1 Srpr., 1902. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 199 
Poultry. 
ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
By WILLIAM GRAVE. 
Tn the August number of the Agricultural Journal I was trying to make 
lain the best mode of hatching by artificial means—that is, the method I found 
best—and sincerely trust many readers will derive some benefit from what I 
have written. I said the first thing necessary was a first-class incubator, and 
one that would do all that was claimed for it. Well, we have a machine perfect 
in every respect, no faults whatever, and that machine is George Stahl’s 
“Perfected Excelsior,’ which you will find plan of below. By this drawing, 
readers will be quite able to understand the inside working of the best incubator 
on the market. I have used nearly every make of incubator, and find the 
Excelsior far and away ahead of anything. It has a perfect heating appa- 
ratus, and a perfectly uniform distribution of heat in all parts of the egg 
chamber ; a uniform system of ventilation, by which the atmosphere of the egg 
chamber can be keptas pure as the outside air; has a proper system of supplyin 
moisture ; a perfect automatic control of the temperature, and could be left to 
itself under all changes of outside temperature. The Excelsior is simplicity 
itself ; 1t cannot get out of order, because there is nothing to do so. ‘The walls 
of this machine are double, even the doors; the casing is made of thoroughly 
kiln-dried linden wood, which will not warp or crack; the inner casing is 
made of poplar, doubled all round, with a space between, thoroughly packed 
with mineral wool. This combination offers the greatest resistance to heat or 
cold, and its non-conducting power is so great that you can place the machine 
in a room where the temperature is 60 degrees, regulate it, and the temperature 
may fall to zero or rise to 90 degrees, while the variation inside the machine 
will not be perceptible. It also has double doors, an inner one of glass, through 
which the eggs and thermometer may be seen. The outer door is panelled 
wood, elegantly carved. These machines are as handsome as any piece of 
furniture, and the tops are double glass. 
A hen supplies the necessary heat to bring forth her young by sitting on 
them, thus the eggs are heated from above; so it is with the Hxcelsior 
Tncubator, the heat is supplied from the top by the use of an aluminum metal 
tank, filled with water, the water being heated by a lamp which is fastened to 
the end of the machine, as shown in the drawing. The regulator is so arranged 
that the valve acts upon and over the boiler flue, controlling the temperature 
of the water before it enters the tank. The regulator is a thermostat so placed 
and corrected as to regulate the heat at the surface of the eggs. Any 
expansion or contraction of the thermostat, by change of temperature in the 
machine, causes the regulator to open or close the valve by which the heat 
from the lamp is made to heat the air and water circulation of the machine, or is 
to cut off the heat supply, so as to allow the machine to cool slowly. The valve 
will open without fail at the set temperature, and when the machine has been 
cooled to a degree or so will certainly close. The ventilation in the Excelsior is 
perfect. Itis effected by taking in a current of air at top of egg chamber, 
where it is gently heated by the tank and passes downward over top of eggs. 
While in this warm condition it can be saturated with moisture if desired. 
The air then passes under the eggs and escapes through the ventilators in the 
bottom end of the machine. 
