First Steel Plough

[PTmowerMech]

First Steel Plough


This Day In History May 6 1837 US blacksmith John Deere creates the first steel plough in Grand Detour, Illinois
In 1837, John Deere, was a typical blacksmith turning out hay forks, horseshoes, and other essentials for life on the prairie.
Then one day, a broken steel sawmill blade gave him an opportunity. He knew well the back-breaking difficulty of farmers near his home in Grand Detour, Illinois. While plowing, they often interrupted their work to scrape the sticky prairie soil from their cast-iron plows. He envisioned that soil sliding easily off of a highly polished steel moldboard. With steel scarce in the area, Deere acquired a broken steel saw blade, and from it crafted a new type of moldboard plow.
Now, nearly two centuries later, the company that grew out of the success of this innovative plow continues to manufacture advanced equipment for those whose commitment to the land runs deep.
While the original plow could only do a fraction of the work farmers can tackle with modern tillage equipment, it was high-tech at the time. Testing by curator Edward Kendall of the Smithsonian Institution of an 1838 John Deere plow revealed the innovative material, and design, of Deere's early plows. Historian Wayne Broehl, Jr. reiterated, writing that "Deere must have given a great deal of thought to the shape, to the special curve of his moldboard, for its exact contours would determine just how well the soil would be turned over after the share had made the cut."
Over the next two decades, Deere built strong supply and distribution channels, and continually improved his product based on suggestions from customers. His research paid off and by 1849 his business was booming – he produced 2,000 plows that year.
Deere continued to expand his operation and he was soon producing several different plows – an 1857 advertisement mentions nine models. Most were similar in design, but different in size or material. After a visit in 1868, a Chicago newspaper wrote that "John Deere may be called a pioneer, if not the pioneer, plow manufacturer of Illinois..." The paper concluded that "all plow makers respect and honor him for his skill and success, and conceded the service he has rendered Western agriculture by his efforts."
John Deere spent part of his retirement serving as Mayor of Moline, and running his Alderney Hill Farm in Moline. During his lifetime, the walking plow remained the company's core product, supplemented by riding plows, corn planters, wagons and more.
Today, more than 175 years after John Deere created his steel plow, the company provides advanced products and services for those whose work is linked to the land, including a few very modern variations on John Deere's original plow.

 

[Skippydiesel]

The plough owes its origin to a stick being steadied by one person & drawn, through the ground, by another person or animal (horse/steer/buffalo).
The Chinese are the likely inventors of the mouldboard plough.
The Europeans had metal mouldboard ploughs well before the USA
There are many variations on the basic design, to accommodate diffrent soil types and conditions.
In many parts of the Word, especially those with lower rainfall/thinner soil profile, they have been replaced by either minimal tillage cultivators and or no till chemicals.
The mouldboard plough is still the soil working tool against which all others are measured.

 

[StarTech]

And another improvement was the addition of a disc cutting blade in front the plow point to cut tough roots. Here even our wild Bermuda grass can sound like baling wire breaking without this disc blade cutting. This stuff can bog down some the biggest tractors if enough plow points are involved. I have seen this grass to have roots as deep as 6 plus feet and big as big as 10 ga wire.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

He then told buyers of the plows they couldn't work on them themselves and to haul it to a dealer for repair

 

[PTmowerMech]

He then told buyers of the plows they couldn't work on them themselves and to haul it to a dealer for repair

And there were no aftermarket parts available due to patent rights. OEM's were on backorder. It'll take 4 weeks for a new one to arrive.

 

[Skippydiesel]

And another improvement was the addition of a disc cutting blade in front the plow point to cut tough roots. Here even our wild Bermuda grass can sound like baling wire breaking without this disc blade cutting. This stuff can bog down some the biggest tractors if enough plow points are involved. I have seen this grass to have roots as deep as 6 plus feet and big as big as 10 ga wire.

Known as a "coulter" - there are disk and knife variants. The disks can have smooth, rippled or scalloped cutting edges. In most if not all cases, the disk is free to swing/follow the line of least resistance. The coulter can be adjusted for depth, offset and clearance to the plough leading edge. The coulter not only reduces the power/effort required to move the plough through the soil, it also improves the tilth achieved.