TROUBLE CUTTING THE HAY

Taranaki Daily News, 11 February 1933, Page 10 (Supplement)

TROUBLE CUTTING THE HAY

LIVE ENGLISH MANUFACTURERS. TARANAKI IDEAS IN USE. A staunch advocate of the English mowing machine is Mr. H. J. of Ohawe Road, Tokaora. Since 1919 Mr. Finlay has been interested in improving the mowers on the market to suit local conditions, and it is gratifying to note that successive models of one particular English company have gradually incorporated the suggestions from New Zealand. The latest machine catalogued is practically identical with Mr Finlay’s original ideas, though when first propounded by him they were looked upon as being far too revolutionary and impossible from a commercial manufacturing viewpoint. It was in 1919 that Mr. Finlay bought his second-hand English machine for £6. He began work and broke two knives before he had finished an acre paddock. The local agents had nothing to suggest except perhaps a new mower. The idea at this time was that the English , firms did riot produce a machine made to suit conditions in New Zealand. Mr. Finlay, however, wrote to the makers of his machine at Home, setting out the trouble he' had had. Fourteen pounds’ worth of spare parts were received in reply, accompanied by four typewritten pages of directions as to the necessary repairs. These were duly carried out with entirely satisfactory results. IMPROVEMENTS INCORPORATED. Correspondence followed in which Mr. Finlay suggested a more substantial backstay, and a new type of king-pin connecting the finger bar to the main shoe. When these were all bushed a manifest advantage in strength and stability was noticeable. The company sent out nearly £3O worth of parts to give effect to these improvements. Three years ago Mr. Finlay again put his ideas on paper. The ordinary gearbox has invariably had a hole in the bottom of the case to allow the escape of rain-water. The gearing, was supposed to be, but often was not, continually oiled. The latest method is to have the centre gear enveloped in a dust-proof oil bath with a forced feed lubricating system which supplies oil to the main bearings of the machine by a gear pump situated in a sump attached to the underside of the gear-box. The return oil is fed back through return passages to the sump by gravity. The pump is driven from the cross shaft of the machine by means of bevel wheels protected by a cover, the drive being so arranged that the pump is only in operation,, when the machine is put in gear. There is a special finger-bar with renewable liners of hardened steel. The knife brackets are so arranged that each section is guided during its complete travel.

“The reason why so many blades are. broken,” explained Mr. Finlay to a Daily News reporter, “is clearly lack of oil on the hinges, and connecting gear where the knife head...is joined to the body of the machine. Through lack of oil wear occurs, .the knife blade does not bed truly, and is certain to break sooner or later. With, plenty of oil, a knife that is arranged so that it will not fall back in the finger-bars and the use of ordinary care, any farmer should find that his breakages are becoming things of the past