Il6o FARM HXCIXHICKIXC, 



i) Machine occupying very little floor space, the portable type with 

 9 aprons examined by the writer weighed. 1102 lbs. and measured : length 

 18 ft., width 8 V4 ft., height 10 ft. 



2) Simplicity and reliability of the apron tipping mechanism. 



3) Great facility in altering the path and temperature of the air 

 used for drying, according to the kind of grain to be dried. 



4) Possibility of carrying out very energetic dr>'ing by always pass- 

 ing dry air through. 



5) High efficiency'. 



6) I^imited fuel and power consumption (hardly more than i HP). 



7) Little labour required : 1 workman to feed the machine and I 

 to look after the discharge. 



The output of this drier of course depends upon the degree of dryness 

 required. The makers assume that in order to dry paddy which is not 

 over- wet it will suffice to pass it through the machine twice for 15 minutes at 

 a time, and under these circumstances they estimate the continuous daily 

 output (12 hours) at about 177.12 cwt. of dry paddy. 



899 - Machine for Gathering Cotton Fruits without Injury to the Plant. — Scientific Ame- 

 rican, Vol. 114, No. 22, pp. 331 and 364, 3 fit;. New York, May 27, 1916. 



. A light machine (990 lbs.) in the shape of a 2 wheeled cart with broad 

 tires, the mechanism for gathering the ripe fruits of the cotton plant being 

 located between the wheels. 



It is drawn by 2 horses straight over the rows, so that the working 

 parts detach the fruits of the plant and deliver them into a wooden box at 

 the rear of the cart. 



The cropping mechanism comprises 100 fixed arms (one of which is 

 shown separately at the top of the annexed illustration), each carrying a 

 number of revolving points, which gather the ripe bolls. These arms, di- 

 rected backwards and thus working in an opposite direction to that of the 

 cart, are fixed on gutter-shaped metallic supports (hollow laths), within 

 which revolves a shaft which, by means of gearings, transmits to the points 

 the rotatory movement which it receives itself by means of an endless chain 

 driven from the wheels of the moving cart. 



The arm supports, which can themselves revolve on their shaft and move 

 backward when the cart is going forward (again by means of the endless 

 chain), are arranged in 2 symmetrical groups separated in the middle by 

 a space for the plants which are being cropped. In proportion as the ma- 

 chine advances above a row, the arms, by means of their revolving points, 

 pick almost all the ripe bolls of a plant at once, without injuring the plant 

 (because the arms remain stationary with the plant while the entire vehi- 

 cle continues to move) and leaving the unripe fruits for a subsequent crop. 

 On completion of this crop the plant is left behind the machine and the arms, 

 owing to rotation of their supports, drop down on each side of the apparatus 

 towards the wheels, still holding the detached bolls. The direction of ro- 

 tation of the points is then automatically reversed ; they release the bolls, 

 which fall to the bottom of the elevator and are fed by it into the box at 

 the back, where the cycle of operations in relation to one plant terminates. 



