Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/747

 Grading Machine Does Work of 125 Men

��It digs to grade and loads six hundred wagon loads in a day

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��This machine reduces road grading and the construction of good roads to an economical and scientific basis. It does the work of a large road-gang

��NOT SO long ago a huge machine made its appearance on a Milwau- kee street which had to be graded. The machine had creeper feet in front that reminded one of the tread of a tank on the Western Front, and in the rear a roller. There was a huge wheel on its front which tore up the dirt precisely to the depth wanted — no more and no less — with the relentlessness that never could be equalled by hand shovels.

If you want to know more about the Turbine Street and Highway Grader, look at the accompanying picture. The dig- ging is done by a rotating cylinder on which are mounted twelve buckets. Rooters on the cutting edge of the buckets lift up the dirt and tumble it back into the buckets. As the cylinder turns, the dirt is dumped on a belt-conveyor, which extends at right angles from the side of the grader and drops the material into a waiting wagon, truck or car.

Almost everything about the machine is adjustable to suit the conditions en- countered. Thus the conveyor can be ad-

��justed to load on either side of the grader. The cutting cylinder or wheel can be ad- justed vertically to make it cut from one inch to two feet deep. Cuts are five feet, seven inches wide. While the digging wheel is in action, the entire machine moves forward at any of three speeds ac- cording to depth of cut and character of material which is being excavated.

The creeper tread on which the front part of the grader is supported does away with planking and prevents settling. But if settling should occur, it is easily enough detected by sighting along the grade sticks and corrected by elevating the cut- ting cylinder or turbine. The two sets of creeper treads have separate controls which makes it possible to make short turns when necessary.

When it is realized that the utmost capacity of hand-shovel labor is five wagons a day and that the Turbine Grader can easily load six hundred wagons and even more a day, the possibilities of the machine become apparent. It does the work of 125 men at a great saving of cost.

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