New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-09-06
sToNE-DIGGEa AND WALL-LAYER.

We wore invited 10 v: ness yesterday at Yonksr
trial Of machine for digging soce. a,d buiidns val
T novelty of q machine far such labor excitsd good
u ioc'eduf ~ az TO tho possibility Of subsataass
~esi ior manual labor IN shis the hardest OF farm
work, and IL Was difRcas 10 ..l;svo the .,.rs,t n
ar Knapp, who IA introS ucins the machine i.so tie
Rivsr Cspniss of this ais -tbs. Il Void ,.L ,oeL.
Of FIVE tnas weight Of the ground wihou, d ius
,sroubd them. ~ o.le #-rr.I ..r4.
Bdt seeing Is believing. And at O'Clock yss.srsay
morning, We saw the machine In actual operation tax
ing out powders weighing from one 10 Eve tuna ana
from one-baf to seven-eehths under ground at the
rate Of one every three minutes. The machioe IL
compact and stout iron windlass on wheels drawn BY
one pair Of oxen while another pair Immediately m
front Of them hiiohed to a rope which works the
vii dlass through cog wheels, Multiplying the power
some twenty times The windlass can also be worked
by hand In which Gaze the power Is multiplied ,wiss
or three times as much. Two very heavy chains are
fastened to and reeled upon the barrel Of the wiada
they support hook in whose jaw ia hung pieos Il
chain which can easily be heightened or shortened.
This chain is Jeeyed through the shsnks Of the hugo
hooks which take hold of the rocks. The rocks are
previously fitted for the machine by drilling holes In
opposite sides about three-quaters Of an inch dssp
The machine is driven over a rock; ths man
at the windlsss, which Is 20 high that q
rock Of i've or six tuns be lifted two feet from the
ground, lowers the great graphing hooks; tbe man
below adjusts their points In the holes In the sides q
the rocks frightening or shortening the chain holding
The hooks the rock is larger or smaller the aa al
the wndlass then ghtens the slack while the man be-
low gets up on the machines then both heavs at tho
windlass. If they do not start the rock the driver
helps Them and if the three cannot it /. given up az
liable to break the machine If they do start IT, they
tell the driver to go ahead and he drives the for
" ard team winding up the windlsss The rock rises
out of the ground and the team yoked TO the machine
then draw il wherever it is wanted. 1t can be laid -
the bottom stone Of wall or If the bottom stones are
laid, the machine can be backed up to the wall and
the rock pulled by the other pair Of oxen and laid
on the wall.
This all very simple and easy and 1t is eser
than it seems The holes drilled in the rocks were -
shallow that we expecting all the while that tho
hooks would slip would break away the rock when
the lifting power required to Lift 1t and tear
away the earth which wedsed many Of them down,
came to be applied. But they cid not, and in some
cares the hooks were applied even without
drilling holes for them. 1t is wonder that among az
the inventive Yankees who have spent so many life
times digging out rocks with spades, and levers, and
chains and oxen nobody should have thought Of this
before. Mr.. & E Bolles Of Plymouth, Mass, the In
veptor of the machine got his patent for 1t Ave years
ago, but it i. only lately, AVID through eOtsrprsias
farmer that il has been brought the notice of the
public The machines appear to BE- very sodly built
They weigh little over tun, and cost, ASIDE from
the patent right to them, s225. Mess.s. Knapp g.
Co. offer to take out all the rocks weighing bot ~een
one and FIVE tuns on any ordinary pscs Of ground In
the counties for which they hold the patent right, at
sl7 per hundred. They say it costs three or four
tin es as much to do it in the old way and that many
pieces Of ground which would pay for clearing uP
in the old way, can now be smoothsd off at a profit
Their advertisement in this paper gives basinsss
details.