B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 2,1981
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Farm Business
: .News
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Brubakers win award
Award to recognize outstanding sales of Mueller Milk
Coolers is presented to Ed, center, and Ken Brubaker, right,
of Rufus Brubaker Refrigeration, of Manheim. Making
presentation at left is Jim Wickersham, of the Paul Mueller
Company. Springfield, Mo. The Mueller company also is
presently introducinga Refrigerated Receiver, which is a new
concept in milk cooling. The unit cools milk rapidly before it is
pumped into the milk cooler.
HESSTON KS. - The Hesston
Corporation reported a drop in
sales and earnings for the first
quarter of 1981 compared to the
same period last year.
Consolidated sales for the first
quarter ending March 31 were
$69,587,000 compared with sales of
$76,408,000 for the same period last
year. First quarter earnings were
$209,000, which after,-the
distribution of preferred dividends
resulted in a loss of two cents per
common share, compared with
earnings of $1,547,000 and 37 cents
per common share, assuming no
dilution, during the first quarter of
last year.
Hesston President Howard L.
Brenneman said the sales were
lower to allow for adjustments in
dealer inventories. Despite high
WHAT'S MEW
The SM 30 disc mower by Deutz-Fahr can be used with
tractors as small as 25-30 pto hp. A larger SM 40 mower can
be powered by tractors as small as 40 pto hp.
New disc mowers'
ATLANTA, GA. A new SM mower, with eight knives on tour
Series of disc mowers by Deutz- discs, mows a seven-foot swath,
Fahr has been announced for the powered by tractors as small as 40
1981 season by Deutz Corporation, ptohp.
of Atlanta, Ga. The new SM 30 mower cuts a
Design features of the mowers swath of five and one-half feet with
include a tubular steel beam to six knives on three discs, using
support the cutter-bar assembly, tractors as small as 25-30 ptohp.
spiral-bevel gears and a hex shaft Both mowers are the mounted
running in oil and large oval type for either Category lor n
cutting discs, which increase the three-point hitches and offer three
amount of knife overlap. transport positions - vertical rear,
The new Deutz-Fahr SM 40 vertical side or horizontal rear.
& "
Hesston reports
interest rates and continuing
drought concern in some areas of
the Midwest, Brenneman said
sales for the remainder of the year
are expected to improve.
MORRISTOWN, N.J. - Glenn
Yoder, of East Greenville, Pa.,
was honored' recently for out
standing sales achievement by the
Agricultural Group of Allied
Chemical Corporation.
Yoder received the Eastern Zone
Product Award for Poly-N am
monium polyphosphate, one of two
nationwide awards. The presen
tation was made at Allied's 1981
annual dealer meeting in New
Orleans.
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V s' '
A. •■+
Yoder cited
IH summarizes Axial-Flow testing
data in continuing combine
CHICAGO America’s far
mland is becoming the scene of an
increasingly confusing battle
during harvest time.
There’s always been the issue:
“What is the best combine?” But
now complicating that question is
the more recent controversy:
“Which is better, the rotary or
conventional machine?”
Presently, four North American
based companies offer rotary-type
combines. Two companies are
standing by their conventional
models.
In an attempt to put In
ternational Harvester’s Axial-
Flow rotary combine into per
spective, IH engineers involved
with its development reviewed
recent test data and / specific
patented features. Included were
Donald Murray," chief engineer;
Richard DePauw, machine design
manager; and Robert Francis,
product engineer.
The men began with a discussion
of test data.
“IH conductd extensive tests
during the Axial-Flow combine’s
development,” said DePauw, “and
the tests haved been supplemented
by outside results.”
Kansas State University
agricultural' engineers, for
example, made field comparisons
of the IH rotary combine and
conventional machines operating
in small grains in Kansas in 1978.
The conclusions were reported at
the 1978 winter meeting of the
American Society of Agricultural
Engineers.
The results included:
The Axial-Flow combine har
vested more wheatper unit area at,
both high and moderate feed rates.
At moderate feed rates on four
senes of trials, the Axial-Flow
averaged a 4.5 percent yield ad
vantage over the conventional
combines.
The Axial-Flow combine caused
less crackage in all varieties of
wheat harvested.
The Japanese government tested
an 1H1440 Axial-Flow in very high
moisture wheat in 1980. Typical of
test results was one where grain
moisture was 32.1 percent and
straw moisture was 49.5 percent.
The yield was 73.5 bushels per
acre. Total grain loss from all
causes, at an average speed of 3.4
mph, was only 1.1 percent com
pared to crop yield.
“In simple terms,” Francis said,
“this means the Axial-Flow design
reduces gram loss, crackage and
dockage in the crops it is har
vesting, regardless of conditions.”
“Yet another concern to fanners
is fuel Consumption,” Francis
continued. “The best criteria for
measuring fuel consumption is
number of bushels or acres har
vested per gallon of fuel.
