McLEOD'S MAIZE CUTTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7005, 30 April 1884, Page 5

McLEOD'S MAIZE CUTTER.

I Steadily the liberalising tendency in respect to our patent lawi is producing beneficial fruit. Day by day inventions ar« being recorded which formerly would sever have beee heard of ; and the happy ideas of inventive minds are now being tamed Into practical forms, because the fees charged to give the inventors the requisite protection are so small as to place the means of protection within the reach of all. The alteration in the patent laws appears to hare directed the minds of inventors to the simplification of the work on the farm. Not long ago we noticed the trial of a machine for cutting tea-tree and heavy scrub, the invention of Mr. McLaughj hn of Papatoetoe. Today we hare to notice j the invention of Mr. John McLeod of Opotiki. Mr. MoLeod states that he had frequently noticed the hard labour undergone by the settlers in that district in cutting down the maize stalks after the crop had been gathered, by the laborious prooeee of chipping each stalk with a spade close to the surface of the ground. He could not help thinking that the labour bore too great a contrast to the effective work done. In reflecting upon the matter, he thought a benefit would be conferred on farmers if some one would devise some mechanical appliance by which the work could be done by horse power. The result of hia meditation en the subject was the construction of a working model which, after various alterations, was successfully triad last season, as the following testimony l>y Dr. Reid, the President of the Opotiki Farmers' Club, will show. Dr. Reid wrote — "I he committee of the Opotiki Parmere' Club desire to tender you their thanks for the introduction of an implement of your own make for the purpose of cutting down maize stalk*, a want much felt in this district, a» hitherto this work has been done at much cost by manual labour. Our VicePresident, Mr. Gordon, has fully tested your invention, and speaks in the warmest terms of its capabilities. We trust you will see your way to make the necessary arrangements at once for its maaufactnre on a scale comneasurate with the wants of this and other maize-growing districts." Mr. Andrew Steel, one of the Opotiki farmers, also tried the working model, and said :—" It is just what is wanted. 1 am quite satis6ed with the way your machine has done its work. It cuts very close to the ground, aad does its work well. It is just the very thing that is wanted in every maize-growing country." Oα the 12th of February last the invention was patented, and since last year Mr. McLeod has had an improved implement constructed by Messrs. J. Ingram and Co., of this city. The machine is very simple in construction, but doubtless effective for the work it is intended for. It is drawm by one horse, and the handles are like those of a small plough. Ihe body of- the machine slides on the ground between two rows of maize stalks. From the body of the implement project two arms, to each of which is attached a cutting blade. These blades can be raised to theelevationdesired.orsettoany angle. When the herse is set in motion, after the arms have been set to cover a row of maize stalka ! ou »ach side, the cutting edges come against the maize stalks with a long drawing cut, and the stalks fall rapidly on each side. The working of the implement is aa simple as it is effective. It is bo constructed that it is hardly possible it can get out of order, and by avoiding bearing wheels, Mr. McLeod has redncei the cost to a minimum. From the trials made with the working model last year, it was found that a man and one horse can do as mnch in oae day as ten men working hard would do without it. Mr. McLeod is well pleased with the manner Messrs. Ingram and Co. have finished their work, ami naturally anticipates that those growing maize will soon become his enstomere. After this machine ha* done its work, a horse rake follows, by which the cut stalks are speedily gathered into bundles I to be disposed of as the farmers may desire.