A NEW REAPER AND BINDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9140, 23 August 1888, Page 5

A NEW REAPER AND BINDER.

There is now on exhibition at the Highstreet premises of Messrs. T. and S. Motrin and Co. one of the new Lowdown Buckeye Reapers and Binders. This machine, manufactured at Akron, Ohio, and patented in New Zealand, is lighter by several hundred pounds than the harvesting machines of the old type, this being one of its chief advantages. There is an increased width of canvas to admit of the handling of grain of various lengths, the binder being also movable for this reason ; and the binder is moved by the same lever, which raises or lowers the machine. There are only three levers to be studied by the driver, as against live or six in other machines. A device has been added for the purpose of raising and lowering the reel, as well as pushing it forward or backward, a great advantage in the reaping of laid or tangled grain. The knife is moved by a pitman connected with the driving wheel, and works with a positive action and ,a short, sharp stroke, like that of a mower. The old style of working with a chain gives a loose and uncertain stroke, and leads to choking when the undergrowth is thick or the grain damp and sodden. The speed of the knife of the Lowdown Buckeye has been increased, and the agents claim that no undergrowth, however dense, can choke the machine. The main driving wheel has a wooden rim, and is constructed on the suspension principle patented by the Buckeye proprietors. The box of the hub has been increased in diameter, in ordei to give greater wearing surface ; and the machine, instead of being driven by a chain, as formerly, is operated by direct gear from the driving wheel connected through a "universal" joint with the spur gear at the rear of the harvester. The principle of driving by chains is now being abandoned by all reaper and bindermakers. A simple lever, worked by the driver's foot, is all the mechanism required for throwing the machine into gear, and the importance of this will be understood when it is stated that no transport ia required, the harvester being so narrow that with sheaf carrier, &c, attached, it can easily pas.s through a 12-foot gateway, the driver, in transporting his machine from one paddock to another, having only to throw it out of gear by the simple action of the' foot-lever. A footlever also operates the sheaf-carrier, which will bear four bundles, whilst the knottier has also been simplified, being in fact the simplest in use. The number of parts of the reaper and binder have been reduced, and those which are subjected to the greatest wearing are always in view, thus being easily got at. The main cam is now the only wheel retained on the binder, which has been greatly lightened in weight, and, having fewer wearing parts, will be less expensive to maintain in working order than many old machines. A new arrangement of tedders has been introduced, and a new butter will be found to give a cleaner and even butt to every sheaf. The grain is bound on the platform of the machine—a decided advantage. No back delivery is needed with the Lowdown Buckeye Reaper and Binder, which works with equal facility on level and hilly land. If it has an advantage over the old machines because of its lightness, this harvester also has considerable merit from the fact that its weight is evenly disposed between the dliving and grain wheels, it being, therefore, impossible for the Buckeye Harvester to upset. In the old reapers and binders the weight lies upon one side of the driving wheel, and such a machine, when working on hilly land, is in danger of turning over, a back delivery having, in many cases, to be used, and the grain then bound by hand. Such a necessity is obviated by the use of the Lowdown Buckeye machine. The present reaper and binder is also in many respects an improvement upon that sold by the firm last year. Mr. Oatway has introduced the harvester, and Messrs. T. and S. Morrin and Co. are the local agents.