738 Report on the Trials of Imj)lcments at Bed ford. 



spindle. An additional rocking motion is imparted to the cylinder, in order 

 to make the grain travel. The round seeds are very effectually separated from 

 the grain ; but one drawback is that different zinc-plates are required, with in- 

 dentations to suit different sizes of round seeds. The zinc plates are the most 

 expensive part of the machine, and fixtures ; a separate machine would there- 

 fore be required lor eacli size of round seed. Its price is 12>l. 10s. 



3515. Ransomes, Sims, and Head, ofTpsiolch. — Patent Straw-burning Ajrpa- 

 ratus, attached to IQ-liorse-power Portable Steam-engine. — Straw, reeds, cotton- 

 stalks, and other vegetable substances, may be used as fuel in place of coal. 

 This invention will specially meet the requirements of agriculturists in the 

 vast corn-growing districts of the East, where great difiiculty is found in 

 getting rid of the straw. In our own country it seems unlikely that tins 

 apparatus will be much used ; because on few farms is the straw or other 

 vegetable refuse so })lentiful, that it requires to be burnt in order to get rid of 

 it. It must also be considered what an enormous loss of nitrogen would take 

 place ; which, of course, is the manurial element most to be economised by 

 fanners. 



In Eussia, Hungary, and on the banks of the Danube, where thousands of 

 acres of wheat are annually planted, the soil is in many places so rich, that it 

 requires little manure ; and owing to the vast acreage, the land is usually 

 cropped with wheat for two years in succession, and then allowed to lie iu 

 fallow for three or four years. As there is little or no stock to utilize the 

 straw, it follows that an enormous surplus must every year accumulate. The 

 agriculturist then either stacks it and allows it to rot, or endeavours to 

 utilize it as fuel for threshing his crops. Coal in most of these Eastern 

 countries is out of the reach of the agriculturist, owing to the long, difficult, 

 and expensive transport ; he therefore endeavours to use his straw instead 

 of it. In Hungary and South Kussia, a pit is dug about 8 or 9 feet square 

 and of the same depth, and in one end of it is built an oven, similar to a 

 baker's oven, -with an inclined brick or clay flue passing upwards. A portable 

 engine, with its fire-bars remioved, is placed about 5 or 6 feet from the hole, 

 its fire-box being connected with the flue. A fire of straw is made in the 

 oven, and kept continually fed with small quantities of straw ; the heated 

 gases passing through the flue into the fire-box of the engine, and thence 

 through the tubes to the chimney. The disadvantages of this system are : 

 1st. that the joint between the flue and fire-box of the engine soon shakes 

 loose ; the flame then attacking the rivets and angle-iron ring at the bottom 

 of the fire-box, soon causing them to leak. 2nd. The construction of a pit 

 involves some expense; the engine is therefore a comparative fixture, and 

 all the grain requires to be transported to the threshing-machine in carts, 

 instead of moving the engine and threshing-machines alongside of each stack 

 to be threshed. 



Many difficulties are found attendant upon burning straw in the fire-box 

 of an ordinary portable engine, without the employment of the pit above 

 described, chiefly on account of the larger amount of fuel space and heating 

 surface required, over and above that necessary for coal and wood ; and also 

 the difficulty of obtaining the admission of sufficient atmospheric air to pro- 

 duce i3roper combustion, when straw or similar substances are treated iu a 

 boiler in the same way as coal or wood. 



The theory of the present invention is, that the straw is forced into the 

 fire-box at a low level, by means of rollers, in a thin stream, and held there 

 in suspension, so that the flame can completely surround each piece. A suffi- 

 cient quantity of atmospheric air is admitted into the furnace, so that a 

 proper combustion is kept up. The bars are kept free from silica by means of 

 knives, which are completely under the control of the stoker. A steam jet is 

 attached to the feed-pump, so that the heat of the ashes is extinguished imme- 



