IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER FARMING MACHINERY.
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A Résumé of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
By an interesting coincidence, the leading patents with which we have to deal this week, When the Lincoln tractor trials take place, have to-do with improvements in power farming machinery. That wellknown concern of John Fowler and Co. (Lees), Ltd., makers of steam ploughMg tackle for generations, describe in specification No, 130,789 the engine of an internal-combustion .set. This new departure in the case of a firm of such experi
ence and world-wide reputation is intereating as showing the general trend in connection with agricultural engineering.
The engine itself is built so as to resemble in its exterior a steamer. The framework is built so. as to conform outwardly with the lines of an ordinary steam boiler. There is a rectangular portion at the rear, like a firebox, with a cylindrical portion directed forward, and a chimney at the forejnost end. What corresponds to the firebox serves as a tank for carrying the liquid fuel. Within the cylindrical portion is space for compressed air which is used for starting the engine, and forward of that again, in the place usually occupied by d smokebox, we have the radiator and silencer, the former being a nest of tubes in a tank of water; the exhaust is directed up the chimney so-as to create;a draught which causes our to pass through the tubes of the radiator. Incidentally, in this smokebox is also placed the preheater for the liquid• fuel. A feature of the construction is that...the engine is designed as a separate and complete unit lict bolt on to the framework. It is, as will be noticed by reference to-the drawing, not the ordinary type of automobile engine, but is -a slow-running horizontal engine consuming heavy oil. . There is a clutch on the crankshaft, and the first motioil shaft carries.a. bevel pinion which gears with another on a vertical shaft, and is used for driving the winding-drum which is -disposed horizontally &low the frame. A further chain of gears, engaged or disengaged at will, suffices to drive the roadwheel of theimachine.
F. Champion and another, in Np. 130759, describe a two-Way motor ploegh. The engine is placed centrally, and drives 'through the medium of the usual gears a wide wheel which propels the machine. There are two other Wheels, leading and controlling, and.these are manipulated in unison for steering purposes. Two sets of ploughs are carrise, one for working in each direction, the arrangement being sucn that.the fur rows are all-turned one way. A particular feature of the patent is the method by which the shares are lifted from the ground, so that the three furrows all terminate or commence in line. This is effected by cam gearing, so that the foremost share is lifted first, and the others at the correct periods afterwards. When lifted, the shares are held in the upper position by hooks, and when about to reenter the ground the foremost plough is
dropped by hand, and it releases the hook holding the second through the means.of automatic trip gear, so that the second plough enters the soil correctly in relation to the first. In the same way, the second plough releases the third in due time.
Other Patents of Interest.
The arrangement covered by specificstion No. 130,858 is perhaps rather too luxurious for commercial motor work. It is, nevertheless, particularly interesting. The pateutee is G. W. A. Drown and Arrol-Johnston, Ltd. A box or casing carried on a flange-on the upper end of the steering column carries all the instruments usually allocated,on the dashboard, namely, the speedometer, clock, oil and fuel gauges and electric current meters.
The arrangement of carburetter float chamber depicted and described in No. 130,654, by A. Cox, appears to be admirable for its purpose—that of preventing particles if grit or dirt from passing through to the carburetter jet. The needle which controls the supply of fuel is placed in a separate compartment by
the side of the float chamber proper. The connection between the two is oniy over a partition, the top of which is just below the ordinary level of the 'fuel, in
• the chamber. There is a connection between the needle corepartment and a kind of sump below the float chamber, so that any grit can be drawn off. J. E. Ellor and'Sir Henry Fowler, in No. 130,416, describe a rotary -engine having an even nuniber of cylinders and
in which the two pistons of a pair of opposed cylinders are rigidly connected together. Only one connecting rod is used for the (two. The claim is that loads and stresses on the bearings are reduced and more uniformly distributed as compared with other forms of construction.
No. 130,498 is by G. Woodvine, of the Sentinel Warks,•SlarewSbury. A differential gear is carried on the engine shaft, and • the sunwheels are shown integral with sprocket pinions. The latter drive, one to a sear wheel which rides free upon the rear axle, the other to the axle itself. Provision is made for brakes upon the ,differential drum and also upon the road wheels.
Clayton and Co., Ltd., Huddersfield, in No. 130,738, describe a road-sweeping machine. The small brush in contact with the road drives sweepings into a cylindrical chamber within which a larger brush is revolving. This brush carries the sweepings up to a second ,eylindrical chamber abOve it, in which revolves yet another brush.
In No. 130831 is described an arrangement of centrifugal governor for tractor of the.Fordson type. The patentee is F. G. G. Armstrong.