A Local Invention.

Patea Mail, 23 June 1882, Page 3

A Local Invention.

An ingenious apparatus has boon contrived by Mr T. Haycock, for regulating tho steam engine at the Patea Wood and Chaff Mills. The engine is not fitted with governor balls to regulate the speed, and being at a distance from the sawing bench, it has been troublesome to regulate tho speed so ns to check it when no wood is against the saw to slow it. A high speed is required for cutting logs, and tho engine has been apt to “ run away ” during any pause at the saw bench. The new contrivance prevents this completely, and saves every ounce of steam, thereby saving fuel. The little hand-wheel on the steam feeder is enlarged to carry a band roud it, and this band connects with another thin wood pulley above the saw bench. A handle comes down from this pulley, and the workman moves the handle with a slight touch backward or forward, the wheel on the steam feeder responding to the motion, and so increasing or checking the amount of steam. This controls the speed of the engine with ease and nicety. It saves a man’s time in running to and from the engine to regulate it, and saves a good deal of fuel. Another pulley is to be fixed for connecting the chaff cutter’s bench upstairs, so that while working a long way from the engine there will be the same easy control to regulate speed or stop it with a touch., Mr Haycock has hit on a useful “ notion,” and it can be applied to, various machines worked by steam power.