"Robot" Cannon Protects Huge Acreage

"Robot" Cannon Protects Huge Acreage MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals 25-2-33 Propane cannons are a cheap way to protect crops from birds but you have to buy a bunch of them to protect big fields. A new "robot" scarecrow - shown for the first time at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif. - lets you get a lot more use out of a single cannon. It consists of a hydraulically-driven cart fitted with four narrow bicycle-type wheels. A cannon and tank mount on the bed of the cart. A small gas engine drives a hydraulic pump. Each wheel is fitted with a small hydraulic motor. The wheels on the cart are fixed in place so it always moves straight ahead. In row crops, you can dig a small furrow for the wheels to run in but if the land is flat and even, the cart will run straight. When it reaches the end of the field or path, a direction switch on the side is triggered by a pole which you put in the ground. The trigger switch hits the pole and automatically reverses direction of the cart. The gas tank runs 8 hrs. on one tank of gas. When the cannon shoots off, it rotates 1/4-turn on its lazy susan platform. Wheel spacing is adjustable from 36 to 66 in. and it has high clearance for full-grown row crops. Ground speed is 2 to 5 mph. Pete Davey of Sutton Ag Enterprises, says the robot cannon was developed by a local farmer. The first working prototype was on display at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif. No price has yet been determined but units should be on the market in a few months. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Sutton Ag Enterprises, Inc., 746 Vertin Ave., Salinas, Calif. 93901 (ph 800 482-4240 or 831 422-9693; fax 831 422-4201).

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