607 
Report  on  Implements  at  York. 
Cattley s Steam  Plough. — This  patent  dates  back  to  June  19, 
1877,  and  therefore  is  a novelty  only  as  regards  the  Society,  not 
having  been  exhibited  at  any  meeting  prior  to  York,  although  a 
familiar  object  in  the  Showyards  of  the  Yorkshire  Agricultural 
Society  on  more  than  one  occasion.  Mr.  Charles  Cattley,  the 
patentee,  is  the  manager  of  the  York  and  East  Riding  Steam 
Cultivation  Company,  a position  which  he  has  occupied  ever 
since  the  formation  of  the  company  in  1877.  His  practical 
experience  of  the  balance  plough,  which  has  long  been  con- 
sidered as  an  implement  with  such  serious  defects  that  its 
employment  is  now  very  limited,  led  him  to  consider  the  pos- 
sibility of  a machine  free  from  the  inherent  defects  of  the 
balance  principle ; a principle  which  necessitated  unprofitably 
slow  work,  as  otherwise  the  effect  of  the  ploughs  out  of  ground 
and  in  the  air  made  the  machine  unsteady,  and  had  a tendency 
to  draw  the  working  ploughs  out  of  the  ground — a defect  espe- 
cially noticeable  in  crossing  ridge  and  furrow,  and  in  ploughing 
down  steep  hillsides.  To  be  compelled  to  travel  at  two  and  a 
half  to  three  miles  an  hour,  when  the  engine  power  allowed  of 
double  that  speed,  is  a serious  drawback,  rendering  the  operation 
too  costly  to  compete  with  horse  labour,  or  with  the  rapid  move- 
ments of  the  Turning  Cultivator,  a machine  which  was  intro- 
duced in  1868  bv  Messrs.  Fowler  and  Co.,  and  which  has 
rendered  more  recent  improvement  practicable.  In  Cattley’s 
plough  advantage  is  taken  of  the  cranked  axle  which  carries  the 
frame  to  allow  of  the  ploughs  being  raised  out  of  and  dropped 
into  work,  and  this  part  of  the  arrangement  is  very  similar  in 
principle  to  that  of  the  turning  cultivator,  which  will  be  readily 
gathered  by  reference  to  Fig.  9,  which  shows  a plan  of  the  front 
part  of  the  plough,  the  general  form  of  which  will  be  under- 
stood by  a study  of  Figs.  8 and  9,  giving  plan  and  elevation 
of  the  plough. 
By  the  help  of  those  drawings  (p.  608),  kindly  lent  by  the 
‘ Field,'  in  whose  issue  of  Nov.  9,  1868,  the  plough  was  described 
and  illustrated,  I trust  to  make  the  more  noticeable  features  of 
this  invention  perfectly  understood.  By  reference  to  Fig.  8,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  machine  comprises  a strong  frame,  with 
two  sides  sloping  away  at  an  angle,  and  nearly  meeting  behind. 
Each  side  carries  a strong  shaft,  to  which  are  attached  the  plough 
frames  (three,  four,  or  five  in  number),  which  are  so  made  as  to 
slide  on  the  shaft,  being  attached  by  set  screws.  The  shafts  may 
be  made  rotating,  and  by  turning  them  in  one  or  other  direction, 
the  ploughs  are  turned  up  from  the  ground  or  brought  doicn  to 
the  ground.  It  will  be  understood  that  these  shafts  are  perfectly 
independent  of  each  other.  They  have  on  their  contiguous  ends 
bevel  pinions,  both  in  gear  with  one  and  the  same  bevel  wheel, 
