Report on the Trials of Implements at Wolverhampton. 491 
selves at Barnluirst for a quarter of a mile, aiul tliroiigli two gateways, and 
took u]) iiosition on Plot 4, ready for work in 15 minutes. Six men were 
engaged, but fewer would bo requisite in ordinary farm-work. After the 
trial, the whole machinery transferred itself back again to the depot in only 
8 miimtt'S. It is this remarkable focility in handling, resulting in a waste of 
almost no time beyond that required for travelling on the road, that forms 
one chief advantage of the double-engine system. Worked by three men, 
this tackle cultivated 2 acres 3 roods 8 perches in 49i minutes, including 
three-fourths of a minute lost soon after starting, by a tine catching in a hedge- 
root, the work lying next to a fence. The 'J-tine turning cultivator was 
fitted with alternate 5-incli and 8-inch wide shares, taking a breadth of 
I'i feet, at a depth of fully 81 inches. The land, a clover lea, with light 
sandy soil upon a very sandy subsoil, containing a considerable amount of 
gravel at bottom, was thoroughly broken up, without pieces drojiping flat 
again into their original position ; and the bottom was evenly cut. The rate 
of work Avas 33 acres 3 roods and 10 perches in 10 hours, or 401 acres in an 
autumn day's work of 12 hours. .From 24 observations taken, the average 
time occupied in reversing the turning cultivator at the end was 10 seconds ; 
and as the i)lot of 220 yards length by 62 yards breadth was cultivated in 
25 journeys in 49^ minutes, the total time occiipied at the end was 4 minutes 
10 seconds, or less than 8i per cent, of the whole time at work. A com- 
jmrison here will illustrate the great gain from quick turning at the ends. 
In Messrs. Fowler's single-engine sets, the average time occupied at the 
ends was about 24 seconds ; and had this been the case in the above trial, 
the tackle would have been 54 minutes 40 seconds in cultivating the 2 acres 
3 roods 8 perches, or at the rate of 3 acres in 10 hours less than was done 
with the quicker turnings. 
Plot 5 in Field No. I J. Messrs. John Fowler and Co.'s 12-IIorse-povKr 
Clip-Drum E'li^/ine and Travelling-Anclior Set (Catalogue ! No., 6482), con- 
sisting of one 12-horse-power self-moving engine with single cylinder, fitted 
with a clip-drum, a travelling anchor with pulley and six anchoring discs, 
800 yards of best steel-wire J-inch rope, 20 "self-moving" and "pick-up" 
rope-porters, and 7-tine balance cultivator, fitted with slack-rope gear (6508). 
Price 799Z. ; with 4-furrow balance combined plough and digger fitted with 
slack-rope gear (6496), in addition, 884Z. The engine is very similar to those 
of the double-engine set of machinery just described ; but the boiler, as well 
as the shafts, axles, and the whole of the gear, are made of steel ; the side- 
plates at the tire-box end are extended, so as to serve instead of brackets for 
supporting the principal running bearings ; and the water-spaces around the 
fire-box ,are constructed with a sloping bottom, for more effectual action in 
" blowing off." The beating surface of the fire-box is 33-^- square feet, of the 
tubes, 161 square feet ; total heating smiace, 194^ square feet ; and the fire- 
grate area is 63: square feet. The cylinder is of 101 inches diameter, with 
12 inches stroke; the normal speed of the engine 150 revolutions per minute ; 
con-esponding speed of the wire xo^e 2f miles per hour ; the two speeds of 
the road-motion 24 and li miles per hour ; diameter of the road or driving 
wheels 5^ feet, breadth of tire 14 inches ; capacity of water-tank 159 gallons, 
capacity of coal-bunkers 252 cubic feet ; and the weight of the engine in com- 
plete working-trim 12 tons. The indicator experiments at Stafford showed 
a maximum of 68j horse-power given off by this engine. 
In place of a winding-drum and coiling-gear, there is attached beneath the 
boiler, and driven in a similar manner, a horizontal drum or sheave, having a 
V-shaped gi-oove, composed of a series of pairs of gripping-pieces or " clips." 
These are self-acting, pressing the rope in exact proportion to the tension or 
strain upon it ; and one half-turn of the rope round the gi-oove is found suffi- 
cient to hold it tightly, and without surging or slipping, no matter what 
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