The Grenada gazette., 1888-02-18
ABOUT TREAD.POWeR.
ohe ~ tho Greatest COnveniencos 81
Farms OF Moderate Size

one tI tho Greatest Conveniencas o.
| Farms Of Moderate Size.
A, there has been recently some dis
cusslon ON the force which q tread
horsepower possesses, We furnish
some calculations to determine def
nitely the amount. This will vary with
the weight Of the beam, and with the
inclination Of the moving platform. In
the trials which we have made. the
two horses weighed about 200
pounds, and the moving platform, the
upper face Of which was over eight
feet long, was raised two feet al The
upper end. (Some would prefer a
more moderate inclina,ion.) The
horses. walking quite moderately,
moved about two feet IN second, or
less than q. the rate of two miles An
hour Their ascending movement was
consequently one-fourth the length Of
the platform. or six inches rise
to the second, and the force
thus exerted by them each sec
ond was equal to lifting their own
weight. or 2,200 pounds, six inches.
This would be the same as 1900
pounds raised one foot every two sec.
onds. or &C, 900 pounds minute for
the :wc horses. This happens to be
the standard force established by en-
g'neers in estimating "horse- power
There effective force would of course
be reduced by m amount equal to the
friction Of the machinery.
The amount would vary with the
weight OF the horses. with the incli.
nation OF the platform, and with the
character of the resisting force caus.
ing the motion to be slow or fast.
The horses have no control of the
amount of labor performed; al! they
have to do is to keep :pacc with
the motion of the platform under
their feet. In this respect their work
is entirely unlike that of horses work.
ing on a lever power. where they may
be made TO move slowly Oh rapidly, al
the option of the driver. We have
tried two-horsc lever power with
stroag pair of horses, when by close
driving VIC could get more work ont
of them in Il given time than could
ever be obtained on a tread power;
but ordinarily, with easy working.
they are inclined to do less, the con-
tinued circular motion rendering it
more difficult to walk so freely as
when going straight ahead The uni
form regularity of the motion of the
tread power gives it a decided advan-
tage over the irregular Or haltinc
work Of the team on the lever.
We give tho preceding figures and
calculations, in order that farmers
may adopt the rules to their own cir.
cumstanccs, Or to their own teams and
machinery, by which they may de.
termine with reasonable accuracy just
what they are accomplishing; and also
for the purpose of comparing tleii
work with the standard rule for com.
putting horse powers, or S3. 900 pounds
lifted foot in minute. This
is more than the average work
of horses in this country. as small
horses with light weight can not de-
more than Il certain limited amount,
whatever they might accomplish by
sharp driving on lever power.
A tread power is great convent
ence on every farm Of moderate size,
and is got ready for action in the briet
space Of time in which pair of unhar.
messed horses can be led upon the
platform. We find n two-horSe power
very useful in cutting green corn
stalks for the ensilage. and dry corn
stalks for feeding in connection with
,nsilage in winter; for thrcshing Q grain:
or grinding feed; for shelling corn;
md it might be used for saving wood.
,hurning. and other operations con-
lected with revolving motion. -Coun.
ry Gentleman