396 



THE farmp:r's magazine. 



the following ingenious arrangements • On a frame and 

 wheels resembling in general feature:* that of the ordi- 

 nary drill, a box containing lime in a state of fine powder 

 is mounted. To the lower part of the framing a pair of 

 fanners is attached, and which receive a rapid motion of 

 revolution through the agency of drums and strap, the 

 primary motion being obtained from the driving wheel 

 of the machine. The fanners draw or exhaust through 

 one pipe, and force or propel through another which 

 is placed in the opposite direction. The oritices of the 

 exhaust pipes are supplied with curtains, which extend a 

 short distance below and around them. As the machine 

 progresses over the land, these curtains brushing slightly 

 over the plants disturb the flies, which rise up in their 

 endeavour to escape, but are caught in the whirl of air 

 created by the fanners, and swept up the pipe, and are 

 — along with the powdered lime from the box— pro- 

 jected through the other pipe on to the surface of the 

 soil, which thus receives a top-dressing of lime mixed 

 with the dead flies. 



Messrs. Priest and Woolnough exhibited a "skid" 

 or small "turn-table," also the invention of Mr. 

 Jephson Rowley, used for facilitating the turning of 

 horse-hoes and drills at the headlands. The "skid " is 

 placed 0:1 the ground in the desired position, and one of 

 the wheels of the drill or horse-hoe runs on to one of the 

 " tracks " which cross its diameter. The drill is then 

 wheeled round with the skid till it is turned in the op- 

 posite direction, when it is run off in the exact line of 

 motion required. 



Messrs. Garrett, of Saxmundham, exhibited a speci- 

 men of their celebrated " horse-hoe," exemplifying 

 their recently improved method of adjusting the hoe- 

 blades. We presume our readers to be intimately ac- 

 quainted with the original mechanism by which this 

 adjustment was eff'ected, namely, through the medium of 

 the eccentric wheels on the cross shaft, and the swing 

 or side levers which carry the mortice bar, to which 

 the coulter stiilks are attached ; we therefore proceed 

 to explain the improved mechanism. 



/ 



Let a represent the mortice-bar to which the ends 

 of the horizontal levers carrying the vertical coulter- 

 stalks are jointed. Jointed to the ends of this are two 

 levers (I) and c) ; their upper ends are terminated with 

 nuts, which work on a horizontal bar (e d), one end of 

 which is provided with a right-hand, the other with a 

 left-handed screw, the threads being in opposite direc- 

 tions, thu8\ / . The mortice-bar (a) has a bar con- 

 nected with it, which extends upwards, and slides in a 

 Blotted guide (/). On turning, by means of a handle, the 

 bar or screw shaft C<? d), the nuts at the upper ends of 



the levers (c h) are made to recede from, or approach 

 to each other, according to the direction in which the 

 screw-shaft (e d) is turned. The consequence of the 

 movement is that the vertical bar of the mortice-bar (a) 

 slides either in or out of the slot in the guide (^) ; thus 

 raising or depressing the mortice-bar (a), and through 

 it the ends of the horizontal levers to which the coulter 

 stalks are affixed. The outer ends of these horizontal 

 levers carrying the coulter stalks are kept at the same 

 level by means of the eccentric wheels fixed on the cross 

 shaft at the back of the machine ; the angle at which 

 the coulter stalks are pointed to the surface of the 

 ground varying with the raising or depressing of the 

 mortice bar (a) in the diagram. 



A form of horse-hoe, invented by Mr. John Taylor, 

 of Swanton Novers, Thetford, Norfolk, presenting a 

 very simple means of giving the hoes a lateral adjust- 

 ment, was also exhibited by Messrs Garrett. In this 

 machine the hoes are all mounted on independent 

 levers, jointed to a balance or swing frame, which by pre- 

 ference of the inventor has its fulcrum on the axis of the 

 driving wheels, on which it is capable of sliding laterally, 

 or from side to side. To the upper side of the balance or 

 swing frame, a rack is provided. Engaging with this is a 

 small pinion keyed on the end of a horizontal shaft, and 

 working in suitable bearings, attached to the framing of 

 the machine. The outer end of this shaft is provided 

 with a cross or double handle. By turning this handle 

 from right to left, the pinion gearing with the rack 

 in the frame carrying the hoes moves the frame in the 

 opposite direction, or from left to right. By moving 

 the cross handle through a small portion of its revolu- 

 tion, any amount of adjustment of the hoes can be given 

 with great ease. 



Not the least interesting feature of the meeting was 

 the trial of machines used in the preparation of the food 

 for stock, as straw-cutters, root-cutters, root-pulpers, 

 oil-cake crushers, oat-bruisers, and linseed mills. 



In testing the working capabilities of these machines, 

 the dynamometer, invented by Mr. Amos, was used, 

 by which a measure of the force whicii the machine 

 takes to work it is obtained, represented by so many 

 pounds raised one foot high per minute, and also the 

 number of revolutions the machine under trial makes 

 during the time of its working. The arrangements, 

 and mode of operation of the dynamometer are difficult 

 to be explained without the aid of somewhat elaborate 

 drawings. As, however, some of our readers may be in- 

 terested in it, we shall endeavour to give here such a 

 notice of its leading features as will convey some notion 

 of its mode of working. 



To the shaft (a) of the machine under trial, a pulley 

 (i) of determinate breadth and diameter is keyed ; a 

 driving-band connects this with a pulley (c) of same 

 diameter. This pulley (c) is fixed on the shaft (d) of 

 the dynamometer, which is thus placed near the machine, 

 the working of which is to be tested. The end (e) of 

 the shaft d, opposite to that on which the pulley (c) is 

 fixed, is passed into a rectangular slot (/"), made in 

 the side of a long lever (g), which has its centre of 

 vibration on a shaft (n) parallel to, and at some distance 



