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

K.W.H. per month in hot weather to cook by electricity for a family of four. In winter, when heat is more of a luxury, the coal or wood range will save half of the electric current. Dishwashing by electricity is another labor-saver three times a day. Vacuum cleaners run by electricity take the dust and microbes out of floor rugs with less hand labor than pushing a carpet sweeper. Incubators are better heated by electricity than any other way. Brooders come under the same class. Sewing-machines were operated by electricity in sweatshops years ago--because it paid. Farm women are now enjoying the same privilege. Electric lighting on the farm is the most spectacular, if not the most interesting result of electric generation in the country. This feature of the subject was somewhat overtaxed by talkative salesmen representing some of the pioneer manufacturers of electric lighting plants, but the business has steadied down. Real electric generating machinery is being manufactured and sold on its merits in small units. Not many miles from Chicago there is an electric lighting plant on a dairy farm that is giving satisfaction. The stables are large and they are managed on the plan of milking early in the morning and again in the middle of the afternoon. The morning work requires a great deal of light in the different stables, more light than ordinary, because the milking is done by machinery. The milking machine air-pump is driven by electricity generated on the farm, the power being supplied by a kerosene engine. Electricity on this farm is used in units, separate lines extending to the different buildings. The lighting plant is operated on what is known as the 32-volt system; the rating costs less to install than some others and the maintenance is less than when a higher voltage is used. I noticed also that there are fewer parts in connection with the plant than in other electric light works that I have examined. Technical knowledge of electricity and its behavior under different circumstances is hardly necessary to a farmer, because the manufacturers have simplified the mechanics of electric power and lighting to such an extent that it is only necessary to use ordinary precaution to run the plant to its capacity. At the same time it is just as well to know something about generators, switchboards and the meanings of such terms and names as volt, ampere, battery poles, voltmeter, ammeter, rheostat, discharge switch, underload circuit breaker, false fuse blocks, etc., because familiarity with these names, and the parts they represent gives the person confidence in charging the batteries. Such knowledge also supplies a reason for the one principal battery precaution, which is not to use out all of the electricity the batteries contain. Those who have electric lighting plants on the farm do not seem to feel the cost of running the plants, because they use the engine for other purposes. Generally manufacturers figure about 1 H.P. extra to run a dynamo to supply from 25 to 50 lights. My experience with farm engines is that for ordinary farm work such as driving the cream separator, working the pump and grinding feed, a two-horse power engine is more useful than any other size. Farmers who conduct business in the usual way will need a three-horsepower engine if they contemplate adding an electric lighting system to the farm equipment. Among the advantages of an electric lighting system is the freedom from care on the part of the women. There are no lamps to clean or broken chimneys to cut a finger, so that when the system is properly installed the only work the women have to do is to turn the switches to throw the lights on or off as needed. The expense in starting a farm electric light plant may be a little more than some other installations, but it seems to be more economical in service when figured from a farmer's standpoint, taking into consideration the fact that he is using power for generating electricity that under ordinary farm management goes to waste. A three-horsepower engine will do the same amount of work with the same amount of gasoline that a two-horsepower engine will do. This statement may not hold good when figured in fractions, but it will in farm practice. Also when running a pump or cream separator the engine is capable of doing a little extra work so that the storage batteries may be charged with very little extra expense. On one dairy farm a five-horsepower kerosene engine is used to furnish power for various farm purposes. The engine is belted to a direct-current generator of the shunt-wound type. The generator is wired to an electric storage battery of 88 ampere hour capacity. The battery is composed of a number of separate cells. The cells are grouped together in jars. These jars contain the working parts of the batteries. As each jar of the battery is complete in itself, any one jar may be cut out or another added without affecting