Wesley F. Buchele

Soil and Water Loss from Conservation Tillage Systems

ABSTRACT A rainfall simulator was used to evaluate the effects of six different tillage practices on soil and water losses from continuous corn for three soils in Iowa. Soil loss decreased as tillage decreased. Percent of soil covered by corn residue explained between 78 and 89 percent of the variance in erosion among tillage systems. The effect of non-uniformly distributed corn residue on controlling erosion was greater than expected based on a published mulch factor. Runoff amounts decreased as residue cover increased for two of the three soils studied. No critical slope length limits were found for the tillage practices, soils, slopes, and slope lengths studied except for till-planting on the Ida soil. As sediment concentra-tions increased, mean sediment size increased for one soil, decreased for a second soil, and was unrelated to sediment concentration for the third soil.

Biomechanics of Forage Wafering

Numerous research workers in industrial and educational institutions throughout the world have investigated the process of wafer formation with forage plant materials. The advantages obtained from reducing the volume of material handled and increasing production of animals fed wafers has made the process attractive to farmers. Manufacturers of farm machinery recognized the potential importance of wafers and set about to develop wafering machines and offer them to the farm market. The number of machines sold in the western part of the United States is in-creasing each year. Although manufacturers and researchers have expended enormous effort in developing forage wafering, there are many unanswered questions about the behavior of forage plant material during the wafering operation. Thus the investigation of the influence of physicomechanical and chemical properties of forage plant material on the forming of wafers thus became the major objective of the research on which this paper is based. A union of the biological and mechanical behavior of the forage plant was sought to give more insight into wafer behavior under wafering processes now in use. Disciplines Agriculture | Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Comments This article is from Transactions of the ASAE 12, no. 1 (1969): 1–8. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/133 Biomechanics of Forage Wafering G. E. Rehkugler and W. F. Buchele MEMBER ASAE MEMBER ASAE N research workers in industrial and educational institutions throughout the world have investigated the process of wafer formation with forage plant materials. The advantages obtained from reducing the volume of material handled and increasing production of animals fed wafers has made the process attractive to farmers. Manufacturers of farm machinery recognized the potential importance of wafers and set about to develop wafering machines and offer them to the farm market. The number of machines sold in the western part of the United States is increasing each year. Although manufacturers and researchers have expended enormous effort in developing forage wafering, there are many unanswered questions about the behavior of forage plant material during the wafering operation. Thus the investigation of the influence of physico-mechanical and chemical properties of forage plant material on the forming of wafers thus became the major objective of the research on which this paper is based. A union of the biological and mechanical behavior of the forage plant was sought to give more insight into wafer behavior under wafering processes now in use.

Recording soil penetrometer

A recording soil penetrometer comprising a frame having upper and lower ends with a penetration probe extending downwardly from the lower end of the frame for penetration of the ground. A handle is operatively yieldably vertically movably mounted on the upper end of the frame for forcing the probe downwardly into the ground. A recording drum is rotatably mounted, about a vertical axis, on the frame and is adapted to have pressure sensitive recording paper mounted thereon. A ground-engaging apparatus is vertically movably mounted on the lower end of the frame. A rubber foot is provided on the lower end of the ground-engaging apparatus for engagement with the ground. A scriber is mounted on the upper end of the ground-engaging apparatus which is adapted to scribe the recording paper on the recording drum. A force link apparatus operatively interconnects the handle and the recording drum for causing rotation of the drum relative to the force required to cause the probe to penetrate the soil. The scriber scribes a depth-penetration resistance graph on the recording paper as the probe penetrates the soil.

Tillage Energy of a Vibrating Tillage Tool

Modern farm tractors develop more power than they can effi ciently transmit to a high-draft tillage tool via the tires without adding addi tional weight. The additional weight causes increased soil compaction re sulting in poor aeration, lower water infiltration and drainage rates, reduced water-holding capacity, and greater mechanical impedence to plant roots. One method of reducing the require ment of high wheel weights is to re duce the draft of the tillage tool by transmitting power directly to the tool by a means other than drawbar pull. A promising method of transmitting this power is by mechanically moving a portion of the tillage implement in such a manner as to apply forces to the soil in a more efficient manner

Strain-gauge, brushless torque meter

A torque meter comprising hollow-keyed, input and output female shafts adapted to receive the male shafts of the power source and machine respectively. Each shaft has a circular flange whose face is perpendicular to the center line of the shafts. Each flange has a plurality of equally spaced cylindrical recesses machined into the inside face thereto adapted to receive conical inserts therein. Balls are contained by the conical inserts and transmit the rotational movement from the input to the output shaft. A stationary housing extends around the input and output shaft and has a transducer shell secured thereto. When force is applied to the input shaft to cause movement, the balls encounter torsional resistance which causes the balls to roll up the ramps of the conical seat inserts to separate the two torque flanges. The force transmitted through the balls causes rotation to the output shaft and produces tension to the stationary transducer shell. The stationary transducer shell is instrumented with semi-conductor strain gauges.

Research in developing more efficient harvesting machinery and utilization of crop residues.

