Care and maintenance of farm machinery

OVERHAULING FARM MACHINERY

When the harvest is over, there is a comparatively slack time on the farms until seeding begins. It is the time when machinery should be overhauled and put into proper con­dition before being put away for the next year. The little time spent in this important work will save much trouble when hay time and harvest comes next season. Unfor­tunately machines are often either left out in the open ex­posed to the weather, or they are just put away into the shed and left there until they are required next year. This is not a good practice.

The best time to overhaul the machine is after it has finished its season's work, and if a little care is taken, the life of the machine will be much prolonged.

All metal parts should be well greased or oiled after being cleaned. If any metal part were not greased or oiled, it would become' rusty. If the bearings or other parts are found to be defective, new ones should be obtained and put in place, so that the machines will be ready to go to work when required.

The woodwork (1) perishes with the heat and wet. Much of the paint Is worn off during use, so it is desirable that the woodwork should either be painted or well-oiled with linseed oil. The woodwork could not withstand the weath­er without being painted or oiled. The real reason for painting and oiling woodwork is not to make it look pretty, but to preserve it against the weather.

It is also important to thoroughly overhaul the drill,, cultivator, and plough (plow) (2) before they are required for seeding operations.

If the implement is overhauled in the fall, spare parts can be obtained more easily, and the machine can be put in order, and put away ready for work to be done in spring. If the implement were not overhauled in the fall, it would not be in good order for spring work.

NOTES:

(1)the woodwork — деревянные части

(2)plow — американское написание для plough

VALUE OF WASTE OIL

Used oil, drained from the engines and transmission, is stored and used to protect idle implements. I have often heard it said (be said) that waste oil should not be used for this purpose, that if waste oil had been used, the im­purities it contains, would have damaged metal surfaces.

The other objection is that waste oil is so thin that it won't stay on. (1)

In contradiction to this, I must say that the implements on the farm I have visited have been protected by waste oil for six years and are in fine fettle.

The system is as follows. Each tractor driver has with his tractor a supply of waste oil. He applies this to the bright (2) parts of his implement when he leaves it for the night.

Take the plough for example: at the end of the day, the moldboards, etc., are given their dose of waste oil. This is done nightly because it is always possible that the implements may not be used the next day, and it has been found that a film of rust will prevent a plough mould- board from scouring in the chalky land of the given farm for several days.

If it is known that the implement is to be idle for a week or more, the bright parts are painted with a mix­ture of four parts of waste oil to one of a varnish-type rust preventive. (3) This mixture has proved highly suc­cessful in protecting combine grain and fertilizer drills. (4) First, the drill is cleaned, then it is sprayed with the mix­ture and stored in a dry place.

Waste oil is also kept for other purposes

NOTES:

(1)to stay on — удерживаться (зд.)

(2)bright — металлические (зд.)

(3)a varnish-type rust preventive — средство типа лака, предотвра­щающее ржавчину

(4)combine grain and fertilizer drills — комбинированные сеялки для зерна и минеральных удобрений