M A C H I N E. 



eular forts of crops, as tliofe of peas, beans, turnips, Sec. 

 See Plough Drill, and TuRNir Drill. 



A drill machine, invented by Mr. Robert Salmon of 

 Woburn, Btdfordfhire, which obtained the premium given 

 by the duke of Bedford, at Wnluirn fliccp-flicaring, a few 

 years ago, for the bed newly-invented aejricultural imple- 

 ment, is defcribed below. This machine drills and fows at 

 the fame time ; and tlie principal improvement in it, as in 

 Cook's drill, and others, coiifills in conilrnfting it in fuch a 

 manner, that the workman who holds the drill has a perfcft 

 command upon it, w'ith rcfpeft to the direflion in which it 

 fhall move, ev^-n though the horie which draws it flionld de- 

 viate from the line the drill is intended to follow. In Plate 

 {Machines) /tgricullurc, is given a defcriptive reprefcntation 

 of the machine, in which yTi;-. i is a feftion of a part, fig. 2 

 an elevation of the fame, fig. 4 is a pcrfpeftive view of the 

 whole, dcndifigs. 3 and 5 detached parts. 



The great wheels, A, A, fig. 4, have their axle-trees at- 

 tached to the bed B, to which are framed the long handles, 

 D, D, forming a frame independent of the remainder of the 

 machine, and having no connexion with it, except in the 

 middle of the bed B, where a fiiort beam, E, is jointed to 

 it, as is well explained in fg. 1 ; the other end of this beam 

 is mortifed into a crofs beam F, to which the three drills, 

 G, G, G, are fixed ; a frame formed of two horizontal 

 pieces, H, H, fgs. 2 and 4, and four vertical pieces, 

 I, I, I, I, is erefted upon F ; the handles, D, D, pafs ber 

 tween H, H, but are not fixed thereto ; the hook a, by 

 which the machine is drawn, is fixed to the two middle up- 

 rights, I, I, and a llrong chain leads to the harnefs of the 

 horfe employed ; K is the feed-box fiipported from H, H, 

 by two uprights for the purpofe ; the box is a fruftum of a 

 ■pyramid, and joins at the bottom to a prifmatic box, con- 

 taining the feed-roller b, fg. I, which is exaftly the fame 

 length as the box, and comes through its ends, its pivots 

 being fupported by a piece of iron-plate fixed at the end of 

 the box, as feen in fg. 4 ; a brufh, d, prelTes upon the 

 roller, and is adjuftable by a fcrcw that it may always bear 

 upon it with an equal degree of force ; a number of notches 

 is cut in the circumference of the roller, and as the box K 

 is full of feed, it always refts upon the roller ; when it turns 

 round, it takes one of the notches full of feed, and pafRng 

 it by that means under the end of the brudi d, delivers it 

 into a tin-plate tube r, which conveys it down into the fur- 

 row made by the drill ; the Toller has three feries of notches 

 anfvvering to the thrpe drills G, G, G ; at e, a piece of 

 leather prelTes againft the roller, to prevent any feed getting 

 down, except that which palTes under the brufli ^; y" is a 

 Aider, which ftops the feed from coming down to the roller, 

 when {liovcd in, and is ufed when the machine is required to 

 advance without fov.'ing, or when a lefTer number of rows 

 is required to be fown. The roller is turned hy means of 

 an endlefs chain, q q, palling round a groove made in the 

 middle of the roller, from thence it proceeds tlirough a 

 block of pullies at /, fhewn feparate in fg. 5, to a frnall 

 wheel h ; the block, /, is made of cad-iron, and Aides freely 

 up and down between the two innermoft uprights, T, I, of 

 the frame; its weight keeps the chain always tight, and 

 prevents it from /lipping without turning the roller ; the 

 wheel, h, is fixed upon an axle^, on the end of which is a 

 cog-wheel, turned by anotlicr cog-wheel on the nave of the 

 great wheel A ; ihefe wheels are enclofed in a box /-, which 

 likewife contains a contrivance for difengaging the wheels, 

 fliewn on a Urger fcale in fg. 3, where /i is a feftion of the 

 axle /I, pafTing through a loHg ftaple fixed to the bed B ; it 

