Report on the Trials of Implements at Cardiff. 
421 
drum-shaft is also good; tliere is only one minor belt on the drum-shaft, 
which, puUincr downwards, partially counteracts the lifting pressure, while 
the belt from the engine counteracts the forward pressure of the sheaf; by a 
set-screw (Fig. 6) the brass bearing behind the shaft, as it wears, may be pushed 
forward, so that the position of the drum-shaft remains unaltered. Wherever 
the pressure on the bearing on one side of the drum differs in direction from 
the pressure on the bearings at the other end of the drum-shaft a set-screw 
should be used; in machines not so provided the position of the shaft in 
time becomes oblique, the brasses are worn unequally so that they cannot be 
reversed, and we may sometimes find an old machine that, from the misplace- 
ment of the drum-shaft, must be set obliquely to its work in order to keep the 
belts from slipping off the pulleys. We have called attention to the end 
attained by this set-screw as it was wanting in some of the machines in wbich 
the arrangement of the belts demanded some such contrivance. 
In the machine before us we have 2 belts on the leftside, one of them driven 
from the drum-shaft, and 5 belts, as shown in the cut, on the right side, 3 of 
them driven from the drum-shaft. Of the 2 stra[>s on the left (unseen) side, 
one from the drum-shaft drives the shaft placed belov/ the frame on which 
two sets of fans (F in Fig. 7) are fixed, the other strap is driven by the 
riddle-shaft and drives the corn-elevator (gr'). Of the 3 straps on the right, 
driven from the drum-shaft, one, passing forward, drives the crank-shaft (6') 
that moves the straw-shakers, another drives the smutter (H), and the third 
drives the crank-shaft for moving the caving-riddles (D) and the shog-board 
(C). Beneath the frame is seen the belt from the fan-shaft driving the chaff- 
■elevator, and at the back the belt from the corn-elevator {g^) driving the 
rotary screen (J). The passage of the corn through the machine is also shown 
in the longitudinal section given in Fig. 7. 
The drum is a skeleton-cylinder of wrought-iron, and consists of three rings 
■fceyed upon the central shaft, and bearing eight wrought-iron bars, upon which 
the beater-plates of mild steel are fastened. This drum, and the one exhi- 
bited by Messi-s. Eansomes, were the only ones in which iron was substituted 
for the wooden bars which usually carry the beat3i-plates. 
The concave is a wrought-iron grating embracing more than half the cir- 
cumference of the drum, and is formed of bent iron wires and longitudinal 
iron bars. The bars (shown in the section, Fig. 7) are two inches apart, the \vires 
are a quarter of an inch in diameter, with seven-sixteenths of an inch spaces. 
Most of the grain and chaft' beaten, or rather ruhhed, out in the drum, falls 
through the concave, and is at once passed on to the riddle (D), the rest passes 
with the straw on to the shakers (B). The five shakers each ride upon the 
crank-shafts (i' and I?), which make IGO revolutions per minute. The crank 
for each shaker differs from the one next to it, so that while one shaker is 
moving downwards and backwards, the shaker next to it is thrown upwards 
and forwards — the long straw is thus passed forwards with a series of jerks, 
while its progress is regulated by the two shutters suspended over the shakers 
which serve to hold the straw down and prevent the passage of flying grains. 
The loose corn and the cavings or broken pieces of straw fall through the 
lattice which covers the shakers on to the oscillating board (C), and are by 
it returned on to the caving-riddle (D). The oscillating board and the riddles 
are hung by wooden spring suspenders placed outside the frame, shown in 
Fig. 5, and are swung to and fro by connecting rods {d and d^ Fig. 6) 
from a crank-shaft which is placed above the hind-wheels of the machine, 
and makes 200 revolutions per minute. The caving-riddle is slightly inclined, 
and is made in four divisions or steps, pierced with cyhndrical holes. When 
used for barley all the holes are three-quarters of an inch diameter ; for wheat 
the holes are three-quarters of an inch in the two upper divisions and five- 
eighths of an inch in the two lower ones. The cavings pass over the riddle 
and are delivered on to the ground behind the straw. The com and chaff fall 
I 
