BEAPIXQ MACHINES.] 



OF ENGLISH FA UM IXC 



[itr.AI'INd MACIIINKS. 



One man, vfith a pair of pinall liorsi-s, will j 

 ensilv dig potatoes as fast ua twenty per- 

 sona can pick them up. Tlio potatoes nro 

 turned out and distributed on the surface of 

 the ground so clean, that scarcely one bushel 

 in a hundred, whether largo or small, is 

 left uncovered. Price, £2 10*. — Anotlier, in- 

 vented by Levi L. Sovereign, and manufac- 

 tured by Clubb and Smith, Fcnchurch-street, 

 London, will, when the tops of tho potatoes 

 are gathered, raise the potatoes into baskets. 

 With two horses it will save the labour of ten 

 men. Price, £25, 



REAPING MACHINES. 

 The invention of the reaping-machino is due 

 to the ingenuity of the Americans. It is true 

 that, in the early part of this century, a machine, 

 with a revolving drum, had been used to cut 

 corn in this country ; but it did not achieve 

 success ; and it was not until Messrs. M'Cor- 

 mick and Hussey brought their implements 

 over, that any practical solution of the subject 

 took place. These, with the machine of the 

 Kev. Mr. Bell, have been the models on which 

 all improvements have taken place. In tho 

 report of the Exhibition of 1851, there were 

 only two reapers mentioned as being present — 

 M'Cormick's and Hussey's; and at a trial 

 made, the council medal was given to M'Cor- 

 mick, Hussey's on that occasion not working 

 well. At a subsequent trial, however, this im- 

 plement worked equally with the other, but it 

 was too late to alter the decision. There are 

 two principles on which reapers have been cou- 

 etructed — the one where the implement is 

 drawn forward by the horses ; the other, where 

 it is propelled from behind by the horses. 

 The awards of the Eoyal Agricultural Society 

 Beem to have been distributed without any ref- 

 erence to this distinction, so that the principle 

 is still in abeyance. — Messrs. Burgess and 

 Key's implement is an improved M'Cormick, 

 the cutting being done perfectly ; the delivery 

 is effected by means of Archimedean screws, 

 by which the cut straw is thrown on one side, 

 ready for the binder. There is a revolving 

 fan, to bring the standing corn more readily 

 upon the cutting-knives. It is thus made en- 

 tirely self-acting, working w ith two horses ; 

 and, by a simple contrivance, the machine can 

 be shut up 80 as to pass through any ordinary 



gate. — CroskiU'B machine is an improved Boll's. 

 It is proprllrd bv thrco horses abroaht, and 

 guided by tho driver, who walks behind tlio 

 horses. Tho delivery can bo made on either 

 side, by means of revolving endless bands. 

 Tho breadth of cut is 7 foot, so that tho work 

 is done expeditiously. — Messrs. itunsoine's 

 machine is drawn by horses ; tho delivery 

 is nmdo on tho side, by means of a series of 

 rakes and arms revolving round a vertical 

 shaft. — IVIessrs. Samuelson's implement is a 

 modification of the same plan.— Messrs. Kemp, 

 J^Iurray, and Nicholson's reaper is on Hussey's 

 plan, tlie delivery being made by a man seated 

 on tho machine; thus, with tho driver, two 

 persons are employed. The cut corn falls upon 

 a tipping platform, which is delivered on tho 

 side by rakes. — Messrs. Dray's is on the same 

 principle. — Messrs. Cuthbert's machine also 

 requires two persons, the delivery being mado 

 by a rake over a receiving platform. — Bamlett's 

 is a combined implement, worked with one 

 horse only ; the delivery is made by a man on 

 the machine. — Messrs. Picksley and Simms' is 

 made on Eamlett's patent, but with improve- 

 ments. There is a simple contrivance by means 

 of a lever, by which the cutting-knives can be 

 raised or lowered G in. This gives to it the 

 power of a combined machine, and, at the same 

 time, there is the power of accommodating tho 

 cutters to any inequality of surface ; these two 

 last can be worked by one horse. In 1851, 

 M'Cormick's machine, at the Exhibition, 

 created a greater sensation, in its way, than 

 either Power's statue or Hobbs' locks. Its 

 fame at once, of course, raised up for it a host 

 of antagonists and imitators ; and it was not 

 till the golden fruits of many autumns in the 

 fields of England, France, Belgium, and Ger- 

 many had been saved by this machine, that 

 its superiority was tacitly acknowledged ; and 

 even competing agricultural implement-makers 

 were compelled to own that, if not the best, 

 it was certainly the most popular, and tho 

 most generally used. The manufacture of tho 

 machine, for this country, was, after 1851, 

 entrusted to the agency of Messrs. Burgess and 

 Key ; and, since that time, as many as 3,000 

 have been made, and supplied to the farmers 

 of the United Kingdom, and probably as 

 many more exported to the continent. 

 Since 1851, however, Mr. M'Cormick's patent 



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