Figure 7.- John Deere's 1838 Piuw. Kicht Side, 

 showing large iron staple used to fasten end of right 

 handle to the standard. Note remains of wooden pin 

 near rear end of plow beam. (Cat. no. Fi 1 11; Smith- 

 sonian photo 42639-/I.) 



hiaih siradc crucible cast steel of tinifonn quality as a 

 regular product. 



Based on a \isit to Deere".s factory in 1857 the 

 Country Gentleman ''' ga\-e the yearly output as 13,400 

 plows. It pictured four of sc\en models and stated, 

 "these are all made of cast steel, and perfectly polished 

 before they are sent out, and are kept bright by use, 

 .so that no soil adheres to them." The article then 

 gives the tonnages of iron and steel used by the Deere 

 factory in a year. They are as follows: 50 tons cast 



'» Country Gentlemen, 1857, vol. 10, p. 129. 



steel, 40 tons German steel. 100 tons Pittsburgh steel, 

 75 tons castings, 200 tons wrought iron, 8 tons 

 malleable castings in clevises, etc. In addition 

 100,000 plow bolts and 200,000 feet of oak plank were 

 used. 



These figures do not indicate what the different 

 parts of the plows were made of but, if approximately 

 correct, they do show that more than half the metal 

 used was iron rather than steel. Steel accounts for 

 190 tons, wrought iron for 200. Although it is con- 

 ceivable, under this weight distribution, that the 

 shares and moldboards were made of steel while the 

 landsides and standards were made of wrought iron, 

 other distributions are also possible, and it is cmite 

 conceivable that at this period some of the plows had 

 steel moldboards while others had wrought-iron ones. 

 An analysis of the metal in different parts of an 1855 

 John Deere plow, now at the factory in Moline, may 

 shed some light on this, but from these figures and 

 dates it seems likely that most of John Deere's ]3lows 

 during the 1840"s and 1850's had wrought-iron mold- 

 boards with steel shares. (It should be borne in mind 

 that the poorer grades of steel a\ailable at this time 

 were probably no more satisfactory than cast iron as 

 far as .scouring clean in sticky soil was concerned.) 



The question of the material in tiie moldboarcl o( the 

 1838 plow was answered when a spark-test analysis 

 was made of the metal in the moldboarcl and share. 

 In this test the color, shape, and pattern of the spark 

 bursts produced by a high-speed grinding w heel indi- 

 cate the type of iron or steel. Several spots along the 

 edges and back surface of the moldboard were tested. 



Figure 8. — Reconstruction of 

 Deere's 1838 Plow, right side, 

 with handles shown in what is 

 believed to be their original posi- 

 tion. (Smithsonian photo 42647.) 



22 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF IIISTOR\- .AND TECHNOLOGY 



