric, operating steel blades projecting through slots in the face of the wheel felloe. The depth of the paddles being variable, sufficient traction could always be obtained, as the paddles are naturally self-cleaning. As it was the eccentric which gave trouble at the moment of starting operations, the maker had no opportunity of demonstrating the ability of his machine.
The Anion machine, manufactured by Georges Filtz, of Juvisy, used a cable, but instead of a winding drum as on the Bajac, the cable was fixed at each extremity of the ground, and the machine,
with its plough hooked on behind, hauled itself along the ground by means of a couple of winding drums on the side of the machine. The motor is a 30 h.p., four-cylinder, giving 30 hp. at 500 revs., placed under a bonnet at the forward end of the frame, with the driver in the centre and the radiator at the rear. Set across the frame are two shafts, each one having a grooved pulley at the extremity and outside the frame member. The cable being given half-a-dozen turns round the two pulleys, the machine hauled itself along the ground, and by means of a reversing mechanism could proceed either ahead or astern.
There were three rotary ploughs : the Motoculture Francaise, and two Vermond and Quellennec machines. The Motoculture machine has a three-cylinder motor set across the frame, a fourspeed gearbox and enclosed chain drive, first to the all-metal steel wheels, and then geared up from this to the rotary plough at the extreme rear, The blades—six setsof four on the shaft—are really flexible spring mounted hooks, The two Vermond and Quellennec machines were similar as to their ploughing mechanism, but different in their mechanical plant. One a ponderous machine, has a large four-cylinder motor in the centre of the frame, with big coiltube radiator behind and driver's seat in front, with transmission through a gearbox, countershaft and side chains to the rear wheels. and also a drive from sprockets on the extremity of the countershaftto the plough set across the extreme rear. The second, and more compact machine, has its fourcylinder Schneider motor, Parisomnibus type, under a bonnet in front, driving through a fourspeed gear set to a countershaft carrying pinions meshing with an internal gear on each road wheel. On the first day the competition opened on a field about a couple of miles outside llourges, the ground being divided up into plots for which the competitors drew lots. I•Vork had to be carried out from 8 a.m. to noon, and from 1.30 p.m. to 4 o'clock. At the head of the field the Filtz machine did fairly good work with its two-blade plough, requiring the attention of
three men, one at the tractor and one at each end of the cable. The Gilbert ploughed but a few yards before it was stopped by the breakage of its eccentric, then tried to plough without its paddles, but had finally to abandon. The little De Mesmay went around its plot with great regularity, but did not do more than scratch the surface, certainly it did not get the average depth of 6 in. called for by the regulations. The Case steamer was the most business-like on the field. It had the most hilly section, on which it used eight ploughs going downhill and six on the up grade, having no difficulty whatever in getting down to the required depth. The big Verrnond and Quellennec had a mechanical breakdown immediately after the start, its effective work being not more than a dozen yards of ground turned over by its rotary picks. The International Harvester Co.'s machine, running on benzol, as did also the Filtz, worked with five ploughs on the down grade and three uphill. There was a little trouble with the engine at first, owing to the use of poor oil, but this having been remedied, the machine did very good work. The Vermond and Quellennec with the Schneider motor made a poor display. To advance at all on the up grade its motor had to be kept running at full power, yet the machine progressed very slowly indeed, and did not get down to any great depth. The motor was overloaded all the time, and, when it was shut off at 4 o'clock, continued to run for such a length of time that the mechanic had finally to stall it by putting in the clutch.
The second day's competition was quite different from the first. A fresh field was selected, about five miles out of town, the soil of which was very heavy and had been rendered greasy by the downpour of rain during the night. The agrimotors had to be brought from the ploughing ground of the previous day, over an ordinary type of country lane, and had to make the last six hundred yards across country. The Bajac was the first to get to the scene of operations, this tractor really having a remarkable manceuvring ability over all kinds of ground. The Filtz, being a, lightweight, was easily drawn in by a horse, the machine not being selfpropelled, and the Lefebvre caterpillar-type tractor also got to work very early.
The big Case steamer stopped at the entrance to the field which had to be crossed in order to reach the ploughing ground and fitted diagonal paddles on its rear wheels and a projecting rim on each of its steerers. The operation was watched with a considerable amount of interest, the farmers for the most part being of the opinion that the heavy machine would not be able to travel over the soft ground. After about an hour's delay in fitting it up for field work it went to its plot without any difficulty and was quickly at work.
The C.I.M. A. was very late in getting on the spot. Ploughing should have begun at nine o'clock, but the machine was so slow on the road that it did not reach its field until 10.30. The big Vermond and Quellennec was taken a few yards off the country lane and left in the field. The smaller machine, which had been working the previous day, but had given evident signs of fatigue, was not brought out. The only other rotary plough, the Motoculture Francaise, was fairly early at work. The little De Mesmay, or Abeille, had also no difficulty in reaching the ground. There were thus six machines on the ground, each one having about three acres to plough. The Case did the most satisfactory work : with six ploughs down it had finished its plot in the afternoon, although having started late in the morning. The C.I.M.A. worked with three ploughs and also gave very satisfactory service. Among the French machines the Baiac and the Lefebvre caterpillar type gave the best service. Until the ground has been measured and the fuel consumption calculated it will be impossible to say which of the two is the better, so closely were they
classed. The Filtz worked regularly, but having lower power and using a two-blade plough, it naturally did not accomplish the same amount of work as the larger machines. The same remark applies to the De Mesmay, the amount of work being still smaller; in this case it is doubtful if the small amount of power available will allow really economical results to be obtained. At an early hour the Motoculture Francaise rotary plough was in difficulties, its front wheels being unsteerable and its rear ones not giving sufficient traction on the heavy ground. In a dry, soft soil it may work well, but in this heavy earth it was obviously useless. When it abandoned, the whole of the rotary ploughs were out of the competition, for of the two V. and Q.s, only one had worked on the first day.
The supreme test was the deep ploughing, in which an average depth of 12 in. had to be maintained. This work was watched with considerable interest, among the spectators being a delegation from the City of Paris sewage farm. Only four machines came forward for the task : they were the C.I.M.A., Bajac, Lefebvre, and Filtz. The ground was a difficult one : on the hill a limey subsoil was reached at a. depth of 6 in. ; on the centre of the field the ploughs reached stony ground at a depth of 6 in., and it was only in the valley that really deep soil was found. The Filtz and C.I.M.A. had difficulty in getting to the required depth, the former being underpowered for this work and the latter having difficulty with its ploughs. The Lefebvre, working with a couple of ploughs, was not sufficiently loaded, it being necessary for three men to stand on the plough in order to get a very mediocre result. The Bajac really did the best work, its threeblade plough getting well down, maintaining the average of 12 in., and at times ploughing to a depth of over 15 in.
The awards, if they are announced in time, will be found on the first page of "News and Comment " in this issue.