BALLAST FOR TRACTORS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 March 1939, Page 3

BALLAST FOR TRACTORS

TYRES FILLED WITH WATER. EXPLANATION OF TECHNIQUE. One of the difficulties met with when using farm traetprs fitted with pneumatic'tyres is that there is insufficient weight in the driving wheels for the engine to exert its full pulling power, and that, when working on sides of hills, the up-hill wheel, on which there is little weight, tends to skid. This has now been overcome by the use of water ballast in the tyres themselves. A hose adapter which screws on to the valve stem has been designed, and is used in the following manner:— The tractor wheel is jacked up, the valve core removed, and the adapter screwed on to the stem before the valve is drawn back into the type. All the air having been allowed to escape, the wheel is turned so that the valve is in top position.

A garden hose is attached to the adapter and the water turned on. It is necessary to shut off the water supply periodically to allow the compressed air to escape. The tube must never be more than three-quarters full of water, and the level inside it can be determined by hammering on the outside of the tyre. When sufficient water has been injected the valve core is replaced and the tyre inflated with air to the ordinary recommended pressure. Tractor tyres treated in this way always have the ballast at the lowest point—next the ground—which has the further advantage of correcting any tendency to capsize on steep hill faces.

Much of the plant at the Orepuki shale works, which has been closed down for many years, has been dismantled and sold to the Government and to private interests. Some of the cast iron settling tanks have been bought by the State Forest Service for use at Conical Hills and Rotorua, and some of the mcahinery has been acquired by Amalgamated Chemical Industries at Waipango, which has already begun the manufacture of oil from shale, and has produced as much as 60 gallons of oil to a ton of shale. The lease of the Orepuki property has not yet expired, but recent legislation makes it incumbent on a company to work an oil claim within a stipulated period or forfeit its title.