AN IMPROVED FARM DERRICK.

Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 11 March 1882, Page 6

AN IMPROVED FARM DERRICK.

It is now some weeks since our .agriculturalcorrespondent described a derrick, used by Mr \? Wayne, of Akatore, for hoisting entire loads of sheaves at once from the dray to the top of the stack. Admirers of speedy harvesting would do well to see an improved article of the same description at work on the farm . of Judge: Ward, in the Hakateramea Valley. A corre?. pondent sends us the following description of this maohine and of its performances :— The base of the derrick is formed , by two strong kauri beams, crossing each other at right angles, with a socket at the point of junction, la this socket stands a kauri mast, about 35 feet in length, Btrongly stayed at the lower end by eight supports, four of wood and four of iron, starting from the beams at the base ; and ' < at the upper end by three strong ropes, which . are passed through iron rings at the top, and then fastened to strong iron pickets about 30 yards from the foot. Twenty-five feet above the base awing the yards by which the loads are raised, with ropes, sheaves, and' pulleys. This yard can be raised or lowered, and swung from side to aide, so that the end describes a complete semi-circle. The arrangements for raising the loads are the bame as those formerly described as in use at Mr Wayne's farm. Oa my arrival, at 7 a.m., I found three draya already at work, and a new " stack rapidly rising. The' modus operandi was as follows: Eaoh dray was fitted with wide harvest frames, and the bottom 'of each was padded with a layer of sheaves or straw a foot ' or eighteen inches deep. Upon this, and over . the harvest frame, was 'laid an immensely strong net, about twenty feet in length, and ' sixteen in width, and on this the sheaves were built. This net divides in the centre, in the . ordinary way by the pulling out of a joining'rope* When a laden dray halted by the side of the stack, the two pulleys hanging from the yard ' were hooked smartly onto the net, one in the front and one at the rear ; the word ' all' clear' given, and off went the horse with the Bpring „ , bar at his hocks, to which the hauling rope was attached. 'As soon as the load was high enough just to clear the level of the stack, the four men on the stack hauled on the load tiUJt swung well over the centre. Then there came a shout, ' Let go,' the spring bar' was touched, and down came the load, the net remaining hooked to the pulleys. While the joining rope was being pulled out, the hauling rope was hooked again onto the the Bpring bar. 'Haul away' was shouted, and up went the net in two halves, one hanging' from each pulley, leaving the load safely deposited in the middle of the stack, without a single sheaf dropped;' Then the two halves of the net were lowered into the dray, the joining rope run through the eyes in the centre, and the driver sent off for . a fresh load. The time occupied from the ' halting of a dray to its moving off varied slightly, but I timed it repeatedly at two miuutes. and thirty to forty seconds. No doubt a lunger time was required when • the derrick iirst started ; but Judge Ward's „■ energetic jmnngor, Mr Samuel M'Cully, has now got both fafs ineu and the machine in first* clasß order. The men employed are compare*, tively few. There were three drays, with a driver and forker to each ; four men on the top of the stack; one to manage the haulm* horace, and another to assist with the nets— l 3 In all. The stack they were putting, , up— * clroulw one, 30 feet in dtaetor-reeeivea ft«

last load from the derrick about 7 in tbe evening ; after which two hands were left for balf an hour to top it up with sheaves forkeif up from the drays, leaving it about 35 foot higb. A rope was hitched to an iron ring attached fr one of the crop-beams at the base of th< derrick, and afterwards fastened to a dr*y drawn by four powerful Clydesdale horses Two men on each aide took hold of the rope stays. One took his place in the rear, keep* ing tbe yard from swinging. The word wa» given, and off went 'the whole blessed fakement'—to use the men's term for her— for upwards of 30 ohains, to tbe place selected f oi building the next stack. Then, before knock ing off work, another atack, 35 feet in diameter, was started, which, I was assured, would b. finished on the next day, and the derrick mo\fed to a fresh location; not a bad day . work for twelve Men, all told. Mr M'Cull) states that the derrick has fully earned her cob; by the saving of labour effected ; while the saving of grain through avoiding the forking ol each sheaf, from the dray to the.Btack he esti mates at more than this, at the present price o'. wheat. The manufacturer is Mr Findlay, ol Maoiaggan street, 1 Dunedin. There wer. sundry faults in her when first werked, whic, were set right by Mr M'Oolly j but as all M> Findlay had to go by was an American eD graving, kindly lent him by Mr Wayne, it doehim great credit to have succeeded so well Theiyield on Judge Ward's land appears ver) heavy, and the sample— long berried tuscan-*-fully equal to that which he Bhowed last yea. at the I)unedin Exhibition.