History of the Plow. 127 



being parallel or nearly parallel horizontally to the base of the 

 mould-board or bottom of the plow substantially as described," 



In 1858, H. M. Phitt invented a plow which was literally a 

 screw-auger. It had wings, and a pair of broad wheels which 

 turned an axis on which a mitre wheel was keyed, which phiyed 

 in a pinion upon the shaft of the auger, which drew the slice 

 backward on to the wings, which rolled it over into position. 

 Wc believe this has not been successful in practice. 



M. L. Roberts, of Smithville, Canada West, has no land side, 

 but in place of it a wheel whose plane is at an angle of 45 degrees, 

 and the mould-board consists of vertical rollers, the object of 

 which is to diminish the friction of plowing. 



Chapman & Barnum have also patented a device for diminishing 

 the friction of the land side, which consists in substituting for the 

 ordinary rear wing of the mould-board a revolving body what 

 would be called a cone if its sides were bounded by straight lines. 

 The sections, made vertically through the axis, are arcs of circles. 

 The small end of the cone is directed downward and the larger 

 one upward. The lower end of the axis is inserted into a pro- 

 longation of the shoe, backward, the upper one being inserted in 

 a bar, movable laterally, so as to increase or diminish the angle of 

 the axis, at pleasure, with the plane of the sole. 



We have not tried any of these friction expedients, but, from 

 the best information we can obtain, they are illusory, and have 

 never, so far, been practically successful. 



In September, 1863, Mr. Mead, of New Haven, obtained a 

 patent for a plow, the share and mould-board of which conform 

 exactly to the surface of a frustum of a cone, as shown in Fig. 73. 



We have now passed in review all the expedients which have 

 been devised within the period of four thousand years for the 

 improvement of the plow. We do not flatter ourselves that we 

 have seized on all the successive steps which have been made in 

 the construction of this most important implement. If any 

 attempt has been made to write a connected history of the plow 

 before us, we have not been able to find it. We have traveled 

 through a field hitherto unexplored, and it would indeed be 

 wonderful if we should not miss some of the objects lying in our 

 way. 



It will be seen that the first idea of the plow was a crooked 

 stick, of which various forms were in use. Then came the pro- 

 vision of an iron point to the plow. Up to this time the crooked 



