A SHEEP-SHEARING MACHINE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1296, 30 September 1876, Page 18

A SHEEP-SHEARING MACHINE.

Many efforts have been made to produce a machine for shearing sheep that should enable the work to be done as well as by hand, and with greater rapidity. Some inventive mechanic in England, some month ago, made a machine for this purpose, which was tried in Australia, but ■we had recently to record its failure there. Now we have a machine made by an American mechanic, who has spent eight years in perfecting it, and which seems to be perfectly adapted to the work required. We have tested the machine, and feel satisfied that a sheep can be sheared in five minutes much better than could be done by hand. The fleece is cut off very evenly and closely witfi this machine ; the sheep cannot possibly be cut by it ; and there can be no cutting through and injuring the staple. The cutters, made expressly upon the principle of the mowing machine knives, are of chilled steel, and are self-sharpening. The motion is communicated by means of compressed air, and 3000 revolutions per minute can be easily given to it, although 1500 revolutions are sufficient for a working speed. There is an air pump worked by a crank, and one mau can produce sufficient power to work 25 machines. The air is forced from the pump through a flexible rubber tube, which allows ample freedom of movement. The working pressure of the pump is olbs. to the square inch, but it may be worked up to 451bs. by using an engine or a windmill. One pump is sufficient to work 25 of the shearing machines, and these may all be attached to a supply pipe, from which the compressed air may be let off or on to the machine as needed, by taps. Thus, one pump will supply power for 25 shearers, and those having merely to hold and direct the machine, "which barely fills tho hand, and requires no muscular force to work it, are not exhausted or required to stoop over the sheep (if benches are used) and may, therefore, work more quickly and certainly than with tho ordinary hand shears. The cost of shearing will be much reduced, and as the cost of the apparatus is very moderate, almost every person owning a flock of sheep would find it advantageous to use it.

The machine will also be found very useful for clipping horses, for which purpose the motive power used and the method of attachment are well adapted. It is also perfectly adapted ' for shearing pelts, instead of " pulling " the wool from them, by which the quality of the fleece is ■ injured. The inventor and manufacturer is Mr P. Anderson, of 321 East 22nd street, New York, whese perseverance and ingenuity in perfecting this useful invention certainly deserve great praise, and we have no doubt that the machine will be used as extensively in all the ways here indicated as its merits demand. — American Agriculturist