THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



MEXICAN LAND COMPANY BUYS 



AUSTIN DRAINAGE EXCAVATOR. 



Sale of Ditching Machine Attracts Attention to Chicago 

 Company's Success Officials Report Large Sales 

 Machine Adaptable to Either Drainage or Irrigation 

 Work Description. 



A recent contract secured by the F. C. Austin Drain- 

 age Excavator company of Chicago, to supply one of its 

 great machines for use on the mammoth works projected 

 by a well known Mexican land company, has been the 

 feature of the month in machinery circles of Chicago. 

 The closing of the contract by the Austin company has 

 attracted unusual attenton to its product and has resulted 

 in heavy inquiry from many western concerns now plan- 

 ning construction work for the irrigation of arid lands. 



Officials of the Austirt Drainage Excavator company 

 state that their trade has grown enormously during the 

 past few months and that it is with difficulty that their 



The machine illustrated on the page is known as Type 

 A. It consists of a frame made of structural steel, 

 mounted on wide wheels far enough apart to straddle the 

 ditch. On this frame is attached the engine and boiler, 

 and other machinery which supports a "U"-shaped scraper 

 bucket guide frame. The guide-frame as a whole can be 

 moved up and down so as to ride clear of the surface or 

 reach down to the bottom of the ditch. The width at the 

 bottom and the angles of the "U" frame can be altered, in- 

 creased or decreased, so as to give any cross-section slope 

 of ditch desired, within ordinary limits. 



The scraper buckets travel on the guide frame. There 

 are two of them, facing in opposite directions and mov- 

 ing back and forth across the ditch like a shuttle in a 

 loom, planing off a shaving of the earth down one side, 

 across the bottom and up the other side at each trip. As 

 the excavation deepens the guide frame is lowered, and as 

 the scraper buckets cannot depart from the line of travel 

 it is evident that they cannot cut a channel otherwise than 

 true as to slope of sides, width of bottom, or depth. 



Where the material to be handled is sticky a single 

 special automatic reversible positive dumping bucket is 



The illustration is a reproduction from a photograph of the Type "A" Austin Drainage Excavator mounted on rolling platform traction instead 

 of track, each side of the machine having a bearing surface of 81 square feet, hence will travel over soft ground without much trouble. The cut 

 also shows the different sized ditches that the machine is capable of digging. The first cut is an 18-foot bottom. Tke upper ditch is 4-foot 

 bottom, about 8 feet deep and 1 to 1 slopes. 



shops are able to supply the demand. A large number of 

 its machines are now in operation in various parts of the 

 west and the south. Because of the fact that the exca- 

 vator can be utilized both for the construction of drainage 

 ditches on swamp lands, and irrigation ditches on arid 

 tracts it is now in use in nearly every state in the union. 

 Chief among the valuable qualities of the Austin ma- 

 chine is its adaptability to the character of the projected 

 work. It can be easily adjusted to the exact width of 

 ditch desired, as pictured in the accompanying cut. When 

 dug by this excavator, ditches retain their original dimen- 

 sions for years without becoming obstructed with earth 

 from caving banks, drift or silt. Its excavations are true 

 to grade, properly sloped and the spoil banks are de- 

 posited well back from the channel. 



substituted for the regular equipment. The positive cleaa- 

 ing feature is worthy of note. The construction is such 

 that each time the bucket crosses the ditch it fills, runs 

 out to any desired distance and is discharged of every 

 particle of its load, no matter what the nature of the soil 

 may be. It is impossible to return the bucket until the 

 contents are absolutely all out. 



The banks and bottom are by this method cut per- 

 fectly smooth and true to grade. The berm can be made 

 practically any desired width, and waste banks or dykes 

 built a sufficient distance from the ditch to prevent their 

 return to the channel by erosion to interfere with the free 

 flow of water. The center of the ditch is always the low- 

 est point, so that during dry seasons the stream follows a 

 (Continued on page 56.) 



