Fig. 896.—Ransome’s tree-felling machine.
The apparatus, as shown in the illustration, is not unlike, in appearance, the perforating machines employed in boring rocks, in which the drill is replaced by a saw. The cylinder is small, and works at high pressure; a piston moves the saw in a guide-frame. The machine is firmly fixed against the tree, and the support is fastened by a chain.
A rack arrangement provides for the turning of the machine as the saw continues to cut its way through the trunk of the tree.
The weight is not excessive, and the necessary steam is supplied by a portable furnace and boiler, which communicates with the saw-motion by a flexible tube. The saw can cut through a horizontal as well as through a perpendicular trunk—thus timber can be rapidly cut up.
Another ingenious sawing machine is that invented by Mr. W. W. Giles, of Chicago, United States, America. This apparatus is about eight feet long, and one extremity is fixed to the trunk of the tree to be operated on.
Fig. 897.—Sawing machine.
The operator sits upon a ledge or saddle at the opposite end, and putting his feet upon the treadles, pushes them and the saw forward; this movement is assisted by the weight of the hands on the lever. The saw, under these circumstances, cuts into the wood with great force, and when the operator pushes the lever forward he brings the force of his legs to bear at the same time, and carries the saw back again. So feet, hands, dead weight with the saw itself, combine at once upon the tree, and the blade quickly does its work. The saw is three feet long and is very easily manipulated.
A Way of Preserving Grapes.
Remarkable progress has been made of late years in the conservation of various articles of food, and we may here speak of the preservation of the grape.