Tractor Owners Buying Safety Frames

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30578, 22 October 1964, Page 26

Tractor Owners Buying Safety Frames

Safety frames on cabs had been fitted to 54 tractors by his organisation, Mr S. V. Belcher, an agricultural machinery manufacturer, of Pukekohe, told the Agricultural Engineering Club. These cabs or frames, of English design, had been tested by the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering in Britain. Mr Belcher said that he had orders for another 125 of these units. All this business was based on the voluntary interest of tractor owners, said Mr Belcher, who is managing-direc-tor of Belchin-Built Equipment, Ltd. His firm had not done a great deal of advertising. The important thing was that tractor owners were accepting the idea. Fitting the frames to tractors, Mr Belchin said, presented quite a lot of problems. One of the difficulties came from small changes in tractor design. The fitting of

the frame was of considerable importance, as no frame or cab was better than its attachment to the tractor. Because of variations in tractor design, Mr Belcher said, he would like to have the cab tested separately with about 30 different tractors. This could be costly. Mr Belcher said that they were pressing hard to get insurance companies interested in reducing premiums on tractors fitted with approved safety frames. An attempt was also being made to obtain taxation exemption for the purchase of frames, and to have the testing of frames subsidised. His firm had designed a safety belt to go with the frame, and two-thirds of the frames bought had the belts. Mr Belcher said that experiments were being made to reduce the noise with safety cabs.