Farm Mechanics Part 12

The base of each is 16 feet square and the high ends of the booms reach up nearly 40 feet. A single hayfork rope, or wire cable, is used; it is about 65 feet long. The reach is sufficient to drop the hay in the center of a stack 24 feet wide.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 152.--Hay Carrier Carriage. Powerful carriers are part of the new barn. The track is double and the wheels run on both tracks to stand a side pull and to start quickly and run steadily when the clutch is released.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 153.--(1) Hayfork Hitch. A whiffletree pulley doubles the speed of the fork. The knot in the rope gives double power to start the load. (2) Rafter Grapple, for attaching an extra pulley to any part of the barn roof.]

There are timber braces fitted across the corners which are bolted through the outside timbers to brace the frame against a diamond tendency when moving the derrick. There is considerable strain when pa.s.sing over uneven ground. It is better to make the frame so solid that it cannot get out of square. The mast is a stick of timber 8 inches square and 20 or 24 feet long. This mast is securely fastened solid to the center of the frame by having the bottom end mortised into the center cross timber at the middle and it is braced solid and held perpendicular to the framework by 4" x 4" wooden braces at the corners.

These braces are notched at the top ends to fit the corners of the mast and are beveled at the bottom ends to fit flat on top of the timbers.

They are held in place by bolts and by strap iron or band iron bands.

These bands are drilled with holes and are spiked through into the timbers with four-inch or five-inch wire nails. Holes are drilled through the band iron the right size and at the proper places for the nails. The mast is made round at the top and is fitted with a heavy welded iron ring or band to prevent splitting. The boom is usually about 30 feet long. Farmers prefer a round pole when they can get it. It is attached to the top of the mast by an iron stirrup made by a blacksmith.

This stirrup is made to fit loosely half way around the boom one-third of the way up from the big end, which makes the small end of the boom project 20 feet out from the upper end of the mast. The iron stirrup is made heavy and strong. It has a round iron gudgeon 1-1/2" in diameter that reaches down into the top of the mast about 18 inches. The shoulder of the stirrup is supported by a square, flat iron plate which rests on and covers the top of the mast and has the corners turned down. It is made large to shed water and protect the top of the mast. This plate has a hole one and a half inches in diameter in the center through which the stirrup gudgeon pa.s.ses as it enters the top of the mast. A farm chain, or logging chain, is fastened to the large end of the boom by pa.s.sing the chain around the boom and engaging the round hook. The grab hook end of the chain is pa.s.sed around the timber below and is hooked back to give it the right length, which doubles the part of the chain within reach of the man in charge. This double end of the chain is lengthened or shortened to elevate the outer end of the boom to fit the stack. The small outer end of the boom is thus raised as the stack goes up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 154.--Hay Rope Pulleys. The housing of the pulley to the left prevents the rope from running off the sheaves.]

An ordinary horse fork and tackle is used to hoist the hay. Three single pulleys are attached, one to the outer end of the boom, one near the top of the mast, and the other at the bottom of the mast so that the rope pa.s.ses easily and freely through the three pulleys and at the same time permits the boom to swing around as the fork goes up from the wagon rack over the stack. This swinging movement is regulated by tilting the derrick towards the stack so that the boom swings over the stack by its own weight or by the weight of the hay on the horse fork. Usually a wire truss is rigged over the boom to stiffen it. The wire is attached to the boom at both ends and the middle of the wire is sprung up to rest on a bridge placed over the stirrup.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 155.--Gambrel Whiffletree, for use in hoisting hay to prevent entanglements. It is also handy when cultivating around fruit-trees.]

