230 POWER AND THE PLOW 



AUTO-PLOWS 



The "automobile plow" i. e., a self-propelling, compact 

 unit, capable of turning in small quarters has a large body 

 of advocates. Many experimental tractors, combined with 

 plows hung directly under or on the frame, have been developed 

 in different forms. The plows can usually be lifted clear of 

 the ground and the tractor backed around to cut a square 

 corner. On one of these machines a gang of plows is mounted 

 between the drivers and the front wheels. Back of the drivers 

 follow a harrow of special design and a clod crusher, while 

 seeders also may be attached. The plows are shoved, rather 

 than pulled, and one drive wheel must always run on the 

 plowed ground. Auto-disk plows have been attempted by 

 at least two or three inventors in this country, and several in 

 Europe, but without marked success. The effort is made in 

 some of the latter to have the plows transport the weight of the 

 outfit as well as turn the soil. 



Few auto-plows have reached the marketing stage. A motor 

 adapted primarily to plowing, with plows combined in the 

 frame, is at a disadvantage in performing other operations. 

 A harvester, for example, cannot be hung under the tractor 

 frame. If it be attached to the rear the strain is different, 

 with a consequent upsetting of balance and probable loss of 

 tractive efficiency. Doubtless we shall some day see for the 

 small farmer a transferable power plant, with a base for it 

 on each tilling and harvesting machine, which will be made 

 self-propelling without duplicating the most costly part of the 

 equipment i. e., the motor itself. 



Another type of motor which propels itself by traction wheels 

 is equipped at the rear with a chain-driven cylinder studded 

 with steel hooks. The cylinder may be run at different speeds 

 and depths, this, as well as the forward speed, regulating 

 the amount and quality of work done. The tearing action of 

 the cylinder leaves the soil in finely divided state, creating a 



