FARM MECHANICS: MACHINERY AND ITS USE TO SAVE HAND LABOR ON THE FARM TEXT

[Illustration: Figure 102.--Wire Stretcher. A small block and tackle will stretch a single barb-wire tight enough for a fence. By using two wire snatches the ends of two wires may be strained together for splicing.] [Illustration: Figure 103.--Block and Tackle. The rope is threaded into two double blocks. There is a safety stop that holds the load at any height.] Farming pays in proportion to the amount of work intelligently applied to this manner of increasing values. It is difficult to make a profit growing and selling grain. Grain may sell for more than the labor and seed, but it takes so much vitality from the land that depreciation of capital often is greater than the margin of apparent profit. When grains are grown and fed to live-stock on the farm, business methods demand better buildings and more power, which means that the farmer is employing auxiliary machinery and other modern methods to enhance values. In other manufacturing establishments raw material is worked over into commercial products which bring several times the amount of money paid for the raw material. [Illustration: Figure 104.--Farm Hoists. Two styles of farm elevating hoists are shown in this illustration. Two very different lifting jobs are also shown.] The principle is the same on the farm except that when a farmer raises the raw material he sells it to himself at a profit. When he feeds it to live-stock and sells the live-stock he makes another profit. When the manure is properly handled and returned to the soil he is making another profit on a by-product. Farming carried on in this way is a complicated business which requires superior knowledge of business methods and principles. In order to conduct the business of farming profitably the labor problem has to be met. Good farm help is expensive. Poor farm help is more expensive. While farm machinery also is expensive, it is cheaper than hand labor when the farmer has sufficient work to justify the outlay. It is tiresome to have agricultural writers ding at us about the superior acre returns of German farms. German hand-made returns may be greater per acre, but one American farmhand, by the use of proper machinery, will produce more food than a whole German family. [Illustration: Figure 105.--Two Powerful Winches. The one to the left is used for pulling small stumps or roots in the process of clearing land. The rope runs on and off the drum to maintain three or four laps or turns. The winch to the right is used for hoisting well drilling tools or to hang a beef animal. The rope winds on the drum in two layers if necessary.] DOG CHURN Even the dog works on some farms. A dog is a nuisance among dairy cattle, but he can be made to earn his salt at churning time. All mechanism in connection with dog power must be light. It also is necessary to eliminate the friction as much as possible. [Illustration: Figure 106.--Dog Churn Power. A wheel keyed to an iron shaft is placed at an angle as shown. The weight of the dog turns the wheel and power is conveyed to the churn by a light rope belt. It is necessary to confine the dog between stationary partitions built like a stall over the wheel.] The best way to make a dog power is to use a light wooden sulky wheel for the revolving turn table. Next best to the sulky wheel is a light buggy wheel. The wheel is made fast to an upright iron shaft that is stepped into an iron oil well at the bottom and inclined at an angle of about fifteen degrees to give the necessary power. To steady the top of the shaft a light boxing is used, preferably a ball-bearing bicycle race to reduce friction. Power is conveyed to the churn by means of a grooved pulley on the top of the shaft. A small, soft rope or heavy string belt runs from this pulley to a similar pulley connected with the churn. Dogs learn to like the work when fed immediately after the churning is finished. Dogs have been known to get on to the power wheel to call attention to their hungry condition. This calls to mind the necessity of arranging a brake to stop the wheel to let the dog off. When the wheel is running light, the dog cannot let go. A spring brake to wear against the iron tire of the wheel is the most satisfactory. The brake may be tripped and set against the tire automatically by a small lever and weight attached to the underside of the wheel. When the speed is too fast the weight swings out and sets the brake. When the speed slackens the weight drops back towards the center and releases the brake. When the speed is about right the weight swings between the two spring catches. BULL TREADMILL On dairy farms it is common to see a valuable pure bred bull working a treadmill for exercise and to pump water. Sometimes he turns the cream-separator, but the motion is too unsteady for good results. Treadmills for this purpose are very simple. The mechanism turns a grooved pulley which propels a rope