French Agricultural Show.
Page 19
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From Our Paris Correspondent.
So much encouragement has been given towards the application of internal.-combustion motors to agricultural work that it is not surprisingto find this section of the Paris agricultural show much larger than ever before. Owing to lack of space in the Grand Palais, the entire machinery section has been housed on the spacious Esplanade des Invalides, and it is here that every ts-pe of modern farming instrument is to be found together with numerous examples of internal-combustion motors and steam engines applied to agriculture. With one or two exceptions the British engineering trade is represented by makers of steam tractors only. Those exhibiting in this class are : Wm. Foster and Co., Ltd. ; Marshall, Sons and Co., Ltd. ; Ruston, Proctor and Co., Ltd. ; Richard Garrett and Sons, Ltd. ; and Foderis Ltd. The only English makers of gas engines are the Campbell Gas Engine Co., and the _National Gas Engine Co.
It is only two or three years ago that all the leading French engineering firms could show at an agricultural exhibition were expensive electric-lighting plants of no practical value to the average farmer. These have been reduced to a very small number; and their place taken by much more rational types. It appears to be admitted that what is required on the farm is what may be termed " an engine of all work." Fixed gas engines, such as find an extensive application in nearly all industries, are not altogether suitable for the farm. It is true that they are to be found in scores, but they have a serious rival in portable small-power plants. There are large numbers of singlecylinder and two-cylinder motors mounted on bogies, complete with petrol and oil tanks which contain the necessary amount of fuel and water for a day's work. A couple of men can drag these machines to the scene of operations, their wheels
may be scotched, and with belt connections they are leady for service. One of the most interesting productions in this class is a new motor built by Peugeot, Tony _Lauber, of Billancourt. The motor is a happy combination of protection and accessibility, for with the exception of the flywheel no moving part is visible, and yet everything can be reached when required. Other examples are shown by Simone Freres of Cherbourg,
and the de Dion-BouLon Co. • Up to the present steam tractors have been almost exclusively employed for operating threshing machines. A. rival was presented at the show in the form of a single cylinder de Dion motor attached to a threshing machine and driving its main shaft by means of suitable worm gearing contained in an aluminium housing. The inventors of the apparatus, Allard and Savant, claim that any village blacksmith can make the attachment to the thresher, and that the use of the explosion motor is much more economical than a steamer. When not required for this purpose the motor can he taken down and fixed on a suitable bed for driving other machinery.
One of the few interesting wagons is shown by Renault, and is one of that maker's new three-ton truck models having the motor under the driver's seat and the radiator behind the seat. It is fitted with metal-shod wheels both front and rear, and is, I believe, the first of this type offered to the public. The motor is a standard four-cylinder model. The rear axle employed is one which was originally designed for the five-ton trucks, and has given such good results in this service that it is now being adopted for the three-ton models. The axle forms' a central cradle within which is mounted the differential housing.
Another interesting vehicle, shown by Leroy, although at first sight an ordinary Is agon, is also designed to drive machinery by means of belt connection and to plough by means of winding drums and endless cables. The motor has two cylinders, of 110 mm. bore by 130 mra. stroke, and transmits its power through a cone clutch, fourspeed gearbox, horizontal shaft and final drive by means of single chain. The countershaft is carried at the back of the rear axle, and this latter is of the revolving type without a differential, the designers being of the opinion that in view of the low speed, and the absence of rubber tires, this organ could be dispensed with. Mounted on the lungituntnal shaft, and capable either of revolving with it or being disconnected, are two drams which carry the cables for hauling a plough, and a wooden pulley to transmit a belt drive to any fixed machine. Both winding drums and pulley may be driven at any one of the four gearbox speeds.
There are at least half-a-dozen motor ploughs, some of them, such as the Landrin and the Bajac, being very familiar figures. The latter is a tractor making use of winding drums, and itselt made mobile by
the use of chain drive. In the Landrin, on the other hand, the ploughs consist of a series of steel discs mounted on a suitable shaft at the rear of the tractor and driven by propeller shaft and bevel gearing. erovision is also made for disconnecting the plough, thus converting the vehicle into a light tractor.
The Bendetti is a newcomer, being a huge machine carried on metal wheels almost 6 ft. in diameter, with drive to either the front or rear pair, and both sets being steerers. The 30 h.p. motor is mounted at one end of the chassis. Behind it is the driver's seat with a vertical column and two steering wheels: at the rear of the chassis it second radiator is also mounted. The ploughs are carried both at front and rear, each one being suitably attached to the chassis and capable of being lowered to the required depth. in ploughing there would never be any necessity to tarn round, for when the end of the furrow had been reached the plough in operation would be raised and the opposite one lowered, the machine then travelling in the reverse direction. With both ploughs raised the ma chine was designed to be used as .a tractor, or to drive machinery by belt. This machine is illustrated on page 500.