FRENCH SPRING PLOUGHING DEMONSTRATION.
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Trials of French, American, and British Tractors at St. Germain.
THE FRENCH spring ploughing demonstration, held at St. Germain, near Paris, the first week in April, united at firms, with almost twice this number of machines. There were 17 French makers, one was English, and the remainder were American. This event was not in the nature of a competition.
It is stated that business was goad, this being encouraged by the liberal subsidies which are granted by the French Government to purchasers of a,grimotors. Any commune, any co-operative society, or any properly constituted group of not less than seven • farmers can 'obtain from the Government a subsidy varying from :30 to 50 per cent, of the initial cost of the machine, providing the necessary guarantees are given that the machine will be used for agricultural work, and that a determined amount of ground will be cultivated.
The only English machine was the new Austin, which had been sent to the Lyons Exhibition and came up to Paris to do practical work. There was indirect English representation in a couple of machines built under Sauntierson licence by a subsidiary of the Paris General Omnibus Co. Among the American contingent there was nothing new except the names, for many of the French agents appeared to prefer a French designation to the title originally chosen for their product.
French Agrimotor Progress.
From the standpoint of the foreign visitor the greatest interest was found in the numerous and varied French machines. It would appear that all, the French lorry makers are interesting themselves in agrimotors. Among important firms who had machines in this demonstration were Renault, Delaha,ye, Be Dion Boutorr; Latil, Schneider, and the Paris general Omnibus Co. Although not present, Peugeot has entered the agricultural tractor field,
Every known type of agrimotor appears to be built in France. Whether this is because French farming conditions are decidedly varied, and no single type will meet all requirements, or whether it is because not sufficient experience has been secured to arrive at the ultimate type, remains to. be seen. There were present three main classes:•
cable machines using either petrol or electricity, self-contained ploughs, and direct tractors of the wheel or endless band type. The cable machines alone were of three different varieties. Be Dion Bouton fix their machine at one end of the field and haul their plough backwards and forwards across the land. The Filtz anchors a cable at each end of the field and hauls itself along by means of a winding drum, the plough being in tow on one side of the tractor. Finally, the Doizy runs across the field paying out cable as it goes, anchors itself, and then hauls the plough by means of the winding drum. .
The self-contained machines are equally varied. The Schneider is a three-wheel, frameless, rotary type. The Latil is a four-wheeler with plough at the rear. The Delahaye is a three-wheeler with plough at each end. The Charraes is a, combination of the selfcontained and the direct tractor types. Frenchmakers do show uniformity, however, in their engines, practically all of which are of the fourcylinder vertical type as used on lorries. In some cases, as the Renault and the Delahaye, the identical engine is employed, but in no instance is there a departure from this type. Such features as single. or deuble opposedhorizontal Cylinders, low-tension ignition. cooling by means of a water tank, drip feed lubrication, etc., are left severely to the tractors built by American agricultural implement makers.
Renault Tractor Follows Tank Lines.
Renault has been remarkably quick in changing from war Tanks to peaceful tractors. His new machine, which is already approaching a.n output of 100 per month, is a direct outcome of the two-man Tank, employed in such large numbers during the last few months of the war. The engine is exactly the same, being a four-cylinder monoblec of 95 mm. by 160 mm. bore and stroke. The lubrieation is still of the dry sump type, but the spacial petrol feed to the carburettor, designed to assure a flow whatever the inclinttion of the tank, has given place to an ordinary gravity system.
Instead of being placed at the rear of the Machine, the Renault engine is now up in front and carried under the bonnet. The radiator, which recalls the Pierce-Arrow, is behind the engine, but inclined at an angle, of about 45 degrees. Air is drawn through the tubes by the action of the flywheel fan, and water
circulation is, of course, by thermo-syphon. The power is taken through a leather-faced cone clutch and a four-speed gearset, then through two bigger diameter Ferodo-lined lateral clutches, and by a final gear reduction to the left and right hand sprockets carrying the endless tracks. Steering, of course, is by withdrawing one or the other of the lateral clutches, an4 for this purpose there is a vertical column with a left and right hand lever mounted on it, just in front of the driver's seat.
All the -.framework has been made much lighter. In addition the chassis proper is attached at the front to the two tracks by a transverse inverted semi-elliptic spring.. Speeds vary from 1 to 4-i miles an hour. As the weight of the machine has been reduced to 54 cwt., ttie width of the chain bands has been reduced to 7 ins., compared with 131ins, on the Tank. The length of surface in contact with the ground is 64 ins. The system of automatic tensioning of the band is the same indesign, although lighter in construction, as that on the Tanks. The drawbar pull is stated to be from 4,850 lb. to 5,500 lb. The machine is being sold complete at £1,010 at the present rate of exchange.
The New Delahaye Tractor.
The Delahaye, which is another new machine brought out by a big manufacturer, is of an entirely different type. This product is a three-wheeler, with two driving and steering wheels in tandem on the outside, that is to say on the hard ground, and the third wheel, also a driver, exactly between the two others and running in the furrow. The width of the frame which carries these three wheels has been determined by the overall length of the engine and gearbox, which is mounted transversely, with the radiator just behind the single wheel, The engineers have selected the Delahaye four-ton lorry type engine, which is a four-cylinder monobloo of 100 mm. by 160 mm. bore and stroke. The general features of this engine are well known, and it is one which has given a good account of itself in the war. The final drive is taken to the two wheels in tandem by means of horizontal shafts, one running aft and the other forward, worm, and then internal gearing. The single wheel is driven direct by means of a transverse shaft, parallel with the engine shaft, and internal gearing. The two wheels in tandem are also steerers, but as the steering pivots are on the inside, the control levers are carried through the wheel hubs. In the same way the engine starting handle is carried through the hub of the single wheel. The turning angle of each wheel is.very
The frame is extended both front and rear and carries a four-blade plough at each extremity, with the B:15 necessary hand-operated winding drums for raising or lowering them as required. The price of the machine is stated to be approximately 25,000 francs: Since the Tourand-Latil tractor was entirely taken ver by the Latil Co., one of the biggest makers of four-wheel drive tractors in France, it has undergone some detailed improvements. The frame has been entirely re-designed, there have been a few detail changes on the engine, and the mechanism for raising and lowering the plough has undergone improvement.
Among the creeper types Should be mentioned the big Schneider, • Which is nothing more than the big French Tank with all its war equipment removed, The same firm is making a self-contained machine with rotary plough. This is of the frameless type, with a single steering wheel in front. It is significant of the importance which is attached in France to the question of agrimotors that in addition to the leading motor factories the Gnome and Rhone Co.: which is-undoubtedly the most important
of the aviation firms, should have taken up the eonstructign of this class of,,vehicle.
The Gnome tractor is being marketed under the title of the Aurore. If one may judge from the exhibition models, the firm is not yet producing in. quantities for the machine shown had a, twin-cylinder vertical engine which had never seen the Gnome shops, whereas the final type will have a four-cylinder vertical engine of 16-20 h.p. Although more or less of an experimental machine which is shown, the Aurore looks remarkably good. It is a light tractor with four driving and four steering wheels. Its total weight is given as only a little more than 25 cwt. The engine is in front, and the base chamber forms a single casting with the gearbox which provides four speeds ahead and one reverse. 'One of the features of this machine is the use of a detachable rim forming strakes. For each wheel the rim is in three sections. The Aurore is marketed at 2480, which appears to be as low as any machine to be found at these trials.