fowler compound ploughing engine - medw.uk · fowler compound ploughing engine two inch scale j....

F O W L E R C O M P O U N D

P L O U G H I N G E N G I N E T W O I N C H SCALE

J. Haining and C. R. Tyler describe the plough

W E WILL now discuss some of the implements for which the Fowler ploughing engine was designed.

Catalogues of equipment show a great variety of implements, each type available in many variants. The plough alone was offered in seven hundred versions.

It will be appreciated that to select a representative cross-section presented a problem. However, it was decided not to build any of the more complex machinery, and the three finally chosen were the six furrow English top soil plough with anti-balance gear, mole drainer and cultivator. These will be described in the above order and in the same scale as the parent engines. First then the plough.

It will not be out of place here to describe the method in which this implement is used. So much attention is paid to the engines that this is very often overlooked.

The plough is used in conjunction with two ploughing engines which stand at opposite sides of the field on the headlands. Having manoeuvred the plough into position at right-angles to one of the engines, two cables—one from each engine—are attached to the towing bracket on the plough by means of ' D ' shackles and pins. The bracket is located between the wheels and is mounted on pivots, so that the cable remains taut and straight during pulls, also enabling the wheel carriage to work freely within the anti-balance mechanism.

The end of the plough nearest the engine is pulled down to bring the six ploughshares in contact with the ground. After hitching the trailing tail cable through the guide hook provided at the end of the plough frame, the near engine gives a single blast on the whistle to indicate to the far engine to commence the pull.

As the winding drum starts to revolve, cable slack is first taken up and just before the plough moves, the anti-balance gear acts by moving two rollers along guide rails. These rollers are mounted on stub axles mounted in turn on the wheel carriage. Thus the main wheels move over the centre-line of the plough frame and place a weight on the shares, which now dig deeper into the soil. Movement of the anti-balance device ceases when the limit of the

guide rails is reached. Full power is then transmitted directly through the plough frame and the whole machine moves along.

Design of the shares is very similar to conventional types and having taken the initial bite due to the anti-balance gear they now dig even deeper as the plough moves. Furrow depth is regulated by adjustment of angle and depth of the mouldboard and setting of the small solid wheels at each end of the frame. Chains attached from each side of the wheel carriage to the plough frame also limit the depth of the cut and keep the wheel carriage in a vertical position whilst ploughing.

Having commenced the run, the plough is hauled towards the other engine, now pulling with full power and affording the unforgettable sight and sound of these great-hearted engines hard at work. The first engine meanwhile is quietly paying cable out giving only a ring of gears idly revolving.

Pulling proceeds until the plough approaches the engine and reduces speed until the upward pointing end of the plough stops short of the cylinder block. This incidentally explains the battered appearance of many cylinder covers, as the nearer the plough stops the more ground is ploughed, but of course the occasional misjudgment—probably the morning after the night before—results in an ignominious clang of plough frame on cylinder!

The pull completed, the plough rests for a moment as the driver of the engine now on the opposite side of the field, sees the cable slacken and his drum stop revolving. This is the signal to put his winding drum into gear and to start gently and slowly to haul.

At the plough end, quick work is in progress to prepare the plough for its return pull by seeing that the idle "tail" cable clears the guide hook on the main frame before the slack is taken up as it in turn becomes the "main" cable and the plough tilts. The previously idle cable now tautens as slack is taken up. As before, the anti-balance gear comes into action and the wheel carriage moves first, thus allowing the plough to "see saw" and bringing the other half with its six shares into contact with the soil, biting as before. When done with an experienced team, the procedure appears very simple, but

MODEL ENGINEER 3 February 1967 119

Continued from Jan. 20

in fact it is the result of much practice. When one bears in mind that the plough weighs some ten tons, it is not an easy task to handle unless complete precision of timing and team work is attained.

In this way we obtain the magnificent sight of the thirty-six foot long plough, apparently sailing over the field, with great swathes of moist, black soil neatly furrowed in its wake.

Steering consists of a worm and wheel attached to the wheel carriage and having two steering columns one for each end of the plough. These are used to guide the plough on the "straight and narrow" alongside the previously turned furrows, and at the

start of a pull to steer the whole machine over to position it for the next strip of land to be ploughed.

As the plough leaves the idling engine behind, and moves over to unploughed land, the engine follows suit by moving forward sufficiently to position itself accurately for its next pull. In this manner the whole field is covered. To finish the ploughing, one engine completes the headlands by direct traction, that is by pulling the plough behind in similar fashion to the present day method so familiar with diesel tractors.