Farmers like this simple form of hay derrick because it is cheaply made and it may be easily moved because it is not heavy. It is automatic and it is about as cheap as any good derrick and it is the most satisfactory for ordinary use. The base is large enough to make it solid and steady when in use. Before moving the point of the boom is lowered to a level position so that the derrick is not top-heavy. There is little danger of upsetting upon ordinary farm lands. Also the width of 16 feet will pa.s.s along country roads without meeting serious obstacles. Hay slings usually are made too narrow and too short. The ordinary little hay sling is p.r.o.ne to tip sideways and spill the hay. It is responsible for a great deal of profanity. The hay derrick shown to the right is somewhat different in construction, but is quite similar in action. The base is the same but the mast turns on a gudgeon stepped into an iron socket mortised into the center timber.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 156.--Cable Hay Stacker. The wire cable is supported by the two bipods and is secured at each end by snubbing stakes. Two single-cable collars are clamped to the cable to prevent the bipods from slipping in at the top. Two double-cable clamps hold the ends of the cables to form stake loops.]

The wire hoisting cable is threaded differently, as shown in the drawing. This style of derrick is made larger, sometimes the peak reaches up 40' above the base. The extra large ones are awkward to move but they build fine big stacks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 157.--California Hay Ricker, for putting either wild hay or alfalfa quickly in ricks. It is used in connection with home-made buck rakes. This ricker works against the end of the rick and is backed away each time to start a new bench. The upright is made of light poles or 2 x 4s braced as shown. It should be 28 or 30 feet high.

Iron stakes hold the bottom, while guy wires steady the top.]

CALIFORNIA HAY RICKER

In the West hay is often put up in long ricks instead of stacks. One of my jobs in California was to put up 2,700 acres of wild hay in the Sacramento Valley. I made four rickers and eight buck rakes similar to the ones shown in the ill.u.s.trations. Each ricker was operated by a crew of eight men. Four men drove two buck rakes. There were two on the rick, one at the fork and one to drive the hoisting rig. Ten mowing machines did most of the cutting but I hired eight more machines towards the last, as the latest gra.s.s was getting too ripe. The crop measured more than 2,100 tons and it was all put in ricks, stacks and barns without a drop of rain on it. I should add that rain seldom falls in the lower Sacramento Valley during the haying season in the months of May and June. This refers to wild hay, which is made up of burr clover, wild oats and volunteer wheat and barley.

Alfalfa is cut from five to seven times in the hot interior valleys, so that if a farmer is rash enough to plant alfalfa under irrigation his haying thereafter will reach from one rainy season to the next.

CHAPTER VII

FARM CONVEYANCES

STONE-BOAT

One of the most useful and one of the least ornamental conveyances on a farm is the stone-boat. It is a low-down handy rig for moving heavy commodities in summer as well as in winter. No other sleigh or wagon will equal a stone-boat for carrying plows or harrows from one field to another. It is handy to tote bags of seed to supply the grain drill, to haul a barrel of water, feed for the hogs, and a great many other ch.o.r.es.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 158.--Stone-Boat. Stump logs are selected for the planks. The bend of the planks is the natural curve of the large roots.

The sawing is done by band saw cutting from two directions.]

When the country was new, sawmills made a business of sawing stone-boat plank. Trees for stone-boat staves were cut close to the ground and the natural crooks of the roots were used for the noses of sleigh runners and for stone-boats. But cast-iron noses are now manufactured with recesses to receive the ends of straight ordinary hardwood planks. These cast-iron ends are rounded up in front to make the necessary nose crook. The front plank cross piece is bolted well towards the front ends of the runner planks. Usually there are two other hardwood plank cross pieces, one near the rear end and the other about one-third of the way back from the front. Placing the cross pieces in this way gives room between to stand a barrel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 159.--Wheelbarrow. This factory-made wheelbarrow is the only pattern worth bothering with. It is cheap and answers the purpose better than the heavier ones with removable side wings.]

The cross pieces are bolted through from the bottom up. Round-headed bolts are used and they are countersunk, to come flush with the bottom of the sliding planks. The nuts are countersunk into the cross pieces by boring holes about one-quarter inch deep. The holes are a little larger than the cornerwise diameter of the nuts. No washers are used, and the nuts are screwed down tight into the plank. The ends of the bolts are cut off even and filed smooth. The nuts are placed sharp corner side down and are left nearly flush on top or even with the surface of the cross pieces. In using a stone-boat, n.o.body wants a projection to catch any part of the load.

