Agricultural Motors, Tractors, and Rollers.
Page 12
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Successful Development of Tractors which Work over the Land.
Steam-ploughing, by ponderous engines and winding-gear, with the engines themselves at opposite sides of the land under work, and with the ploughs travelling to and fru between as the cable pulls them, is an old system. It chiefly, if not exclusively, suits large areas. The outfits, too, represent a considerable lock-up of capital, notwithstanding the rapidity with which particular services can be performed. The last six years, however, are responsible for a great change, and new possibilities. We should, rather, write practical achievements, for the tests of public competition, and those of employment by owners, have shown that the lighter types of tractor, with internal-combustion engines and several ratios of gearing, are by no means the useless " toys" which old-school critics were in the habit of insisting was the case. We admit that some poor examples of design and workmanship have accounted for bad reports and a measure of ill-repute ; but pioneer buyers, in connection with any fresh development, are apt to make errors, and to buy the wrong thing. Robustness and simplicity, in matters mechanical, are never ignored without evil consequences.
The qualitative capacity for performance, with modern agricultural motors, embraces: ordinary haulage, both on the land and the highway ; ploughing, by drawing one or more multiple-share ploughs, the number of shares and depth of cut varying with the nature of the soil; grass-cutting, by attaching the cutter bar to the tractor and driving the knife from some convenient shaft on the motor ; reaping and binding, either by hauling direct or attachment of the reaper and binder to the side of the tractor ; and pumping, chaffeutting, threshing, etc., the machines for such purposes being driven by belt from a power-transmission pulley on the motor.
When one turns to quantitative results, it is due to readers to emphasize that the acreage ploughed per hour, or per day, depends upon the regularity of • the power given out by the motor, and upon the ground to be turned over. As regards the former consideration, prospective users can he assured that uniformity is well safe-guarded, nowadays, by (11 the perfection of ignition fittings and (2) the provision, by makers, of proper means for the adjustment and the facile control of carburation and vaporization. Mechanical troubles are, in approved makes, things of the past. Iiranting, as one is justified in doing, the lack of necessity for abnormal supervision, in order to maintain the output of power uuder steady, or full-load conditions, we can, probably, best meet the desires of those who are studying this branch of heavy motoring by quoting from recorded data which we are satisfied are of a reliable character.
:Motor-mowers, of the type shown, for example, in the seventh figure on the next page, have been known to cut grass at the rate of 3 acres an hour, at a total cost, for fuel, grease, stores and labour, of about 90. an acre, whereas the cost for doing the same work by horse would be more than five times that amount. The machine made by Ivel Agricultural Motors, Ltd., of 46. Poland Street, London, W.. is a welltried and highly-successful little motor, and it may be used for a great variety of purposes ; large numbers of this make of machine have been sent to all parts of the world. Its weight, in running order, is about 35 cwt., or, when packed for shipment, 2 tons 2 cwt., and it may be obtained, F.O.R., at the makers' works, at Biggleswade, for a matter of £300. A still-lighter model is the 6 h.p. to 8 h.p. " Universal " motor. which is built by II. P. Saunderson and Co., Ltd., of Elstow Works, Bedford. This little machine has a detachable single-furrow plough attachment, and by the use of this the motor becomes a self-propelled plough. In addition to this special use, the motor is capable of doing all the work 011 a farm for which a pair of horses are employed, and it may further be used for driving all kinds of farm machieery within the limits of its power. The maker is prepared to deliver it. F.O.B., at any 1-7nglish port, for an inclusive price of £100. The Saunderson Colonial agricultural motor, with driving wheels 5 ft. in diameter, is another of this maker's excellent models. It has a 45 h.p. to 50 h.p. engine, and, when packed for shipment, weighs 51i toils;
the price, F.O.B., is £472 les. By measurement, it is 15 " cubic " tons.
The 30 h.p. Marshall oil tractor is a particularly-businesslike machine, and its capabilities have been abundantly
proved. One of our Editorial representatives conducted a, 24-hour test with one of these machines during November, 1907, at a time when the land was in a really-heavy condition after a longcontinued spell of wet weather, and, as a, result of his observations and calculations, we are convinced that so low a total cost as 3s. id. per acre, for ploughing land, to a depth of 5 or 6 in.; is easily attainable in England ; this figure includes every possible working charge, and also allows for interest on capital, and depreciation, at a most-liberal rate. A specially-powerful 70 h.p. model, intended chiefly for Canadian employment, is also made by Marshall's, and one of the latter machines put up an excellent record at the Brandon Agricultural Motor Competition, in July last. This particular motor, with the 12-furrow plough which it hauled during the Bran, don test, is shown in the 11th figure on the next page.
Turning, now, to still-heavier ma.. chines propelled by internal-combustion engines, but intended for haulage purposes on roads rather than for employment on tilled land, there has been an enormous development during the past few years, and such makers as Thornycroft, Hornsby, and Fetter have built many successful examples. The British Military Authorities have paid particula•r attention to the development and use of such machines, and have already in use several engines by the first-named maker, one of whose machines carried off the £1,000 prize in the competition for military tractors, held at Aldershot, in
March last. The winning Thorny-croft tractor is illustrated on page 297, and examples of those made by Petter and Hornsby are shown on page283.
On the facing page, too, are shown two other types of machines which most be included in this class. Of these, the hand-steered, self-propelled lawn-mower is typical of an application of the internal-combustion engine that has been attended with a large measure of success, especially for use in large parks, racecourses, golf links, etc: The mower illustrated is one made by Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies, E.t.d., of the Orwell Works, Ipswich. Thos. Green and Sons, Ltd., of Leeds, also make machines of this type. For grass and road rolling, the water-ballast rollers made by Messrs. Barford and Perkins, of the Queen Street Iron Works, Peterborough, are of almost-universal application. One of the views, on page 283, shows a Barford and Perkins roller as packed for short sea voyages ; the machine in question was sent. to :Montenegro, and the Anti
vari shipping mark is clearly shown on the ease. whiala encloses all but the leading roller and its mountings. Whensent lung distances by sea, the hind roller is enclosed in one case, whichmeasures 5 ft. 4 in.. by 3 ft., by 3 ft., and the weight of the whole is 2 tons, 5 cwt., 2 qr. The chassis is packed in a. second case, measuring 11. ft. 1 in., by 5 ft. 8 in., by 5 ft. 3 in., and, as shipped, scalem 3 tons, 11 cwt., 1 qr. The net price, delivered F.O.B. London, is 2,340 9s. 6d.