TILE-LAYING MACHINE OFF SECRET LIST

Chronicle (Levin), 25 September 1946, Page 2

TILE-LAYING MACHINE OFF SECRET LIST

FIEST IMPORT TO DOMINION A farm drainago machine ivliicli will dig a troucli seveu inckes wide aud up to tliree feet in deptli, aud in the suine operatiou will lay tiles in thc trenc-h bottom while travelling at 10 chains per liour, has been iniported from Englaiul for demonstration purposes by Massey Agricultinal College. Maeinnes of this type wero evolved j in England during the war, and since j ISHZ' they have p'iayed an iniportaht \ part in bringing into use land which , formerly was unproductive bceause of Jack of drainage. Mechahical details of the machine were elosely guarded during wartime, and it is only recently l that this heavy implement has been j takou olf the secret list. It will be seen in action at public demonstrations at j the college liext Tliursday and Friday, | along with thc angle-dozer, Lower J wheel, niole plough with hydraulic lift, , two ditehing macliincs, and a side drag- j line for eleaning open ditches. Rarely, if ever, has sucli an array of i farm drainage niachinery been as- 1 sembled for action at anv one place in ! Xew Zealand before. The demonstra- j tion is expected to usher in a new ora in farm drainage, and to bring within the realms of ocononiic possibility the jierinanent removal of excess water from many thonsands of a-ros of good land now lying unproductive as swamps and rush-covered paddocks. Interest in the trial operation of tliese niachiims is likely to rival that displayod whea j thc hrst bnlldozers to nrrive in Xou ' Zealand wero tried out some 10 years ago on South Westland bush country. i The combined trench-digger and tile- 1 layer is known as a Rotelio. It is do- ' signed on the rotary hoe principle, and i compriscs a wheel about four fect in 1 diameter fitted with hoe lilade's, which l)ite into tlie soil as the tractor-drawn ' machine niovos forward, cairying the j displaeed earth to a chute whicli lays ' it cJear of the treneh. Uv the aid of remote controls the driver can steer the tractor and control the depth of the trcnch, into which a chute-lilfo attachment allows of the tiles being Jaid by s the machine as it proceeds. The tiles j are fed into tlie machine by hand by a-.' second man. Back-lilling of tlie trcnch is done by an angle-dozer fitted to a tractor. The Lower wheel, an attachment used widely in England during thc war, is also new to this country. L is a lieavv castiug altachable to the hub of u ? rubber-tvred tractor wheel, and from ' which a series of spokes can be exlend- \ ed to beyond the tyre to give addilional grij) in greasy ground. The moie plough, chief use for which is in draihing country having a clay | subsoil, is of standard mahe, aud wiil ; bC'tried out behiud a tractor which has ; hydraulic littiugs. A second niole plough j is an iiuproved type which can be oper- j ated from the seat of the tractor. The side draglino is an adaptatiou i which perinits an ordinary draglino machine to travel alongside, instead of ' slraddling, an open ditch which is be- i itig cleaned. Rtraddling a farm ditch ! is often impossible through the proxim- ; it.v of a live hedge or fence line. A great saving in labour promises to be i ''ITecled by this machine. Tlie other two ditehing machinos are i privaf elv-owned. One has been de- ' signed by Mr. Ouv Lewis, of Alfredton, ; unl is a machine particularly snitable for eoun! rv in which there is still un- ; rotted timbpr. I A 1ile-pulling machine, for pulling a tile into tlie end of anv mole drain onlled awav from an open ditch or 'ainlc, will alsn 1 >o deinonstrated. i I