How is snow measured..?

[Brent_Baumer 5]

According to this chart, 1 cubic foot of snow weights 10 lbs. So, if you have a 12’ x 100’ driveway, and you get a 12-inch (1 foot) snowfall, you would have to move 1200 cubic feet of snow (12x100x1), which would weight 12,000 lbs. (6 tons). That should take 6 minutes with the Allis 42” snowthrower. I gotta’ get Judy one of them. It takes her over an hour using a shovel.

[Tacey 0]

MPH- Regarding your reply #8 above...you pay attention to the stripes, too? I was attracted to Simplicity because of the stripes, & nearly bought a new one because of them. But at the last minute, I realized that a used one would do the same thing. I bought a $300 Broadmoor II Model 6011 42" cut and the yard really stands out. The only problem I have is that my wife now has proof of my affliction (lawn perfectionist) & she gets a good chuckle every time she sees me doing the back-ups and contortions with that old three-speed just to get everything evened out... Tacey

[Woodydel 0]

Hey Dutch, I bet Mr Wizard could have given us the answer. Woody

[Brent_Baumer 5]

When I still had my snowthrower I threw about a ton of gravel into the yard in no time. Switched back to the blade after that and said goodbye to the thrower. Brent

[Brent_Baumer 5]

Woody, Don Herbert got me an "A" in 7th grade science. The teacher used to give a pop-quiz based on the last Mr. Wizard show. After I caught onto that, it was easy sailing.

[Woodydel 0]

Dutch, That's funny because I remember having a teacher who used to pull the same stunt. Guys like Mr. Wizard made it so you couldn't help but love science class. As a matter of fact most of my science teachers were so enthusiastic about what they did that it rubbed off on me to this day. I remember in physics class doing calculations concerning the effects of Superman speeding towards a city at impossible speeds. Figuring out snow removal seems easy. Just something to fool around with. Woody

[MPH 12]

In the "3 acres per hour! Am I missing something?" post, the claim that 3 acres per hour could be mowed with a 42" deck was examined. Using the 7.2 mph top speed given in the HB-112 specs that's 38016 feet per hour (7.2 x 5280). Cutting a 42" ( 3.5') width, that's 133056 sq. feet per hour (38016 x 3.5), which equals 3.05 acres (133056 / 43560). Okay, 3 acres seems possible, at least on paper. The same Allis advertizment also claims, "Hook up a 42-inch thrower and send a ton of snow a minute flying...". So, how is that claim confirmed?

[Kent 436]

It's probably just hyperbole... Allis seemed to make some pretty strong, "tongue-in-cheek" kinds of claims in their marketing literature. The B-12 ad, linked below, claims it moves 200 shovels full of snow a minute. Doing that math, I guess the snow weighs 10lbs per shovel full -- sounds like some wet, heavy snow to me... or a pretty big shovel. I think these ads date from a "kinder, gentler" time before companies got sued so frequently for false advertising. or the lack of safety controls when someone stuck a hand in moving equipment.... Look at some of the brochures with pictures of kids riding in carts, and such (some of the old walking tractors even advertised that they were simple enough for the kids to operate with pictures of young teens/pre-teens using them), and it's obvious that they'd not been sued... at least yet! I'm reminded of the old Lee Iacocca quote, somethng to the effect of: "It used to be that if you built a better mousetrap, people would beat a path to your door. Now, you'd have seven lawyers standing in line to sue you..." [A href='http://simpletractors.com/images/allis_chalmers/NGMay1967AC.jpg']http://simpletractors.com/images/allis_chalmers/NGMay1967AC.jpg[/a]

[sask 0]

Maybe they should have used more realistic indicators like "reduction in shoveling-induced back muscle strains per hour" or "reduction in amount of profanity voiced per hour due to shoveling fresh snow"

[sask 0]

Kent, In your link above, Allis claims, "mows up to two big acres an hour." The auger page claims 3 acres per hour, and the Fast & Easy page claims, "mow up to 2½ acres an hour." Maybe there a difference between BIG, regular, and economy sized acres. Since you mentioned lawsuits, didn't the B series use a discharge shield? You guess a shovelful of snow only weighs 10 pounds!? I'll have to mention that to Judy. She makes one scoop and tells me to finish my coffee and get outside because, "That snow weighs a ton." Heck, she should be able to handle 10 pounds with no problem, and I wouldn't expect her rate to be 200 per minute. She could work as slow as she wants (as long as my lunch is on time).