 can Aide up and down in this ftaple, except when confined 

 by a catch 0, preffed againft it by a fpring. In the prefent 

 8 



pofition, the cog-wheels are engaged to work together : but 

 by pulling the cords m and /, the former draws back tfie 

 catch ; and the other, by means of the crooked lever n n, 

 raifcs up the axle p, and difengages the cog-wheels ; the re- 

 turn of the catch, 0, prevents its defccnt ; the cords, / and 

 in, are coi}dudtcd to the end of the handles, D, D where 

 they are both attached to one handle, in reach of the work- 

 man who guides the machine. 



The operation of the drill is exceedingly fimple. As the 

 horfe draws it along by means of the chain, the drills, 

 G, G, G, make the furrows, and the feed-roller delivers 

 the "feed in fmall quantities, and at regular intervals into 

 them. As the hook a, from which the chain draws, is 

 placed nearly in the centre of the machine, it will ealiiy be 

 made to follow any other line than that in which the horfe 

 draws, by turning the handles, D, I), to one Or other fide. 

 This alters the direftion of the wheels. A, A, which im- 

 mediately proceed in that line, and the drill follows them. 

 This quality is of the greatell conCequence in making 

 ftraight work. L is a crofs piece fixed to the handles, 

 D, 1), and fupporting a handle M, by which, and one of 

 D, the workman holds when he guides the drill, as he is 

 then in a pofition to fee the drills made lall, and adapt the 

 prefent ones to them ; the wheel always going in the laft 

 made drill. Another handle, fimilar to M, is hxed to the 

 other end of L, to be ufed when the machine is on the other 

 fide of tlie work ^ done laft. The drills arc fixed to the 

 piece F by fcrew?, and their dillanee from one another can 

 be altered at plealure. The feed-box containing the roller 

 is Blade in two halves, connefted by hooks, fo that it can 

 be taken apart, and the roller removed for a frefli one to be 

 put in with different fized ootches, for fowing a different 

 kind of grain. 



The drawing Was taken from a machine made by Mr. 

 Shepherd, Woburn, and exhibited at Woburn fhcep-fhcaring, 

 June 1808. Mr. Salmon has made a great number of the 

 fame pattern, which are now in ufe, and are found to anfwer 

 well. Several of them have five drills inftead of three, and 

 are in that cafe worked by one horfe. 



In this drill, at whatever diftance the fliares are placed to 

 go from each other, the diftance from the wheels to the 

 two outfide rows is alway equal thereto ; confcquently, when 

 at work, one or the other of the wheels always runs in the 

 laft fhade drill, thereby guaging accurately the interval be- 

 tween esch bout the drill goes ; and as the holder always 

 goes in the line of the wheel, he can diftindly fee and cor- 

 rect the fmalleft error that may have been made in any 

 previous bout. 



In all cafes, one horfe is fnfficient to draw this drill either 

 for three or more rows, as little depends on the liorfe's 

 inclination ; and a driver can be dilpenled with, where 

 tradlable horfes are ufed. As in all machines of this fort, 

 in proportion to the number and diftance of rows made, fo 

 will be the quantity of work performed. 



M.AcmxE, Elellrlcal. See Electrical Machine. 



MAriiiN'E, Fan, in Agrhiilliire, a tommon name applied 

 to that fort of tool which is employed in removuig the chaff 

 from the grain. See Windowing Machine. 



Maciune, Land'I .tvelling, the name of an ufefiil ma- 

 chine, invented by Mr. David Charles, for the purpofe of 

 rendering high ridges and other inequalities, in fuch lands 

 as are in a ftate more level and even in their lurface.'. 

 It would feem probable that no effeftive implement of 

 this fort has hitherto been introduced. But fuch a ma- 

 chine is faid, in " Tranfaftions of the Society of Arts," to 

 be ufeful and neceffary even in the mod fertile parts of the 

 country, where the improved fyftem of drill-hufbandry has 



been 



