AGRIMOTOR NOTES.
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Attention for Tractors. Chain-track Tractor Conversion Unit.
One of the principal objections which are raised by farmers to the employment of tractors is that they are unreliable and soon wear out. Whilst no doubt there are tractors on the market which are vary expensive in upkeep, and the life of which is short, owing to faulty construction and poor material, the cause of the dissatisfaction which is experienced
• by many agriculturists may be traced, not so much to defects in the construction of the machines, but in their own negligence and want of care of them. A very large proportion. of farmers have no appreciation or understanding of the fact that "a. stitch in time saves nine," and just run their tractors till they fall to pieces. It is the same with most other agricultural machinery. Go to almost any farm you please and inspect the farm implements carefully and critically. You will find many of them tied up with string and bits of wire, a broken shaft bound up loosely with wire, wheels ignorant of oil or grease, and frightfully loose on their axles as a consequence, lever fulcra and other bearings likewise. They then wonder why they so soon wear out, to say nothing of leaving them out in the open in all weathers, wet or fine, and exposed alike to the pen.etrat
ing snows of winter as to the scorching, blistering summer sun.
• Neither the farmer nor his men appear to have the slightest mechanical intuition, and they seem to begrudge the time, even if they have the knowledge, t6 make the commonest of adjustments. The machines never receive any systematic overhaul or attention. They are just run till something gets loose, or goes wrong, and then, if a piece of wire or string will hold it together till the day's work is done, it is considered enough. Instead of seeing that the, repair or adjustment is then at once attended to properly, because they are busy and the machine held together to the end of the previous day, it is again taken out as it is, and so it goes on from day to day, getting rapidly worse until, perhaps in the middle of the season, it breaks up altogether. The farmer then dames tractors as "no good," instead of blaming his own shortsightedness. As an example of how such machines are run, a, friend of mine in the trade showed me the other day the report on one of his firm's traireiling experts. or trouble doctors, who had been sent a. hundred miles or more to see what was the matter with a tractor of which the enstsaner was
complaining, and this was the substance of his report :—
The tractor was a chain-tread machine and, said the expert, "As I anticipated, I found the machine generally wrong all over. First, they have been moving distance pieces in order to be able to move the front track sprocket more forward to take up the slack of wear on pins in tracks, rather than put in new pins. The moving of the distance pieces weakens the whole frame on which the tracks are carried, and one of them . has consequently been pulled a little out of' line. Secondly, they packed up with leather the axle which carries the drive sprocket of the track on one side, thus throwing the sprocket against the truck wheels and therefore out of line with the front spaocket. Thirdly, they were working one track about 4 ins, too loose! No wonder the tracks came off ! They are too lazy to put new pins in, and preferred to move the front sprocket out of and farther than its correct position, inorder to take up slack. As for the treads, they show, after nine months' hard usage, very little signs of wear, but the pins, being soft, certainly have worn considerably. So far as the chains and sprockets go, the left-hand chain sprocket on the,gearbox is absolutely worn out and the chain quite useless, but this is entirely their own fault, as they have been working these chains after all the rollers have worn out and fallen off. There are two rollers on each pin and that, of course, brings the bare fixed pin on to the sprocket tooth and soon creates wear, and the missing rollers give the same effect as stretch in the chain, and then riding of the chain on the back sprocket 'takes place. They had also removed a collar from the drive axle, which set up side play in this axle. The chains and track had not a parbele of oil upon them, and it looks very much as if the back drive axle had bent a little, I should say as the result of the force exerted when the tracks rode up and drove off. The back axle was absolutely bane dry. I found it to be badly scored when we forced it from its bearing, which had worn oval from lack of lubrication. They have the governor connection tied up with a bit or string, plugs and compression taps leaking, tan.d then expect to get power out of the engine !"
When one reads this it is easy to see how different the experience might have been. No doubt in time farmers will either acquire a mechanical sense themselves, or will realize that it Will pay them to engage a mechanic-driver, who will look after and keen in order, not only their tractors, hut their other implements and machinery as well. Needless to say, in such matters "prevention is better than cure," and the sinly sound policy, with tractors, as with all other
machinery, is to see -that lubrication is on the excessive side rather than the reverse, and that, at the slightest sign of wear or looseness, adjustment is made, and, when needed, replacements of worn parts made before the wear becomes excessive, if it can no longer bs taken up by the means provided by the manufacturers for that purpose. Either after the day's work, or before starting in the morning, the machine should be carefully gone over for wear, lubrication given, and adjustments made, and at least once a. month a square day, or more if necessary, should be devoted to a careful, systematic overhaul of the entire machine.
Electric Equipment of Tractors.
Attention has been devoted by the Remy Electric Co.. to the electrical equipment, of tractors, and there has now been evolved the Remy governor-generator. Of the simple, direct-current type, the generator develops current for starting, lighting and ignition purposes. The governor lever is operated by the, rocking of the generator, which opens and closes the carburetter throttle instantly when the load is increased or decreased. It will be seen that the entire equipstient is enclosed in a cast-iron ease, thus being alike dustproof and waterproof : at the same time, easy access is permitted by the removal of the large steel cover that forms the top of the casing.
.What are the advantages of electrical apparatus on an agrimotor 1 They are several: firstly, the ease of starting dispenses with the necessity for employing exclusively robust labour for driving tractors. Then, in the second place, the availability of powerful electric lighting for night work itSof far more value than a prima-facie view would suggest
Chain-tread Tractor Conversion Unit.
The introduction of such cheap tractors, as the Fordson has to alarge extent become, will have a serious effect on the sales of the many tractor attachments which, coupled up to a Ford chassis, enable that versatile chassis to be harnessed to the work of the farm, and I am afraid they will find their task to secure amarket much moresiifficult in the 'future than has been the case in the past, unless they are eventually able to make a big cut on price. Talking of these equipments, however, I May incidentally mention that I was shown the designs the other day of one which strikes out on quite original lines and which, if it is marketed, should have a chance of holding its own provided it can be produced at a moderate figure. It gives facilities not given by either of the other conversions, or even by any of the regular tractors. Witbout giving away any secrets—although it is, I understand., patented—or discussing details, I may say that, in the first place, it is. original in that it is the first tractor conversion to adopt the chain-. tread principle instead of the wheel (a feature which may possibly prevent its being sold at a low figure), and, in 'the second place, it combines the features of some of the lorry conversions, of which there are so many now in use, so that the 'farmer has ready to his hand, not only a tractor, but a truck and a car, in Conjunction, of course, with his original Ford chassis.
All the tractor conversions I have yet seen necessitate the removal of the body before they Can be fitted to the chassis, but this new equipment is designed so. that no more than the wings need be removed, and then the change from car to tractor can be readily made, By the .inclusion of the slight modification in the design, the machine can be fitted -with a. special lorry, conversion, and, with a suitable body mounted upon it, can be used to carry 20-cwt. loads, the design being so arranged that, by very simule means, when once the permanent portion of the fittings has been installed, either the chain-tread tractor equipment or the lorry wheels can be put on in a few minutes. . A GRIMM.