GRAVITATIONAL; SIFTERS. 309 



It seems a pity to pay for and carry on one hand all this gearing 

 when it is superfluous, for only a slow rotation is necessary and a crank 

 ou the axis of tbe brush would answer, but the right to such a combi- 

 nation appears to be covered by one of Mr. J. W. Young's i)rior claims. 

 The single passage from the hopper to the brush is large, and extends 

 the whole length of the cylinder. 



A larger machine drawn on wheels and arranged to supply two rows 

 is also made by Mr. Smith. This is intended for x^oisouing insects on 

 low crops, as potatoes, &c. ; yet a similar apparatus could be mounted 

 higher to be hauled above the rows of cotton. Gears on the main axle 

 communicate its rotary motion to a rod bearing the brushes in the per- 

 forated cylinders. Over each cylinder is a powder-hopper, and forward 

 therefrom a large box as a seat, and for conveying an additional quan- 

 tity of poison. The main wheels straddle a pair of rows while a small 

 trundle-wheel runs behind in the intermediate space, and a pair of shafts 

 is i)rovided for the horse which travels ahead in tbe same middle. The 

 machine has adjustability to rows of different widths, and is strongly 

 constructed. 



The Eldridge Sifter. — The insect destroyer patented by Mr. Frank A. 

 Eldridge, of Brenham, Tex., also designed to distribute dry poisons over 

 tbe cotton plant, is thus described in the Department Eeport ou Cotton 

 Insects: 



^'The nature of the inventidn consists in the employment, upon a suit- 

 able vehicle, of two or more receptacles for containing poison powder 

 which receptacles have perforated or sieve bottoms, and contain within 

 them rotary stirring blades and brushes, actuated, as will be hereinafter 

 explained, whereby the poison dust can be regularly and at the same 

 time economically distributed upon two or more rows of ijlants at the 

 same time. 



" In Plate LVIII Fig. 1 is a top view of the machine ; Fig. 2 is a side elevation show- 

 ing one of the poison receptacles in section; Fig. 3 is a front elevation. 



"A designates the axle of two transporting wheels, B B, from which axle rises a 

 frame, C, carrying three poison-powder receptacles, D D D', which are preferably of 

 cylindrical form, and which have finely perforated bottoms, a. Tlie two side recepta- 

 cles, D D, are arranged so as to distribnte the powder upon two rows of plants, and 

 the rear receptacle distributes the powder upon the intermediate row, thus playing 

 on three rows at the same time. Each receptacle contains radial blades, h, which are 

 applied to a central shaft, c, and provided with brushes, d, which act upon tiie per- 

 forated bottom, a. 



"The blades, b, stir the powder and prevent it from clogging, and the brushes compel 

 it to pass through the screen-bottoms in a uniform manner. 



" The upper ends of the shafts, c, of the receptacles, DD, have spur-wheels, e, on them, 

 which engage with spur-wheels,/, on- the ends of a horizontal shaft, E, which has its 

 bearings on the top of the frame, C, and which is provided with pulleys, g g g'. The 

 pulleys, <7 <7, receive rotation from pulleys on the inner ends of the hubs of wheels, 

 B B, through the medium of belts, h Ji. 



''The rotation thus given to shaft, E, is transmitted to the shaft, c, of the blades 

 and brushes which are in the receptacle, D'. 



" The machine thus described will be propelled by two horses hitched to the draft- 

 tongue, A', and, if desired, the axle, A, maybe centrally arched, so as not to interfere 

 with the plants over which it passes." 