the other units. The switchboard receives current either from the battery or from the engine and generator direct. There are a number of switches attached to the switchboard, which may be manipulated to turn the current in any direction desired. Some provision should be made for the renewal of electric lamps. Old lamps give less light than new ones, and the manufacturers should meet customers on some kind of a fair exchange basis. Tungsten lamps are giving good satisfaction for farm use. These lamps are economical of current, which means a reduction of power to supply the same amount of light. The Mazda lamp is another valuable addition to the list of electric lamps. The Wisconsin _Agriculturist_ publishes a list of 104 different uses for electricity on farms. Many of the electrical machines are used for special detail work in dairies where cheese or butter is made in quantity. Sugar plantations also require small units of power that would not apply to ordinary farming. Some of the work mentioned is extra heavy, such as threshing and cutting ensilage. Other jobs sound trivial, but they are all possible labor-savers. Here is the list: "Oat crushers, alfalfa mills, horse groomers, horse clippers, hay cutters, clover cutters, corn shellers, ensilage cutters, corn crackers, branding irons, currying machines, feed grinders, flailing machines, live stock food warmers, sheep shears, threshers, grain graders, root cutters, bone grinders, hay hoists, clover hullers, rice threshers, pea and bean hullers, gas-electric harvesters, hay balers, portable motors for running threshers, fanning-mills, grain elevators, huskers and shredders, grain drying machines, binder motors, wheat and corn grinders, milking machines, sterilizing milk, refrigeration, churns, cream-separators, butter workers, butter cutting-printing, milk cooling and circulating pumps, milk clarifiers, cream ripeners, milk mixers, butter tampers, milk shakers, curd grinders, pasteurizers, bottle cleaners, bottle fillers, concrete mixers, cider mills, cider presses, spraying machines, wood splitters, auto trucks, incubators, hovers, telephones, electric bells, ice cutters, fire alarms, electric vehicles, electro cultures, water supply, pumping, water sterilizers, fruit presses, blasting magnetos, lighting, interior telephones, vulcanizers, pocket flash lights, ice breakers, grindstones, emery wheels, wood saws, drop hammers, soldering irons, glue pots, cord wood saws, egg testers, burglar alarms, bell ringing transformers, devices for killing insects and pests, machine tools, molasses heaters, vacuum cleaners, portable lamps to attract insects, toasters, hot plates, grills, percolators, flatirons, ranges, toilette articles, water heaters, fans, egg boilers, heating pads, dishwashers, washing machines, curling irons, forge blowers." GASOLINE HOUSE LIGHTING Gasoline gas for house lighting is manufactured in a small generator by evaporating gasoline into gas and mixing it with air, about 5 per cent gas and 95 per cent air. We are all familiar with the little brass gasoline torch heater that tinners and plumbers use to heat their soldering irons. The principle is the same. There are three systems of using gasoline gas for farmhouse lighting purposes, the hollow wire, tube system, and single lamp system. The hollow wire system carries the liquid gasoline through the circuit in a small pipe called a hollow wire. Each lamp on the circuit takes a few drops of gasoline as needed, converts it into gas, mixes the gas with the proper amount of air and produces a fine brilliant light. Each lamp has its own little generator and is independent of all other lamps on the line. The tube system of gasoline gas lighting is similar in appearance, but the tubes are larger and look more like regular gas pipes. In the tube system the gas is generated and mixed with air before it gets into the distribution tube, so that lamps do not require separate generators. In the separate lamp system each lamp is separate and independent. Each lamp has a small supply of gasoline in the base of the lamp and has a gas generator attached to the burner, which converts the gasoline into gas, mixes it with the proper amount of air and feeds it into the burner as required. Farm lanterns are manufactured that work on this principle. They produce a brilliant light. By investigating the different systems of gasoline gas lighting in use in village stores and country homes any farmer can select the system that fits into his home conditions to the best advantage. In one farmhouse the owner wanted gasoline gas street lamps on top of his big concrete gateposts, and this was one reason why he decided to adopt gasoline gas lighting and to use the separate lamp system. ACETYLENE GAS Acetylene lighting plants are intended for country use beyond the reach of city gas mains or electric cables. Carbide comes in lump form in steel drums. It is converted into gas by a generator that is fitted with clock