A new machine for cutting turf bricks is introduced to the Irish market.
Ballintuber Enterprises who are selling the machine claim it can save time and money by providing enough fuel for a couple of years with little effort.
The promise of this machine is that it can turn the bog at the bottom of your garden into an oil well.
Marketing agent for the new Irish made machine Michael Herbst claims that for an investment of £6,000, you could make £68,000 a year. Michael Herbst says the machine can cut between an acre and an acre and a half a day equating to about three to four thousand pounds worth of turf briquettes. The machine digs the turf creating "long sausages" which are left to dry four about four to five weeks.
What makes this machine so remarkable is its ability to slice sideways into the bog without causing serious damage to the surface. There are no ugly trenches and each harvest of sausages removes a mere two inches of bog from beneath the crust.
The makers of the machine claim that it causes no harm to the environment. The Roscommon company behind the machine Ballintuber Enterprises, are hopeful that they will receive around 350 orders for the machine by March 1982.
It's easily collected. It's not like an oil well in the middle of the sea.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 3 November 1981. The reporter is Peter McNiff.
