IMPLEMENT NOVELTIES.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1258, 30 March 1878, Page 3

IMPLEMENT NOVELTIES.

[From "The Field."] In a recent notice mention was made to an unusually large number of novelties in agricultural machinery, amongst the most starting of which, says the writer, was a model of Darby's Patent "Pedestrian" Bioadside Digeer, so called because the mechanism of the forking apparatus is made to imitate the action of a man in digging, and the leverage obtained by the resistance of the soil, both to the forks and to certain set of feet which alternately come in contact ■with the ground, propels the machine sideways ; locomotion, which is very slow, being aided by a series of wheels in the opposite side to the forks. The diggers cover 16ft at each traverse; the whole weight, being thus distributed, gives about half a ton per foot, and this distribution and a slow speed are relied upon for the effect, which was apparent enough upon a hard surface, like the table on which the model was shown, and might even answer on a dry stubble ; but the point to be decided by experience is whether such an implement could be used at all when the surface is wet or soft. A plan of steerage allows of the machine being turned at the headland in its own area, one man only being required to stoke and steer. Messrs. Burgess and Key have patented a decided novelty as regards the cutter bar of a mowing or reaping machine, having for its object the separation of the linger and bar from what may be called the cutting surfaces between which the knife travels. The advantage claimed is that the steel edges, which are so liable to become blunted, and therefore interfere with good cutting, can be easily removed cither for repair <r renewal To proceed to detail. The cutter bar consists of two parts:—First, the steel bar, with the fingers (which are of forged iron) riveted on ; these lingers are without jaws or cutting edges, and serve only to cHude the grass, and to stand the racket in catching the ground, stones, &c. Secondly, the jaws through which the kuife works; these are separate from the fingers, and are male of hard steel, one for each linger, and are riveted together in sets of four each ; they are not fixed to the lingers, but drop into recesses, and are held in their places by one guide bar which before held down the knife only. We think this is a really useful introduction.

We are reminded to notice here the report of a novel straw binder' which has been sent to us from Chicago, and which appears to ha v e gone through a very successful trial. Uur friends have already shown us what cau be done with wire binders j but it would

he a still greater fact if the straw itself can he used. Many of our readers may have heard of the Marsh harvester machine, a reaper with a binding platform, at which two or three men rieling on the machine t : ed the grain as it was elelivered from the knife by the aid of revolving belts. The new mechanism is fixed to the Marsh harvester 'rame, and super-edes the manual binders. Some idea of the very ingenious invention may be gathered from the fol'owing descrip t on, which we re-produc i from a Chicago paper, entitled " Factory and Farm." The gran wheo cut is (Mivereel over the elriving wheel into a receptacle not unlike that seen in other binders. A cut-off detains the falling grain, while a small reel attached to the binder presses it into the jaw of an iron el nip that stands open while the bundle is l» ing gathered; when ready for being bound, the clamp closes upon the straw, Wring about one-third of the butt end of the sheaf in its embrace, giving it a perfectly round form, when it commences a slow revolution, carrying the bundlo with it, while a long needle, in appearance not unlike an enlarged crochet hook, with a barbeel point at one side, accomplishes the work of binding in the following manner :—At each step in the revolution of the bundle, the needle di cs into it:, and draw's a loop of straw from the centre. Another step in the revolution, and the needle again (liters the bundle, bringing out another loop of straw, drawing it through the previo/s !ojp, the two being united like two links of a chain. The process continues until it goes one anel a half times round the bundle l , in order to prevent any slipping. At the close of the revolutions the jaws of the clamp opens, and the binder r- el ejects the bounel bundle, anel reels more grain into the emptied jaws, when the same process is repeateel. One most important feature is this lnarvel'ously ingenious combination is that the binder does not commence to run until a sufficient bulk of grain has been collected into the receptacle. It is said, and we can reaelily believe, that the band is ve>y tight about the bundle, and being woven in, it is impossible to become loose or slip ; but when cut passes readily through the machine, and does not in any way interfere with thrashing. What appears to us doubtful is whether in full crops, such as our farmers strive to grow, the sheaf can be made to revolve sufficiently rapidly to get clear of the inflowing grain. As described, the revolution and a half appears a longer time than woulel be required to cut and elevate the material requireel for a sheaf. It only remains to state that the new invention is manufactureel by the Harvester Company, of Sycamore, Illinois. In reference to these important machines, we arc glad to notice that the council of the R.A. Society have adopted the recommendation of their judges, to continue the offer of a gold medal at the Bristol, or in connection with the Bristol meeting ; and we may hope that the additional opportunity may be seized on by both American as well as English inventors to bring forward novelties. At Islington some of the American wire binders were shown.

Returning to the London show, we must in the next place notice a novelty in the form of a farmyard manure spreader (Pamphilon's Patent), shown by Davey, Paxman, and Co., Colchester, which has this advantage over some other inventions, viz., that the spreader is attachable to a cart of any sdze, anel one only is required. The operation is as follows :—The man who usually pulls the elung out of the cart into heaps throws the dung off the cart into the machine ; revolving tines, on a travelling web, take it round, divide, anel distribute it with considerable regularity, bringing it to the rear of the machine, where it is brought into contact with a helical agitator, revolving at a rapid rate, thereby thoroughly parting the dung. The quantity distributed can be regulated partly by a sliding feed board and partly by the speed at which the cart is made to travel. The machine will deliver from fifty to seventy loads a day, or from five to six acres. The saving of spreading at 2s or 2s Gd an acre, as well as the more minute separation, represents the aelvantage for an outlay of £lB 18s, It is always rash to pronemnce a decided opiuion on the merits of a new implement unless the same has been aeen at actual work. Long fresh manure, for example, might probably clog up the distributor. With well-made rotten dung, which is certainly the coneiition in which it is most commonly used, such a machine should prove a success and a considerable labor saver.