534 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



A STEP FURTHER IN STEAM PLOUGHING. 



Amid the columnar chimneys and blazing furnaces of 

 metal-works, of woollen, cotton, flax, and oil factories, 

 which evolve the black smoke-cloud of Leeds, the iron- 

 works of Messrs. Kitson and Hewitson contribute their 

 share of grime and vapour ; and in their immense shops, 

 fitted with every wonder-working variety of steam- 

 hammering, turning, boring, planing, shaping, slotting, 

 and screwing machinery, build locomotive, marine, and 

 other steam-engines on a scale of great magnitude. 

 Hard by this establishment, and in partnership with 

 this noted firm, Mr. Fowler has started his steam-plough 

 manufactory; in which, by founding, smith's work, and 

 engmeenng tools and-oiechanism, he constructs boilers, 

 engines, winding gear, anchorages, ploughs, mould- 

 boards, shares — in fact, every part of the apparatus, ex- 

 cepting the wire rope : already completing and de- 

 spatching to order at the rate of one machine per week, 

 while the additional machinery now being set up will 

 enable him to turn out two entire sets in the same time. 

 Having served an apprenticeship with various makers — 

 at Ipswich, Newcastle, Stratford, Leeds — and mastered 

 practical difficulties in trial-fields and on farms of all 

 soils and situations, the steam-plough has at last set up 

 in business on its own account, opened an independent 

 factory, and fairly commenced a regular, though novel, 

 branch of mechanical industry with what was only a 

 few years ago an agricultural marvel and embryo in- 

 genuity, inspected by the curious, and doubtfully criti- 

 cised by the plodding farmer. Many a progressive 

 transformation Has the youthful machine undergone, 

 and as often announced itself to be so much nearer to 

 perfect manhood ; till, finally, we have its form and 

 capabilities so developed and matured, its education so 

 advanced in every detail, and tested in all points by 

 private and competitive examinations, that large growths 

 and alterations are no longer possible, the steam- 

 plough having now attained its fixed and ultimate form 

 and character : so that the changes left for the future 

 can only consist of the multitudinous minor adaptations 

 of implement, necessitated by differences in soil and 

 variable usages of cultivation. The genealogy, birth, 

 and early doings of the invention we need not recapitu- 

 late, our present business being the pleasant one of chroni- 

 cling its attainment of full age, and describing the suc- 

 cessful realization of a principle of operation long pro- 

 jected and aimed at by the inventor. 



Of the whole number of steam-ploughs up to this 

 time sent out by Mr. Fowler, a large proportion have 

 earned most satisfactory testimonials from their pur- 

 chasers, and grand results, which have been published 

 in the columns of this journal : many of the machines 

 have worked so smoothly and uninterruptedly, that 

 month after month passes without any communication 

 respecting their management or repairs being received 

 by Mr. Fowler from perplexed or dissatisfied adopters 

 of Bteam-culture ; while all the rest perform well, and 



only in some hands, and in a few situations, have shown 

 any tendency to excessive wear of rope or working parts. 

 With all its great success in efTecting tillage in the most 

 excellent style, at a cost vastly below that of horse- 

 labour, and accomplishing deeper and more valuable 

 processes than animal power can in any way be made to 

 execute, there is no doubt that the " wear and tear " 

 account has formed the weak point in the machine. 

 This item is not to be put at 15 or 20 per cent, upon 

 the prime outlay by easy, uncertain estimates such as 

 our judges allow in their reckoning of costs and charges : 

 the wear in one kind of machine may be double that in 

 another bought for the like sum of money, and only 

 practical and lengthened experience can determine the 

 actual expense due to wear and risk of breakage which 

 may be incurred by peculiar mechanical construction 

 and mode of working. As our readers well know, the 

 problem of accomplishing the greatest amount of work 

 with least manual labour for managing the machine, 

 was gradually mastered ; the plan of a stationary en- 

 gine and windlass set mid-way down one side of the 

 field, with the ropes either running round the four 

 sides or cutting off the corners diagonally, having been 

 necessarily abandoned for the shortest and simplest 

 method of a moveable combined engine and windlass at 

 one end of the furrow, and a travelling anchorage at the 

 other. Then followed the principle of hauling an end- 

 less rope by means of grooved drums, instead of coiling 

 separate ropes upon two barrels ; by which one-third 

 less length of rope is required, the grinding of the rope 

 upon itself in the winding is avoided, while the smooth 

 steady motion (from the rope working in evenly cut 

 grooves instead of wrapping upon irregular corrugated 

 coils of rope), both secures better ploughing and re- 

 duces the liability to breakage, which is generally pro- 

 portionate to the amount of jerking and unsteadiness 

 in any machine. The first steam-ploughs working with 

 the grooved drums performed admirably ; but it was 

 found advisable to diminish if possible the number of 

 bends round these drums ; for, as the best way to break 

 a piece of wire asunder is to bend it to and fro until the 

 bruising of the fibre of the metal at last results in frac- 

 ture, so the mere bending of wire rope round drums 

 and pulleys, even when small diameters and stunt turns 

 are avoided, tends considerably toward injuring its last- 

 ing qualities. It was also found that, as the grooves 

 themselves began to wear unequally, and the drum axes 

 to cut, and the periphery of each drum to revolve a trifle 

 out of the true circle, the rope led in several turns round 

 the two drums became alternately too slack and too 

 tight, a state of things which tended to stretch the rope 

 at intervals, and by these intermittent excessive strains 

 to increase friction and considerably subtract from the 

 effective power of the engine. Accordingly, Mr. Fowler 

 simplified the machinery by hauling with only a single 

 drum, round which the rope was passed by r pans of 



