The Wolsely Machine at Heaton Park Estate.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 26 February 1891, Page 2

The Wolsely Machine at Heaton Park Estate.

— ♦ It is natural that where such an enorniou3 number of sheep have to be yearly despoiled of their fleeces, as at Heaton^Park, there should be-a^ desire on the part of Mr E. Wilson, the capablejinanager, to shorten the process by any mechanical aid that the process of invention can furnish him with. Lately, therefore he has c adopted the Wolsely shearing ma-^ chine, and having received an invitation from him to come and see it in operation, we paid the shed a visit a few days ago. Unfortunately Mr Wilson was not at home, but Mr Lowe, and the machinest were there and courteously indicated points of interest in regard to the arrangements of the shed and the mechanism of the machinery, The building, which is, as yet, hardly completed, is an enoraioußly large one, being 108 feet in length. At the upper end of the building a gable end is being constructed which will be 70 feet in length. In this part of the structure it is interesting to notice the manner in whi?h advantage has been taken of the inequality of tbe grouud to minimise labour. Under the main floor here there will be another, on which the press will stand, so that the fleeces will be thrown down into the press instead of up. Then again, the floor of tbe press will be four feet higher than the bottom of the dray into wbich the wool will be loaded. If this does not reduce wool-loading to a pleasure, it will take all the work out of the operation that it is possib'e to deduct. Over the building there wi 1 be reared a tall flag- staff, from which will flutter a flag which may be seen far away on the estate, and which will- be used to signal when more sheep are required for the shearers. In the gable end just referred to there wiil be a large amount of room available for storage. Tbe shearing shed proper is divided longitudinally into five sections. Under the lean-to at one side of the building is the night pen, then the race, the drawing pen, and the shearing floor, and the sections are divided from each other by an ingenious system of gates. At the western side of the building the Wolseley machines are in operation. At intermediate shaft, which runs the whole length of the shearing shed, is operated by a six-horse power engine. Connected with the intermediate are ten ol the machines and these are so far apart as to give each man plenty of space in whioh to do his work. One interesting feature of the arrangements is that there is a hole in the side of the building olose to eaoh shearer, through whioh he heads hia sheep after shearing, where it slips down an inclined plane into a pen of its own on the outside. As to the machinery, we have already given a^ description of it so far as complicated mechanical movements maybe described in writing, and we do not therefore intend to attempt it again. Of one thing, however, there can be no doubt, and that is that the machine is destined to revolutionise shearing. The men engaged were unused to the machine, but Mr Lowe pointed out one who, he said, was never able to shear move than a hundred with the shears, but could - take the wool off a hundred and fifty with the machine. The average time to shear a lamb was thiee minutes, and the work was close, neat, and undisfigured by the raw places too often characteristic of shearing operations. One of the objections advanced against the machine when it was first introduced was that it would be no good for trimming ; but use has demonstrated the fallacy of that. An ingenious contrivance has been designed for carrying the wool to the sorting table. A broad endless canvas band will work at about the height of the table, close to the men at work, and extend the whole length of the shearing shed, and as each sheep is shorn, the fleece will be merely placed on the band and so carried to the sorting-table. When all the arrangements in connection with the building are completed, Mr Wilson will have one of the most complete and economically worked sheds in the district.— Advocate.