Nov., 1859 . 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
829 
The Steam Plow. 
yv. 0 /?a -co. 
[We had planned to present in this number a 
magnificent engraving of Fawkes’ Steam Plow, 
on a scale so large as to enable all our readers to 
understand every part of it, and for this purpose, 
declining an invitation to address an important 
Agricultural Society, we remained at home to 
direct the operations of first class artists, whom 
we had engaged to be on hand at the advertised 
time of the arrival of 
the Plow at the Amer 
ican Institute. But 
it was, unfortunately 
for us and our readers, 
delayed at the West, 
and on the road, until 
too late to carry out 
our design in full. As 
the only resort we 
were obliged to use 
sketches and descrip¬ 
tions previously ob¬ 
tained, and we present 
herewith the best pic¬ 
ture we could have 
engraved in season. 
As much inferior to 
what we intended as 
this is, it is still the 
best sketch we have 
seen — Mr. Fawkes 
says it is superior to 
any previously made— 
From the engraving, and the accompanying de¬ 
scription below, and also on the last column 
of this page, the reader will be able to get a 
pretty clear understanding of this now most in¬ 
teresting novelty before the public. We have 
jost compared the nearly finished engraving with 
the implement as it now stands at the Palace 
Garden, and find our sketch entirely accurate, 
with the exception, that there should be two 
steering wheels in front on the same axle, instead 
of one-as shown in the cut.] 
We believe we have now witnessed the ful¬ 
fillment of the prediction made in this journal 
four years since ; viz:, that “notwithstanding the 
great interest abroad in regard to the application 
of steam power to the plow, we predict that the 
man who will first successfully attach the loco¬ 
motive steam engine to the plow, now resides on 
this side of the Atlantic.” When speaking thus 
we confess we had a suspicion the thing would 
turn up somewhere in Yankee-dom ; but we are 
none the less pleased to find it coming from the 
“ Keystone State.” That Mr. Fawkes’ engine 
is not yet perfect, none is more ready than him¬ 
self to admit, but we have no doubt that he has 
hit upon and applied certain principles, which, 
when fully carried out, will render his implement 
a perfect success. In fact, it is already success¬ 
ful, and should no other improvements be made, 
we believe Fawkes’ plow, in the form we have 
to-day examined it, can be used with advantage 
in the cultivation of the vast prairies at the West, 
and in other comparatively level sections of the 
country. 
Passing over other important items in this en¬ 
gine, the driving wheel is a point of special in¬ 
terest. This, instead of being like ordinary driv¬ 
ing wheels, consists of an immense drum, six feet 
long, and six feet in diameter, and is so arranged 
as to bear nearly the entire weight of the engine 
including the supply of fuel and water. It thus 
presents a great amount of surface to the ground, 
and not only prevents its cutting into moist or 
soft soils, but also gives a great amount of trac¬ 
tion or propelling power. To the broad surface 
of this driving wheel there may also be attached 
a series of “ spuds ” or points, which render 
slipping on the surface next to impossible, and 
the traction or drawing power of the engine is 
therefore only limited by the capacity of the boil¬ 
ers and steam-chests, and these may be increased 
to any desired extent. The capabilities of the 
implement for propelling or drawing, have been 
already severely tested. Eight plows of full size, 
FAWKES’ AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE STEAM PLOW 
vEwjravcd for the American Agrimltiimst. ) 
each cutting a furrow fully a foot in width and 
eight to ten inches in depth have been drawn with 
ease and rapidity through a hard soil. 
OF ITS EASY MANAGEMENT, 
we have to-day (Oct. 6th) had abundant evidence. 
We found it in confined quarters, in a vacant 
city lot, and surrounded with numerous obstruc¬ 
tions. Though we have no practical experience in 
handling locomotives or steam engines of any 
kind, Mr. Fawkes freely put his implement under 
our control, as engineer and helmsman. We found 
no difficulty in moving it forward or backward, 
and to the right or left, and we actually drove it 
several times round in a circle 2b rods in diame¬ 
ter, and this backward as well as forward. We 
also ran it into narrow corners and backed it 
out, and around and by the side of fruit trees 
where there was but just room for its passage. 
