Proceedings of Eighth Annual Meeting 133 



several years. In the latter part of 1919 Dr. Thomas J. Headlee, 

 the state executive in charge of mosquito control, called together 

 a committee of engineers from the executive staffs of the various 

 county mosquito extermination commissions, to devise power oper- 

 ated machinery for cleaning ditches. At the present time this 

 committee consists of Fred A. Reiley of Atlantic County, Jesse B. 

 Leslie of Bergen County, Wilbur M. Walden of the State Ex- 

 periment Station and James E. Brooks of Essex County. 



Previous to the organization of this committee the Essex County 

 Commission had built an experimental machine for cleaning ditches. 

 This machine, while not successful, demonstrated certain principles 

 which were useful to the committee. At the last meeting of this 

 association, held at Atlantic City in February 1920, the committee 

 made a brief report which was published in the proceedings. It was 

 felt at that time that there was a possibility that a machine could be 

 constructed which w^ould clean the ditches by being merely dragged 

 through them. Early in 1920 a machine of this kind was construct- 

 ed and tried on the meadows near Carteret, New Jersey. It was 

 shown very quickly that the machine was greatly limited in its 

 operation, and that a mechanical device for elevating the mud was 

 needed. The committee proceeded to redesign the machine, using 

 a link chain with scrapers and cutters to drag the mud up an inclined 

 trough, this link belt being driven by an eight horse power Cushman 

 gasoline engine. 



Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical diagram of the machine, as 

 revised up to December, 1920. It is carried on long wooden skids, 

 which straddle the ditch. In front is a pilot to keep the machine on 

 the line of the ditch. By removing the rear bolt which attaches the 

 pilot to the skids, the pilot may be swung around vertically until it 

 is above the meadow surface. This is done when the machine is to 

 be transferred from one ditch to another. Back of the pilot is the 

 engine which drives the link belt conveyor. The conveyor is placed 

 in an inclined steel trough, which trough is supported on trunnions, 

 permitting it to dig to a depth of 30 inches below the meadow sur- 

 face, or less, as may be desired, and also permitting it to be swung 

 up until it clears the meadow surface entirely. By raising the pilot 

 and the trough, the machine may. be dragged across the grass from 

 ditch to ditch. Figure 5 is a picture taken on Monday of this week 

 on the meadow in Essex County, showing the machine at the end of 

 the day's work. 



For the purpose of demonstrating the efficiency of the cleaning 



