PROPER INFLATION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21560, 24 January 1940, Page 3

PROPER INFLATION

PNEUMATIC TYRES CARE OF FARM EQUIPMENT Pneumatic tyres on farm equipment represent a great advance in machine design, yet they add one more item to the knowledge required by the successful operator. To realise, graphically, what a tyre endures when it is run under-inflated, one should take a piece of cardboard and bend it back and forth along a certain line. A few such movements will produce a break. The body of any tyre, built up of fabric layers Inside the rubber covering, goes through the same process when it is carrying too little air.

Land and tractor tyres are specially designed and are more flexible than tyres for road vehicles. Another risk of under-inflation is the liability to tear the valve of the inner tube out of its seating. Some tyres on light tractors do not show much outward variation in appearance when pressure is low, but it is useless in any case to depend on the eye for checking pressures. This should be done weekly with a proper gauge designed for the purpose and this should be kept clean and in good order. To obtain traction to haul implements the tractor tyre is given a large area of ground contact.

The tyres on the front wheels are usually at a higher pressure than the rear, depending on size and load. The correct pressure for any particular size or load is obtainable from the makers. It should not be forgotten that tyres on machines which are temporarily out of use also need regular Inflation and, if storage is to be for a long period, it is worth while jacking up the wheels to. take the weight off. Long periods of idleness are not good for the tyres and if more than one machine is used, especially where seasonal types of machinery are concerned, it is a big advantage to have interchangeable wheels or rims. COTTON SHARES BOOM Hundreds of British people have been searching for scraps of paper they had almost forgotten for years. They are cotton mill shares worth a few coppers each until a few weeks go. To-day they are worth shillings. Many of the holders are people of small incomes who lost their savings in the slump. Few are selling out. They are looking forward to drawing dividends again. Experts estimate that more than £30,000,000 has been added to the values of shares in Lancashire’s 500 spinning mills through the increased demand for yarns since war began. NO LUXURY CROPS In Britain the growing of all luxury crops is to be discontinued and the production of foodstuffs substituted. Derelict orchards are to be grubbed and cleared to make them available for potato production. Strawberry growing is not considered essential, and the production of asparagus, rhubarb, chrysanthemums and carnations will be discouraged in order to make room for essential vegetable production. Petrol restriction has made a demand for draught and harness horses, but the curtailment of racing has made the value of thoroughbreds slump completely. In the vicinity of the big racing centres, such as Epsom and Newmarket, paddocks are full of very valuable thoroughbred horses turned out to grass