Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-04-30

questions connected Win the draft
Of wagons and the resistance of mud
dy roads, are worthy Of careful ex-
animation by the farmer who draws
hundreds OF tons of farm products to
market annually. or an equal amount
OF manure over his land. The retard-
ing influence of soft earth and mud
on vehicles, when compared with the
ease with which they are drawn on a
hard smooth surface, is often much
greater than those who NEARLY drive
and ride imagine. This resistance
may be measured with considerable
accuracy in the following manner:
Place a loaded wagon on hard,
smooth road which has Just enough
descent for it to run down of its own
weight. Ascertain with level what
this descent Is. Suppose for example
that it is only one foot in thirty; this
will show that the friction or resistance
Of the surface Of the road is only one
thirtieth OF the weight; and if the
loaded wagon weighs ton, force
equal to one thirtieth of a ton, or
sixty seven pounds, would be suffi-
cient to move it on a level road of
equal smoothness. Now apply this
same reasoning to deep muddy
road bed, where the wagon will not
move unless the road has a descent of
one foot in FIVE. A force equal to one
fifth of ton or four hundred pounds,
would be required to move it on a
level road as muddy, or six times as
much as on the smooth and hard sur
face. One horse on the good road
would therefore draw as heavy load
as six horses on the muddy one.
The dynamometer gives rather more
accurate results Experiments have
been made with this instrument, furn,
ishing the following measurements OF
forces:
On new gravel road, not yet hard
ened by use, force equal to one
eighth of the weight of the wagon
had to be applied to draw it. On the
best hard earth road one-twenty- fifth
was found sufficient. On the best
broken stone road, one -sixtleth; while
on railroad, a force of one ton would
draw two hundred and eighty tons.
The resistance on rough roads was
slightly diminished by steel springs
on the wagon, at the same time that
comfort to the horse and driver was
increased, as we'll as safety to- the
harness and wagon. The irmness
given to a road of broken stone by
means of solid paved foundation,
was found to lessen the resistance.
The width of wagon wheels involves
some questions which should be we'll to
understand. Wheels with broad tire
on farm would pass over a cloddv
surface and not sink into it, and would
press the surface of pastures and new
meadows without cutting it. Narrow
wheels would not only cut and spoil
the surfrce, but require greater force
of daught. The mud or soft earth
would close on both sides of the rim, ,and
load the wheels. Broad wheels are mos
useful on tracts of broken stone and
gravel, rendering them smooth, hard ano
compact Prof. Sanborn. of the Mis-
souri, Agricultural College, has made
some tests by means of the dynamo
meter, with tire an inch and half
wide compared with width of three
inches. The wagon to which these
different widths was attached was
drawn over turf, and while the wide
tire required draught of only 80
pounds. the narrow tire with the same
load could not be moved without a
force of 439 pounds. The team which
could draw ton on the narrow wheels
would move ton and half on the
wide ones, the surface being of the
character of turf. Prof. S. also ascer-
tanned that on hard level road the
same team would draw four times as
much as over soft wet road.
But these different results vary
much with various conditions. If, for
instance, there is an inch of soft mud
on hard surface beneath, the narrow
tire would cut more easily through
the mud than the wide one, as both
would reach the hard surface, and the
wide wheel would have to displace
twice as much of the mud. All these
and other conditions must be observed
in practice.
If the great loss which Is yearly
sustained by those who have TO drive
ten or twenty miles daily, or three to
six thousand miles annually, over bad
roads, were more distinctly understood
by the public generally, greater in.
terest would undoubtedly be felt in
the importance of improving public
and private roads as eminently mat
ter of economy.
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