Improvements in Ploughs.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 3rd Feb., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Feb., 1896-Accepted, 22nd Aug.. 1896
Improvements in Ploughs.
I, STALEY DANE POOLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Moline,
in the County of Rock Island, and State of Illinois, Mechanic, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to-plows, but more particularly to that class of machines
known as "disk" plows.
The primary object of the invention is to provide a plow of the character
referred to which shall be capable of stirring up and loosening the soil and subsoil
to a greater depth than is possible with plows in common use, and which shall not
leave the earth over which it passes or bottom of the furrow so compact, smooth,
and hard as to render the soil below the furrow-bottom practically impervious to
water, as do the plows in common use, and which, at the same time, shall be light
of draft, simple in construction, inexpensive in manufacture, and efficient and
durable in use.
A further object is to provide means whereby the revolving disk shall be held
down to its work without the use of weights or heavy and cumbersome frames, such
as are required with disk plows in general use.
The invention will be first more particularly hereinafter described, and then
pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.
According to common methods of plowing, the base of the furrow, owing to the
downward pressure produced by the weight or draft of the team and the leverage
of the plow-point against the furrow-bottom is left hard and smooth, so that when
a torrential rain-fall comes upon land thus plowed, particularly on rolling or hilly
ground, the water, instead of percolating or sinking into the earth, to be there
stored for subsequent use in nourishing vegetation, is allowed to run along the
smooth impact surface of the furrow-bottom, carrying with it much of the fertile
soil and thereby greatly impoverishing the land.
Furthermore, according to usual methods of plowing year after year at about
the same depth, the main force of the team's strength is exhausted in pressing the
bottom of the furrow into a polished trough for the conduction of rain down the
side hills, and, in addition to this, the tread of the horses in the bottom of
the furrow makes in a few seasons an almost impenetrable bed for water. As a
natural sequence to this sort of tillage, a vast erosion of land has resulted,
particularly in the Western States (U.S.A.).
It has been estimated that in the State of Ohio alone a million or more of acres
of land have been rendered utterly useless and infertile by reason of the washing
and erosion of the soil due to common methods of tillage, and that the present
nefficient and ill-resulting methods of plowing, especially upon undulating lands,

page_text: E
costs the farmers of the United States two hundred and fifty, thousand square miles
of soil each year by erosion. This is especially true of Nebraska and other
Western States, where torrential rain-falls are so frequent, the fertile soil being
washed away down into gulches, valleys, and creeks, while the infertile soil remains
impoverished and useless.
The main objects to be attained in the cultivation of the soil, particularly in the
North Western portions of the country, are to stir, separate, and pulverize or
loosen the earth at a greater depth with the same plow than it is possible to stir
and separate or loosen it with the contrivances or implements for plowing now in
use, so as to provide, as it were, a reservoir for the rainfall, whereby the moisture
which under the present system of shallow tillage is itself carried away, and with
it much of the best loamy soils of the sloping lands, may be retained to afford food-
nourishment to the vegetation, and whereby the plowed land is adapted at the same
time to serve as a preventative of erosion and an insurance of remunerative crops.
What has been said applies especially to the ordinary mold board plow. In this
class of plows, owing to the fact that the wearing surfaces are sliding frictional
surfaces, a great loss of power is occasioned by friction and by the adherence of
sticky earth upon the surfaces of the mold board and share. To overcome these
difficulties the rotary or disk plow has been resorted to, but with only partial
success.
In the operation of an ordinary disk plow the soil is not lifted and carried as
with a mold board, and owing to the revolution of the disk there is a great.
diminution of friction, as compared with the moldboard plow, and the disk is
readily kept smooth and bright by the action of the soil thereon; and with the
rotary plow the advantages of pulverization of the soil to a somewhat greater
depth for the same expenditure of power than is obtained by the use of an ordinary
mold board plow have been attained. Nevertheless, in order to effect the necessary
penetration of the disks, the plow-frame has either been made very heavy or
weighted, in order to keep the disks in the ground, and as a result of this the disks
in loose ground will sink too deep and in hard soil will not penetrate deep enough,
so that the results are unsatisfactory, and the additional weight required to effect
the desired depth of penetration under ordinary conditions adds heavily to the
draft and renders the plow heavy and difficult to handle. This difficulty of
keeping the disk or disks in the ground and penetrating to the desired depth
without heavily weighting the plow or providing a very heavy frame is a serious
objection to such disk plows as have heretofore been proposed.
