Scientific American Supplement, No. 299, September 24, 1881Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 299, September 24, 1881
Various
Science -- Periodicals
It would appear that it is impossible to secure the binding of every
single sheaf. Here and there, even with the best binders, an occasional
miss will occur, in which the corn is thrown out unbound. However, with
Messrs Samuelson's machine this was extremely rare, and the neatness of
the sheaves produced was remarkable. No doubt the shortness of the crop
in the portion allotted to this machine may have had something to do
with this, as a longer straw is more likely than a shorter one to
connect two sheaves and produce that hanging together which in other
machines is so often observed to precede a miss in the binding. Mr.
Wood's machine had a stronger crop and longer straw to deal with, and
the hanging together of the sheaves occurred far too frequently, and was
almost always followed by a loose sheaf. The Johnston harvester went
through a very fair performance; there was no hanging except at turning
the corners, and the piece of work was finished in a shorter time than
with the other machines. Notwithstanding the automatic character of the
gear for binding, we believe it will be found that the sheaves produced
in these machines vary very much in weight.
At about 10:20 the next lot of machines started. They were those of
the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Messrs. Howard, and Messrs.
Aultman & Co. Of these, the first-named only has the automatic trip. We
believe it made no miss in binding during this trial, and the sheaves
were neat, though, perhaps, rather too tightly bound. There was no
hanging together or check in this run. The machine of Messrs. Aultman &
Co. was not so successful in separating the sheaves, though this was
not so often followed by an unbound sheaf as in some other machines.
Sometimes as many as three sheaves, clinging closely together, were
ejected at one time. To avoid this a man walked by the machine, and
assisted the delivery of the sheaf. The tension of the string which
binds the sheaves varies a good deal in this machine, some of the
sheaves being rather too loosely held together, while at other times the
fault is in the other direction. In Messrs. Howard's machine there is a
tendency in the sheaves to cling together, but this is not accompanied
to any extent with missing the binding. Mr. King attempted a run after
the three last had finished their plots; but his machinery had not been
fully adjusted, and after one course the trial stopped. As far as one
could judge from this short performance, the chief fault in the sheaf
produced was the uncertain position of the string upon it. Sometimes
this was near the bottom of the straw, and sometimes among the corn.
Unfortunately at 11:25 the rain began, and experiments were stopped till
the afternoon. It was no light shower which could give a check to the
ardor of the judges and other officers of the society, but a heavy
downpour of some hours' duration, which soaked the crop through and
through. Indeed, we think it a pity that the experiments should have
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