power conveyor. The rope belt may be carried across the yards in any direction and to almost any distance. Bull treadmills consist of a framework of wood which carries an endless apron supported on rollers. The apron link chains pass around and turn two drumhead sprocket-wheels at the upper end and an idler drum at the lower end. The sprocket-wheel drum shaft is geared to an auxiliary shaft which carries a grooved pulley. A rope belt power conveyor runs in this groove and carries power from the bull pen to the pump. Bull tread powers usually have smooth inclined lags, because a bull's steps on the tread power are naturally uneven and irregular. This construction gives an even straight tread to the travel surface. To prevent slipping, soft wooden strips are nailed onto the lags at the lower edges. Even incline tread blocks or lags are also recommended for horses that are not shod and for all animals with split hoofs. The traveling apron of the power is placed on an incline and the treads are carried around the two drums at the upper and lower ends of the frame by means of endless chains. There is a governor attachment which regulates the speed and prevents the machinery from "running away." [Illustration: Figure 107.--Bull Tread Power. Treadmills have gone out of fashion. Too much friction was the cause, but a mill like this is valuable to exercise a pure bred bull. Some dairymen make him pump water.] The simplest governor is made on the two-ball governor principle with weights on opposite levers. The governor is attached to two opposite spokes in the flywheel. As the speed increases the weights move outward because of their centrifugal force. This motion operates a brake lever to retard or stop the flywheel. When the machine stops an opposite weight rests against the flywheel until it starts in motion again, so the apron cannot be moved until the brake is released. This is necessary to get the animal on or off of the platform while it is at rest to avoid accidents. The usual incline is a rise of two feet in eight when power is wanted. This pitch compels the bull to lift one-quarter of his own weight and it may be too severe for a heavy animal. The endless apron is an endless hill climb to the bull. Treadmills are not economical of power because there are so many bearings to generate friction. WINDMILLS Wind power is the cheapest power we have. A windmill properly proportioned to its work is a great help, especially when it is attached to a good pump for the purpose of lifting water into an elevated tank from which it is piped under pressure for domestic purposes and for watering live-stock. You can have considerable patience with a windmill if you only depend upon it for pumping water, provided you have a tank that will hold a week's supply to be drawn during a dry, hot time when every animal on the farm demands a double allowance of water. That is the time when a farmer hates to attach himself to the pump handle for the purpose of working up a hickory breeze. That also is the time when the wind neglects a fellow. A good windmill is useful up to about one-third of its rated capacity, which is the strongest argument for buying a mill larger than at first seems necessary. Some men have suffered at some time in their lives with the delusion that they could tinker with a poorly constructed windmill and make it earn its oil. They have never waked up to a full realization of their early delusion. It is a positive fact that all windmills are not lazy, deceitful nor wholly unreliable. When properly constructed, rightly mounted and kept in good repair, they are not prone to work in a crazy fashion when the tank is full and loaf when it is empty. There are thousands of windmills that have faithfully staid on the job continuously twenty-four hours per day for five or ten years at a stretch, all the time working for nothing year after year without grumbling, except when compelled to run without oil. At such times the protest is loud and nerve racking. A good windmill with suitable derrick, pump and piping may cost $150. The yearly expense figures something like this: Interest on investment at 6% per annum $ 9.00 Depreciation 10% 15.00 Oil 1.00 Repairs 3.00 making a total of $28, which is less than $2.50 per month for the work of elevating a constant supply of water for the house, stable and barnyard. ONE-MULE PUMP A home-made device that is much used on live-stock ranches in California is shown in the illustration. This simple mechanism is a practical means for converting circular mule motion into vertical reciprocating pump action. A solid post is set rather deep in the ground about twelve feet from the well. This post is the fulcrum support of the walking-beam. One end of the walking-beam reaches to the center line of the well, where it connects with the pump shaft. The other end of the walking-beam is operated by a pitman shaft connecting with a crank wrist pin near the ground. A round iron shaft similar to a horsepower tumbling rod about ten or twelve feet in length and one and a half inches in diameter is used to convey power and motion to the pitman shaft. [Illustration: Figure 108.