work to drop one or more lumps into water as gas is needed to keep up the pressure. Acetylene gas is said to be the purest of all illuminating gases. Experiments in growing delicate plants in greenhouses lighted with acetylene seem to prove this claim to be correct. The light also is bright, clear and powerful. The gas is explosive when mixed with air and confined, so that precautions are necessary in regard to using lanterns or matches near the generators. The expense of installing an acetylene plant in a farm home has prevented its general use. WOOD-SAW FRAMES There are a number of makes of saw frames for use on farms, some of which are very simple, while others are quite elaborate. Provision usually is made for dropping the end of the stick as it is cut. Sometimes carriers are provided to elevate the blocks onto a pile. Extension frames to hold both ends of the stick give more or less trouble, because when the stick to be sawed is crooked, it is almost impossible to prevent binding. If a saw binds in the kerf, very often the uniform set is pinched out of alignment, and there is some danger of buckling the saw, so that for ordinary wood sawing it is better to have the end of the stick project beyond the jig. If the saw is sharp and has the right set and the right motion, it will cut the stick off quickly and run free while the end is dropping to the ground. The quickest saw frames oscillate, being supported on legs that are hinged to the bottom of the frame. Oscillating frames work easier than sliding frames. Sliding frames are sometimes provided with rollers, but roller frames are not steady enough. For cross sawing lumber V-shaped grooves are best. No matter what the feeding device is, it should always be protected by a hood over the saw. The frame should fall back of its own weight, bringing the hood with it, so that the saw is always covered except when actually engaged with the stick. Saw-mandrels vary in diameter and length, but in construction they are much alike. For wood sawing the shaft should be 1-3/8" or 1-1/2" in diameter. The shaft runs in two babbitted boxes firmly bolted to the saw frame. The frame itself should be well made and well braced. ROOT PULPER There are root pulpers with concave knives which slice roots in such a way as to bend the slices and break them into thousands of leafy shreds. The principle is similar to bending a number of sheets of paper so that each sheet will slide past the next one. Animals do not chew roots when fed in large solid pieces. Cattle choke trying to swallow them whole, but they will munch shredded roots with apparent patience and evident satisfaction. American farmers are shy on roots. They do not raise roots in quantities because it requires a good deal of hand labor, but roots make a juicy laxative and they are valuable as an appetizer and they carry mineral. Pulped roots are safe to feed and they offer the best mixing medium for crushed grains and other concentrated foods. FEED CRUSHER Instead of grinding grain for feeding, we have what is known as a crusher which operates on the roller-mill principle. It breaks the grains into flour by crushing instead of grinding. It has the advantage of doing good work quickly. Our feed grinding is done in the two-story corncrib and granary. It is one of the odd jobs on the farm that every man likes. The grain is fed automatically into the machine by means of the grain spouts which lead the different kinds of grain down from the overhead bins. The elevator buckets carry the crushed feed back to one of the bins or into the bagger. In either case it is not necessary to do any lifting for the sacks are carried away on a bag truck. We have no use for a scoop shovel except as a sort of big dustpan to use with the barn broom. STUMP PULLER Pulling stumps by machinery is a quick operation compared with the old time methods of grubbing, chopping, prying and burning that our forefathers had on their hands. Modern stump pulling machines are small affairs compared with the heavy, clumsy things that were used a few years ago. Some of the new stump pullers are guaranteed to clear an acre a day of ordinary stumpage. This, of course, must be a rough estimate, because stumps, like other things, vary in numbers, size and condition of soundness. Some old stumps may be removed easily while others hang to the ground with wonderful tenacity. There are two profits to follow the removal of stumps from a partially cleared field. The work already put on the land has in every case cost considerable labor to get the trees and brush out of the way. The land is partially unproductive so long as stumps remain. For this reason, it is impossible to figure on the first cost until the stumps are removed to complete the work and to put the land in condition to raise machine made crops. When the stumps are removed, the value of the land either for selling or for farming purposes is increased at once. Whether sold or farmed, the increasing