LANDELLE'S MECHANICAL BINDER.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2081, 3 January 1879, Page 4 (Supplement)

LANDELLE'S MECHANICAL BINDER.

The f»ll >wing description of this machine was (urnulied by Mr E. H. Knight, am) will be of some interest at the present time, there being no many combined michinei engage din harvest work and competing for the prize of patronage. There are mime ail vantages attending upon the separate use ol the binder, but we doubt it they are sufficient to counterbalance the advantage ot the combination so lar as harvesting wheat iv this colony is concerned. Although the principal attention of inventors in tins line has been turned to attachments to the reaper, several parties in England and America have addresseJ themselves to another mode of solving tbr problem. It is chimed by «orae that grain ia bettet <ivid by letting it lie aw iiie and cure in the awath, and this we knovr to be true in regard to oats, though it has never, within our knowledge, been customary with wheat. Under the oldest systems, where wheat has been put iv sheaf, the bin ling followsclosly the cutting, whether by sickle, cradle, or machine. The inventor places his work before the French public with the following remarks, which are, however, iv the main, applicable to all binders : " The price of manual labor has greatly increased in France, and this augmentation is much increased in times of pressing work which cannot be delayed, such as that of harvest. The necessary complement of the reapers the biuder. We think we offer a great service to agriculture when we present an independent mechanical binder which is practical." The machine is drawn by one horse alongside of the swath, the grain ascending a slightly inclined platform into the loop oi the wire, when a swinging arm conducts the wire around it, brings the parts of the wire in contact, so that they may be twisted together, and the wiie cut. The end is left in a pair of grippers, and the arm ascends, paying out wire enough for another sheaf. The machine is intended by the inventor to follow the cradle or the reaping tuichine; to bind larger or smaller sheaves with a tightness superior to the ordinary handwork , to pick up the grain cleanly from the swath ; to make the binds at such distances from the foot of the sheaf as ma} be suitable to the lengtii of the straw. The machine is drawn by one horse, and driven by a man on a special seat. The apparatus is also adapted to the sheaves ol ■'.raw received directly from the thrashing machine, and i* claimed to be able to hind from 400 to 800 sheaves per hour, according to (he nature of the crop. Price of mechanic il biuder adapted to the harvest field, 800 francs. Hinder fur attachment to to thrasher, 400 francs.