Thus were many thousands of acres of our fair country ploughed annually in this way during the

120 MODEL ENGINEER 3 February 1967

last half of the previous and first quarter of this century.

Now to turn our attention to the model of the plough.

The frame is made from 1 in. by 1/2in. black mild steel channel which is available commercially. Incorporated in the design are some compound angles and it is recommended that the upward and inward angles be taken individually in this way, finally arriving at the required compound angles.

The ends of the channel are mitred, with packing pieces in between, one of these forming the anchor for the road towing eye bolt. For a length of 10 in., the channel is reduced to a flat by removing the webs, to enable the main wheel on this side to steer fully from lock to lock without fouling the frame. (Fig. 1).

Cross members tying the frame together are made

A rear view of the model plough behind the Fowler engine.

from tee and mild steel angle section. When cutting these to length, it is as well to bear in mind that the design of the plough is such that it does in fact constitute two separate ploughs joined in the middle with a common wheel and axle assembly. However, as the plough is pulled to and fro without being turned round, all the shares are on one side of the frame. On reflection, it will be seen that this means that most parts are not only duplicated but handed as well and care must be taken when cutting angles that one right-hand and one left-hand part is allowed for, otherwise one may have embarrassing results!

Stiffeners of 1 in. by 1/8in. mild steel are bolted between the cross members.


When finished, the frame is stiff and robust, due assembled before proceeding with the attachments, to the triangulated design, and can be completely which will be dealt with in our next article.

The Fowler engine towing the plough on the road.

Below: The centre section of the plough with wheels at full lock.

ERRATA

We regret that an error occurred in the captions to the pictures of the Fowler Ploughing Engines on page 1084 of our December 16 issue.

The engine on the left is one of class BA and that on the right is a Fowler AAA, both built long before the BB. class.




J. Haining and C. R. Tyler now come to the attachments of the model plough.

T H E F R A M E completed, attention can now be turned to the attachments. These mainly consist of twelve shares which are attached to the frame along the steeply angled sides, equally spaced and providing six furrows in either direction. Each plough share is attached to a cast body which in turn is bolted to the frame in such a way that its position and height can be adjusted within limits as shown in Fig. 1.

The mould board and coulter are also attached to the body, thus making each of the twelve assembled units an independent item from the frame.

It is suggested that these units are made as a batch—remembering that there are six right-hand and six left-hand units—and when complete, attached to the frame in the requisite positions, ensuring that the share tips are equally orientated

with one another. Then drill through the holes in the body into the channel and bolt up with 4 BA bolts of suitable lengths.

This method will be found easier than pre-marking the frame, as there are so many attachments and odd angles that it is relatively easy to miscalculate dimensions and end up with a bolt hole just coinciding with one of the cross members, or brackets of the frame. The share body is cast in aluminium and is one of the most nightmarish castings on either the engine or implements. Originally, the design of this part must have given some of Fowler's draughtsmen an awful headache, but fortunately it was our task only to copy the original and scale it down, although that was bad enough. However, the final casting is a true re-

The Plough: This view shows the wheel carriage and the centre section of the frame.


Continued from February 3

production and as far as machining is concerned requires very little work.

Cleaning up of the share end, mouldboard and heel plate platforms are all that is required, apart from drilling of the attachment and adjustment bolt holes.

A square spigot projects from the front of the share mounting face and this corresponds with a hole in the share itself. The idea of this is to make the share easily replaceable when worn, by simply loosening the locking bolt and sliding off, location radially being on the flats of the square spigot. On the full-size share a triangular spigot and hole is employed with a pin holding the share on, but for the purposes of the model, a square one is used to simplify machining.

Mould boards are cut to shape on a former. This is a job requiring care, so that the flow of the soil over the board is smooth and so that it is turned over with the greatest efficiency. The exact shape can be determined during manufacture, but it will be found quite a job to obtain the two dimensional curves required. A soft stainless steel was used on our model, but this proved very difficult to manipulate. If a softer material is chosen, however, it must be borne in mind that while a bracket and support rod are holding the end of the mould board, there must be a certain amount of stiffness in the material used, to turn the soil over. If it is available, Swedish iron would be an admirable material. The heel plate is attached to the body by two 4 BA

countersunk screws, positioned to avoid the share spigot.

