liej)ort of Portable Steam Tlireshing-Encjine. cxvii 



termining the consumption of fuel, but it may he safely estimated at tlie 

 rate of about J cv/t. of good coke per hour, when the engine is doing 

 the work of about five liorses ; and that about 36 gallons of water would 

 be required per hour to supply the boiler. 



In the present experiment, judging from the number of sheaves 

 threshed by the respective machines in a given time, the engine did the 

 work of twenty-four or twenty-five men : but it was evident that the 

 men could not long have worked the hand-machines without repose or 

 relay, so that no exact comparison can be instituted of the power 

 exerted; and the engine could have performed more work at a moderate 

 and safe pressure of steam. 



The weight of the engine, boiler, and carriage is about 35 cwt., 

 moved by two horses, with a supply of water in the boiler. 



Were the carriage mounted on four wheels, and the threshing-machine 

 fixed and worked upon it, as is contemplated by the inventors, the 

 whole would be still more complete in many points of view. 



The Hand Threshing-Machines submitted to trial were those com- 

 mended by the judges of implements ; the one constructed by the Earl 

 of Ducie, the other by Messrs. Ransome. These two implements in- 

 volved the use of distinct principles in the method of separating the 

 grain from the ear, as also in the manner of applying the power. 



In Lord Ducie's machine the straw is fed in at a tangent to the drum, 

 and has consequently only to pass round its circumference, the corn 

 being scutched or stripped off by the revolving action of eight narrow 

 blades or scutchers. At the back of the drum, and forming the end of 

 the machine, is an open work concave screen of cast-iron, rendered ad- 

 justable so as to be set nearer to or farther from the drum, as required 

 by the sort of grain to be threshed. A large portion of the corn, on 

 being stripped from the ear, falls immediately through the interstices of 

 this screen ; the remainder passes with the straw down a wood grating. 

 The object of this arrangement is to effect a greater separation of the 

 straw and grain, for the more easy collection of the latter. 



The framing is constructed entirely of cast-iron. At one end of the 

 machine is an axis having a fly-wheel, with a handle for a man at each 

 end of it. The end of the drum-spindle carries a pulley, to which 

 motion is given by a strap passing round the fly-wheel. By fixing a 

 pulley in place of one of the handles on the fly-wheel shaft, the machine 

 may be driven by animal, or other power, equally as well as by men ; or 

 even altogether without the fly-wheel, by passing a strap from the motor 

 round the drum-pulley, as was done, experimentally, with the disc-engine. 



The mechanical construction and execution of this machine merit the 

 highest praise. All the requisites of portability are self-contained; it 

 will stand on any spot; it is not disturbed by the action of the power; 

 and extraneous means of fastening it are unnecessary. 



The threshing principle of Messrs. Ransome's machine is similar to 

 that of their others, and to the more general ])ractice, viz., the shaking 

 out the grain from the ear by sharp blows inflicted by the beaters ; a 

 description, therefore, of the mechanism for effecting this process is 

 unnecessary. 



VOL. II. I 