[Kent 436]

Yes, there was a discharge shield for the mower deck on the B-seires, but many people took them off so they could mow close on either side. They even had belt covers for the snowblowers -- but good luck in finding one... They seemed to get taken off, not put back, nor get transferred on to the next owner.... A couple of guys I work with just bought new Simplicity snowblowers -- each came with a safety shield for the chute that's shaped kind of like the "loops" of an old "potato masher" and is hinged so the snow pushes it open, yet it falls back down when the flow of snow stops.... They bought them from different dealers. One dealer told the guy -- "the first thing I'd do is take that shield off -- I can't take it off, but..." So, he did. The other guy still has his on -- and is experiencing clogging with the wet, heavy snow we've been getting. These are the 960's (I think that's the model), that are the heavy-duty, industrial-rated two-stage blowers... not some little ones. Some safety features are nice, some are a pain. For example, I installed the neutral safety switch on my B-210 when put I the Sundstand in it. But, I didn't bother trying to put in the safety switch that prevents starting the engine with the PTO engaged. It didn't have such a feature before, and I lived with it.... My personal "least favorite" was the one that killed the engine when the weight came off the seat. The last rider I owned had one of these (before I became a Simp/AC convert) and I couldn't mow going around a slope, because it would kill the engine if I tried to transfer my weight to the uphill side. I tried adusting it several times and couldn't get it to work -- so I ended up bypassing it.... At least Simplicity hasn't gone to the "no mowing in reverse" feature that the green & yellow ones have on their new ones....

[Woodydel 0]

I think the Key words here are "up to". Everyone rates things. For example, the network may be rated at 100 megabits per second. That is until all the users get on and have to share that total bandwidth or just like my Optimum internet connection claiming it's 50 times faster than dialup. Maybe at 3AM it will be "close" but never during the day when everyone has to share the cable. I'm used to reading claims and sort of ignore them. As far as how much snow can be moved, it should be easy to calculate the total amount of work "theoretically" the engine can do and convert that into the "ton of snow" claim or maybe they had someone catch the snow as it was being discharged. My yard has so many things in the way that I don't even follow a staight line without turning for more than 100 feet. That would surely slowdown the amount of grass I could cut, not the tractor's fault or the operator's fault either. Woody

[Woodydel 0]

I did some simple calculations and if you move 2000 lbs of snow 30 feet with a snow blower you have done 60000 foot lbs of work. One horsepower is equal to 33000 foot pounds of work in a minute, so it only takes 2HP to move that much snow per minute. Well within the power rating of the engine in the tractor. Their "claim" is probably low and is used only as a figure of speech. Of course, no allowances for the machinery was in the calculations. (I have too much time on my hands right now) Woody

[StinKy 0]

HEY, MPH!! Yer our resident snow fighter, so how bout "weighing" in on this quantity vs. time issue for snow?? Dick

[Roy 0]

Gang, Obviously you don't understand that the Marketing folks never let truth stand in the way of their advertising. If there is the sightest gleam of truth in the copy they are happy and publish regardless of the realities. Both the companies I have worked for have sold product we had never made. Then, it was it to Engineering and Maintenance to save their bacon and find a way to run the product. My 2 cents worth, Roy

[MPH 12]

Guess I'm a simple man Dick, if it blows it off the drive, or wherever else I go blowing just cuz I can, I vary the speed to keep that briggs talking good. I'd loose out on tons per hour because most of our snow is Powder. BTW, several of you talked about mowing around many objects in your lawns, How do you keep your strips looking good???My son cracked up last summer when I was distressed over the curve around the flag pole after the first time I mowed with the 112. MPH

[dlcentral 1]

WAY too low of an estimate,Most times when we get snow its as heavy as concrete,very wet,That old 3116?[look at gallery pic] with electric spout[from Jeff N]will move 42" of it at a slow walk how many ton/per/min. is that?