Abstract
AT the fourth a by the Agricultural Machinery Develove Board held at the National Institute of Afrl Cultural Engineering, Askham Bryan, on Octohat,2 number of interesting demonstrations were arranged to illustrate the work in progress at Institute. The new sugar beet harvester on view corporated several improvements on the model shown last year, notably the ‘topper-picker’ and ‘sweeping wheel’ which had undergone successful trials late in the previous season. The beet is topped while still in the ground, and beet and tops are delivered into separate windrows. No elevator chains or rollers are used, thus considerably reducing the wear from soil abrasion. Work in progress for the production of a simple machine for assisting in the harvesting of a variety of root crops such as swedes, mangolds, carrots or potatoes was also demonstrated, while the provision of an efficient potato digger suitable for the small grower was a further proposition undergoing investigation. The main exhibit in the plough section was a mounted one-way 3-furrow plough designed and built at the Institute. This ‘reversible’ type requires less skill in operation, leaves a level field without ridges or open furrows, and when direct-mounted should effect considerable saving in time and fuel. Combine harvesters have introduced problems of handling, drying and storing grain in bulk, and much research work at the Institute has been devoted to their solution. Among the range of machinery shown for use in conjunction with a small combine, were installations for the drying of grain by ventilation with slightly heated air during storage, and a modified form of the automatic drier that waflf a feature of the exhibit of last year.
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Developments in Agricultural Machinery. Nature 158, 615 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158615a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158615a0