At the top of the body are two arms with right-angled projections on each. The projections "hook" over the frame channel and the forward one has one 4 BA hole drilled and tapped through it, and one 4 BA clearance hole. Through the forward plain hole is passed the 4 BA threaded portion of the clamp which hooks on the underside of the channel; a 4 BA stud with locknuts is screwed through the threaded hole.

It will be seen that by turning one or other of the nuts, the body of the plough share can be raised or lowered, thus providing adjustment on the angle and depth of cut.

The rear arm hooks directly on to the frame channel and has a 4 BA bolt through both the arm and channel. In between the two is clamped the bracket which carries the support rod for the mould board. The bracket casting requires shaping to the inside contour of the channel, ensuring that the flanges project beyond the channel and thus the share body clamps tightly on to it when the bolt and nut are tightened.

Similar to the plough share assemblies, the wheel carriage can be tackled as a complete unit. A rectangular frame of 3/8in. and 7/16in. square section and 5/16in. dia. bright mild steel forms the chassis of the carriage.

Unlike the engine the plough wheels are steered on the Ackermann principle, as used on cars. On


The frame end and fittings of the plough.

a car this consists of two round kingpins upon which each wheel swivels. Normally this ends the requirements of the kingpins, but in the case of the plough, these are elongated to the height of the carriage chassis and made of square section steel. The stub axle castings have a square hole which is a sliding fit on the kingpin. Two adjusting screws threaded 4 BA pass through the top cross member. The ends of the screws fit into holes in the stub axles, so allowing them to be adjusted up and down the kingpins. In this way the plough frame and shares can be adjusted for height when ploughing.

Two track rods connect the kingpins via arms attached to them. Sufficient adjustment on the fork ends should be allowed to ensure that the wheels are tracked correctly.

Steering is through worm-wheel and quadrant. Due to the small steering movement of the wheels, a fine tooth single start worm is required to give about five turns on the steering wheels from lock to lock.

A universal joint either side of the worm wheel allows the two steering columns to alter position as the plough frame is tipped one way or the other, Below: A side view of the completed model plough.

with the wheel carriage remaining upright. At the steering wheel end of the columns a 3/16in. dia. bracket has a loose fitting spherical-shaped bush inside which the columns not only rotate but slide longitudinally when the frame is tipping.

The wheels are of conventional construction and the reader is referred to the chapter dealing with the engine wheels. One point of note is the differing widths of the wheels. The narrow wheel is on the same side of the plough as the shares and is angled 5 degs. from the vertical. This allows the wheel to

follow the last furrow, while the wider wheel square to the ground can roll on the unploughed soil without sinking in.

Working of the anti-balance mechanism was described in the last chapter. Reproducing this to scale is not a difficult job. The main items are the cast roller guides, bolted to the plough frame, with a 5/16in. x 1/8in. mild steel guard bolted on as shown in Fig. 2 of the last article. Two mild steel rollers are placed on the turned ends of the lower cross member of the wheel carriage. Ensure that they are free to roll within the confines of the roller guides and guards, along the inclined planes.


Brackets suspended below the carriage carry two pivot points on which the tow bar and D shackles are mounted and to which the "Main" and "Tail" cables are attached.

From the pivot brackets come the limiting rods made of 5/32in. dia. mild steel. The outer ends of these slide between two guide bars, with pins placed in strategic positions to limit the movement of the carriage from the vertical position whilst the plough is being hauled. Several pin positions allow adjustment of limit. Chains running from the top carriage member to frame cross members, also serve to keep the carriage vertical and several spare links should be left to allow adjustment when the depth of cut is altered.

Two long rods 3/16in. dia. stretch almost the length of the frame and cross in the middle. Turn-buckles are fitted towards the outer end of these to allow tensioning. Support columns are provided near the centre to ensure that the tensioned rods do not sag and foul the wheel carriage.

The two secondary wheels at each end of the plough are mounted on cast brackets bolted to the frame.

Solid pattern wheels are used, beaten from thin gauge steel and riveted, or—as usual in our model —cast in aluminium and machined all over.

The axles are pieces of 5/16in. square mild steel, turned at one end to 1/4in. dia. and forged at right angles. Adjustment of height is made by threading the other end - after turning - 1/4 BSF and passing

the remaining square section through a square hole in the bracket. A handwheel when turned adjusts the height of the wheel in relation to the ground and is prevented from moving radially by the square section.

Place the seats attached to their angles across the frame to clear all share mounts and clamp on with 4 BA bolts through a clamping plate passing underneath the frame.