In short, after ten minutes’ experience, we felt 
quite competent to drive the steam-horse any 
where, and with as much ease, and quite as much 
certainty, as we could manage a fractious team 
before the plow, where we would have live mus¬ 
cles, and more or less will to contend with. We 
merely mention this experiment to indicate the 
simplicity of its construction and arrangement, 
and the ease with which it is controlled. For the 
care of the boilers, and other mechanical parts, 
an engineer with some instruction and experience 
would be required with this as with other steam- 
engines. 
It is hardly to he expected that locomotive en¬ 
gines of this form, or of any other form, for that 
matter, will be constructed so small and so cheap¬ 
ly, as to be available on every farm of moderate 
size only. Nor is this specially desirable. A good 
threshing machine, with its complement of teams 
and hands, will do up the threshing for a whole 
neighborhood. So one good steam plow, accom¬ 
panied by a good ehgineer and attendant, will be 
competent to plow the larger fields of a dozen or¬ 
dinary farms. There are, however, tens of thou¬ 
sands of persons, particularly at the West, who 
have each a domain ample enough, to give almost 
constant employment to one or more steam plows. 
The engine can also be used as a stationary 
power for driving threshers, saws, etc., by means 
of a band-wheel connected with the independ- 
ent'cog-wheel seen at the end of the driving drum. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVING. 
The cut gives a side view of the engine with 
the plows attached. The plows may be of any 
form, and be arranged in any desired order. Aside 
from these, the appara¬ 
tus is similar in some 
respects to a locomo¬ 
tive or traction en¬ 
gine. The principal 
weight of the boiler, 
tender, etc., is nearly 
balanced upon the axle 
of the large drum or 
driving wheel, refer¬ 
red to above, of which 
the end only is visible. 
The forward lowed 
end, and a small por¬ 
tion of the weight, rest 
on a movable axle 
in front, upon which 
are two light guide 
1 wheels, 3£ feet in di- 
^ ameter, and 15 inches 
wide at the rim. (Only- 
one of these guide 
wheels is shown in 
the cut.) The guide 
wheels are easily turned to run in any desired 
direction, by means of an endless chain run¬ 
ning from the forward axle to a pulley connected 
by cogs to the steering wheel in the left hand 
of the man standing by the boiler. Just back 
of the man at the wheel, whom we will call the 
“ engineer,” is a lever, by raising or depressing 
which the main driving wheel is thrown out of 
gear, or its motion reversed at will. 
In the right hand of the engineer is a small 
valve wheel, for letting on or shutting off steam. 
It will be seen, then, that while he steers with 
the left hand, with the right he applies or shuts 
off steam, and also with the same hand applied to 
the lever, he sends the implement back or for¬ 
ward, or throws it out of geer, at pleasure. We 
saw Mr. Fawkes run full tilt within a foot of a wall, 
and when every one thought he must go through, 
and there was a universal holding of breath, he 
brought the engine to a sudden stop, and started 
backward, by a simple motion of the lever. 
There are two steam chests, one on either 
side, from which the jointed pistons run directly 
to the large driving drum. The piston cranks, on 
either end of this drum, are at right angles, so 
that there are no “ dead points.’’ 
The engine may be hitched to any gang plow, 
which it will draw in the same manner as a 
team of horses or oxen. Mr. Fawkes has con¬ 
structed an arrangement of the plows in a frame 
of peculiar form, which is suspended by chains 
passing over pullies in the arms projecting from 
the rear of the engine. One of these arms is 
longer than the other, extending back to the rear 
right end of the gang frame. The suspending 
chains are wound on a shaft, connected with cogs, 
easily thrown into or out of gear by the engineer, 
without changing his position, so that, whenever 
desired, as in turning at the end of a field, or 
traveling from place to place, he can raise the 
plows entirely from the ground. The plows are 
each supplied with a gauge wheel in front, to re¬ 
gulate the depth. The breaking of a wooden pin 
saves the plows when they meet fast stones, etc. 
