Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-10-09
Mill engineers EXPERIMENTATION
AND REPORTS


Field Machinery" and was as fol
lows:
Reports On Field Machinery
Having received but one letter in
response TO a number OF requests for
information On this subject. ii is diff
cult 10 submit report which would
conform with your desires.
Field machinery seems 10 me to be
an item that has received very little
consideration on the plantations, ow'
ing to the good old standby, cheap
labor" But times are changing; we
cannot get the laboring man as cheap
ly as before, and labor Is short
throughout the majority of the plan
tations resulting in the plantations
having 10 pay more to keep what Ia
Dor they have.
Most of the plantations are not put
ting the same amount Of work on the
cane as they did few years ago. and
II labor keeps on reducing II viii be a
case OF reducing the acreage con-
slider IL is up to US TO get our heads
together and try TO build machinery
that will overcome this difficulty.
Clearing Cane Trash: 1t is the
practise now with many OF the plan
tations to leave the trash on the
ground after the cane has been cut.
Then this trash has to be cleaned
from the cane stools, so that they can
come up without disturbance. This
work is generally done with men and
hoes, but think II will be possible to
build machine to do this work sat
isfactorily.
Flowing: The blowing in this part
OF the island is done mainly with disc
plows, hauled by mules. II would not
be profitable for the plantations to
use any other kind OF power, as the
fields are mostly in such condition
that no other power could enter. I
believe at Aiea they have a two-fur-
row double mould board pillow, made
by Fowler & Co., Leeds. This plow,
IL is claimed, can prepare the land
for half of what IT cost before; no
doubt the plantations which use
steam plows will consider this ap-
paratus.
Fertilizing: There has been many
different makes OF fertiliZing ma.
chimes introduced into these islands,
but in most cases they are too light
ly constructed for our rough cane
lands. With a little time and careful
consideration fertilizing machinery
could be built at the plantations to
suit the conditions better than any.
where else.
Cane Cutting: There have been a
few attempts to build cane-cutting
machines, but none have proved them
selves to be commanding advail-
tage over the cane knife, so as to take
the lead. If a cane-cutting machine
was only wanted to cut the root end
of the stick, think machine of
something the same make as a grain
harvester tbut much heavier1 would
do the work.
Suppose this practise was carried
out. The cane would be put in bun,
dies about 100 to 200 pounds and
knife could be arranged to cut off the
worst Of the cane tops, without cut
ting off too much cane. Would the
cane tops that are left increase the
milling to such an extent that 1t
would be profitable to use such ma
chine?
Cane Loading and Transportation:
Mr.. G. w. Girvin of Hoea Mill gives
a description Of the cane loading and
transportation at North Kohala.
There are several means of handling
cane used here The one most gem
orally used is the heavy wagon trac-
ton engine. but the caterpillar en-
CINE is beginning to supersede this
method. There are two loading ma
chimes in use. but this coming season
q new type Is to be tried out, which
consists Of a smalLsized caterpillar
engine with cane handling rig built
upon It,
At Waiakea we have nothing new
In the way of cane-handling machin.
cry. but the system is very good and
] don't think II can be impoved on a
great deal under the circumstances
The cane is hauled on sleds to points
on the track and loaded into cars by
a gasoline hoist fitted on a turning
table with a friction clutch. Two
hooks suspended from the crane OF the
loaded hook into a sling beneath the
crane on the sled. The sling with its
load of cane Is hoisted above the car.
Here man by simply pulling a cord
trigger in the sling, which
parts in two and the load of cane falls
into the car. This cane loader is
built on car so that il can be read.
lily moved from point TO point and is
run On and off the track by means OF
a portable switch. When in working
order ii stands eight feet from the
nearest rail and the crane end of the
machine is tilted up is degrees. This
tilt enables the machine to swing
round quickly.
In ten-hour day this machine can
load about $50 tons of cane. This is
partly due to the quick sling known
as the "Waiakea Sling
Respectfully submitted.
JOSEPH WILLIE,
Chairman, Committee on Field Ma.
chinery and Cane Transportation.
The committee on fabrication re-
ported: ...-
fabrication is a subject in which.