MOTORIZED Cultivator WEEDS WHILE YOU WALK By E. W. LEHMANN Hood of Deportment of Agricltrel Engineering, ‘ivory oF line ARTS from all sorts of machines went ‘into the construction of this home-built garden cultivator that can be powered either by an electric motor or a small gaso- line engine. Steered by hand like any standard push cultivator, the mechanized device will save much hard labor as it moves with a speed of about 1% mp.h. through ordinary soils. ‘Two wheels for the machine were ob- tained from a junk yard, and the cleats were welded to them. Handles like those used on a horse-drawn cultivator were pur- chased new, but the ctiltivating units were salvaged from an old push-type implement. ‘V-pulleys on the drive wheels were parts of worn-out auto pumps, while the gearbox was taken from a discarded washing machine. ‘The drive pulleys were welded to the wheels, and the axles were welded to slotted adjusting plates. ‘The latter were bolted to Reaching from the motor mn cord koops the ground 196 the frame, which was built up of 1” angle iron and 3/16” by 1” pieces of wrought iron bolted together. Both the electric motor and the gas engine shown in the photos were fitted with pulleys of the same size as that on the input shaft of the gear box. Likewise, the pulleys on the ends of the drive shaft extending through the gear box were the same size as those on the drive wheels. Total speed reduction (about 40 to 1 in this case) Was thus secured through the gearbox. For gearboxes of other reductions, make ‘compensating changes in the pulleys. A small electric motor powers. this cultivator ‘uembled from odds and ends of scrap material POPULAR SCIENCEAs a source of power, a gas engine has the advantage of making the cultivator usable anywhere. The one employed here was taken from the same washing machine that yielded the gearbox. It was a two- cylinder, % hp. unit with a speed of 1,850 rpm. Because of its noise, however, such a power plant may prove objectionable in gardens surrounded by dwellings. On the other hand, no one will be disturbed by a silent electric motor, but such a unit cannot be used in a garden that is not convenient to a source of current. Farm-Built Tractor Plow Equipped with ConveRTED from a truck, this tractor carries an unusual plow arrangement ma- nipulated by two levers, one of which can be seen in the driver's hand. ither of the two plowshares can be adjusted for depth, and raised or lowered separately from the driving seat. This feature enables a farmer Operation of the cultivator with the electric motor was made possible by pro- viding a waterproof power outlet at one end of the garden. Between poles erected at each end of the plot, steel wire was used as a support for the long extension wire used to conduct electricity to the motor. The cord can be attached to the wire with harness snaps, shower-curtain hangers, or any similar device that will hold it aloft and yet permit its removal. Such an arrange- ment allows for cultivation back and forth across a garden with only a limited length of loose cord to handle. For safety, the motor housing should be well grounded to the frame of the machine, and the cord should be kept off the soil at all times. Motors of % bp. are usually adequate unless the soil is, heavy and easily compacted. With either type of power plant, the cost of operating the cultivator is’ very slight, amounting to less than two cents an hour when the electric motor is used and only a little more with the gas engine. ‘Common practice is to prepare a seedbed first by plowing and harrowing, and then— just before planting—to use the cultivator for further stirring of the top soil. Weed control and aeration of the soil become easy matters if the cultivator is used before the weeds appear. ‘Mounted on the same base that accommodated thi electric motor, a gasoline engine makes the unit prectical for gordens remote from current supply ht and Left Shares to plow the length of a field and return along the same plowed edge, using first one plow and then the other one, ‘The picture below shows how the plows are tilted on an fron frame that revolves in an are. Most of the plowing mechanism was welded to- gether out of scrap pleces of iron. APRIL, 1944 197