My invention is designed to overcome the foregoing and other objections incident
to the use of both classes of plows referred to, and to combine the advantages of
both in a light, easily handled, yet strong, efficient, and durable disk plow, which
shall meet the requirements with respect to deep tillage without impacting and
hardening the earth at the base of the furrows, so as to cause waste and
impoverishment of the land by washing and erosion.
I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this
specification, a preferred form of my invention, in which the disk plow and parts
co-operating therewith are arranged upon a sulky or wheeled frame; but it will be
understood, of course, that the improvement is adapted to be used in other relations,
either with or without a wheeled frame, and hence I do not desire to be restricted
in the application of the invention to the particular form shown, nor to a wheel or
sulky attachment.
Referring to the drawings,
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my improved disk plow applied to a
wheel or sulky frame, such view being taken from the right-hand side of the
machine.
Figure 2 is a similar view of the plow, taken from the opposite side thereof.
Figure 3 is a front perspective view, and Figure 4 a rear perspective view, of the
same.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of the plow with parts of the wheeled frame broken

page_text: away, and illustrating in full and dotted lines the relative positions of the parts in
plowing; and
Figure 6 is a detail perspective view, on a slightly enlarged scale, of the main
castings of the disk-supporting beam or frame.
The letter A in the drawings may denote the plow-beam or frame, which may be
of the form shown or of any preferred construction, and has preferably secured
thereto at one side the land-wheel B and at the opposite side the staggered or guide
wheel C, each of said wheels being journaled upon a crank-axle which is fitted in
suitable bearings attached to the axle or frame of the machine, so as to permit said
wheels to be readily raised and lowered by means of suitable operating levers
for the purpose of varying the depth of penetration of the plow and for elevating
the same above the surface of the earth when it is desired to transport the plow from
place to place.
The beain or frame-bars A may be provided with a clevis or draft connection of
the form shown or of any preferred construction.
As shown, the axle of the land-wheel B has mounted thereon a hand-lever B',
which is provided with a spring-actuated dog or detent adapted to engage a rack B³,
fixed to the axle or frame-bar D, whereby the lever and crank-axle, with the wheel
journaled thereon, may be adjusted and secured in different positions to vary the
depth of cut and inclination of the plow-disk or to raise the same above the surface
of the ground, said lever being provided with a thumb-lever and sliding rod,
connecting the same with the spring-actuated dog, so that the latter may be released
from engagement with the rack to permit the desired adjustment of the lever.
A spring B, placed upon a rod which is pivoted at one end to the lever B' and has
its opposite end loosely and slidingly connected to the outer cranked portion of the
axle which carries the land-wheel, holds said wheel yieldingly in whatever position
it may be adjusted, so that the wheel may accommodate itself to irregularities in
the surface of the earth, and may rise and fall, within certain limits, without
affecting the plow.
As shown, the staggered or guide wheel C is journaled upon the spindle of the
crank-axle in such relation to the revolving disk as to adapt the wheel to run in the
last preceding furrow turned by the disk, with its peripheral portion bearing against
the landside portion of the furrow, so as to assist in keeping the plow in line and to
resist the tendency of the disk to run to land, as usual with stagger-wheels.
To the axle C of the guide-wheel C is secured an angle-bar c, the upright arm of
which is adjustably connected by means of a bar or rode with a haud-lever E.
The lever E is pivotally mounted upon the frame A adjacent to a rack F, the teeth
of which are engaged by a spring-actuated dog or detent upon said lever, by which
the lever may be locked in different positions, so as to hold the stagger-wheel at
different elevations, said dog or detent being controlled by a thumb-lever pivoted to
the hand-lever and connected with said dog in the usual well-known manner.
