The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-01-30
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.


Now
The farmer who now selects new tools
for another seasons work, will find it
matter of economy in labor, to choose
those which are as light as sufficient
degree of strength will admit. Weld
ing a needlessly heavy tool is waste of
strength. A hand hoe, for instance,
may make two thousand strokes in an
hour, or twenty thousand a day. A
needless ounce in weight will therefore
require the constant movement of this
ounce twenty thousand times daily, or
equal TO more than half q ton, which the
operator must eXpend in personal
strength. Some tools are half pound
heavier than use rcquires and day la
borcrs, who use them, waste an amount
of strength equal to who'e tons in each
day. There are other tools not requiring
the constantly alternating movement OF
the hoe, when additional weight is not so
detrimental. as for example-the crow
bar, which Icing used as lever, does
not require constant motion. But in all
cases, tools are to be constructed in &C
cordance with their intended purpose.
The crowbar must be heaviest where the
weight rests, and decrease in size
with the distance from this
point. There is often too little
taper toward the hand, and conse-
qucntly the bar is usually bent under the
weight, and nowhere else. Properly
constructed, the handle would be bent
as soon as any other part, and no sooner.
The same principle will apply in the con-
struction of hoe handles, which should
be strong where the right hand moves,
and if the tool is slightly tapering to-
ward the blade, to which most of
the motion is given, it will prevent a
needless expenditure of strength.
The principle with which DR.. Holmes
imagined the maker of the hundred year
onc-horse shay" adopted in construct
ing every part of the vehicle according
TO strength required, may be also applied
in. the construction of tools as far as
practicable. The part which most fire..
quent!y breaks should be made stronger
next time. That which never breaks is
needlessly heavy. A light plow, strong
enough for continued use economies
the strength Of the team. If twenty
pounds too heavy, the fraction which
these twenty pounds create on the soil,
will require a force at least equal to ten
pounds more than is necessary. These
ten pounds constantly bearing on the
horse all day will amount to about as
much as blowing one entire acre in a
twenty-acre field. Some plows are made
much heavier.
Al! these matters should be carefully
looked into in purchasing any tools; and
such as are in frequent or constant use
require more care in selection than such
as are rarely employed; and more care
should be given to the form and strength
of those parts which have a quick vibra-
tory motion, where momentum must be
continually created and arrested. than
III such as have continuous or revolving
motion. AS human strength is more
valuable than horse or steam power hand
tools should be selected with particular
care, and light and effective as well as
durable ones, preferred to those which
are heavy, clumsy and inefficient, espe-
cially if in daily use
Where the efficiency of a tool depends
entirely on the momentum which NAV be
given to it, different rule applies. as
with a hammer, which must have a
weight corresponding with its intended
use. A heavy hammer would not drive
small, slender nail, but would bend OF
double it; while the quick blow of a
light hammer would accomplish the de-
sired purpose. On the other hand a large
spike could not be driven with lipht
hammer. Rivet-heads are spread only
with the quick blows of a light hammer,
in the same way that Il stake or post has
its head battered and split with light
AK. a heavy FOUNDER is required for &
heavy post. \ tack hammer would make
no impression on it, whatever might be
the vigor with which it is used. -Coun
try GentlemaH.