Appendix to Implement Report. 



CA7 



down in 55 minutes, or about 13 acres in 12 hours. The extent of inter- 

 ruption that would occur would of course vary according to the state of 

 the crop. In some cases it will probably be found advisable to cut one 

 way only and return empty, in others to cut round a field, whilst a third 

 method, which would probably be more generally applicable than either 

 of the other twOjtwould be to set out the field in breaks in the same way 

 that broad flat lands are set out for ploughing, and to work the machine 

 as a plough would be worked, down one side of the break, and up the 

 other. But in whatever way it may be worked it will be easy for any one 

 to calculate the rate at which he is getting through his work if he bear 

 in mind that when his horses are walking two miles an hour he is cutting 

 at the rate of an acre in 55 minutes, and he must make his own additions 

 and subtractions for stoppages or increased pace. During the trial at 

 Barnard Castle, Mr. Fawcitt, the tenant farmer who had worked Hussey's 

 machine for some days on his own farm, was requested to take sole charge 

 of it for a time, which he was kind enou2:h to do, and it was highly satis- 

 factory to the agriculturists present to observe that he cleared the corn 

 off the stage with great facility, and that the work was done with quite as 

 great precision as when Mr. Hussey himself had charge of the machine. 



After witnessing the above trials the practical men present were generally 

 convinced that both Hussey's and i\rCormick's machines were well adapted 

 for English husbandry, and that to work them successfully no such skill 

 or knowledge of machmery was required as to make them unfit for general 

 use. M'Cormick's machine, as at present adjusted, cuts too high, but 

 this may be remedied by mtroducing the power of raising or lowering the 

 axle according to the nature of the work. The main difference between 

 the working of the two machines is, that one delivers the corn at the side, 

 the other at the end : and as this is a point of importance, and arises from 

 the difference in the cutting principles introduced into the two machines, 

 it is necessary to explain the point somewhat in detail. In M'Cormick's 

 machine the cutting surface consists of a long serrated knife (or series of 

 knives), whose edge forms a straight line at right angles to the line of 

 draught, so that it directly meets the crop to be cut, and requires a certain 

 amount of resistance in the corn itself; otherwise it will press it down and 

 pass over it. Where the corn has a decided lean in one direction, this 

 machine, if worked against the lay of the straw, meets with the requisite 

 resistance, and cuts it extremely well ; but where the corn is upright, it is 

 necessary to use artificial means to keep the corn up to the cutting knives 

 whilst it is sawing through it. This is accomplished by means of the 

 revolving vanes or fanners, which bend the corn towards the knife, and in 

 this way a standing crop also is well cut. 



In Hussey's machine the cutting surface consists of a number of small 

 knives, in shape bearing considerable resemblance to the heads of arrows 

 or javelins. These knives pass rapidly back\^ards and forwards between 

 projecting bosses of similar shape, which act as sheaths to the knives when 

 at rest, and as stays to the corn when at work. The cutting action of these 

 knives resembles in appearance the action of shears, but when closely 

 examined it approaches more nearly to the principle commonly used in 

 chaff-cutters, where a sharp knife passes close to a metal plate, the knife 

 being so arranged as to have a drawing cut, and the metal plate giving 

 the requisite stiffness to the straw or other material operated on. It will 

 thus be seen that this machine does not require any firmness in the sub- 

 stance to be cut, but anything which gets between the projecting bosses 

 must be cut by the knives, whether it be stiff like straw or yielding like 

 clover or grass, the requisite support being given by the edge of the boss 

 against which the straw or grass is pressed by the returning knife. 



It has already been stated that M'Cormick's machine makes good 



