State Agricultural Society. 267 



WAGONS AND PLOWS. 



Statement op W. B. Beady, op Sacramento. 



To the Committee on Gold Medals, offered by the State Agricultural Society 

 for eighteen hundred and seventy-one: 



Gentlemen: Permit me to present my claims to the gold medal for 

 the most meritorious exhibition, made in the second department of the 

 late Fair. My exhibition consisted of two gang plows of different stj T les 

 of manufacture, one trotting buggy, two farm w r agons of different sizes 

 and finish, and one self-sharpening cultivator, all of which were made at 

 my shop, numbers three hundred and one and three hundred and three 

 J street, Sacramento. 



I claim especial merit for the Challenge Gang Plow, it being my own 

 invention, patented as early as eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and 

 improved by myself from time to time, until at present it has no equal 

 in the State or United States. 



The peculiar merit of this plow over all others is its light draft. The 

 line of draft being placed at a point below a horizontal line with the top 

 of the standard of the jalow, all unnecessary weight on the wheels is 

 avoided. 



Again, all my plows of the same pattern are exact duplicates of each 

 other, so that extras are always obtainable to fit any one of my plows 

 in use anywhere, without delay or extra expense. The mechanical parts 

 of this plow are simple, strong, neat, and durable. The j)low can be 

 managed easily by a boy, the power necessary to raise and lower it being- 

 half less than is necessary to perform the same objects on any other 

 plow in use. 



The trotting buggy too is built on a principle of my own discovery, 

 and is an entirely new feature in that line. The entire vehicle weighs 

 but one hundred and fifty-five pounds, and it Avill safely carry three 

 hundred and fifty pounds. The springs are made of wood with spiral 

 springs attached in such a manner as to secure equal strength, elasticity, 

 and durability without the expense and weight of steel springs. If 

 there is merit in originating or inventing labor-saving machinery supe- 

 rior to that of merely manufacturing it, then I claim that superior merit 

 for the two articles above named. I have been engaged in the manufac- 

 ture of agricultural implements in this State for more than fifteen years, 

 during which time I have kept within the State hundreds of thousands 

 of dollars, which have been distributed among hard working mechanics, 

 whose families have resided here among us, adding wealth and pros- 

 perity to the State. The money which I have paid these people has in 

 turn gone to the farmer to pay for the products of the farm, thus 

 encouraging and sustaining California agriculture and California industry 

 generally. I have at great expense furnished my shop with suitable 

 machinery, by the uSe of which I am successfully competing with the 

 importers of goods of the description I manufacture. Since the State 

 Fair I have taken several orders for wagons of different kinds, also a 

 great many for plows, harrows, and cultivators, and I am now building 

 and expect to sell between this and the commencement of the new year 

 one hundred gang plows, besides many other articles in my line. 



I will here state that on account of the increased impetus given to 

 the importing trade by the completion of the Pacific Bailroad, and the 



