1999 WINNERS
POWER FARMING
1999 WINNERS
The winners of this years FW/Barclays Bank/Royal Smithfield Show Farm Inventions
Competition ranged from a gate to an all-terrain vehicle for wheelchair users. But what they
all had in common was that unmistakable spark of inventiveness. Andrew Pearce and David
Cousins provide all-too-brief summaries of the winning designs
NINE years after it started, the farmers weekly farm inventions competition continues to attract the neatest, cleverest and most useful of the crop of inventions quietly assembled in the farm workshops of Britain.
There were 85 entries this year, which were whittled down to 25 initially, then to just nine by a panel of judges that included Surrey farmer/contractor Chris Martin, Sussex farmer Mark Cornwell, Hants farmer Bob Ives, Silsoe Research Institute engineer Dr Andrew Scarlett, as well as FW writers David Cousins and Andrew Pearce.
Entry criteria were much the same as previous years. The judges looked for originality and inventiveness and the usefulness of the machine to the farm or contracting business. All nine winners had these qualities in abundance, as the following pages reveal.
Prizes were £750 for each of the three category winners, £350 for each of the three runners-up and £150 for each of the three third prize winners. And, inevitably, though the nine winners came out on top, there were lots of other entries that were almost as good. Though we couldnt run to cash prizes for all of them, they do get the dubious solace of a highly commended certificate and an appearance in the January Power Farming pages.
SIMPLE CATEGORY
WINNER
Spiral protective pipe cutter
Alun Hughes, Home Farm, Berwick, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Farm worker, 180ha (450-acre) dairy and arable farm. Invention built May 1999.
SHROPSHIRE farm worker Alun Hughes designed a simple tool for cutting plastic water pipe into a spiral protective cover for hydraulic pipes, cables etc.
The tool consists of a 100mm (4in) length of metal tubing with an internal diameter slightly larger than the pipe to be cut. A cutter made from a sharpened piece of hacksaw blade is fitted on to the end of a plunger inside the handle. When the plunger in the handle is pushed, the blade pushes through a 65deg slot, giving the correct cutting angle.
In use, plastic pipe is fed into one end of the cutter and the tool itself is rotated by the handle. As the tool cuts, it threads its way along. Once sufficient piping has been cut, the tool can be released by pulling out the plunger and then sliding it off the pipe. The spirally-cut tubing can then be used to protect hydraulic pipes (or any other sort of pipe or cable) from pinching, catching, chafing or dragging on the ground.
RUNNER-UP
Slurry early warning system
Walter Wright, Greenfield Farm, Stranraer, Wigtownshire.
Farmer, 200ha (500-acre) dairy and beef farm. Invention built August 1999.
WALTER Wright had a problem encountered by many people with slurry tanks. You cant see how full the tank is without getting up close and having a look.
His solution was a simple one. He fitted a 9in ballcock on a pivot on top of the below-ground tank, with a red lollipop attached at an angle. As the slurry nears the top of the tank, the ballcock rises, pushing the lollipop up into the air. The lollipop is easily visible, even from the end of the farm road, comments Mr Wright. Total cost of the device was £9 for the ballcock.
THIRD PRIZE
Stile gate
Robert Jeffery, Aston House Farm, Sudbury, Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
Farmer/contractor, 98ha (243-acre) mixed farm. Invention made 1996.
CONVENTIONAL gates are very good at keeping livestock in or out of an area, but theyre not so handy for humans, who either have to open and close them to get through or use a separate stile.
Derbyshire farmer/contractor Robert Jeffery had the clever idea of combining stile and gate in one unit by incorporating a clear area on one side of the gate big enough for a person to get through but not a cow or sheep.
The benefits are obvious. Theres no need to open or close gates to get from one side to the other and theres no need to build a separate stile for people to use. Moreover a quick exit route is always available if an animal becomes dangerous.
A bar can be fitted across the space if the gate needs to keep humans out of an area as well.
INTERMEDIATE CATEGORY
WINNER
Compact front linkage
Edward Bowes, Harbarrow Farm, Stainton, Barrow in Furness, Cumbria.
Farmer/contractor/engineering brothers with 60ha (150acre) mixed unit. Invention made October 1999.
MR Bowes had three design briefs for his home-brewed front linkage, made for his brother William. It had to be compact; capable of taking various implement widths without check chains, and have arms that lift into transport position without fiddly pins or latches.
Compactness comes from mounting a double-acting ram inside a MF 4245s front casting and attaching it to the arms by a T-piece. To do away with check chains Mr Bowes mounted each arm on pivots, machining socket profiles in them for standard linkage balls.
The bottom of each lift arm has a horizontal toothed quadrant sprouting from its inboard face. These quadrants mesh at the tractors centreline, with plates top and bottom for location and protection.
Arms thus move in geared step to match different equipment widths; but once attached, are stopped from swaying sideways by the interlocked quadrant teeth.
For transport, an arm is simply lifted by hand. The rams inner end attaches to slotted brackets, so it can push back against spring pressure and let the ram go over-centre. Lift capacity is around 0.5t, says Mr Bowes, though this can be increased by a bigger-diameter ram – he used one already on the farm.
RUNNER-UP
Automatic opening slurry
tower valve
Jonathan Trow, Great Hem Farm, Fordeth, Welshpool, Powys.
