Trial of four Scrub Cutting Machines
Two files containing about 65 Head Quarters Mechanical Development Committee Reports from 1950 to 1958 were saved from destruction by Jim Christie former Forestry Commission HQ, Plant Engineer. Jim, from Crook of Devon, has kindly made the reports available for scanning and entry onto this website. Please open the PDF to see this full report.
Report No 66 covers the comparative performance of 4 medium weight scrub cutting machines powered by tractor PTOs. The machines were:
The Roadless Brush Cutter
The Wilder Rainthorpe Chopper
The Arthur Slasher
The Wolseley Super Swipe
From the results in fairly heavy scrub the Wilder Rainthorpe Chopper and the Wolseley Super Swipe appear to have come performed the best. These results were backed up somewhat by another set of tests elsewhere. However it seems the other two machines were not matched up with appropriately powered tractors and also did not have the benefit of live PTO (ie PTO active when tractor stationary).
The Arthur from the photograph looks a very robust bit of kit but obviously an eight foot swath width was far too much for the limited power from the tractor unit.
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Groups: Forestry Mechanical Engineering Reports , Other Vehicles and Machines