Useful Farm Appliances

Progress, Volume VIII, Issue 2, 1 October 1912, Page 83

Useful Farm Appliances

The farmer is rapidly becoming educated in the uses of electricity, and has now come to realise that there are no dangers attendant on the application of this power within the limits of voltage applied to farm work.

Electric energy can be utilised for driving all farm implements, such as chaff cutters, circular saws, sheep shearing machines, milking machines, cream separators, pumps, etc., etc.

The Farmer’s Telephone.— A telephone suitable for the farm will at all times interest our readers who may be living in the back-blocks. We illustrate in figure 3 a telephone which has been specially designed to meet the requirements of the farmer. ' This telephone is of the long-distance magnetic bridging type with a five magnet generator, capable of ringing to any distance in either the North or South Island. The particular telephone illustrated was originally designed for use in Canada, where distances are even greater than in New Zealand, and as it is of the approved pattern it can be conveniently connected up to the Government system. These telephones have been supplied to syndicates consisting usually of 10 to 12 farmers, living within a range of 30 miles. The farmers erect their own line, using fencing posts, and in some eases ordinary fencing wire. This work can be just as well done by the average farmer as by a trained electrician, so that an expert is only required to erect and connect up the instrument at the homesteads.

Sheep Shearing by Electricity. illustrate an electric motor which has been specially designed for attachment to any of the well-known

makes of sheep shearing machines or horse clippers. Large numbers of these motors are now in use in different parts of the Dominion. The motor is dustproof and 'is rated at one third of a brake horse power, which has proved by experience to be about the power required for satisfactory working, especially in shearing heavy close-wooled sheep. Ball bearings and special oil lubricators are fitted at each end of the motor spindle, and the only care and attention required is in oiling the machine and keeping it clean, ■ a duty which is quite easily performed. The great advantages which electrically-driven sheep shearing machines have over the ordinary belt driven type lie in the fact that no shafting is required, and the machines run practically noiselessly without vibration. This results in more agreeable conditions for the shearers and in less wear and tear on the machine. Then again, each shearer has an independent motor, the speed of which can be regulated to suit his particular wishes. The motors can be hung up in any part of the shed or outside in the open if need be. Farmers who have had these machines in use for some time agree that sheep shearing by electricity is the ideal way, and that faster shearing results from the reduced vibration and less tiring effect on the shearers.

Electric Grinder. For the purpose of grinding the blades of these sheep shears an electric motor has recently been designed by the British Westinghouse Electric Co., and is illustrated in figure 2, which clearly shows the grinding discs and method of applying the blades to the emery face.

The speed of this motor can also he regulated, and it has the great advantage that no belts are required. The motor can be mounted at any convenient place in the shed, on the top of a timber post or concrete block.