|
December, 1923 __________________________________________ Chewing Up the Soil for Better Crops On the American market today there are several different manufactures of garden tractors, and now from England comes the description of one which differs radically from the American variety in that the soil is worked by a revolving member called a miller, instead of by the common toothed cultivating attachment. The function of the miller is to chew up the soil, mixing, lightening and incorporating it thoroughly with the fertilizer that has already been spread over it. The rototiller is driven by a two-cycle, 8 to 10 horsepower engine. Lubrication is provided by mixing the oils with the gasoline in the tank, as in small engines used on motorboats. The engine cooled by means of a radiator of two gallons capacity and by a fan running on ballbearings. Ignition is by high-tension magneto. As in the case of the garden tractor, the controls are led to the handlebars. The motor is equipped with an aircleaner working on the labyrinth principle. The bull-wheel shaft is driven by a steel worm working on a phosphorbronze worm wheel. The gears are of hardened nickel steel and run in an oil-bath. Two speeds are provided for, the high speed corresponding to over 1-1/2 miles per hour and the low speed being 3/4 mile per hour with engine funning at 14000 r.p.m. The bull-wheels are 18 inches in diameter and the extreme width over all, without the regular 36-inch miller, is 24 inches. |  |
The miller is driven by a bevel pinion and crown wheel enclosed in an extension of the gear-box, and which forms part of the body, and these run in oil. The miller drive is independent of that of the bullwheels, permitting the rototiller to be moved. The latter revolves at 150 r.p.m. and carries twenty coil springs on whose extremities are fitted twenty coil semi-circular hooks of steel. These are the tools which attack the soil. The total weight of the machine is 650 pounds and its height is 37 inches. One of the most satisfactory qualities of this cultivating device is its low speed. In order to do good work a garden tractor should not be geared so as to run as fast as three miles per hour - a speed at which the control of the tools is erratic, especially in rough or lumpy soil, therefore the low speed of the rototiller is an advantage. 
|
Four years after this article in Scientific American a SIMAR C-5 was demonstrated for the first time in America. Its demonstration was reported in Market Growers Journal in December 1927. The C-5, a 5 hp machine estimated to sell for $450 when available. I don't have an actually copy yet, this material from 1927 is from "Gardening Beyond the Plow" by Garden-Way Corp. |
|
Market Growers Journal December, 1927 "On European soil which has been cultivated for centuries and is free of rocks, pebbles and other foreign material, this machine churns up the soil and works it to a considerable depth." The author wondered whether it would "…work as well on average (U.S.) farm land in which heavy stones are occasionally found." |