When all the parts are made, finishing should be done in a similar manner to the engine itself, and reference should be made to the article on this subject. Finish the plough in black paint, either chrome plating or lacquering exposed metal parts. There is not much brass work on the plough, this being limited to the wheel hubs, but nevertheless, these look nice when brightly polished and lacquered. Line in the wheels in the same manner and colours as the engine, to make them a matching pair for the colour scheme selected.

When ploughing, select a piece of moist ground ready cleared of grass and roots, and freed from stones. Do not gouge the earth deeply but keep the depth of cut to the minimum consistent with a good furrow. It is of course, preferable that two engines be used in the proper manner, but either a moving anchor or kind friend acting as a second engine, will enable the plough to be used in miniature, on a job that the full-sized version performs so magnificently.




J. Haining and C. R. Tyler describe a mole drainer for their ploughing engine.

T H E MOLE DRAINER or Mole Plough as it is sometimes called, consists of a steel channel frame mounted on two large diameter wheels at the rear, and a narrow swinging and pivoted front axle, with two plate wheels, at the front.

The frame, mounted on the cranked rear axle, is inclined downwards towards the front end, and carries worm and wheel steering. This is operated from a rear-mounted steering wheel and a long steering column connecting with a transverse shaft carrying separate steering drums on each end, which in turn carry the two steering chains linked to the ends of the front axle, outside each wheel. Pivoted to the rear end of the front steering head is a massive steel casting bolted and riveted to the front of the channel frame members and this is the beam carrying the actual mole, the four in. diameter pointed implement rigidly mounted on a plate below the beam which does the actual "tunnelling" t hrough the sub-soil.

The beam carries a large diameter sheave deeply grooved for the cable; this is mounted parallel to the top surface of the beam, and thus also to the surface of the ground. The sheave is carried on a pin Below: The mole drainer, with the mole lowered.

which allows a certain amount of side-to-side tilt, but which resists all pull in a forward direction, and is free to revolve.

The channel frame of the machine supports a transverse-mounted hand operated winch, the function of which is to wind the mole beam and mole out of engagement with the ground, and to support the beam when the implement is being towed to and from the area to be drained.

The hand winch is operated by spur gearing from a parallel countershaft with a handle at each end, and is of the "self-sustaining" type, the beam being supported at any required height, in or above the ground.

Attached to the rear end of the beam is a long " U " shackle, to which the return or tail rope is attached by " D " shackle and pin.

The steersman stands on a simple step, hung from the rear of the channel frame on an angle-iron bracket, and controls the path of the machine when engaged in a pull—incidentally this is one of the very few implements not provided with a seat for the operator.

The rear wheels follow normal Fowler practice in having tee-headed spokes cast into a heavy hub, the

288 MODEL ENGINEER 17 March 1967

tee-heads being riveted to the centre flange of the tee-section outer rim of the wheel. Front wheels are double-plate type, with a heavy rectangular-section iron tyre to resist any side thrust.

Mole draining is carried out in one direction only, the main cable from the hauling engine being passed round the sheave and back to the engine, where it is attached to one of the spokes of a rear wheel by means of a plate clamp and " D " shackles.

The cable thus passing round the loose sheave on the implement, and anchored to the engine, gives a 2 : 1 pull at half the normal rope speed, thus assisting the engine to overcome the considerable resist

ance of the mole travelling through the soil. At the start of the pull, the mole is lowered into the soil to the required depth—the maximum depth is 2 ft. 3 in.— the hauling cable is then attached as described above, and the single tail cable from the returning engine is attached to the rear end of the mole beam to pull the implement back without the necessity of turning it round.

In heavy clay soils, the mole forms a drain in the clay itself, which will last a number of years; but in looser soils it is customary to "tail-in" a string of agricultural drain pipes of the plain "pot" variety, which are attached to the rear of the mole by means


The Mole Drainer with the Mole in the raised position. (From Messrs of a hole provided for the purpose. Nowadays, polythene piping is used occasionally for land draining, and an owner of steam ploughing tackle in the Midlands has ingeniously converted his mole drainer to tail-in this modern piping, as he has fitted the mole drainer with a large hopper to feed gravel chippings into the surrounding area of the laid piping in the drain.

To all intents and purposes the mole drainer is first-cousin to the sub-soiling plough, and the light modern version, tractor drawn, resembles the sub-soiler in many respects.

