Tractor. Design.
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Two Entirely Different Models Described.
Mr. Sturmey Describes the "Farmer Boy."
"The ingenuity of man is marvellous," is a trite saying, and well applies to the design of agrimotors, which are certainly a long way from settling down to a standard, though most of them seem to be capable of doing very good work. Perhaps in no department of motorcar design, however, does appearance have less weight as a controlling factor. A severe practicality, with a very big eye to first cost in construction, appears to be characteristic of all efforts, with the result • that each designer follows his own ideas and maps out a line for himself, and if the machine works and does the task required of it, the agriculturist buys it, whereas we know that, in commercial motors, as well as in touring cars, any departure from rigid conventionality has a very uphill task before it if it is to succeed. Doubtless, as time goes on, the ultimate type in agrinnotors will assert itself ; but, so far, no one machine or type has shown even a tendency to oust the rest, which is, perhaps, just as Well, as the more largely inventor and designer have free and untrammelled scope for their efforts, the more valuable are their ideas likely to be and it is all too GOOR yet to think of standardization. We shall get to that point, no doubt, all in our own good time.
Madness and Method Again.
In the meantime, we have to deal -With the things that be, and of these the "Farmer Boy," which hails from Ohio, is certainly built on original lines. It is, as so many agricultural tractors are, a threewheeler, but the arrangement is quite unusual. A bicycle with an outrigger on which the operator sits would, perhaps, more properly describe it, for that is really the general plan of the machine, which at first sight, until the idea is grasped, looks, very much like a heterogeneous collection of oddments. Examined further, it is seen that there is method in its Madness, and method, too, which has a sound basis at the back of it. The chassis is a long narrow construction of channel steel, of just sufficient -width to take the "feet " of a standard-four-cylinder " Waukesha," automobile engine, immediately.to the rear of which the, fuel tank and tool and battery box are mounted, whilst a truck radiator adorns the forward part of the construction.. The engine shaft drives, by bevel gearing through a multiple-disc clutch, a short countershaft set across the frame, and an extension of this shaft on the out
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side of the frame carries a belt pulley, by means of which the machine can be belted up to any fixed machinery, whilst the shaft also carries a pinion which gears with a large cast-steel wheel mounted to the rear of it. which gearwheel is carried within the frame on the end of a long shaft running in bearings on the top of the frame, the far end of the shaft being supported by a, bearing carried on the 'outrigger" portion of the frame to be described presently, whilst the inner end of the shaft beyond the gearwheel is unsupported, but carries a -pinion which gears in turn with the " bull " gear or main driving gearwheel, which is carried on the same shaft as (and drives) the single driving road wheel of the tractor. It will thus be seen that there are three reductions, two of them very heavy, between the engine and the road wheel, which wheel is carried wholly within the•frame, so is well supported in bearings carried by brackets beneath the frame on either side. This wheel is 50 ins. diameter and 12 ins, face, built up with steel-rod spokes and having the face studded with a series of steel spikes, and the reduction gives a. travelling speed of 2-21 miles per hour.
A Bicycle with an Outrigger.
The forward end of the frame is supported upon a 22k-in. steering wheel, with 6-in, steel tire, running between forks socketed in a bracket bolted to the front of the frame, the top of the fork being furnished with a worm wheel controlled by a worm on the end of a long steering post. So far, it will be seen, the machine is, to all intents and purposes, a bicycle, with the driving wheel, engine and transmission mechanism rigidly and lineably mounted -within the frame, and as the point of attachment for the drawn implement is at the rear of the frame, we have what may be termed a straight-line proposition from engine to load, and all that is necessary now to complete the machine is to. provido for its stability, as, of course, under agricultural conditions and at agricultural speed, it could not be controlled and used as a bicycle alone. This end is secured by what I have termed an "outrigger," consisting of a frame set at right angles to the rear of the machine on the near side, and carrying a bracket at its extremity, on which ia carried a stout axle supporting a 40-in, wheel with 6-in. face. The arch, or frame, carrying this wheel, serves as the support of the driver's seat, which is of the pressed hollowed steel form common to agricultural machines, a.nd it also serves to support the• rear end of the steering post, which is provided with the usual hand wheel at its rearmost end and controls the worm operating the steering wheel through a universal joint, so that its angularity does not interfere ,with its functions. The control levers find a place on the outside of the main frame ready to the might hand of the driver. A, short steel casing, similar to the " bonnet" of a car, shuts in the engine and the whole of the mechanism from radiator to driving wheel. The wheelbase is 103 ins., -width 52 ins. over all, and weight, approximately, 27 cwt., so it is not by any means a heavy machine 'as tractors go : 18 h.p. on the belt and 10 h.p. drawbar-pull are claimed for it, and it is sold as capable of doing the work of six horses. It is designed to pull a
two-gang plough and to be capable of ploughing with them 7 ins, deep in frozen ground. The threewheeled form of construction enables it to be turned in a small space, whilst the arch of the crossframe, or outrigger, is 33 ins. high ; this enables corn to be cultivated to the usual height, whilst a special feature of this outrigger, or third wheel, is that it is adjustable in the frame for height, so that the tractor can be kept level regardless of the depth of the furrow being ploughed, of whether the steering or driving wheels are run in the last furrow, or on the hard ground beside it, or whether the ground on which the machine is working is on a hillside or level. In addition to ploughing, it will pull a disc harrow, binder, mower, wagon, or any other machine on the farm, and do all kinds of belt work that inay be required of it, and the price is such that it could be sold here, after paying transportation expenses, at about 2200.
Standard Detroit Tractor.
At the same time as we received this communication from Mr. Sturmey, and as if in corroboration of his opening statement, we were also presented with particulars of yet another tractor of the same capacity as the one which Mr. Sturmey has described, but differing from it very considerably so far as the arrangement of the details of the chassis is concerned.
• This machine is named the "Standard Detroit Tractor." It is made by the company whose. prin.: cipaI directors are closely connected with the Federal Motor Truck Co., Whose products, it may be remembered, are giving such valuable service in this country, and for which Whiting, Ltd., of Ruston Road, is the agent.
Large Built-up Radiator.
A glance at our illustration will reveal the fact that, in this case, although the frame is built of rolled steel joists, just as is the frame of the Farmer Boy" tractor, it is much wider, and the engine, instead of being arranged longitudinally, is placed across the frame, and the radiator also is placed midway along the off-side main member. Particular stress is laid by the makers on the fact that the radiator is an unusually large one and of the built-up typ6, and they also draw attention to the disposal of the engine, clutch and transmission, which. are built to form one unit, all the gearing being enclosed. The makers of this machine rely for the tractive effort on two broad wheels of large diameter, the steering being effected by the medium of two small freint wheels set closely together and controlled from the driver's seat by means of the usual wheel and column, operating through bevel and spur gearing. They claim that with the extremely large bearing surface offered by the driving wheels of this type, pressure per square inch tending to pack the soil is comparatively small, and this is one of the advantages derived from the use of this construction.