Mechanisation Symposium the Results Achieved by Introducing a High Capacity Loader O N a Large Miller-cum-planter Estate

For a number of years there has been an ever increasing interest in mechanisation on sugar farms and estates. The interest was originally directed towards cultivation and planting. More recently transport methods have changed and the develop. ment in this direction will continue beyond the cane loader in which great interest is being shown at the present time. In those countries where costs of labour are higher than they are in South Africa the need for this development has caused more rapid progress and already in those countries a tremendous amount of work has been done on cane harvesters. In Australia, for example, the development of the chopper harvester and the need to get chopped cane into the factory within hours of being harvested is once again revolutionising transport methods in that country with the introduction of "Canetainers" or "Binerisation". The Tongaat Sugar Company Limited have for many years been conscious of the necessity for mechanisation and since the latter part of 1953 have developed, copied and improved infield cane handling and transport methods and also introduced to this industry the iarge Hilo-type cane trailers. More recently, the Crossman Cane Loader was developed at Tongaat in conjunction with Mr. Roy Hemingway. This machine was a development of earlier cane loaders modified to meet the demands of Tongaat where the terrain is anything but flat. This machine has now been developed to the stage where its mechanical efficiency is reasonably good and many of the "bugs" have been eliminated. What has been achieved by introducing high capacity loaders? An attempt to answer this question forms the basis of this paper.