Like other Fowler implements, the mole drainer was built in several versions, including one type with an oak main frame, and direct-acting steering controlled by wheel and quadrant; but in all cases the principle was the same:—one-way pull with the mole in the ground, direct return-pull backwards with the mole lifted clear, and the implement controlled by the steersman when actually mole-draining.

So much for the brief description of the full-sized implement and now to the two-inch scale version.

The mole drainer is a very satisfying implement to use in two-inch scale, as unlike the balance plough and the cultivator it will keep to the course upon which it is set, when in work, without the aid of human hands to steer it, the mole being hauled along some 3 in. below the surface of the ground. This tends to keep the implement travelling in a straight line towards the hauling engine and the quite considerable effort required of the engine produces a resounding and most impressive exhaust bark, particularly when working in heavy soils!

The frame of the model is channel section £ in. x | in., and follows the general construction of the full-size machine, but the heavy cast steel steering head has been modified slightly to simplify construc-

wler's catalogue) tion; this component has to allow the front axle^to both pivot and tilt over ground irregularities, and^at the same time must allow the mole beam to trail correctly behind the axle on its pivot mounting.

The flanged sleeves on the outer ends of the front axle are in fact fairleads to guide the cable clear of the front wheels, when it passes round the sheave on the mole beam.

The brackets for the steering column, cross shaft, and mole-beam lifting gear are simple bushed plummer blocks fabricated from mild steel, either built up and silver-soldered or cut from the solid and present no problems either in machining or fabricating. The mole beam, built up from mild steel sheet, has a fairly massive eye on the front end, and is split to allow the lifting sheave, and the mounting for the hauling sheave, to fit between the two fiat members of the beam.

The mole itself, of stainless steel, is welded to a tee-shaped hanger plate which fits between the beam members. The beam carries the tail rope shackle on the rear en< I.

Incidentally, the mole and hanger-plate may be made of bright mild steel, in which case the mole may be brazed to the plate, if no welding equipment is available for the stainless steel version. The easiest method of constructing the rear wheels is to bend up the rims from 1 in. x J in. steel bar, and machine out to form the 1 in. x i in. x J in. tee section— after spot welding or brazing the bent ring to maintain its circular form, which is Hi in. outside diameter. The spokes, milled from \ in. thick mild steel sheet, should be attached to the hubs in the same way as on the front wheels of the engine, giving the appearance of being cast-in as on the prototype and riveted to the tee rim with two A in-round head rivets in each. continued on page 293


M O L E DRAINER continued from page 290

The front wheels may be built up in the true Fowler manner, or turned, complete with tyre, from a mild steel blank. If the latter method is used, do not forget to simulate the four rivets securing the tyre to the rim, countersunk in the outer diameter of the \ in. square section tyre.

The large sheave round which runs the hauling cable is made in two halves on the full-size implement, but this again may be simulated on the model, if desired, by fabricating the assembly and making the two flanges brazed or silver-soldered to the inside of rim where the halves would be bolted together. The steering worm and wheel are detailed in full on the drawing, but if required may be purchased complete as a unit, as also may the universal joint fitted on the front end of the long J in. dia. bright mild steel steering column.

The steering and mole lifting chains are plated brass, with f in. long links, in. dia. which can be purchased from an ironmonger. A l l details of the mole drainer are fully covered on Drawing No. T.3 sheets 1 and 2 and a range of castings is available to facilitate construction of certain items of the implement.

MODEL ENGINEER 17 March 1967 293



Continuing their series on Ploughing Engines, J. Haining and C. R Tyler describe a Cultivator and a self-moving Anchor

T H E TURN-AROUND cultivator is used for breaking up the ground, for example stubble fields, which on heavy land are worked in two directions, both down and across.

Basically, the implement consists of a heavy channel frame upon which are bolted a series of tines either 9, 11, or 13 in number, giving a working width of 7 ft. 6 in. to 11 ft., and a depth of 8 to 14 in. The rear of the frame is carried upon a cranked axle, which is free to tilt through an arc; the front of the frame is supported by a single disc plate wheel mounted in a turntable, steered by chains running from the turntable back to a sprocket wheel mounted on a vertical steering column towards the rear of the frame. Near the front of the frame is a vertical pin carrying a Y-shaped arm, free to swing on the pin through a wide angle, parallel to the ground. The tail of the Y, pointing rearwards, is connected by chain to the cranked axle, and a chain also connects the Y arms to the steering turntable.

