Report on Implements at Preston. 
709 
This engine possesses the great merits, for agricultural use, 
of simplicity and safety. As evidence of this it may be men- 
tioned that the engine used to drive the Separators in the 
Working Dairy was tended by a plumber who had never 
driven an engine before. It would not often be advisable to 
entrust an ordinary steam-engine to the tender mercies of an 
average dairy-maid, but with this engine there is no more 
chance of explosion than there is with an unclosed kitchen 
boiler. The Motor is a vacuum engine of simple construction, 
its power being derived from the condensation of steam at the 
atmospheric pressure. It has a small generator, in which there 
is not any more pressure than there is in an ordinary tea-kettle. 
The vacuum is produced by means of a supply of cold water. 
When used for pumping purposes, that supply is obtained from 
the Motor itself ; but when not used for pumping, an inde- 
pendent supply is necessary. The water may be used over and 
over again, by the use of a tank. The working cylinder and 
piston of the Motor are made of bronze, require no lubrication, 
and will take no harm if allowed to remain idle without atten- 
tion for a great length of time. No renewable parts are 
required, and the only packing necessary is a little tallowed 
hemp around the piston and valve rods. No special oil is 
required for the bearings ; ordinary machinery or olive oil will 
do equally well. The fire should be made of coke, if it can be 
obtained, as it makes no smoke, and does not cause the chimney 
to require sweeping. When using coke, the fire-box should be 
kept nearly full of fuel, and the damper regulated ; in this way 
the ^lotor will run a very long time without any addition of 
fuel. In working the Motor no attention is required to any- 
thing but the fire, and that only very occasionally. When the 
quantity of water required for condensation cannot be easily 
obtained, a condensing tank is necessary. This will furnish 
an ample supply of hot water for all dairy purposes, and will 
be still more convenient in laundry work. 
No. 4130. Messrs. R. Hornshy and Sons' Plough for taking off 
the top spit for draining. The construction of this plough (with 
the stilts omitted) is shown in Fig. 18. The two adjustable 
skeiths or disc-coulters cut the two sides of the furrow, and the 
cut is completed by the share with a knife rising from its near 
side. The furrow thus clearly cut is lifted and laid unbroken 
by the side of the drains. The plough was taken to the trial- 
field at Penwortham, and was first set to cut a furrow 10 inches 
wide and 7 inches deep. It afterwards cut a furrow 11 by 8. 
In spite of a previous watering, the friable nature of the ground 
prevented the furrow being as sharply cut as it would have been 
in a clay soil ; but the work done satisfied the Judges of 
