Two implements at once

Press, 20 July 1979, Page 7

Two implements at once

Hutchinson Motors Ltd, of Christchurch, have been appointed New Zealand agents for a British manufactured front power system, which enables a tractor to have implements fitted both front and rear. In these days when energy saving is becoming increasingly important the system seems to offer interesting possibilities. The makers, Ferranti Engineering Ltd, of Chadderton, Oldham, Lancashire, say that by using one tractor fitted with implements front and rear use of fuel, time, labour and good weather conditions is maximised, doubling the use of the .tractor. The system comprises three units — a front three point linkage with a half ton. lift, a three point linkage with a ton lift which may be fitted together with a power takeoff, and a front power takeoff unit. The system can be used with a number of different makes of tractor and provides the .opportunity of combining a variety of implements in a one-pass operation. Thus a hay windrower might be attached at the front and a baler at the rear; a powered harrow might be followed by a seed drill; there might be a spray boom on the front and a fertiliser dressing applied from the rear; or mowers might be used both front and rear to double the cutting rate. The accompanying photograph demonstrates one such combination. The manufacturers say that being traditionally innovators farmers are likely to discover many combinations that are suitable to their types of farming. In Britain a contractor

has used a windrower on behind with a mower up front to increase swath width to provide for more efficient use of the forage harvester — it being then able to work at a lower forward speed while maintaining peak chopping efficiency. Some machines , may need some modification for use with the system, but others work equally well without . modification whether mounted front or rear. Mr R. E. H. (Ralph) Sims, senior lecturer in agricultural and horticultural mechanisation at Massey University, has advised Hutchinsons of his interest in the development. He says that the university is involved in experiments aimed at producing a seedbed in the minimum time and giving maximum yields. He says that the concept of chopping residues prior to burial with the plough seems to be advantageous. A prototype implement * has been developed based on the plough which pre-chops, ploughs and cultivates in one pass. This, however, has some limitations, particularly when used on a large scale, and while in Britain recently as a visiting lecturer at Wye College, University of London, Mr Sims says that he achieved a similar effect by front mounting a modified rotary cultivator followed by a plough. A second operation using a front mounted power harrow followed by a seed drill was then feasible. If the concept became well proven, then the potential for front mounted linkages was good. The front mounted link-

age was one of the new ideas that caught his eye as having potential in New Zealand while he was in the United Kingdom for 15 months, he said.