The engines are positioned on each opposite headland as when using the,balance plough, and the cable from each engine is attached to each leg of the Y with shackles, the cable from the hauling engine pulling the implement, while that from the other

engine trails from the arm. On reaching the end of a pull, the cable from the hauling engine slackens, and the trailing cable from the other engine takes up the pull, at the same time swinging the Y arms on their pivot. As the arms swing over, they pull the cranked rear axle forward, lifting the tines out of the ground, and allowing the whole implement to turn almost in its own length, and head back the way it came. The swinging arms also pull the turntable and front wheel around, as they move.

The opposite engine now commences to haul, the cable from the engine now behind the cultivator trailing from the other arm of the Y, and the steersman dropping the tines back into the ground by pulling a long lever in front of the steering position which releases a catch holding the axle in the "out of work" position.

In this way, the alternate pull from the two engines is used to both haul the cultivator and turn it, no effort being required on the part of the steersman to lift the tines out of work. The steersman sits on a large wooden toolbox at the rear of the frame, and controls the path of the implement to and fro across the field between the two engines.

Later types of cultivator where fitted with a simple

340 MODEL ENGINEER 7 April 1967

damping device to lessen the shock of the tines dropping into work when the release lever was pulled.

The rear wheels follow the usual Fowler pattern, having tee section rims and tee headed spokes riveted to the rims and solid in the heavy cast hubs. The front wheel, similar in design to the front wheels of the mole drainer, is built up of plate, with a central tyre band, the wheel running on a spindle between two forks terminating in a flanged turntable, to which the steering chains are attached.

The cultivator, to break the heavy ground effectively, must travel at 5 or 6 m.p.h., and is used most efficiently with the class BB or BB1 engines with their higher cable speed.

The frame of the 2 in. scale cultivator is f in. x I in. channel, as on the mole drainer, and the construction presents no machining or assembly problems. The machine is a 9 tine (or tyne) implement, giving a working width of approximately 15 in. The front wheel was built up of mild steel sheet ^ in. thick, and the live axle runs in brass bushes set in the fork plates. Weight is an advantage with a small scale implement and no attempt has been made to save it, mild steel being used almost throughout, with riveted frame and wheel construction.

The nine tines are secured to the mount bar and frame members with clamping plates and hex-head bolts.

MODEL ENGINEER 7 April 1967 341

The Self-moving Anchor The self-moving anchor, designed for use with the

single-engine system, is (as already mentioned in an earlier article) an anachronism when described in this series dealing with double-engine ploughing tackle, but readers may be interested to have a brief description of this now rare equipment, which of course requires an engine of the double-drum type for its use.

Several versions of this machine were made, and the one selected is the earliest type, a very simple piece of equipment.

A bar frame mounted on four wheels cut from steel plate, without rims or tyres and designed to sink into the ground to resist the side pull of the implement, carries a large diameter sheave at the lower end of a vertical shaft and firmly keyed to the shaft. Above the sheave and the shaft lower bearing is a winding drum integral with a large spur gear, and free to rotate upon the shaft, but meshing with a small gear integral with a large gear, running free on a vertical spindle parallel to the main shaft.

At the top of the main shaft is a fourth gear in constant mesh with the latter, and having formed in

its upper face recesses to engage with a sliding dog, keyed to the shaft, and moved in and out of engagement by means of the long clutch operating lever.

A wire cable is wound on the winding drum, and one end of the cable is secured to a ground anchor at the end of the headland. The cable carrying the implement is led from the engine first drum around the sheave, and back to the engine second drum via rope parkers or guide pulleys set in the ground.

As the implement approaches the anchor, the long clutch lever is tripped, and the clutch top member engages with the small gear carrying the clutch bottom member setting the winding drum in motion through the train of gears, and thus allowing the anchor to be wound along the headland by its own winding drum.

As soon as the requisite width of work has been transversed, the clutch is disengaged, and the sheave is able to revolve freely once again.

The roller mounted on a sliding outrigger frame is to give additional stability to the anchor, and to prevent sinkage into the soil on the pull side. The wooden box held ballast to counterbalance the pull to some small extent.

A more efficient anchor designed later gave a degree of semi-automatic working in that the implement itself tripped the clutch lever. The accompanying drawing illustrates the machine in detail. H

TRACTION ENGINE DRAWINGS by W. J. Hughes

Wilson's "Farmer's Engine" of 1849, T.E.3 3s. Od.

Ransomes Compound Traction Engine T.E.IO (two sheets) 7s. 6d.

