CHAPTER VI 

 SHEARING 



Shearing machine Drafting Dipping Shearer's working hours 



Agreement. 



SHEARING is always a very busy time on a sheep station. The 

 manager has to see that the tanks about the shed have plenty of 

 water in them, and that the cook is supplied with plenty of fire- 

 wood. Shearers and shed hands have to be engaged, and rations, 

 woolpacks, twine, machinery, oils, combs, cutters, and numerous 

 other items which are necessary at a machine shearing, have to 

 be ordered. 



Most of the shearing in Australasia is done by machinery. The 

 shearing machine works on the horse-clipper principle a cutter 

 with three teeth running from side to side over a flat comb. The 

 handpiece, as the machine itself is called, is driven by a small 

 connecting rod, which is again driven from the main shaft over- 

 head. This connecting rod has three joints in it. The first is at 

 the end connected with the main shaft. The next joint is about 

 two feet or so from the handpiece, and it enables the shearer to 

 move the handpiece up and down freely. The third joint is in 

 the handpiece of the machine itself. It is called an elbow-joint, 

 as the shearer can move the handpiece any way he desires. The 

 main shafting is driven by either a steam or an oil engine, though 

 some of the later machines are driven by electricity. In the 

 electrical-driven machines each connecting rod, instead of being 

 connected with the ordinary revolving shafting above, has a small 

 electric motor at the top of the rod which supplies the driving 



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