--Mule Pump. A practical home-made power to pump water for live-stock. It is used where the water-table is within 20 feet of the surface of the ground. The drawing shows a post in the center which supports the walking-beam and acts as a fulcrum. A mowing-machine wheel is keyed to one end of a round iron shaft. The other end of this shaft turns in a boxing which is swiveled to a short post as shown at _B_. See also detail "_B_.". The two plunger shafts are shown at _A_ _A_. The mule is hitched to the round iron shaft near the traveling wheel by means of a round hook. As the mule walks around in a circle the shaft revolves and operates the crank _B_. There are side guys not shown in the drawing to keep the walking-beam in position.] A mowing-machine wheel is keyed to the outer end of the tumbling rod. At the crank end is a babbitted boxing with a bolt attachment reaching down into the top of a short post set solidly into the ground, directly under the inner end of the walking-beam. This bolt permits the boxing to revolve with a swivel motion. Another swivel connects the upper end of the pitman shaft with the walking-beam. The whiffletree is attached to the tumbling rod by an iron hook. This hook is held in place by two iron collars fastened to the tumbling rod by means of keys or set-screws. The mowing-machine drive wheel travels around in a circle behind the mule turning the shaft which works the walking-beam and operates the pump. It would be difficult to design another horse or mule power so cheap and simple and effective. The mule grows wise after a while, so it is necessary to use a blindfold, or he will soldier on the job. With a little encouragement from a whip occasionally a mule will walk around and around for hours pulling the mowing-machine wheel after him. HORSEPOWER One horsepower is a force sufficient to lift 33,000 pounds one foot high in one minute. The term "horsepower" in popular use years ago meant a collection of gear-wheels and long levers with eight or ten horses solemnly marching around in a circle with a man perched on a platform in the center in the capacity of umpire. This was the old threshing-machine horsepower. It was the first real success in pooling many different farm power units to concentrate the combined effort upon one important operation. Not many horses are capable of raising 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute every minute for an hour or a day. Some horses are natural-born slackers with sufficient acumen to beat the umpire at his own game. Some horses walk faster than others, also horses vary in size and capacity for work. But during a busy time each horse was counted as one horsepower, and they were only eight or ten in number. And it so developed that the threshing horsepower had limitations which the separator outgrew. The old threshing horsepower has been superseded by steam engines and gasoline and kerosene power, but horses are more important than ever. [Illustration: Figure 109.--Horse Power, showing the manner of attaching the braced lever to the bull wheel.] Farm horses are larger and more powerful; they are better kept, better trained, and hitched to better machinery, because it pays. One man drives three 1,600-pound draft horses as fast as he used to drive two 1,000-pound general-purpose horses. The three drafters make play of a heavy load, while the two light horses worry themselves poor and accomplish little. Modern farm machinery is heavier, it cuts wider and digs deeper and does more thorough work. Modern farm requirements go scientifically into the proper cultivation and preparation of soil to increase fertility. Old methods used up fertility until the land refused to produce profitably. Although the old familiar horsepower has been greatly outclassed, it has not been discarded. There are many small horsepowers in use for elevating grain, baling hay, cutting straw for feed and bedding, grinding feed and other light work where engine power is not available. WATER-POWER Water-power is the most satisfactory of all kinds of stationary farm power, when a steady stream of water may be harnessed to a good water-wheel. It is not a difficult engineering feat to throw a dam across a small stream and take the water out into a penstock to supply water to a turbine water-wheel. In the first place it is necessary to measure the flow of water to determine the size of water-wheel which may be used to advantage. In connection with the flow of water it is also important to know the fall. Water is measured by what is termed a "weir." It is easily made by cutting an oblong notch in a plank placed across the stream, as a temporary dam which raises the water a few inches to get a steady, even flow of water through the notch so that calculations