Allchin " M E " Traction Engine T.E.I 1 (16 sheets) 50s. Od.




J. Haining and C. R. Tyler conclude their series of articles with some notes on their own engines

IT IS PROPOSED to mention briefly in this article some details of the ploughing engine not fully covered in our articles to date, and which may vary considerably from engine to engine, according to the ideas of individual builders.

Our own pair of engines differ in several details— the one being built to class B.B. specification, and the other to class B.B.I, as a study of the photographs of the respective engines will show, and quite deliberately we have adhered to differing boiler feed details, lubrication, and several other minor points.

The cylinder drain cocks on the class B.B. and B.B.I engines are operated from the driving stand by a lever and rods connecting to a swinging arm mounted vertically on a small bracket on the right-hand side of the horn bracket transverse front plate. From this a rod runs to the H.P. drain cock nearest the crankshaft end of the cylinder, with a flat bar connecting with the other drain cock at the chimney end, with a short arm giving movement to a flat bar, cranked to clear the blast pipe, running across in front of the cylinder covers and connecting with the first cylinder drain cock on the L.P. cylinder, which again is linked with its companion drain cock.

This rather complicated layout of rods and linkages does in fact work, as on the full-sized engine, quite efficiently, but care is necessary in making the cranked link arm running across in front of the cylinder covers owing to the compound angular movement involved. The illustration in Model Engineer October 7 shows the layout quite clearly as seen from the right-hand side of the engine.

The ashpan has an opening, top-hinged flap door on the right-hand side of the firebox only, no front positioned door being possible owing to the steering barrel position and drum mounting. The door itself is operated by a flat bar running up vertically behind the 3rd. road gear guard, giving a variation in opening from full open to shut. The flat bar is replaced by a length of chain on some engines.

Lubrication is looked after, on the full-size engine, by oil caps on motion work and bearing caps, drum hub, and other wearing points; mention has been

made of these previously. In addition brass oil boxes mounted on the left-hand hornplate convey oil to the drum drive shaft, clutch and bottom bearing. The rear axle and third shaft are lubricated from oil boxes cast into the cannon brackets, and last but not least the cylinders and slide valves are supplied from a mechanical lubricator mounted above the H.P. slide bar on the cylinder "front".

In the two-inch scale engines two different systems for lubrication of the cylinders are followed, but in all other respects the overall lubrication system is identical with that described above for the full-size engine.

Colin Tyler's engine employs a neat mechanical lubricator mounted as in full-size, and driven by a carrier arm fitted to the L.P. valve rod, delivering oil to the valve chests through non-return valves. The lubricator holds approximately 1 ounce of oil, sufficient to give 2-3 hours running under working conditions.

John Haining's engine, on the other hand, is fitted with two displacement lubricators, one mounted on the H.P. valve chest and one on the L.P. cylinder cover. With correct adjustment of the needle valve these give ample lubrication for the cylinder bores and valve port faces for up to 2 hours running —the obvious disadvantage is the size of the lubricator, noticably out of scale with the rest of the engine.

The small oil boxes and <fe inch bore copper pipes running to the drum drive shaft and bearings can be seen in the general arrangement photograph of both engines, mounted in their correct positions on the left-hand hornplate top, where they are easily replenished from the driving stand.

The steering worm and wheel on the class B.B.I engine is neatly encased in a sheet steel cover, secured to the steering roller bracket-plate by small right-angle cleats riveted to the cover and bolted to the bracket-plate. On the models, this cover may be fabricated from brass or tinplate 22 swg. thick, and silver-soldered to give a well chamfered and radiused edge where the sides join the outside plate. This cover over worm and wheel performs a very


useful task in keeping ash and grit blown from the ash-pan away from the tooth faces, where, if allowed to settle, the ash combines with the grease to become a very potent grinding abrasive! Before leaving the steering, do not forget the rubbing-pads, attached to the boiler cladding by three countersunk head screws, and intended to prevent the wheels damaging the sheet metal cladding and boiler lagging when on full lock, manoeuvring'throughsome narrow gate into a field or yard.

The Fowler works nameplate, giving the engine number, should be attached to the cladding again by countersunk head screws, positioned on the centre-line of the boiler, and immediately below the L.P. cylinder on the left-hand side of the boiler. The centre-line of the name plate must line up with the centre-line of the cylinder casting.

