[SEL] Steam Cable plows, was nice wheels

[Dave Croft]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank DeWitt" <Frank at lbpinc.com>
To: <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 2:18 PM
Subject: [SEL] Steam Cable plows, was nice wheels


>I ran across this article on cable plows
> 
> Steam-operated cable plowing developed successfully in England, using 
> a system of two steam engines pulling a cable-drawn plow. The English 
> cable plows were capable of traveling safely at up to 4 mph when 
> plowing through good soil. The length of the furrow was usually 
> measured in 1/2 miles rather than in rods, and the early English 
> cable plows, with their short strings of cable, were grossly 
> inadequate. By 1870, there were 3,000 steam cable-plowing outfits in 
> operation in England and only four outfits operating in the U.S. 
> Henry E. Lawrence, a southern planter, used one of these plowing 
> outfits on his 1,000-acre sugar estate near New Orleans.
> Cable plowing never really took root in North America, owing mostly 
> to issues of topography and the large size of our fields, 
> particularly in the West. The general use of cable-type steam plows 
> was widespread in Germany around the 1890s, and they were still being 
> used for reclaiming peat land as late as the 1970s.
> http://www.steamtraction.com/article/2003-03-01
> Interesting
> Frank

Hi Frank, at my last engine show a model maker had made a very good model of the Steam ploughing field.
Unfortunately I had forgotten to pack my camera. (Slaps wrist very hard!!)
He promised to send me pictures
Tonight I received the pictures which are at,
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/553736245OQRhRQ
I will try to find some more pictures for this album.
Dave Croft
Warrington
http://oldengine.org/members/croft/homepage
http://community.webshots.com/user/crftdv