The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-14
MN0

hickory, as used in this country for
wheels comes close to being the best
material ohtainable and has stood up
under a great many tests which wire
wheels alone survived to any better
advantage. In fact American hickory
seems to be better than steel wheels,
according to tests that have been
made abroad,
There is partly scientific argument
in favor of wire wheels, and that Is on
the subject of braking. Where there
10 wheel with a demountable rim
this means that toward the outside
circumference of the wheel there is
double weight. That is to say. a
demountahle rim sets on the ordinary
rim OF the wheel, and when the car is
moving fast the speed of the outside
OF the wheel liz enhanced by the great
err weight which Ia being thrown In
the direction in which the car Is NOV
ing. This naturally makes a greater
effort for the braking system to over
come. With wire wheels, or, in fact,
with wooden wheels not using a de-
mounta BILE rim, this condition does not
arise.
Aid TO the Farm.
One great end and aim of those
makers OF gasoline driven implements
0SE&S W kaIiAttatS Adj AlAAsiG WA n
has been to turn out a one-man trac-
tor The small farmer who cannot
approach the figures asked for the
big tractors and who, moreover. has
not the acreage that requires any
thing especially large, has been look
ing for some time for a convenient
power driven plough or cultivator
which he can use on his ground at a
big saving in time and without too
much expense for fuel, Something
light enough TO be handy and yet
work is about the description. and to
make these elements At together is a
difficult enough problem.
One OF the largest makers of auto
mobiles has been working for long
time on this puzzle, conducting expert
ments on his own very large sized
farm Ii is said that when he gets
through with his experiments and
fixes upon something that will fill the
bill he intends TO devote legs time to
the building OF automobiles and to
turn his attention TO the needs of the
farmer in another way.
He il not the only man who has
been working on such a problem. One
of the concerns which has been doing
business in farm apparatus for many
years has put In something like the
last twenty years developing tractors
Of various sizes and various powers
Yet this concern Is not vet ready &c
announce Anything small enough TO
be considered one man plough 1t
can be seen from this that the prob
lem is difficult enough:
There is one that has been turned
out recently that may be of interest
to the man Of modest acreage who
has a great deal OF work to do and
who believes that power driven i'm
plements are just the thing TO I'LL the
bill for him In the course OF the
last three years the makers have ex-
perimented with about dozen mod
els to the end that simple and yet
effective instrument be produced.
This plough is designed to do more
than scratch the soil. 1t is intended
to use either an ordinary ploug hshare
or disk, or II can be fitted with a
cultivator, Moving. raking and plant
ing are also intended to be within the
ra ge OF activities OF this agricultural
implement. The machine Is not heavy.
Ii weighs $50 pounds complete. Il is
said that because of the balancing
only sIxty-fiye pounds weight need be
lifted when turning at the end OF q
furrow
The machine is not large, and so II
iksaf hf GShA III "HE[ UftI-
hanging branches would interfere with
horse drawn equipment There liz said
to be less danger OF barking trees or
OF treading on crops already planted
and no chance of breaking low hang
ing branches. Without letting go the
handles the engine may be throttied
down or speeded up or put In or out
OF gear simply by working with the
fingers levers provided for that pur-
pose. There is a reverse gear which
can be employed to work the plough
share out of ground that holds it at
the end OF a furrow and also is ex-
tremely useful when the plough
strikes a rock and Is stuck under it.
The operation of the motor Is re-
garded as extremely simple The
plough relies upon a twin cylinder air
cooled engine which has nominal
rating OF nine horsepower. The cy-
finders, as In motorcycle practice, are
set in V-shaped. Cooling is further
effected by fan driven from a belt
that runs over IA large pulley in the
rear. The pulley Is made for a wide
nat belt so as to permit OF the engine
being used for any number of other
small duties about the farm. The
plough on this basis is calculated to
earn its way even when not being used
in the field. The motor is set trans
versely in the part of the plough just
below the handles.
Power is transmitted through a
shaft and two universal joints to the
tractor wheels, which are spiked in or
der TO insure traction. The gear case
Is in between the two wheels, which
are made of steel Included in the
attachments that go with the plough
are turning points for breaking land
a seeder for planting corn rofton ar
other seeds, dropping them in rows
or hills; cultivators including a dist,
harrow, weeders, listers, etc. A spray
ing attachment for spraying two rows
OF trees at time. which consists of a
tank and pump designed to be secured
between the handles, lis another thing
that may be applied. When a belt is
slipped over the pulley, as spoken al
before, the plough machinery may be
used for grinding corn or other feed
or operating churn or threshing
machine, for which the power sup
piled is adequate.
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