The curved nameplate for the smokebox door should be attached by ^ dia. copper rivets through pljtte and door. Before attaching, the nameplates should be reduced slightly in thickness, by grinding some spare metal off the back.

Boiler feed on the full-sized engine is looked after by two injectors, feeding two separate clack valves on the right-hand side of the boiler.

Earlier engines had a pump, in some cases, although many relied solely on one or two injectors. The class B.B. engine, could, however, be fitted with only one injector and a feed pump, eccentric driven from the crankshaft, if required by the customer, and this system has been adopted for both the 2 inch scale engines; to this end, details of the pump have been included in the set of drawings covering the engine.

The injector, taking steam from the turret con

nection above the firebox, should be mounted low down, on the light-hand side of the bunker, just above the level of the bunker bottom, and between the outside plate and the wheel. It is controlled by a rod, projecting vertically just behind the 3rd. shaft gear guard, with the end turned over at 90 deg. to provide an operating handle.

An important point to remember is that the injector MUST be positioned below the boiler lowest water level, to work correctly; this same condition applies both to the model and the full-size engine, as a study of injector positions will show. The injector may feed either of the clack valves. The other should be connected to the pump delivery line, which must be equipped with a suitable by-pass back to the tank, as of course the pump is working at the time the engine is actually running, being crankshaft driven. Another variation

A further variation in feed-water delivery is to use one injector and a hand-feed pump; but to mount the hand pump on the bunker appears unsightly, as well as putting considerable load on the bunker mounting bolts, with constant use of the pump, and a more useful variation, if a hand pump must be used at all, is to built a two-wheeled water cart, mount the hand pump on the water cart (which should be built to 2 inch scale to match the engines) and couple to the engine with a Schrader quick-action high-pressure flexible connection.

One further point in connection with the blower pipe connection. Several builders have queried whether this should in fact be fed through a hollow stay from the boiler backhead to inside the smoke-box. This is not so however, as the blower steam connection should be taken from the base of the


Rear view of John Haining's model Fowler ploughing engine.

cylinder casting, at the chimney end, straight into the chimney base casting via a wheel valve.

The blower pipe must be made air-tight where it passes through the chimney base casting—the hole in the casting should be kept to the minimum; in fact the blower, well annealed, should be a tightish push fit, and bent up in situ inside the base casting. No nozzle cap is necessary on the end of the small bore copper pipe, which facilitates this operation.

The footboards, fitted on both sides of the boiler, are mounted on a right-angle steel bracket bolted to the smokebox, at the front end, and a wrought hanger-bracket attached to the horn-brackets at the rear end.

The right-hand footboard extends from the back of the smokebox to just forward of the rear wheel, widening out where it passes the horn bracket, to give access to spur-gears and motion work. The left-hand footboard continues parallel from the same point at the front as the right-hand one, but stops short just in front of the flywheel. The hose carrier casting is carried on the right-hand footboard. Access to both boards is "up the front wheel", no short ladders being incorporated in the layout as on certain traction engines.

The illustrations show John Hainings' engine loaded on the trailer, still grimy and mud covered from a day's mole-draining in the cloying clay of the Vale of Usk, in December. The variations in detail between this and Colin Tyler's engine may be clearly seen, most noticeable being the self-acting cylinder drain-cocks and displacement lubricator.

In conclusion we would like to express our

appreciation for the most helpful and constructive criticisms which have been made from time to time by readers of this series. We have made contact with many new friends in the United Kingdom and indeed throughout the world—a credit to the circulation of this magazine. The first Australian model is now being constructed.

Whilst appreciating that we may have introduced some suggestions regarding materials etc. which may not meet with everyone's approval, alternatives using conventional material have in each case been given and the choice left to individual circumstances and preferences.

Our thanks to Model Engineer must go on record for allowing us to describe our activities in connection with the Fowler Class B.B. ploughing engine. This has been the first series of its kind and we are gratified to see that at last after about 16 years other contributions are now appearing on this long neglected subject. If we have helped to arouse a greater interest in ploughing engines, then one of the objects of our labours has been achieved.

In December 1966, the first club specifically devoted to ploughing engines, named not unnaturally the Steam Plough Club, was inaugurated and if anyone interested contacts Mr. Harold Bonnett he will be happy to provide details. The aims of the club are to further interest in the subject to promote demonstrations and preserve full-size engines and tackle.

We hope that many enjoyable hours are spent in making and using the model engines and tackle. Happy ploughing! [B]


John Haining's model. Note the steering gear and the offset flywheel.

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