The main objective of farming is to grow energy in the form of digestible nutrients. Although the farmer measures his corn production in bushels per acre and his hay production in tons per acre, this does not give him a true measure of his productivity. Disciplines Agriculture | Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Comments This article is from Transactions of the ASAE 19, no. 5 (1976): 809–811. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/217 Research in Developing More Efficient Harvesting Machinery and Utilization of Crop Residues

Factors Affecting Corn Kernel Damage in Combine Cylinders

Since the introduction of the corn head attachment and other field-shelling equipment, many farmers have changed from ear-corn harvesting systems to high-moisture, field-shelling systems. The use of the grain combine and field-shelling attachment for corn pickers has brought into focus the problem of mechanical damage to corn kernels. Disciplines Agriculture | Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Comments This article is from Transactions of the ASAE 12, no. 1 (1969): 55–59. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/219 Factors Affecting Corn Kernel Damage in Combine Cylinders S the introduction of the corn head attachment and other fieldshelling equipment, many farmers have changed from ear-corn harvesting systems to high-moisture, field-shelling systems. The use of the grain combine and field-shelling attachment for corn pickers has brought into focus the problem of mechanical damage to corn kernels. When field-shelling equipment for corn was first developed and introduced, kernel damage was relatively low because the ears were harvested and shelled at low-moisture contents. But the introduction of grain driers has made it feasible to harvest corn in the 20 to 35 percent kernel-moisture range. Kernel injury during shelling, however, increases rapidly at kernel moistures above 20 percent. Kernel injury affects both short-term and long-term corn storage. Saul and Steele (6) reported that field-shelled, high-moisture corn could riot be stored more than a few hours without some deterioration in q u a l i t y . M a c h i n e shelled corn, with 29 percent mechanical damage, deteriorated two to three times faster than damage-free, handshelled corn of the same moisture content. An economic analysis showed that the d r y i n g e n e r g y cost (excluding equipment cost) was six to seven times greater for damaged, field-shelled corn than for damage-free, h a n d s h e l l e d corn. Little is known about the factors contributing to mechanical kernel damage during the shelling process. Most threshing research has shown that high cylinder speed is the chief factor causing grain damage (1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 )* . Other machine parameters, such as cylinder-concave clearance and type of cylinder bars, seem to affect kernel damage only slightly. Sehgel and Brown (7) reported that, when threshing hard-shelling ears, there was not only more cob splitting but Paper No. 67-631 presented at the Winter Meeting of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers at Detroit, Mich., December 1967, on a program arranged by the Power and Machinery Division. Authorized for publication as journal paper No. J 5808 of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station (Ames). Project No. 1673. The authors—HENRY WAELTI and W. F. BUCHELE—are, respectively, associate professor of agricultural engineering, South Dakota State University and professor of agricultural engineering, Iowa State University. * Numbers in parentheses refer to the appended references. Henry Waelti and W. F. Buchele MEMBER ASAE FELLOW ASAE CHANNEL 2 IOAI) 4 0 0 LBS/CM

Colorimetric Determination of Grain Damage

ABSTRACT EVALUATION of mechanical Jti damage has always been one of the most elusive problems associated with the harvesting, handling, and marketing of grains. A standard method to describe the quality of grain from the standpoint of physical or mechanical damage has not yet been developed. And without a standard measure, the equipment manufactur-er cannot determine when he has developed an improved harvesting machine, the farmer cannot determine when he is harvesting a better quality of grain, and the grain industries cannot determine when they are processing a better quality of product. Hence, there has always been a need to develop a fast and efficient technique for the accurate determina-tion of quality of grain. The desired technique has to be simple so that everyone can use it, and, on the other hand, it has to be a bulk method (for statistically sound results), by which each and every kernel would be equally checked for a consistent evaluation of qualitative, as well as quantitative, damage in the sample. And finally, the result should be presented on a continuous scale because mechanical damage occurs on a continuous scale from hairline cracks and tiny spots of pericarp missing to complete breakage and fines.

Tillage Index Based on Created Soil Conditions

ABSTRACT THE ambiguity of current tillage nomenclature has led to much confusion. This report explains a uniform, comprehensive tillage index that was developed to avoid that ambiguity. It is based on row topography, residue cover, roughness, and tillage depth that result from passage of the tillage tool rather than on the tillage tool used. Examples of the use of this tillage index are presented. This index, because of its percentage crop residue cover and potential surface water storage components, will be useful when the Universal Soil Loss Equation is to be used for estimating erosion potential on a given field

Development of a Numerical Damage Index for Critical Evaluation of Mechanical Damage of Corn

Evaluation of mechanical damage has always been one of the most elusive problems associated with the harvesting, handling, and marketing of corn. Although greatly needed, there is no standard method to describe the quality of corn from the standpoint of physical or mechanical damage. Disciplines Agriculture | Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Comments This article is from Transactions of the ASAE 19, no. 3 (1976): 428–432. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/138 Development of a Numerical Damage Index for Critical Evaluation of Mechanical Damage of Corn Mofazzal H. Chowdhury, Wesley F. Buchele