TABULAR STATEMENT

Of the trial of Reaping Machines, at Geneva, July, 1852.

• These machines did not arrive in time for the trial. ↑ Stated and required by the exhibitor.

1. MCCORMICK'S MACHINE Cut the wheat straw with accuracy, and called forth commendation at its first movement: the entire lot was not however cut evenly. In the barley field it did not work to advantage, particularly, in the lodged grain; the gavels were well laid; during the action of the machine the horses were -subjected to a heavy side draft.

With various and many good points, this machine has to contend with inferior workmanship and want of firmness.

2. T. D. BURRALL'S MACHINE performed its work in the most admirable manner; the gavels were well laid, though from the manner of delivery at the side a twist was observable: the workmanship and materials were excellent: the circular apron for side delivery-the balance wheel and an arrangement to elevate the exterior edge of the apron, are valuable features.

3. ATKINS' AUTOMATON MACHINE, entered by Mr. J. S. Wright, attracted much notice, not for the work performed, that was indifferent; but for the ingenuity displayed in the mechanism, whereby an arm was made to rise from the machine, descending with a rapid motion, it seized the cut grain on the platform, carried it to the side of the machine, and laid it in a tolerably well formed gavel, beyond the track of the reaper; this action was repeated in measured intervals proportioned to the advance of the machine, and deposit of grain on the platform.

It is due to Mr. Atkins, the inventor, to state that he is a cripple, and was confined to his bed during the whole period occu

pied by his men in the construction of this machine; in pain and sickness he conceived the design for a Self-Raking Reaper; his instructions were carried out imperfectly in the selection of materials and distribution of strength; the absence of the master mind permitted errors of adjustment and arrangement, consequently it yielded in various parts during the trial. Yet when in motion, the action of the human arm and hand did not fail to find a surprising imitation in this ingenious machine.

Upon this occasion the inventor was largely indebted to Mr. Wright, for his indefatigable efforts to remedy the many difficulties arising from mal-construction-difficulties which may be easily obviated, because they are due to the builder and not to the inventor. These remarks upon an imperfect machine are due to the inventor and to our agricultural interests, for it seems to contain the germ of one of the most useful implements which mechanical ingenuity can present to the farmer.

4. DANFORD & Co.'s MACHINE.-This machine has the peculiar arrangement of the knives decribed under the division of mowing machines; the edge of the knives cut against each other, acting like scissors or shears. It performed the cutting satisfactorily yet the position of the knives, as now arranged, presents a formidable difficulty in a liability to elog as soon as their keen edge is lost. The motion of the wheel was not duly adjusted, a too rapid motion beat the grain and scattered it along the track; the workmanship of this machine was admirable.

5. SEYMOUR AND MORGAN'S MACHINE-The work was well done, the gavels well laid; the draft was light and of rapid speed, but it is liable to the objection of side draft.

6. J. H. MANNY'S MACHINE.--This Reaper cut admirably in wheat and barley; the merits of construction were manifest in the barley field, where the driver could raise or depress the knives as the standing or lodged grain might demand; the water courses also were easily passed; these are valuable features.

The delivery is not perfect, owing to an elevation of the apron or platform which rises about eight inches above its lowest plane. [Ag. Tr. '53.]

H

The necessary consequence is, an uneven or disturbed eondition of the gavels. (See cut of mower, ante page 105.)

7. RUGG'S MACHINE-Having eut a portion of grain appropriated for the trial, was withdrawn.

8. T. R. HUSSEY'S MACHINE.-A compact well built machine, cuts well except where the grain was thin, in such places it overrode the grain which escaped the knife. The gavels were tolerably laid. The construction of this reaper avoids all side draft; yet the direct draft, as indicated by the Dynamometer, was greater than any other machine.

9. DENSMORE'S MACHINE. This is an ingenious self-raker, the grain being swept from the platform by fingers, with a motion more rapid as it passes the center of it, throwing the gavel from the side. The driver has the power of regulating this action by his foot gathering more or less grain into a gavel, at his option. This clever machine seems not yet perfected, the stubble is left uneven, and the gavels are not smoothly laid for binding. In this machine may be seen the useful efforts of genius struggling to surmount difficulties, and it seems to present an object where success is within reach.

Numbers 10, 11 and 12 did not arrive in due season for trial. The machine of Mr. Obed Hussey, of Baltimore, reached the depot at Geneva the day after adjournment.

The established principle in the science of mechanics in regard to cutting tools, that an acute angle is the most effective on substances of woody fiber, seems to hold good in the form of a reaper knife; this is apparent upon comparing the angles of the several knives, as for instance the height of Mr. McCormick's knife from its base line to the apex is five-eights of an inch, the base line being 4 inches; the power required to cut a swath six feet wide, advancing at the rate of 101 feet per minute, was five pounds 7: for every inch in width of the swath. The height of Mr. Burrall's knife above the base is 3 inches, the base being 3 inches; in this case the power consumed to advance 103 feet in a minute, is six pounds, the swath being five feet wide.

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The grain grower must not yet expect to be entirely independent of the cradle; for the tracks and avenues must be opened in grain fields for the entrance of reaping machines, as well as to remove occasional balks, or the grain protected from the knife by large stones or tree stumps.

The advantage obtained by the use of Reaping Machines, will appear from the following comparative estimate of manual and machine labor:

Wheat yielding thirty bushels per acre, can be cradled at the rate of two acres per day by an expert cradler, and few men can cradle more that three acres of oats or barley in a day. Rye will require more time than wheat, yet in this estimate it may be classed with wheat.

Farmers may differ in these estimates, but it is believed the number who can cradle the acres named, include the great mass of men; those who can exceed the spaces here adopted are few, and form the exceptions only to a general rule.

The average value of cradling labor is one dollar and a half per day with board and lodging, engaged for the harvest season. Job work costs about one dollar per acre. At this last rate, a field of fifteen acres will cost for cradling only, the sum of fifteen dollars.

The expenses of reaping the same area by a machine, may be thus estimated :

A team and driver,.....

A man to rake off the grain,....

Interest on cost of the machine at a value of $120, and at 10 per cent to cover wear, is $12, one quarter of this sum applied to wheat, the balance to be divided among other crops, gives .....

$175

1.00

3 00 $575

NOTE. In nearly all the Reapers presented for trial, a decided improvement was exhibited in workmanship; there was a finish in many which may be viewed generally as proof of durability; a symmetry of form, and beatiful correspondence of various parts, were observable in the best machines. In others, coarse rough work dimmed and obscured their excellences, and caused defects, where existing mechanical principles indicated better results.