POTATO DIGGER.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2081, 3 January 1879, Page 2 (Supplement)

POTATO DIGGER.

The great importance attached to the successful cultivation of the potato hat led agricultural engineers to pay much attention to the manufacture of machines required for cheapening and improving the successive manipulations of this root The implement was inve tted by Mr Win* ton, and is being manuf icturel by Messrs Penny and Co., of Lincoln. The machine is drawn by a coupe of horses, and is carried (together with the driver) on a pair of large wheels, which take the weight of the whole of the gear, and by their rotation impart the required motion to it. The loosening of the ground is effected by a powerful and broad knife, bent to the required shape »o as to pass completely beneath and partly lift np even the deepest roots. Behind the knife is a wheel with eight prong- shaped arms, which is revolved by a simple bevel gear, the " pinion" being secured to the same shaft as the eight-pronged wheel, and the bevel " wheel" being mounted on the main axle and driven from the road wheels. A small thin wheel or disc in front of the large knife, as clearly shown, assists in dividing the ground vertically and thereby lessens the work on the knife. The prongs of the revolving wheel cut off the tops and strew the potatoes on the ground ready for collection and bagging, a screen suspended from the main framing preventing them from being thrown too far, and separating them from the loosened mould. By a lever within easy reach of the driver, the knife, disc, and the prong* can be raised clear of the ground for travelling, or adjusted to any required depth to suit the crop under operation, liy a suitable clutch the bevel wheels can be thrown outof with the road wheels, and the prongs thereby prevented from revolving. The machine i< highly ingenious, and, although it has been before the public less than two rears, has already been widely applied, and has met with general approval. It is capable of digging three to four acres of tubers per diem.