626 Report on the Trials of Combined StacMng-Machines 
tion from wind had been omitted, and the trough was curved by bracing 
the top part too tightly, so that straw rolled back when near the top of the 
trough. Sheaf corn was however fairly delivered. The workmanship in this 
machine is good. 
No. 4G76. Ashhy, Jeffery, and Luhe. The chief novelty in this machine 
is the attempt to substitute a single india-rubber belt for the two chains that 
usually carry the rake-heaus ; this form of ladder carried the hay and straw 
up fairlj', but brought much back, banging on the rake-head and long 
curved teeth. Faulty contrivance was at once apparent when the trial with 
sheaf-corn began ; the loose grains fell upon the india-rubber belt, and getting 
between it and the smooth round pulley that drove it, caused it to slip so 
much that the trial could not be continued. One of the workmen crawled 
imder the machine, and in attempting to correct the fault was caught by one 
of the rakes, the tooth going through the back of his waistcoat ; a serious 
accident was feared, and everyone felt much relieved at the giving way, not 
of the waistcoat, but of the tooth, which broke out of the rake-head. A 
firmer attachment for the teeth would be an improvement for ordinary work. 
The trough is raised by ropes passing over the heads of upright wooden-sliafts. 
It was stated that this machine had only been tried at home with hay and 
straw, but never with sheaf-corn. The Judges cannot too strongly impress 
upon exhibitors the importance of trying each machine thoroughly at home 
before it is entered for competition : a disregard of this obvious precaution 
must almost always be regretted, alike by judges and makers. This remark 
receives a still more emphatic illustration in the machine next to be described. 
No. 4952. Henry Wright. The performance of this machine was most 
unsatisfactory in each of the trials. The horse-gear sent with it was from a new 
pattern, and had never been previously tried. It was soon found impossible 
to work it, and both the machines had to be withdrawn from the first trial 
with hay and straw. The elevator consists of a four-wheeled carriage-frame, 
v/ith a wooden hopper ; no trough is used, and a long revolving net takes the 
place of trough and ladder. Hemp-ropes form the sides of the net, and are 
carried over grooved driving-pulleys at the bottom, and grooved guide-pulleys 
at the top and sides of two long oblique ash-shafts; these shafts turn at their 
bases upon the carriage-frame, and are raised or lowered by ropes passing 
over the heads of two other shafts, raised nearly vertically from the carriage- 
frames. The oblique shafts are divided into two halves, and the upper halves 
slide down over the lower when packed for travelling. Each of the upright 
shafts was simply fastened to the frame by a bolt through its base, and was 
not in any way stayed, except by a cross-bar connecting it with its fellow at 
the top. The whole weight of the net and its oblique rods resting upon these 
upright shafts they soon lost their perpendicular position, and the whole 
upper framework threatened to fall over on one side. The snapping of one 
of the rojies that formed the side of the net soon brought the trial with sheaf- 
corn to an end. 
It is much to be regretted that an rmtricd machine of a new pattern was 
in this case entered for trial; the exhibitor has long been a maker of elevators, 
and it would have been instructive to compare a net-elevator with others, if it 
had been brought in a form fit for working. In this instance stability had been 
altogether sacrificed in an attempt at lightness of working. While the Judges 
condemned the machine tried, they must not be understood to condemn the 
.system of emjiloying a net instead of a trough and ladder, for the example 
entered was not brought out in a fair working form. From the very imperfect 
example tried, it was clear that a net could be worked at a low expenditure of 
power; in the trial with straw, the machine was easily worked by hand after 
ihe horse-power failed. The protection from wind was also better than was 
expected for the wind passing freely through all the meshes of the net, its 