Regular doubletree clevises are attached to the corners of the old-fas.h.i.+oned stone-boat and the side chains are brought together to a ring and are just about long enough to form an equilateral triangle with the front end of the stone-boat. Cast-iron fronts usually have a projection in the center for the clevis. .h.i.tch.

OXEN ON A NEW ENGLAND FARM

One of the most interesting experiences on a New England farm is to get acquainted with the manner in which oxen are pressed into farm service.

One reason why oxen have never gone out of fas.h.i.+on in New England is the fact that they are patient enough to plow stony ground without smas.h.i.+ng the plow.

A great deal of New England farm land has been reclaimed by removing a portion of the surface stone. In the processes of freezing and thawing and cultivation, stones from underneath keep working up to the surface so that it requires considerable skill to do the necessary plowing and cultivating. Oxen ease the plowpoint over or around a rock so it can immediately dip in again to the full depth of the furrow. A good yoke of cattle well trained are gentle as well as strong and powerful.

Oxen are cheaper than horses to begin with and they are valuable for beef when they are not needed any longer as work animals. The Holstein breed seems to have the preference for oxen with New England farmers.

The necessary harness for a pair of cattle consists of an ox yoke with a ringbolt through the center of the yoke, midway between the two oxen. A heavy iron ring about five inches in diameter, made of round iron, hangs from the ringbolt. There are two oxbows to hold the yoke in place on the necks of the cattle. A logging chain with a round hook on one end and a grab hook on the other end completes the yoking outfit.

The round hook of the chain is. .h.i.tched into the ring in the plow clevis.

The chain is pa.s.sed through the large iron ring in the oxbow and is doubled back to get the right length. The grab hook is so constructed that it fits over one link of the chain flatwise so that the next link standing crosswise prevents it from slipping.

The mechanism of a logging chain is extremely simple, positive in action and especially well adapted to the use for which it is intended. The best mechanical inventions often pa.s.s without notice because of their simplicity. Farmers have used logging chains for generations with hooks made on this plan without realizing that they were profiting by a high grade invention that embodies superior merit.

In yoking oxen to a wagon the hitch is equally simple. The end of the wagon tongue is placed in the ring in the ox yoke, the round hook engages with a drawbolt under the hammer strap bar. The small grab hook is pa.s.sed through the large yoke ring and is brought back and engaged with a chain link at the proper distance to stretch the chain taut.

The process of yoking oxen and hitching them to a wagon is one of the most interesting performances on a farm. The off ox works on the off side, or far side from the driver. He usually is the larger of the two and the more intelligent. The near (p.r.o.nounced n-i-g-h) ox is nearest to the driver who walks to the left. Old plows turned the furrow to the right so the driver could walk on hard ground. In this way the awkwardness and ignorance of the near ox is played against the docility and superior intelligence of the off ox. In yoking the two together the yoke is first placed on the neck of the off ox and the near ox is invited to come under. This expression is so apt that a great many years ago it became a cla.s.sic in the hands of able writers to suggest submission or slavery termed "coming under the yoke." Coming under the yoke, however, for the New England ox, in these days of abundant feeding, is no hards.h.i.+p. The oxen are large and powerful and the work they have to do is just about sufficient to give them the needed exercise to enjoy their alfalfa hay and feed of oats or corn.