Farmer, 202ha (500acres) dairy and arable.
ALTHOUGH Mr Trows Star slurry tanker carried an automatic system to couple tanker and tower, he still had to leave the tractor to open the towers outlet gate manually. To get round this, he devised a way to do the job remotely.
Hem Farms cubicles are higher than the slurry tower, so theres no need for a collection pit – gravity takes material scraped from collection channels to the tower. The tower outlet carries a slurry tankers gate valve, whose single-acting ram is returned as normal by spring. Buried in the yards hard standing is a short, custom-made single-acting ram, which sits close to the ground and connects directly to the tower gate valve by oil-filled pipe.
To load, Mr Trow positions the tanker and operates its automatic transfer coupling. He then uses a tractor spool to extend a double-acting ram from the tanker frame, which pushes down on the ground-level versions piston and so opens the tower gate. When the tanker is full, he reverses the double-acter to stop flow. "Its quick, clean and as I dont have to leave the tractor seat, safety is improved," he says.
THIRD PRIZE
Emergency trailer braking
system
Simon Warburton, Enford Farm, Durweston, Dorset.
Farmer, 65ha (160acres) beef and sheep.
WITH farm trailer travelling faster and carrying more weight, the need for fail-safe braking should the trailer detach is more pressing than ever.
Mr Warburtons system uses a non-return valve to let high-pressure oil into an accumulator as the trailer brakes are first applied. Here pressure is stored until either a mechanical link or electrical signal triggers a release valve, at which point accumulated pressure applies the trailer brakes.
Downstream of the release valve, a shuttle unit allows free oil return under normal brake release, but blocks flow back to the tractor in emergency operation.
Different accumulator volumes suit different trailer brake systems. Depending on brake valve type used, triggering can be by mechanical or electrical link between tractor and trailer.
COMPLEX CATEGORY
WINNER
Post-driver
Stanley Roberts, Rhyd-y-saeson, Glan-Conwy, Conwy, Wales.
Farmer, 18ha (45acres) grass. Unit built 1999.
SAFE, one-man post knocking prompted Mr Roberts to build this front-mounted driver. Carried on a foreloader and so able to reach over a fence or hedge, it features a completely enclosed and hydraulically-operated triphammer, levelling/depth guides and an optional spike or chisel point to make pilot holes.
A rectangular frame mounts on a loader carriage and holds the driver unit, which pivots inside it under ram control for alignment with angled posts. The frame itself floats on the loader carriage, so when the knocker is lowered into contact with a post the relative positions of frame and carriage change. This operates a valve, activating the hammers hydraulics and starting it into action.
The hammer works inside a closed-end chamber so never hits the post directly. Splitting is thus minimised, says Mr Roberts. During work the units 300kg mass rests on the post, with additional force coming from the triphammer. For making pilot holes, a chisel or spike is slipped into a separate casing which bolts under the main hammer chamber. Hammer drop height is 16in, hammering rate one blow every 5 seconds.
RUNNER-UP
Rural pursuit vehicle
Stanley Prince, The Echills Farm, Kings Bromley, Staffs.
Farmer on 145ha (360acre) mixed unit. Machine developed 1994-8.
AFTER an accident confined Mr Princes brother to a wheelchair, he needed a vehicle to travel round the farm without help. Nothing could be bought for the job, so the RPV was made.
Powered by a 13hp Honda engine and using hydrostatic drive to four Danfoss wheel motors, the unit runs on puncture-proof lgp tyres. For best visibility and freedom of movement for county sports, the wheelchair is carried in the front half of the vehicle.
After the driver comes alongside and uses the engines electric start, a switch prompts the front section to kneel electro-hydraulically so the driver can wheel himself aboard. As the carrier rises back to travel height, the chair is locked in place automatically by clamps passing over the chairs rims.
All controls are housed in rainproof boxes, along with a mobile phone. A joystick controls travel direction and speed, stopping the RPV automatically if the drivers hand is removed. Maximum travel rate is 7.6miles/hr, range is up to 40miles, turning circle is 2.1m (7ft). All-wheel-drive, pivot articulation and substantial rollbar protection give good cross-country ability, says Mr Prince – and as the wheelchair is locked in place, the seatbelted driver is safe even if the RPV were to turn over.
RUNNER-UP
Big bale spreader
Hugh Richards, Pullen Barn Farm, Biddenden, Ashford, Kent.
Farmer, 100ha (250acres) beef and grass. Invention built 1998.
KENT farmer Hugh Richards straw dispenser is attached to a fore-end loader or telehandler and was developed last year to speed up the bedding job in his beef unit. The machine provides a cheaper, less complicated alternative to conventional chopper/spreaders and gives him the flexibility to deliver the right amount of straw to suit the size of building or yard being littered. It has also cut straw use by 15%.
The machine holds up to two big bales. Claas Quadrant bales are used at the moment, but others are suitable. Bales are self-loaded by pushing the dispenser into the stack, then carried lengthways and held in place by pressure from the units adjustable sides.
A hydraulic arm then slowly pushes the bales forward, allowing individual bundles of straw to fall off as they reach the front of the dispenser. The operator can thus control the amount of straw dispensed by altering the speed of the pushing arm and forward speed of the tractor.