may be made in miner's inches. The term "miner's inch" is not accurate, but it comes near enough for practical purposes. Measuring the volume of water should be done during a dry time in summer. The fall of the stream is easily measured by means of a carpenter's level and a stake. The stake is driven into the ground at a point downstream where water may be delivered to the wheel and a tailrace established to the best advantage. Sighting over the level to a mark on the stake will show the amount of fall. When a manufacturer of water-wheels has the amount of water and the fall, he can estimate the size and character of wheel to supply. The penstock may be vertical or placed on a slant. A galvanized pipe sufficient to carry the necessary amount of water may be laid along the bank, but it should be thoroughly well supported because a pipe full of water is heavy, and settling is likely to break a joint. Galvanized piping for a farm penstock is not necessarily expensive. It may be made at any tin shop and put together on the ground in sections. The only difficult part about it is soldering the under side of the joints, but generally it may be rolled a little to one side until the bottom of the seam is reached. The most satisfactory way to carry power from the water-wheel to the farm buildings is by means of electricity. The dynamo may be coupled to the water-wheel and wires carried any required distance. The work of installing electric power machinery is more a question of detail than mechanics or electrical engineering. The different appliances are bought from the manufacturer and placed where they are needed. It is principally a question of expense and quantity of electricity needed or developed. If the current is used for power, then a motor is connected with the dynamo and current from the dynamo drives the motor. A dynamo may be connected with the water-wheel shaft at the source of power and the motor may be placed in the power-house or any of the other buildings. The cost of farm waterworks depends principally on the amount of power developed. Small machinery may be had for a few hundred dollars, but large, powerful machinery is expensive. If the stream is large and considerable power is going to waste it might pay to put in a larger plant and sell current to the neighbors for electric lighting and for power purposes. Standard machinery is manufactured for just such plants. The question of harnessing a stream on your own land when you control both banks is a simple business proposition. If anyone else can set up a plausible plea of riparian rights, flood damage, interstate complications or interference with navigation, it then becomes a question of litigation to be decided by some succeeding generation. STEAM BOILER AND ENGINE Farm engines usually are of two different types, steam engines and gasoline or oil engines. Steam stationary engines are used on dairy farms because steam is the best known means of keeping a dairy clean and sanitary. The boiler that furnishes power to run the engine also supplies steam to heat water and steam for sterilizing bottles, cans and other utensils. For some unaccountable reason steam engines are more reliable than gasoline engines. At the same time they require more attention, that is, the boilers do. Steam engines have been known to perform their tasks year after year without balking and without repairs or attention of any kind except to feed steam and oil into the necessary parts, and occasionally repack the stuffing boxes. On the other hand, boilers require superintendence to feed them with both fuel and water. The amount of time varies greatly. If the boiler is very much larger than the engine, that is, if the boiler is big enough to furnish steam for two such engines, it will furnish steam for one engine and only half try. This means that the fireman can raise 40 or 60 pounds of steam and attend to his other work around the dairy or barn. Where steam boilers are required for heating water and furnishing steam to scald cans and wash bottles, the boiler should be several horsepower larger than the engine requirements. There is no objection to this except that a large boiler costs more than a smaller one, and that more steam is generated than is actually required to run the engine. The kind of work required of a boiler and engine must determine the size and general character of the installation. Portable boilers and engines are not quite so satisfactory as stationary, but there are a great many portable outfits that give good satisfaction, and there is the advantage of moving them to the different parts of the farm when power is required for certain purposes. SMALL GASOLINE ENGINES A gasoline engine of 2-1/2 horsepower is the most useful size for a general purpose farm engine. It is convenient to run the pump, washing-machine, fanning-mill, cream-separator, grindstone, and other similar farm chores that have heretofore always been done by human