The Rural Voice, 1978-07, Page 28Mud won't get this
bean cutter down
IBy Rhea Hamilton]
Necessity is often called the mother of invention. That's not
the case though for George Smyth who has built what he feels is
the first bean cutter that remains undaunted by mud and weeds.
After viewing an experimental model last year at Centralia
College of Agricultural Technology. Mr. Smyth, of R. R. #2.
Auburn, went home to the welding shop he's operated for years.
and put together his own working model.
It is the first new idea in bean pulling because it severes the
plants gently just below the surface.
The Smyth Bean Cutter's 20 inch disc cutter blades are the
same as those used on a conventional disk. Each disc cuts the
bean plants ahead of it. then spins the cut material to the rear.
The disc cutting the adjacent row turns in the opposite
direction. thereby putting two rows into one for harvesting. A
windrower can be pulled behind to pull several rows into a single
swath.
Four or Six
The compact machine. available with 4 or 6 cutters (each
cutter takes one row). can be mounted on the front or rear of a
tractor and operates at up to 7 m.p.h.
Hydraulic motors power a chain drive which. in turn drives the
vertical mounted axle for each cutting disc. The machine is made
in modules with two or three cutters making up each module.
Each module "floats" and is equipped with a pair of adjacent
cutting wheels for uniform operating depth on uneven ground. A
divider can be used to move plants out of the way so they aren't
trampled by the rear tractor wheels. The bean cutter is equipped
with 'a drawbar and PTO shaft extension for simultaneous
"underground cutting" and multi -row windrowing of the crops.
Hydraulic Pump
Tractors must have a minimum of hydraulic pump capacity of
six gallons and provide 2.000 psi to Dower the cutters.
The macnrne nas been tried out in the area by several farmers
last year when wet conditions made it almost impossible to
harvest beans. Murray Wilson of Strathroy and James Hawkins.
of Nile both used the cutter last year and recommend the results.
They both got their beans off with little trouble at a tint e when
many farmers had to abandon bean fields to the mud.
Joseph Biener of Port Elgin purchased a Smyth Bean Cutter to
take off 300 acres of beans last September and recommended to
Mr. Smyth that hilling be kept at a minimum in most soils.
Although the Smyth Bean Cutter has been in existence for less
than a year the demand is already picking up mostly by word of
mouth. Already the Smyths are getting letters from the U.S.A.
and even from as far away as Rio de Janerio in Brazil.
According to George Smyth, Americans seem to be making the
most inquiries into the cutter.
It was suggested by his wife Judy that some of the American
demand for the machine is due to the fact that in the states there
are few government subsidies for crop damage incurred by
weather conditions.
"Our government is spoiling us", Mrs. Smyth said sometimes
it seems farmers don't bother finding another way to save their
cmps but let them go because the government will pay for the
lasses through subsidies and insurance, pointed out Mrs. Smyth.
Inquiries about the revoluntionary bean puller have come form
North Dakota, New York, Pennsylvania. and Idaho.
Farm machinery in Minnesota are looking into buying the
Smyth Cuttcr in volume.
PG. 28 THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1978.
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