SCIENCE OF THRESHING. 45 



a degree of perfection that makes it a desirable part 

 of the complete threshing rig. 



The office of the self-feeder is to cut the bands, 

 loosen the bundle, dividing it in a sufficiently thin 

 body, and present it to the cylinder in a manner that 

 will not permit slugging or choking of the cylinder. 

 To do this successfully it is necessary that the bundles 

 should be drawn out or elongated endwise, or divided 

 in some way that the cylinder may not receive the 

 whole bundle at one time. The usual method of 

 accomplishing this is to pass the lower part of the 

 bundle towards the cylinder slowly while the top part 

 has its speed increased by some faster traveling mech- 

 anism above it, forcing the top straws ahead while the 

 lower ones are being retarded and this must be accom- 

 plished before the bundle reaches the cylinder. The 

 more thoroughly this is done the better the feeder and 

 the machine seem to work. 



There has been some experimenting with governors 

 to regulate the amount being fed to the machine and 

 they are being used with more or less success. Some 

 depend on the speed of the cylinder to disengage a 

 mechanism whereby the feeder is thrown out of gear 

 when the speed is reduced below a predetermined 

 number of revolutions per minute. Others regulate 

 by the amount or bulk of the traveling column of 

 straw. 



The bundles in most feeders are first deposited on 

 the carrier, on which they are carried along to the 

 band cutting device by means of a raddle constructed 

 of belting with laterally secured slats, or a canvas cov- 



