152 



POWER AND THE PLOW 



John Deere's first plow, 1837 



years later he made ten plows, and their success led him to 

 make greater efforts to secure satisfactory material. After 

 buying abroad for some tune the steel which he could not 



obtain in this country either 

 in the desired quality or 

 quantity, he finally secured 

 steel made especially for his 

 purpose. James M. Swank, 

 in his "History of Iron in 

 All Ages," says: "The 

 first slab of plow steel 

 ever rolled in the United States was rolled by William 

 Woods at the^steel works ofjones & Quigg, and shipped to 

 John Deere in Molme,"lH7^ Deere moved his factory to Mo- 

 line in 1847, and two years afterward was making ten thou- 

 sand plows annually. His factory still bears his name, 

 and, as does also the one established by William Parlin at 

 Canton, 111., in 1842, produces an enormous output of steel 

 plows. 



t-~ .The credit due these men for the development of steel plows 

 must be extended also to John Lane, inventor of soft-centre steel 

 and son of the maker of the first steel plow. On September 

 16, 1869, he received his patent on a plate consisting of two lay- 

 ers of high carbon steel on either side of a soft centre, a material 

 which proved easy to temper without warping, and resistant 

 to strains in service. In its manufacture a billet of soft steel 

 two inches is placed in a mold six inches square and twelve 

 inches deep. The high carbon steel is then poured on either 

 side simultaneously by hand. Great care must be taken to 

 prevent the molten metal from touching the centre billet un- 

 til the filling of the mold brings the solid and liquid in contact. 

 Complete fusion takes place, and the block is then rolled to 

 the proper thickness, retaining an equal depth of the three 

 layers. A Mr. Morrison brought out about the same time a 

 steel with a soft backing, which was less easy to temper, and 



