70 N. J. Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 348 



bound together with cross ties. The front and rear ends of the 

 machine each bear a revolving drum ; upon the front a 250-foot J^- 

 inch and upon the rear a 500-foot ^-inch steel cable is wound. 

 When the power plant must be moved forward or away in another 

 direction and thrown into the sod, the power is then applied to the 

 drum and the plant is drawn up to the anchor. 



The plow or trencher consists of two 12- foot long, lo-inch wide 

 and 2-inch thick planks set parallel and 10 inches apart. Suspended 

 between these planks are two cutters. The point of the forward one 

 is 15 inches below the under-sides of the planks and the 

 point of the second 30 inches below. As the plow is pulled forward 

 each cutter shears out and elevates a piece of sod 10 inches wide and 

 15 inches thick which it deposits as a long ribbon on either side of the 

 ditch. The plow is attached to the power plant by a 500-foot steel 

 rope which is wound up on the rear drum, while the power plant is 

 standing anchored ahead. 



A B 



Fig. 39. Eaton ditcher. (Photos by Atlantic County Mosquito Extermination 



Comrnission. (A) Near and front view of power plant with plow in 



distance; (B) Near and rear view of the plow showing the 



ditch and way the sods are disposed of. For ditch 



cut by the Eaton ditcher see figure 29. 



With five men and a machine of this sort, which before the war 

 could be had for $1750, it is possible to cut an average of 3000 feet 

 of trenching a day, and in some cases more. 



Before the war competition and the invention of this machine had 

 cut the cost of ditching from 23^ cents a linear foot in 1912 to less 

 than iy2 cents, and seemed bound to bring it lower yet, but the in- 

 creased cost of labor has operated to keep the price up. The oper- 

 ation and upkeep cost of ditching with this machine, as has been 

 shown by cutting hundreds of thousands of feet, under normal labor 

 conditions, does not exceed a cent a linear foot. 



