TRIAL OF REAPERS AND BINDERS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1188, 6 February 1880, Page 2

TRIAL OF REAPERS AND BINDERS.

As wc. briefly noticed last night a public trial of reapers and binders took' place yesterday afternoon near, the mouth, of the Awamoa. The. attendance large considering the time of year, and all.present took. a lively interest in what was going on. The afternoon was all that could be desired, and. everything went off in a satisfactory manner. The trial took place under the auspices of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association. For the gold medal offered by the; Association for wire binders there were, two competitors—Messrs. Gammon and Decring's machine and- - M'Cormick's. The Osborne, owing to some misunderstanding as to the date of trial, did not arrive in time. M'Cormick won the: tenguinea gold medal, the decision being as follows: — ' Ist points. 2nd points. M'pormick ... 40 5 Gatninon and Deering" (! 38 The gold, medal value 15 5s thus fell.to the lot of : the 'Deering machine. For the special; prize i of L 5 ss, open to all comers there were three competitors— M'Cormick-; and - thet Johnston' and 'Deering string binders. The voting was as follows : Deering, string binder 30 M'Oormick, wire binder 12 Johnston, string binder ... 4

Each machine was allotted the task of cutting three acres, and the time occupied was as under : Hours. Min. M'Cormick, wire binder ... 2 55 Gammon and Deering, do. ... 3 16 Do. string binder... 3 48 Johnston ... ... 3 55 It is to be regretted thatithere was no dynanometer on the ground, l so that the draught of each machine-Could have; been tested,, as this is _a most/ important;point in"cutting:- - :Th'e sfnng binders -being new to the public, it \vill<be as welLto give a slight them in' the&oyder m •which they were-found on entering -the Held. -■</. , 'i' The jwmstonj string binder has>a side delivery like the wire binders. The machinery for twisting and tying the knot is situated under the binder table, at its extreme edge. ~lt >c works .with lioi'izontai ari& vertical- nSoveirienitsj sjliiclr; a* j Apart-from-tMs,Jio®ever,,the,. kno.t. tied, is very complete. A difference may be observed/rbetwecn this machine and the others, insomuch that they are automatic in tlie "STnding^pr ~John-" ; ston requires/the-assistance of the driver to throw'"ttfWd'out' of gear before a sheaf can be tied. The width of the elevators are narrower in the Johnston than in either the Deering or Wood's. All the machines on the ground appeared to have too little width in the elevators for this season's crop, which is unusually heavy. The fact of their being so narrow entails the necessity of leaving the stubble an unusual height, which we observed to be from sixteen to eighteen inches. The workmanship generally in the Johnston machine is of an excellent character, and has a good finish.

The Deering's string binder has a side delivery similar to the others. It ties a knot very much like that made by the Johnston machine, and is automatic in its binding action, requiring no assistance from the driver. The compressing levers on the binding table hold the sheaf whilst a series of arms pack the same until the proper strain is brought on the centre lever, which throws the binding action out- of gear. The process of binding is then complete, and the sheaf is pushed from the table on to the ground. The advantage of the automatic process consis s in the machine itself regulating the tying, so that each sheaf is of the same size, and the driver's attention is not required. This machine suffered under the disadvantage of having lost a bolt in the main driving wheel soon after starting, which caused a derangement in the gearing, and must have affected the speed of the machine. A considerable amount of the corn cut by this machine, as also by the Johnston, was badly laid, so that thev were severely tested, and did not leave such a clean stubble as under more favorable circumstances they would have done.

The wire binders of M'Cormick and Deering having been fully described on many former occasions, it is unnecessary to go into minute details as far as their construction goes. The M'Covmick wire binder was considered by the majority of those present to show the best work, as was evidenced by the award. A noticeable feature might be observed in the smooth manner in which the sheaf left the machine without any derangement or jerk. There appears to bo some difficulty in the delivery of the sheaves from the Deering wire binder, which causes them to clog, and occasionally get entangled the one with the other when leaving the binder table. So far as the mechanism for twisting tlie wire and binding the sheaves goes, this machine appears to us to be simplicity itself, the M'Cormick coming next. As the cost per acre that a crop can be cut for will be seriously influenced by the amount of string or wire used, we _ may mention that the Deering string binder used 71bs. of string in cutting the three acres. The string is 9d per pound, so that the cost per acre would be Is 9d. We could not ascertain the exact amount that was used by; the Johnston, but the string being stouter and more expensive, the cost per acre, would be greater. The cost for wire we have ascertained to be about 2s Gd per acre, but there, is a difference of opinion on this point, as some say that the wire costs no more than the string. . The price of both' wire and string would, of course, depend upon the strength of the crop. Whatever difference there is, it would be up if the wire binders always made the better time, as they did yesterday. We understand that the Deering machine is about to be made six inches wider, in the elevators, and the length of the knives will also be'increased. These alterations, will prove of great advantage in heavy crops.. _ Although not in the competition, Wood's string binder can hardly be passed over without a word in its favoi'. As far as the' woi-k-done went, this machine showed/results equal,, if not superior, to any "in the, field. ..This, perhaps, might be attributed to tlie extra width of the elevators, ana ; to the crop being more regular in this part of- the field, and also to the fact of the man.: being able to take his own. time over the work. The construction appears to be very similar in principle to those' -already inentioned. The sheaves are delivered in much the same manner, and as in the Deering, the binding and twisting process as automatic in its action. It should be stated that the Johnston and Deering string binders both labored under the disadvantage of having the worst part of the field to cut, as a great deal of it was badly laid, and we noticed that the Johnston was stuck in a soft place for some time, the wheel having sunk to the axle. We should like to see another trial with tlig same machines in a good standing crop, as they can hardly be said to have hadjja fair chance yesterday. One result of our observations yesterday went to show that these machines cannot be hurried over their work in the same way in which the old back delivery machine can.