“In our own tests, we con-
Cutaway representation of the internal
mechanism of the international Harvester
Axial-Flow combine points out patented or
special features which are basic to the
machine's design. These primary features
include (1) the conical front end of the single
choice controversy
sistently had more' productivity
per gallon of fuel used.”
One example: a 1480 Axial-Flow
combine and a conventional IH 915
machine worked in the same rice
field. The Axial-Flow used 9.26
per acre, while the con
ventional used 12 gallonsper acre.
t'wo IH',combines' also' were
compared in soybeans. The 1460
used 1.01 gallons per acre.
One report received by the
engineers ’ was from a custom
operator who had operated his own
IH 1460 and . a conventional,
competitive machine.
The operator reported that he
harvested almost 2,000: acres of
wheat and over 600 acres of com
with his Axial-Flow. In wheat, the
Axial-Flow harvested 1.305 acres
per gallon; and the conventional
combine, I.o96>=acres per gallon.
The Axial-Flow combine,
therefore, harvested 19 percent
more acres per gallon.
In com, the Axial-Flow har
vested'o.B6l acres per gallon; and
the conventional, 0.698 acres per
gallon. Thus, the Axial-Flow
harvested 23 percent more acres
per gallon.
Reports from other countries
include one from an Australian IH
Axial-Flow owner. He said his IH
Axial-Flow harvested 48 bags of
sorghum per Imperial gallon of
fuel. By contrast, his conventional
combine harvested 46.5 bags per
Imperial gallon.
Again, the Axial-Flow combine’s
design, according to DePauwj is
the main reason it harvests more
efficiently. And the design involves
certain patented features.
, “The threshing-separating
system, the heart of the Axial-Flow
combine, actually involves several
patents,” DePauw continued.
“Patents cover the conical front
end of the rotor, which is the
transition area between the
feeding system and the rotor, and
the impellers on the front of the
rotor.”
He explained that the front of the
Axial-Flow rotor is larger m
diameter than the rest of the
cylinder. In the 1460 model, for
example, the impeller area is 36
inches in diameter. The rotor is 24
inches in diameter.
“This alows a wide feeding
system, yet the crop is gently
funneled into the threshing
process,” Francis said. “Thus, the
Axial-Flow design experiences
little plugging, and the efficient
transition from the feeder to the
impeller is especially important in
tough, high moisture crops.”
Spiral rasp bars at the front of
the rotor are another
exclusive feature. Other rotary
combines either have straight rasp
bars or spiral bars at the rear of
the rotor. r
“The front-mounted spiral rasp
bars are there to keep the material
moving through the machine.
Again, this greatly decreases
plugging while providing better
control of the crop during the
threshing process,’’ DePauw said.
Patents also cover the discharge
area near the rear of the rotor. One
applies to the expansion chamber,
mounted at the rotor’s end. As the
name implies, it is an enlarged
chamber that enables crop residue
- straw, cobs, husks, etc. - to “fly
away” from the rotor easier.
Again, according to engineers, this
means more efficient movement of
material through the machine -
and better separation. '
A patent on the gear case and
rotor drive, the mechanical
method of driving the rotor, allows
die farmer to adjust the speed of
rotation on-the-go .within each of
two ranges, by means of a fingertip
switch control. This matches
harvesting speed with crop con
ditions. The simplicity of design,
according to Francis, also assures
high reliability.
“The beater (or chopper) is
located in the discharge area,”
DePauw continued. “Because the
beater receives the material
directly from the rotor and propels
it back to the spreader, flow
through is enhanced.”
Overall, DePauw doted, the
Axial-Flow combine Is desired to
move a crop through the threshing
and separating process in a very
efficient manner. This ability to
significantly reduce plugging thus
enables the EH rotary combine to
harvest more crops in tougher
conditions than any other rotary
machine.
“We‘ also believe that ho
machine, rotary orconventional, is
as simply designed as the Axial-
Flow combine,” he continued.
‘‘The IH combine has a minimum
of drives - belts and pulleys. This
makes it an easier machine to
operate. It also makes it easier to
service while assuring high
reliability.”
Critical drives are easily ac
cessible to both the dealer service
person and the fanner, the
engineer said. The rear service
deck gives access to the engine,
hydraulic fluid reservoir, fuel tank
filler cap and related components.
Side doors swing open to drives as
well as the concaves. It takes one
man only about 30 minutes to
change a set of concaves for dif
ferent crops.
“Finally,” DePauw said, “the
Axial-Flow combine’s ability to
harvest various crops in various
conditions enables us to offer
several sizes of grain combines, a
pull-type model, a hillside model
and nee machines.”
rotor: (2) spiral rasp bars at the front of the
rotor; (3) discharge area near the rear of the
rotor, including (4) the expansion chamber; (5)
gear case and rotor drive; and (6) beater (or
chopper) location.
Donald Murray, chief engineer,
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