Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-02-06
BUYING NEW o
Matters Which Farmers Should CAREFUL,
Look Into Before Purchasing.


Matters Which Farmers Should Carefully
Look Into Before Purchasing.
The farmer who now selects new
tools for another seasons work, will
lind it a matter of economy in labor, to
choose those which are as light as a
sufficient degree OF strength will admit.
Welding a needlessly heavy tool is a
waste of strength. But there is great
difference in the work to which it may
be applied. 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 a ton, which
the operator must eNpend in personal
strength. Some tools are half a pound
heavier than use requires; and day
laborers, who use them, waste an
amount of strength equal to whole 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 ex-
ample-the crowbar, which being used
rs a lever, does not require constant
motion. But in all cases, tools are to
be constructed in accordance 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 towards the hand, and conse-
qnently 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 construction of hoe-handles,
which should be strong where the right
hand moves, and if the tool, slightly
tapering toward 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 "one-horse shay" adopted in con-
structing every part of the vehicle ac-
cording to strength required, may be
also applied n the construction of
tools as far as practicable. The part
which most frequently breaks should
be made stronger next time. That
which never breaks is needlessly heavy.
A light pillow, strong enough for con-
tinued use, economies the strength Of
the team. Ii twenty pounds too heavy,
the friction which these twenty pounds
create on the sole in dragging over or
through the soil, will require a force at
least equal to ten pounds more than is
necessary. These ten pounds con.
stantly bearing on the horse all day
| will amount to about as much as plow-
ing one entire acre in a twenty-acre
field. Some plows are made much
heavier.
All 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 %vibratory motion, where momen-
tum must be continually created and
arrested, than in such as have a con-
sinuous 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 we'll as dur
able ones, preferred to those which are
heavy, clumsy and inefficient, espec-
tally if in daily use.
Where the efficiency Of a tool de-
ponds entirely on the momentum which
may be given to it, a different rule ap-
plies, as with a hammer, which must
have a weight corresponding with it's
intended use. A heavy hammer would
not drive a small, slender nail, but
would bend or double it; while the
quick blow of a light hammer would
accomplish the desired purpose. On
the other hand a large spike could net
be driven with a lighthammer. Rivet-
heads are spread only with the quick
blows of a light hammer, in the same
way that a stake or post has its head
battered and split with a light axe. A
heavy FOUNDER is required for a heavy
post. A tack-hammer would make 10
impression on it, whatever might te
the vigor with which it is used
Country Gentleman.