Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-07-08
MOVING MACHINE CONTEST.

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enjoyable affair vas that Harrisvilie
Celebration.
MOVING MACHINE CONTEST.
Signal Trium Din of Bellaire
Machinery.
a Moving Machine contest was held
of John f. Owens, near PoVhattan, in
this county. The arrangements con-
templated trial between the Cham
pion, of Springfield, ONO, the Buck
eye, of Canton, Ohio, the Crawford,
made by the Remington Works, lion,
New York, the Acme, of Wellsburg,
and the Smith, made by the Bellaire
Manufacturing Company. At the time
appointed, all the machines failed, to
to put in an appearance except the
Champion and Smith. MeSSfs. Roy,
! of Wheeling, and Mr.. S. Riley, of this
county, were on hand the day before,
doing some tall ,alking in favor of the
Champion, aad against the Smith, and
when Col. Poorman and his friends ar
rived on the ground, about 9 O'Clock on
the day of trial, there seemed to be a
one-sided opinion: every body appar-
emily being for the Champion. The
friends of the Saith quietly referred
10 the special claims of their machine
and to the fact that it had been greatly
improved since last season.
| Mr.. Owens, s,-who had purchased a
Crawford mower on warranty that il
would do as good work as any first.
class machine. and was not willing the
contest should begin until after the ar
rival of the o'clock boat from Whee.
ling, so as to allow the Crawford to get
there, if possible. 1t did not come,
however, and about 8 o'clock the Smith
entered the field, "a good well-set-crol
of clover and opened the land. Short.
ly after, the Champion was brought in
and started around after the Smith,
Every person present (and there was
quite large turnOuD was at once sur
prised at the difference OF the sound o;
rattle of the machines. The clear, Light
click, click. of the Smith, and the
heavy chuck, chuck, of the Cham pion,
indicated to every practical machine
man present the superiority of the
Smith; and long before the dynamo
meter was applied they were satisfied
it would prove to be the ljgheSt in
draft. The Committee selected were
/. j. Potts, by Mr.. Owens, David Nef,
by iIessrs. Roy and Riley, and VIM.
Armstrong, by Col. Poorman, who
were supplied, by agreement by Roy
and Poorman, with the following points
of merit upon which they were desired
to pass Judgment:
Mechanical construction, facility and
ease of management, durability and
ease of repair, adaptability to the work,
| lightness of draft.
Messrs. Roy and Riley undertook to
run their small machine with 81 feet
against the combined mower and reap
er entered by the Bellaire Manufact-
uring Co., which cuts 534 inches wide,
but the committee decided that the
combined Champion, with oil cutter
bar, should be entered.
On the frs. test of draught both ma
chimes we're fairly tested, except that
the breaSt-chaiDS on the Champion
were shortened so That the double-trees
bore heavily on the tongue, while on
the Smith the dOub!etree was Gear of
the tongue and hanging freely on the
dynamOmeter. IL. this test Lne Smith
showed 102 lbs. less G,aft than tho
Champion. When the dynamOmeter
was taken off the small Champion it
was seen that it had been tampeced
with, and the committee concluded to
make another tes., and requested that
all present SHOULD keep away from the
machines and allow the com mittee to
handle them. The friends of the
Smith complied with the request OF
the committee; but while the commit
tee were engaged with the Smith Now
er the friends of the Champion hung
up the inner end of the cutter-bar on
the Champion lever, and on the second
trial the Champion cutter-bar was car
ried on the machine and never allowed
to touch the ground at the inner end.
Notwithstanding this, the Smith prov
ed to be the lightest in draft.
The following is the official report of
the committee:
CAPTINA, Ohio, June %. 1875.
M'. c. l.. Poornaan and Others, Bell
dire, Belmont County, Ohio.
GENTLEMEN: We, the undersigned
committee, being appointed at the con-
test on the farm of John E. Owe1s, to
test the following combined mowers
and reapers the Champion, of Spring.
field, Ohio, and the Smith, of Bellaire,
Ohio, respectfully report as follows:
Mechanical Construction-In favor of
the Smith.
Facility and Ease of Management
Equal.
Material and Durability-In favor of
the Smith.
Lightness of Draft-The Smith ma
chine showed an average on the dyna-
mometer of 1871 pounds. The Cham
pion showed 241f pounds.
On the above tests the Stubble left by
the Champion was fully two inches
higher than the stuble left by the Smith
machine; showing that the cutter-bar
of the Champion had been raised.
Adaptability to Work-Equal. .
In short, we consider the Smith
machine far superior in three points
out of five to the Champion machine,
and in the other two points the ma
chimes are equal.
St2,5 i =: !: SiS$;; SsH;5eose. Ss$s. Committee:
This is certainly a great triumph for
the BelIaire Manufacturing Company,
as the Champion is recognized rs one
of the leading machines of the world,
and our farmers ought no longer to
hesitate, but at once throw their in
fiuence in favor of this establishment.
AND VICINITY.