Draft buffers

[Andy Carson]

Good news. I am glad to see things are working well. I am in a mad rush trying to get crops in, but it shouldn’t be too long until I can send the buffer. I am excited to see the results.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Countymouse 26664 wrote:

Good news. I am glad to see things are working well. I am in a mad rush trying to get crops in, but it shouldn’t be too long until I can send the buffer. I am excited to see the results.

Here is a look at 2 starting pulls at 10 measurements per second. It gives a pretty good sense of the relationship between pull and speed, and I am confident that we will be able to see a difference with the buffer if it does indeed exist. In reality it is going to take a lot of testing on different tools and in different conditions to sort this out with confidence. Andy, think about making two so they can be used with a team. I can drag things with a single but am not really set up to do tillage or pull a wagon with a single. If you look back at my work with the nylon rope the effective application was pretty specific.

[Andy Carson]

Ha! Everyone wants something for a team, Huh? I know it might be harder to find equipment for a single, but I would be willing to bet that the buffering effect would be more dramatic with a single than a team. I would expect the peaks and valleys in force to vary more widely for a single than for a team. After all, there is no other animal in the system that might experience and “valley” while the other animal is experiencing a “peak.” The system might be somewhat analogous to the power output of a four cylinder engine (a single horse) versus an eight cylinder engine (a team). Even if the two engines have the same displacement, one would expect smoother power output from the engine with more pistons (or legs). This is very speculative, but perhaps the smoothness of the power output is one reason why a team of 1000 lb horses usually outworks a single 2000 lb horse, despite thier equal weight. I am sure this is not the only reason, but it might be one reason. From an engine design standpoint, smoothness can be overcome by having a big flywheel that can store energy in the peaks and distribute them the the valleys. This is pretty much the same concept as the buffer, it is just a system for storing and distributing linear motion rather than rotational motion. Perhaps it is no accident that one of the people who is so interested in this concept (me) uses a single… Still, there aren’t really alot of people that use singles, and I think the vast majority of people would want to know what happens with team. Tim’s data still shows substantial peaks and valleys with teams, and I bet it would work for these as well. I will see what I can do about another buffer…

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