A good steam engine is much more economical than animal power when in use, and, eating no oats, costs nothing when idle. It will pay on any well-conducted farm of 100 acres or over. Steam power costs so much less than animal power, even on the farm, that it is only necessary to give to the public a good engine that is safe, simple, and not too expensive, for the steam engine to become as universal as the reaper, cotton-gin, or thresher. Such an engine is as sure eventually to take the place of animal power on the farm as the locomotive has of the stage-horse. Farmers cannot afford to keep stock to do their work when steam power can be had at these prices. A six-horse steam engine with vertical boiler costs $350, while six good horses are worth, say, about $800, and $200 to $300 more annually for feed and attention. The engine puts you to no expense when not in use, and is in no danger from thieves; horses must be cared for always, and will eat nearly as much when idle as when at work. FARQUHAR'S "AJAX" TRACTION ENGINE. The great demand for traction engines has induced many builders to undertake their manufacture who have had no experience in this line, or in fact very little in the more simple portable engines; and the result is, a great variety of socalled traction engines have been put on the market which are poor specimens of mechanism, and must bring the purchaser only disappointment and expense. It is absurd to stick a few cog-wheels on an ordinary portable engine and call it a traction engine. A good traction engine is not only selfpropelling, but must be able to draw at least its own weight over almost any kind of road, and on a very good road three or four times its own weight would be a fair load. To accomplish this requires a road-locomotive in the fullest sense of the word, and while there are engines that will do it, the great majority of them will not, and some will not pull an ordinary separator over a good hill. It is very poor economy to buy such an engine for the sake of saving a few dollars. The lowest priced machine is rarely the cheapest. The Farquhar "Ajax" Traction Engine has been brought to a state of perfection attained by few others. A careful examination of the illustration will show the care with which this engine. has been designed. All handles, levers, valves, etc., are within easy reach of the engineer. The boiler is supplied with an extension smoke-box, within which is placed a regular locomotive spark-catcher, which will prevent escape of sparks,-a very important thing. Spark-catchers placed in the top of the stack are good for nothing, as they soon become so clogged with dirt that the engineer is compelled to remove them to obtain sufficient draft, thus leaving the engine without a spark-arrester. The boiler, which is the most important part of any steam machinery, is very carefully made. The fire-boxes are of steel plate made especially for the purpose. THE BOILER. They make their traction engine boilers from the best open-hearth steel plates (the Pennsylvania Railroad Co,, use the same brand of steel in their locomotives). By the use of steel the boiler will stand a higher steam pressure than would be safe with the heaviest refined iron plates. These boilers are made with the utmost care by experienced workmen, carefully tested. The crown sheet is powerfully braced and is made with an incline of several inches toward the fire-door end; this makes it possible to descend steep hills without the crown sheet becoming bare. The water glasses are placed at the highest point, and if water shows at all in the glass the entire sheet is certain to be well covered. The extension smoke box in which the spark-catcher is placed is water-lined; by this improvement these gain several feet of heating surface, besides preventing the plates from burning out. The fire boxes are large and long, with large doors making them good wood burners and handy to fire. A coil of cross tubes is placed in top of fire box which adds greatly to the steaming capacity. THE ENGINE. The Is of the most improved center crank pattern. The frame or bed-plates is very heavy and well braced, to insure strength and stiffness. The pedestals are cast solid to the frame, and are made with unusually long bearings; the pedestal boxes are lined with genuine babbit metal. cross head is of an improved pattern, made with wide bearing surfaces, which are protected from dust and dirt by being sunk into a recess in the bed plate; this recess also serves to hold the oil around the cross-head slide. The connecting rod is hammered iron, forged solid at the crosshead end; the crank end has a strap firmly bolted on with two steel bolts; provision is made at both ends for taking up wear of boxes, which are made of phosphor bronze; these connecting rod boxes are extra long, those for instance on the 7x10 engine being 21⁄2 inches at cross-head end and 3 inches long at crank end. The cylinders are made large, as they think it best to have cylinders large enough to do the work without carrying such a high pressure of steam. They set the safety valves to blow off at 115 |