162 



HANDt-BOOK OP HUSBANDRY. 



76. A 14 horse-power engine stands at the left side of the field, 

 and an "anchor" at the opposite side. Each of these carries a 

 windlass wheel five feet in diameter, revolving horizontally. 

 A steel wire rope, with a straining power of twenty-five tons, 

 passes around both of them, its ends being fastened to the grubber 

 or gang of the plows, which thus completes the endless chain. 

 The windlass, under the engine, which is driven by it, is set 

 around with self-acting clips, that take a fast hold of the rope 

 when in " pull." There is a " slack gear " on the plow frame 

 to keep the rope always taut. The plows are drawn to and fro, 

 always throwing the furrow in the same direction — the engine and 

 anchor moving themselves forward, as the work progresses, to 

 give the plows a new land on the back trip. The headlands left 

 are about fifteen feet wide, and are afterward plowed by horses. 



Fig. 77 shows the engine complete. When its work in the 

 field is finished, it travels home, carrying the whole "tackle" with 

 it, and is ready to thrash, pump, churn, cut hay, grind grain, 

 steam food, or saw wood. Its wheels are of wrought iron, twenty 

 inches wide on the tire. 



Fig. 78.— The Anchor. 



Fig. 78 is the anchor that carries the second windlass. Its 

 place is sometimes taken by another engine, so that the plows are 

 drawn both ways by a direct pull. 



The Frontispiece shows a double-engine set of tackle at work. 

 Only one engine is at work at a time, so that the cost for fuel is 

 not much greater than in the operation of the single engine 



