General design

The machine is power take-off-driven, and is carried on (2) two main rear wheels and a front castor wheel, all of which are pneumatic-tyred. The standard cutting me­chanism consists of two horizontal rotary cutters, each of which is fitted with four specially-designed triangular knives, and the cutting width is 4 ft. 3 in.

Using the machine simply as a grass-cutter, an addi­tional cutter-head may be fitted to increase the width of cut to 6 ft. 4V₂ in.

The height of cut can be varied from 7 in. down to IV2 in. by adjusting the height of the front castor wheel. For greater clearance the position of the main stub-axles may be altered, while for very close cutting special low stub-axles can be supplied, which should be used in conjunc­tion with a stabilizer unit that supports the front offside corner of the machine and eliminates the possibility of the cutters damage through digging into the ground on un­even surfaces.

The main drive from the tractor power take-off shaft is taken (3) by a triple chain to a countershaft, running from front to rear of the machine (4) on the nearside; and from this the cutters are driven by large-section V-belts.

Field Operation. The Silorator forage harvester is sim­ple both to maintain and to operate. There are 15 greas­ing points requiring regular attention, normally daily, and weekly attention is required at one oil point, on the Silo­rator, which has to be drained and refilled.

Apart from this attention to lubrication it is only nec­essary to check the drive-belt tensions and the tightness of the knife section bolts daily.

A tachometer is provided to indicate the p.t.-o. shaft speed, which should normally be set at about 600 r.p.m. A range of alternative sprockets can be fitted in the tri­plex chain drive to (5) the countershaft to cater for the differing convenient p.t.-o. speeds of various tractors; when correctly set, the working speeds of the cutterheads and Silorator are about 1,600 r.p.m. and 3,000 r.p.m. re­spectively.

A tractor of 30 h.p. or over with a first gear speed not exceeding 2V2 m.p.h. is desirable, though less powerful tractors will handle the machine if fitted with reduction gearboxes.

Bearing in mind that the Mark II Silorator forage har­vester is a most versatile machine and that its only rapid-wearing parts are the cheaply replaceable knife sections, this is a machine which must be widely used.

NOTES:

(1)Silorator Mark II — марка уборочной машины для кормовых культур

(2)is carried on — опирается на (зд.)

(3)is taken — передается (зд.)

(4)running from front to rear of the machine — вращающийся в на­правлении, обратном движению машины

(5)the triplex chain drive to — передача через тройную цепь на

A NEW LIME SPREADER (1)

One of the new design features in spreader is its twin hoppers, mounted for transport one behind the other on a central frame, which are winched out (2) on rails to give a 14 ft. spread.(3)

The spreader is attached to the tractor in such a man­ner that it can be run in either forward or reverse gears, so that it can be worked backwards down a slope, eliminat­ing the danger of the load pushing the tractor out of con­trol, and simplifying maneuvering in a confined space.

A simple drive has no gears, belts or fast-moving parts.

The machine consists of a main frame of channel steel which is mounted by bolted hinges below the rear axle of the tractor. A single balloon-tyred (4) land wheel supports the rear of the machine which is mounted so that the greater part of the frame's weight falls on the tractor rear axis and gives added traction.

The two 7 ft. hoppers run on rails on this frame, and can be winched outwards by a handle at the rear which requires surprisingly little effort to turn, even when fully loaded. They can be locked in position when extended. When housed inwards, (5) they have a transport width of 8 ft.

The hoppers feed by gravity (6) and one of the notable features of the machine is its evenness of distribution and avoidance of drift. (7) In a demonstration, when both lime and basic slag (8) were spread, these points (9) were most noticeable. Assisting the feed in each hopper is a revolving skeleton paddle agitator (10) composed of open rectangles (11) of tubular steel set at angles to the main axis, which runs along the hopper. This is the only driven piece of mechanism in the distributor.

Drive is taken by sprocket and chain from the rear wheel of the tractor to a driving shaft which operates the agitator in both hoppers from a position on the centre of the frame. The hoppers are fitted with screens to pre­vent damage by stones.

The rate of application can be varied from the tractor seat. Sowing rates (12) are from 15 cwt. per acre upwards for ground limestone, and from 5 cwt. upwards for free-running fertilizer.

The machine is capable of handling a wide variety of materials. Attention has been paid to simplicity in main­tenance, all grease nipples being made easily accessible. For cleaning, the feed apertures in the hopper can be

Opened to 2 in. wide. The agitator itself can be removed through a panel at the end of the hopper.

The spreader, which is known as the Cooper Limemas-ter, is now in production. It is of 2 ton capacity and its cost is around £ 350.

NOTES:

(1)spreader — туковая сеялка (сеялка для удобрения), разбрасыва­тель

(2)are winched out (outwards) — раздвигаются

(3)spread — ширина разброса, посева

(4)balloon-tyred — с пневматической покрышкой

(5)to be housed inwards — сдвигаться

(6) the hoppers feed by gravity — содержимое высыпается из ящиков
под давлением собственной тяжести

(7)avoidance of drift — отсутствие скоплений, холмиков

(8)basic slag — шлак_л(как удобрение)

(9)points — моменты, "особенности (зд.)

(10)revolving skeleton paddle agitator — вращающаяся контурная распределительная лопатка (не сплошная)

(11)open rectangles — незамкнутые прямоугольники

(12) sowing rates — нормы высева