Book IV. 



HAND MACHINES. 



369 



266 



a J 



2450. The sack'barrow is a two handed lever of the first kind, the fulcrum of which 

 ~ is a pair of low 



wheels : it is a con- 

 venient machine for 

 moving sacks in a 

 granary or barn 

 floor, from one 

 point to another. 



2451. The hand- 

 harrow is in frequent 

 use in various de- 

 partments of agriculture, where the soil is soft, or the surface uneven. Its bottom should 

 be close and strong for carrying stones ; l)ut may be light and open for dung or corn. 



^ 



^ 



268 



2452. Tliewinnowing-mnchine (Jig. 2C8.) 



is in use for cleaning corn, in most of the 



improved districts. There are different 



forms, but the best is that of Meikle, or 



the Berwickshire winnower, which, in- 

 stead of one screen, has a set of sieves put 



in motion by the machine, by which 



means the corn comes out, in most cases, if 



ready to be meted up in sacks. Some ^; 



improvements have lately been naade by f 



Weir of London. 



245.3. The hand threshing machine 



(Jig.269.), is worked by two men, and 



one woman, and is greatly preferable to 



the flail for threshing the corn of a small farm, or for threshing clover, or other small 



seeds. The advantage consists chiefly in the 

 completeness in which the grain is separated 

 from the straw. 



2454. The potatoe cleaner is a hollow cylin- 

 der, or perforated cylinder, or barrel, with a 

 wooden axle through its long diameter, and a 

 handle at one end, by which it is turned like a 

 barrel churn. A hinged board forms an open- 

 ing for putting in and taking out the potatoes, 

 which fastens with an iron hasp and staple. 

 It is filled one-third with potatoes or other roots, 

 and then placed in a cistern of water, by 

 means of a crane or otherwise. In this state, 



being two-thirds immersed in the water, and one-third full of potatoes, it is turned 



round a few times, when the latter are found cleaned, and the barrel lifted out by the 



crane, emptied, filled, and replaced. 



2455. The turnip-slicer is of different forms ; the old sort works by hand, like a straw- 

 cutter of the original construction ; but a better sort consists of a hopper and knives, fixed 

 upon a fly wheel [fig. 270.). The turnips press against the knife by their own weight, 

 and a man turning the wheel, will cut a bushel in a minute. 

 Gardener's turnip sliceris a highly improved form of this 

 machine. 



2456. The turnip-chopper is perhaps a more useful im- 

 plement, than the turnip slicer. It is first made like the 

 common nine-inch garden-hoe, forming an oblong square, 

 with an eye to receive tlie handle : from the centre of the 

 first hoe, another hoe crosses it at right angles, but this 

 second hoe is not made solid as in the first common hoe, 

 but is made like a Dutch hoe, the centre part of it being 

 open the whole length of it. The turnip being pulled 

 out of the ground by the angles of the hoe, is immedi- 

 ately struck with it about the centre, which divides it into 

 four, and if these four pieces are not small enough, the 

 stroke is repeated upon eacli of the pieces until they are 

 sufliciently so. It is supposed capable of being greatly 

 improved by having two stoutish prongs on the back 

 or reverse part of the hoc, proceeding from the neck of the eye ; these prongs would pull 

 up the turnips with infinitely more expedition, and the increased weight of the hoc would 

 rather be in its favor by lessening the force necessary to split the roots. 



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