value is maintained by cropping the land and securing additional revenue. There are different ways of removing stumps, some of which are easy while others are difficult and expensive. One of the easiest ways is to bore a two-inch auger hole diagonally down into the stump; then fill the auger hole with coal-oil and let it remain for some weeks to soak into the wood. Large stumps may be bored in different directions so the coal-oil will find its way not only through the main part of the stumps but down into the roots. This treatment requires that the stumps should be somewhat dry. A stump that is full of sap has no room for coal-oil, but after the sap partially dries out, then coal oil will fill the pores of the wood. After the stump is thoroughly saturated with coal-oil, it will burn down to the ground, so that the different large roots will be separated. Sometimes the roots will burn below plow depth, but a good heavy pair of horses with a grappling hook will remove the separated roots. [Illustration: Figure 130.--The Oldest Farm Hoist. The first invention for elevating a heavy object was a tripod made of three poles tied together at the top with thongs of bark or rawhide. When hunters were lucky enough to kill a bear, the tripod elevator was erected over the carcass with the lower ends of the poles spread well apart to lower the apex. The gambrel was inserted under the hamstrings and attached to the top of the tripod. As the skinning of the animal proceeded the feet of the tripod were moved closer together. By the time the head was cut off the carcass would swing clear.] Dynamite often is used to blow stumps to pieces, and the work is not considered dangerous since the invention of safety devices. In some sections of the country where firewood is valuable, dynamite has the advantage of saving the wood. An expert with dynamite will blow a stump to pieces so thoroughly that the different parts are easily worked into stove lengths. Pitch-pine stumps have a chemical value that was not suspected until some fellows got rich by operating a retort. FARM ELEVATING MACHINERY Many handy and a few heavy elevators are being manufactured to replace human muscle. The simple tripod beef gin was familiar to the early settlers and it is still in use. When a heavy animal was killed for butchering, the small ends of three poles were tied together to form a tripod over the carcass. The feet of the tripod were placed wide apart to raise the apex only a few feet above the animal. After the gambrel was inserted and attached the feet of the tripod were moved gradually closer together as the skinning proceeded, thus elevating the carcass to swing clear of the ground. _Grain Elevators._--As a farm labor-saver, machinery to elevate corn into the two-story corncrib and grain into the upper bins is one of the newer and more important farming inventions. With a modern two-story corncrib having a driveway through the center, a concrete floor and a pit, it is easy to dump a load of grain or ear corn by raising the front end of the wagon box without using a shovel or corn fork. After the load is dumped into the pit a boy can drive a horse around in a circle while the buckets carry the corn or small grain and deliver it by spout into the different corncribs or grain bins. There are several makes of powerful grain elevating machines that will do the work easily and quickly. The first requisite is a building with storage overhead, and a convenient place to work the machinery. Some of the elevating machines are made portable and some are stationary. Some of the portable machines will work both ways. Usually stationary elevators are placed in vertical position. Some portable elevators may be operated either vertically or on an incline. Such machines are adaptable to different situations, so the corn may be carried up into the top story of a farm grain warehouse or the apparatus may be hauled to the railway station for chuting the grain or ear corn into a car. It depends upon the use to be made of the machinery whether the strictly stationary or portable elevator is required. To unload usually some kind of pit or incline is needed with any kind of an elevator, so the load may be dumped automatically quickly from the wagon box to be distributed by carrying buckets at leisure. [Illustration: Figure 131.--Portable Grain Elevator Filling a Corncrib. The same rig is taken to the railway to load box cars. The wagon is unloaded by a lifting jack. It costs from 1c to 1-1/2c per bushel to shovel corn by hand, but the greatest saving is in time.] Some elevators are arranged to take grain slowly from under the tailboard of a wagon box. The tailrod is removed and the tailboard raised half an inch or an inch, according to the capacity of the machinery. The load pays out through the opening as the front of the wagon is gradually raised, so the last grain will discharge into the pit or elevator hopper of its own weight. Technical building knowledge and