St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-19
THE MOVING CONTEST.
WORLDS FAIR FIELD THRILLS AT
WAYNE, Ill.
TWO CONTESTANTS ENTERED.

TWO CONTESTANTS ENTERED.
The Mccormick and Whitley Com
panies Do Their Best Work
The Judges Will Present Re
port and Award Prizes in a
Few Days.
CHICAGO, July 1S.-The worlds fair
field trials of moving mochines took
place at Wayne, H., today on the farm
of NJ. w. Durham, one of the most
prominent farmers and stock importers
of the Northwest. More than usual in
terest has attached to these contests or
trials owing to the attitude of many of
the worlds fair exhibitors in refusing to
participate because of the expense and
the short notice given to competitors.
Some days ago nearly all the mower
and reaper exhibitors at the worlds
fair united in a letter to Chairman
Thacher, of the committee on awards,
declining to participate and deprecating
field trials generally as an undesirable
experiment, not calculated to attain the
object sought. Despite the position
taken by these exhibitors. however, the
field trials were ordered to proceed;
and when the Judges assembled here
today various prominent manufacturers
had their representatives on the
ground, although the only mowers en-
tered in the contests were those of the
Mccormick Harvesting company, of
hn Nj
company, OF Muncie, Ind. The repre-
sentativeS of the Mccormick company
were E. X. Butler, general manager;
X. B. Swift and Cyrus II. McCormi ok
Jr. The Whitley company was repre-
scented by John Whitley, l.. ID. Schafer
and j. c. Basset. The trials were care
fully conducted, and the methods of the
judges were generally approved by
those in attendance. The judges were
Prof. II. H. Thompson, of Cornell col
lege; Hon. II. G. Wheeler, of Odebolt,
To-, one of the largest farmers in the
world and recently the Republican can
dldate for governor of Iowa, and Calvin
Young, manufacturer of Auburn,
n. Y.
The field in which the test occurred
was covered
With Heavy Timothy
of a yield of about three tons to the
acre, and the machines entering the
trials were required to be selected in
Discriminatory from the regular stock of
the companies. The teams of the stock
were selected from the stock on the
farm of Mr.. Durham. although particI-
pants, had they desired, might have
furnished their own teams. In the draft
trials the Judges, of course. selected
single team and driver for all.
The weight of the Mccormick and
Whitley mowers were about equal-630
to 635 pounds each. and by lot the
Whitley machine was accorded the first
trial.
An area of one acre was surveyed off,
and the five-foot bar Whitley machine
cut this one acre of timothy in exactly
thirty-two and a half minutes. Five
stops were required to be made in order
to clear the bar of clogging grass.
The Mccormick flYe-fOot bar ma
chine next entered the trial, and cut
one acre of timothy in exactly the time
required by the Whitley mower-32115
minutes. This was somewhat of a sur
prise to the spectators, but the McCOr-
mick mower was compelled to stop
to clear the bar on but one occa-
sion, and this was due to the impedi-
ment OF rusty spike which caught in
the sickle and broke out one of the sec
tons. the appreciable differences be-
tween the two trials were that the Nc
Cormick mower made less noise Willie
in operation, was so gagged as TO cut
much closer to the ground, and at the
conclusion was not compelled to turn
back to ''ciear up" any spots that
had been missed in the last round. The
next trial was with the big Four Nc
Cormick machine. This is a seven-foot
bar mower, and weighs about $50
pounds. The Whitley company did not
compete in this trial, as no seven-foot
bar machine is turned out by the
Whitley company. Very favorable
comment was elected by the big
Four" machine.
The Side Draft
was very slight, and the eXertion on the
horses seemed but little greater than
One acre of timothy was cut In twenty
six and half minutes, as compared
with thirty-two and a half minutes for
the fiye-foot bar machine-an advantage
of six minutes for the seven-foot bar
machine.
The dynamometer. or draft test, was
one of the most interesting features of
the day, this test being made in order
to determine the relative power re-
Quired. to haul the machines while iE
operation. The dynamometer is clev-
erly devised machine which registers
the average draft resistance IN drawing
the machine through 100 feet of timothy
three tons to the acre. In the first
test of the seven-foot bar Mccormick
machine the draft resistance was 21O
pounds, or 80 pounds for each foot of
the seven-foot blade. In hauling the
same machine over the same distance of
stubble-the mower in operation, but, of
course, cutting nothing-the dynamom-
eter registered lis pounds. The second
test registered 160 and 1876 pounds re-
spectiyely. and tie third 1877 and 112I
pounds.
The first test of the ive-foOt bar Nc
Cormick mower registered a resistance
of 135 pounds while moving hay and
1O2 pounds while being drawn over
clean stubble. sThe second test regis
tered 1856 and lis pounds respectively,
and the third and last $40 and 112T
pounds.
The first test of the Whitley five-foot
machine showed a resistance OF rs
pounds in timothy and 122 pounds in
the clear. The second test registered
$50 and 12415 pounds per foot ana the
third and last 1919 and 1873 pounds.
This closed the field tests, the general