TO OVERCOME WHEEL SLIP WHEN PLOUGHING.
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A Simple but Effective Invention by a Well-known Engineer Now Farming in New South Wales.
TT was very interesting to hear again from Mr. W. J. 1 Lewin, who was formerly manager of the Yorkshire Patent Steam Wagon Co., and who left England a few years ago on account of his health to go to New South Wales, where he took up farming as an occupation. His letters from time to time to the Editor and other members of the staff of The Commercial Motor have always been cheery and have shown that his health has improved under the change and that he takes as keen an interest in commercial-vehicle and road-transport developments in this country as ever he did, whilst his deep knowledge of, and extensive experience in, engineering matters seem to have been put to good use by him in connection with his new occupation in life.
He now writes to tell us of a new tractor wheel grip, or spud, which he has invented and has patented in many countries, and accompanying his description of the device is a reprint of a short article in one of the
Australian agricultural papers-The Pastoral Times, of Deniliquin.
• 'The article was written by somebody who was present at a demonstration and speaks in very high praise indeed of the grip.
Seventeen Spuds per Wheel.
This grip takes the form of 17 lengths of angle steel, each apparently about 15 ins, long, and bolted by hook bolts placed across the frame of the wheel and being secured to the bolts by a nut on the outside of every spud. Each spud is also secured at the inner end by another hook bolt to what is described as a floating ring, although we should imagine that it is definitely secured from movement, otherwise the angle of the spuds would alter under load. The spuds are set at quite an unusual angle; in fact, at first, when we saw the photographs which Mr. Lewin has kindly sent us, we wondered whether the vehicle had been arranged to travel with its driving wheels foremost. The position of the plough in one photograph, however, and the seating of the driver in the other, showed that this was a wrong impression, and; on studying Mr. Lewin's letter, we realized that the novelty of his
• invention lies in the new angle which he has adopted for these spuds, for the driving face of the spud is set at an angle of about 30 degrees from the vertical and, as each spud, in turn, approaches the ground, it presents a surface almost parallel with the ground, re suiting in what Mr. Lewin describes as an effective padding action upon the soil before it is called upon to take its driving grip. Another curious but obvious result is that the spud leaves the ground in the vertical position; consequently, there is a minimum of disturbance to the ground, which is a very great point in soil cultivation. The spuds have a tendency to clean themselves as the wheel rotates.
Two Extremely Severe Tests.
Two photographs which accompany Mr. Lewin's letter were taken at a demonstration which was given to a number of farmers, importers and traders on Mr. Lewin's farm at Walliston, Mathoura, New South Wales. Mr. Lewin had fitted up two Hart-Parr tractors and one John Deere tractor, and they gave demonstrations throughout the whole afternoon.
Describing the performance of one of the tractors, this machine was taken four times through a dam, hauling a gross load of 2 tons 18 cwt. of wheat, the wagon carrying a number of visitors as well. The front wheels of the tractor and its frame were completely submerged, the lower part of the radiator being under water, and on each occasion it caused a thrill by diving down a steep bank into the centre of the dam. The tractor pulled its load through the dam and climbed the bank on the other side with consummate ease.
Part of the land on Mr. Lewin's farm is known as the "Glue Pot," being a patch of saturated, bottomless black ground. The next test was to take a six-furrow mouldboard stump-jump plough through this black soil, which is one of the great characteristics of the Australian continent. The pull exerted by th tractor resulted in the front wheels being lifted off the ground,
but the machine maintained a straight line through its driving wheels. In the opinion of The Pastoral Times, a more difficult test as regards the grip (which never slipped) or the pulling power of the tractor could not be conceived, and in the opinion of those present the performance could never have been carried out by any other known method.
A 14-disc plough was then taken over stubble ground in very sticky condition, in which it was particularly noted that the soil packed upon the wheel rims. In such circumstances ordinary spuds would have been useless from the point of view of gripping, but, in the case of Mr. Lewin's patent spuils, the machine gave an effective pull at all times until the discs were finally set down beyond the ordinary power of the tractor ; then the machine pulled up without any detectable wheel slip.
Mr., Lewin is very pleased with the effectiveness of his new spuds, because there is, in his opinion, an unlimited tractor market in New South Wales. Already 1,000 tractors, nearly all of American make, are being sold there per month, and the new spud would answer the one salient criticism which is often heard, that tractors themselves are all right, but they cannot do good work when the soil is wet or in a sticky condition.
One of the experts present at the demonstration afterwards congratulated Mr. Lewin upon the simplicity and apparent cheapness of the invention, as well as upon its effectiveness, saying that he wondered why it had never been hit upon before, but our readers will not require to be told that spuds and strikes of all kinds and set at all angles have been tried. What Mr. Lewin seems to have done is to strike an angle of spud which is a good one for gaining a useful leverage on the soil and for leaving the soil with the least disturbance of it.
In view of the fact that two British makers are considering the manufacture of all-British tractors with an eye on the Colonial markets, the success of Mr. Lewin's new spuds should be extremely interesting.