354 Accidents through Farm Machinery. 
mostly find them fall, with more or less precision, under the 
following heads : — 1st, A bad design, or workmanship, or ma- 
terial, or all three, of the machine itself; 2nd, A bad state of 
the machine, from neglect of its repairs, which in the case of 
a steam-boiler may lead to a total smash ; 3rd, The inherently 
dangerous nature of the operation carried on ; Ath, The use of 
machinery under exceptional circumstances ; 5th, The careless- 
ness of the operative himself. There is, perhaps, a somewhat 
illogical look in a classification of this kind, as all these causes 
are more or less in connection, but the division is, at least, 
convenient. 
1. The direct influence of the design and general make of a 
machine on its safe usage requires no demonstration. It is 
well known that there is always a less proportion of accidents 
through really good and simple machines — the chance of any 
accident being diminished by the smaller number of working 
parts. It is also evident that, cateris paribus, the more automatic 
the machine the safer is its management. But simplicity and 
automatic action are two apparently contradictory qualities, and 
extra skill on the part of the maker is no doubt required to 
form a happy union of the two. 
Besides a construction having a due regard to the applica- 
tion of the machine, proper provision should be made, when 
practicable, to fence in or " box up " the moving parts. The 
clause in the Act passed some twenty years ago " for the 
regulation of Mills and Factories," whereby the proper fencing 
of machinery was rendered obligatory, is well known to have 
lessened the average number of accidents through machinery 
in the manufacturing districts. It would be very easy to box up 
the gearing of a fixed thrasher, for instance, but this would 
certainly not be practicable with the sides of a portable machine. 
It would also be impossible to completely box-in a chaff-cutter ; 
but no small number of accidents happen every year through 
these machines. The feed-rollers get clogged up, the attendant 
tries to push the straw or hay forward with his fingers, and the 
man's hand gets squeezed in and cut off. The necessity for dis- 
engaging gear is here apparent. Indeed, as a rule, wherever a 
part in motion cannot be fenced in or boxed up, means should 
be provided for immediately stopping the machine. Horse-gears 
not fitted with a releasing arrangement — permitting the driven 
machinery to proceed while the horses and lay shafts stop — often 
lead to dreadful accidents. The now general use of wrought 
iron, or of malleable iron, for the beater plates of thrashers makes 
these machines much safer than they were a few years ago. It 
is well remembered that the cast-iron plates were often liable to 
fly to pieces under the impulse of the centrifugal force developed 