TRAVOY

One of the first implements used by farm settlers in the timbered sections of the United States and Canada, was a three-cornered sled made from the fork of a tree. This rough sled, in the French speaking settlements, was called a "travoy." Whether it was of Indian or French invention is not known; probably both Indians and French settlers used travoys for moving logs in the woods before American history was much written. The legs or runners of a travoy are about five feet long. There is a bunk which extends crossways from one runner to the other, about half or two-thirds of the way back from the turned-up nose. This bunk is fastened to the runners by means of wooden pins and U-shaped bows fitted into grooves cut around the upper half of the bunk near the ends. Just back of the turned up nose is another cross piece in the shape of a stout wooden pin or iron bolt that is pa.s.sed through an auger hole extending through both legs from side to side of the travoy. The underside of the crotch is hollowed out in front of the bolt to make room to pa.s.s the logging chain through so it comes out in front under the turned up nose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 160.--Travoy. A log-hauling sled made from the fork of a tree.]

The front of the travoy is turned up, sled runner fas.h.i.+on, by hewing the wood with an axe to give it the proper shape. Travoys are used to haul logs from a thick woods to the skidways. The manner of using a travoy is interesting. It is hauled by a yoke of cattle or a team of horses to the place where the log lies in the woods. The round hook end of the logging chain is thrown over the b.u.t.t end of the log and pulled back under the log then around the bunk just inside of the runner and hooked fast upon itself. The travoy is then leaned over against the log, the grab hook end of the chain is brought over the log and over the travoy and straightened out at right angles to the log. The cattle are hitched to the end of the logging chain and started. This kind of a hitch rolls the log over on top of the bunk on the travoy. The cattle are then unhitched. The grab hook end of the chain thus released is pa.s.sed down and around under the other end of the bunk from behind. The chain is then pa.s.sed over the bolt near the nose of the travoy and pulled down through the opening and out in front from under the nose. The small grab hook of the logging chain is then pa.s.sed through the clevis, in the doubletree, if horses are used, or the ring in the yoke if cattle are used, and hitched back to the proper length. A little experience is necessary to regulate the length of the chain to give the proper pull.

The chain should be short enough so the pull lifts a little. It is generally conceded by woodsmen that a short hitch moves a log easier than a long hitch. However, there is a medium. There are limitations which experience only can determine. A travoy is useful in dense woods where there is a good deal of undergrowth or where there are places so rough that bobsleighs cannot be used to advantage.

LINCHPIN FARM WAGONS

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 161.--Cross Reach Wagon. This wagon is coupled for a trailer, but it works just as well when used with a tongue and horses as a handy farm wagon. The bunks are made rigid and parallel by means of a double reach. There are two king bolts to permit both axles to turn.

Either end is front.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 162.--Wagon Brake. The hounds are tilted up to show the brake beam and the manner of attaching it. The brake lever is fastened to the forward side of the rear bolster and turns up alongside of the bolster stake. The brake rod reaches from the upper end of the lever elbow to the foot ratchet at the front end of the wagon box.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 163.--Bolster Spring.]

In some parts of the country the wheels of handy wagons about the farm are held on axle journals by means of linchpins in the old-fas.h.i.+oned manner. There are iron hub-bands on both ends of the hubs which project several inches beyond the wood. This is the best protection against sand to prevent it from working into the wheel boxing that has ever been invented. Sand from the felloes scatters down onto these iron bands and rolls off to the ground. There is a hole through each band on the outer ends of the hubs to pa.s.s the linchpin through so that before taking off a wheel to oil the journal it must first be turned so the hole comes directly over the linchpin. To pry out the linchpin the drawbolt is used. Old-fas.h.i.+oned drawbolts were made with a chisel shaped end tapered from both sides to a thickness of about an eighth of an inch. This thin wedge end of the drawbolt is placed under the end of the linchpin. The lower side of the hub-band forms a fulcrum to pry the pin up through the hole in the upper side of the sand-band projection. The linchpin has a hook on the outer side of the upper end so the lever is transferred to the top of the sand-band when another pry lifts the pin clear out of the hole in the end of the axle so the wheel may be removed and grease applied to the axle. The drawbolt on a linchpin wagon usually has a head made in the form of the jaws of a wrench. The wrench is the right size to fit the nuts on the wagon brace irons so that the drawbolt answers three purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 164.--Wagon Seat Spring. The metal block fits over the top of the bolster stake.]