ANOTHER NEW TRACTOR.
Page 40
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A .R4sumé. of Recently Published Patents.
Opinion is still divided amongst those who know, or think they know, as regards the best type of agrimotor. On the one hand we have the protagonists of the self-contained machine having engine, gearbox, axle, and implement too, all carried by, or supporting, as the case may be, the one frame. Even those who are most enthusiastic about the self-contained motor plough, however, design their machines so that at the expense of an hour or so'e hard work they can be converted into ordinary tractors, or. at leset, as near to them as may be. Then there is thatclass who, while denying the advantages claimed for the self-containt(' machine, nevertheless lirnibethe application of those agrimotors designed
by ,themselves to work on the fields, claiming that no _single machine can successfully meet the conditions imposed by both land and road work. The third class scout the ideas of all the others and boldly advocate the universal tractor, useful on land, on the iroads, and in the harm G. Freestone clearly belongs to the last-named section. He has even gone.-one further than any of them, if they be judged by the tractors and agrimotors which are on the market to-day. Not only dues he make his tractor " universal "-in its application, but he actually equips it with bodywork similar to a motor vehicle, so that it can readily carry a load of a couple of tons or so.
Apart from this peculiarityxthe design has other features of special interest. Although, inactual fact, it is a fourwheeled machine, in effect it is practically a three-wheeler, since the two small front wheels are placed so-closely together as to be practically the Pquivalent of one wide?whcel. Thie.driven on all four wheels, no differential is provided, and, by the manipulation of dog clutcfres, it is possible either toeconfino the drive to the two front wheeis only, to the two front wheels and the on-side rear wheel, or to allow the tranereission of the power to ,all four.
The two front wheels are mounted on a spindle supported by a special bracket 332 which is formed to enclose a pair of bevel gears, one of which is keyed to the shaft which carries the wheels. The other is secured to the lower end of a vertical shaft which is produced beyond the upper end of the centre of this bracket, where, again, by means of bevel gears; it is put in communication with a cairntershaft which may be driven from the
engine in•any usual manner.
. The bracket which carries the front axle is Capable of being rotated about its vertical.centre,.carrying the front wheels with it, for the purpose of steering the machine, and to effect that operation it is fitted with a worm wheel and worm, controlled by the usual steering wheel. Owing to the fact that the frontwheels
are of small diameter and also because they are driving wheels, the usual limits-. tion as to the angle through which a steering gear may be turned does not apply, and they may be moved through a right angle so that the tractor may swing round, as it were,. on itself. This makes it possible to diminish the size of headland necessary when ploughing, a point to which, rightly or wrongly, considerable importance is still attached by farmers. This facility for making short turns is, of course, considerably enhanced by the arrangement of clutches, to which we have already made reference, whereby the rear wheels may be either prevented from driving altogether or the drive limited to one wheel only.
It is hardly necessary to go into detail as regards the construction of this tractor. It is the arrangement-, and particularly that of the front wheels which forms the novelty. As drawn, the transmission gear is of a type previously patented by the same inventor in a specification No. 11,845 of 1900. It is a friction gear, in which there are two driving rollers, mounted one each side of the driving disc, and pressed into close contact with it. The inventor, however, points out in the course of his specification that the incorporation of this patented gear is not necessarily a feature of the present invention. The specification is NO. 149,083.
Other Patents of Interest.
The Time,saver tractor has been freely. described in the general news columns of this journal, and no more than a passing mention is, therefore, necessary in connection with Patent No. 149,153 by Pelling and another, which describes the modification of the original patent taken out in connection with the design of that tractor. The improvement concerns the deatailed method of attaching the remove-61e arms to which the steering wheels of the tractor,. are secured.
An interesting invention is that of G. Sam.' which is described in No. 149,098. It relates to the front axle construction of steam wagons and embodies novl means of providing for the necessary movement of the axle to allow of one wheel surmounting an obstacle which is not simultaneously encountered by the other. The centre of the axle itself is formed as a, box-shaped receptacle,. open at the top, and with tho base formed as part of a cylindrical slide. The foot of the turntable is shaped to fit this cylindrical slide and, as will be understood, by allowing the axle to move to and fro on the curved surface, provides for the necessary oscillating movement of the whole axle. An important part of the invention is the provision of stop pegs projecting inwardly, one each side of the box-shaped receptacle and engaging
grooves in the turntable. They are necessary in order to limit the extent of the oscillation of the axle.
No. k19,025, by H. -B. Watson and another, relates to the construction of inlet manifolds. The object is to improve the vaporization and mechanical mixing of the incoming combustible gases. The induction pipe is carried within the exhaust manifold in .sueli a way that the amont of heat which is supplied to that part of the induction pipe which lies between the carburetter and the induction manifold proper, can be, regulated. Mounted in the induction pipe, and preferably carded between the flanges of the pipe and the manifold, are either conical deflectors or freely-mounted propellers. That portion of the pipe which surrounds these deflectors or propellers is enlarged, so that there is no reduction of the cross-sectional area of the passage at that point.
The principal feature about the splashguards which are patented by J. Bather and others, in No. 149,079, appears to be that, while provision is made for a deep recess between the splasher and tyre, the risk of that recess becoming choked up with mud is eliminated by providing apertures betWeen tvre and splasher at suitable intervals.' Through these apertures such mud and dirt which might otherwise block the space between splasher and tyre can escape.
No. 148,031 refers to that type of ignition device wherein the mixture in the main cylinder is ignited by the rapid com. pression of air in an auxiliary .cylinder. In this case the auxiliary cylinder is normally closed by a small valve, which is only opened by contact with a projection on the top of the piston, when the charge, at high pressure, is admitted to the main cylinder. The patentee is B. Y. Dickinson.