In conjunction with the lever E, I may also employ, as shown, a coiled or other
suitable spring G, which is adapted to normally resist the movement of the lever E
when thrown forward, but assists the rearward movement thereof, so that in
lowering the guide-wheel and thereby raising the plow the spring will assist the
operation, while the weight of the frame and of the driver mounted thereon assist
the movement of the lever in the opposite direction opposing the force of the
spring. This spring surrounds a rod or bar g, the lower end of which is pivoted
upon the frame A, while its upper end projects through an eye-piece e', carried by
the lever E, said spring being interposed between the pivot of the rod and the eye-
piece on the hand-lever in such manner as to accomplish the desired effect in raising
the plow. The eye-piece e is adapted to be adjusted and secured in different
positions upon the lever for the purpose of varying the tension or power of the
spring. The connecting-rod e is also preferably provided with a series of
perforations at one or both ends thereof, so as to permit its point of connection with
the crank-lever or the hand-lever to be shifted to vary the relative positions of the
guide-wheel and its operating-lever, as may be desired.

page_text: me mand-levers Band E are arranged near enough to the driver's seat H to
enable the driver to grasp and operate either lever at will for controlling the action
of the plow in operation, and for raising and lowering the same in going off or onto
the land to be plowed.
At the rear end of the beam or frame-bars A are secured the castings A' A
which support the disk-plow I and the subsoiler K. These castings are bowed or
arched and secured together at their front and rear ends in such position that the
bowed or arched portion of the part A¹ occupies a vertical position substantially at
right angles to the horizontally-arranged portion A, thus providing an unobstructed
space between the two castings for the attachment of the revolving disk cross-wise
of the beam or support and at an angle thereto, with its axial line in the plane of
the vertical arch and its convex surface extended at one side thereof in proximity
to the concave face of the horizontal casting. The casting A' is formed or
provided on its convex surface with a flange or plate a', which is perforated at a a
to receive the fastering-bolts by which it is secured to the axle or frame-piece D,
and also the bolts by which the standard h of the driver's seat H is secured thereto.
To the casting A may be secured the pendent arm or bracket which supports
the bearings in which the axle or spindle of the revolving disk I is journaled.
The disk I set at an angle approaching that of the share and moldboard of an
ordinary plow, and its tendency is to run in the direction of this angle, and in order
to cut and turn a furrow of the required width and depth it must be moved in
substantially a straight line. This has heretofore been ineffectually accomplished
by means of stagger-wheels and weights or by the use of a heavy cumbersome
frame, which in some soils may produce tolerably fair results. To avoid the
necessity for weights or for weighting the disk to hold it to its work, I employ
what may be termed a "wedge-shaped" shoe or hook, which performs the double
function of drawing and holding the disk down to its work, so as to effect the desired
penetration, and at the same time serves as a subsoiler for loosening up the bottom
of the furrow below the cut of the disk, whereby the penetration of the disk is
facilitated and the ground is left in such condition as to prevent washing and
wasting of the plowed soil on undulating lands. This subsoiler consists preferably
of a wedge-shaped shoe k, arranged to penetrate the earth below the disk and
having its point or toe projected underneath the disk, while its heel projects
slightly rearward of the cutting edge thereof, said shoe being secured to or
formed integrally with a standard k', which depends from the rear portion of the
plow-beam or casting A'. As shown, the standard is provided with a series of
perforations by which it is bolted to the rear end of the casting A' and may be
secured thereto at different elevations for causing the shoe or subsoiler to penetrate
to a greater or less depth below the depth of cut of the revolving-lisk, so as to
meet the various requirements to which it may be put. The shoe may be otherwise
positioned, however, and may have its toe placed in front or in rear of the position
shown and may be used either with or without the heel-piece and landside portion
without departing from the spirit of my invention, the essential feature of the
arrangement being to adapt the shoe to penetrate aud loosen the earth below the
cut of the disk and to draw the disk down to the desired depth and hold it to its
work. The standard Al is adapted to fit snugly in a recess or guideway a', provided.
therefor at the rear end of the casting A', to which it is secured by bolts a, passing
through perforations in both the casting and the standard, the latter being provided
with a series of perforations to permit the standard to be raised or lowered to vary
the depth of penetration of the shoe in plowing different varieties of soil and to
meet other requirements in use.
The shoe is preferably of the wedge-shaped form shown in the drawings,
having a landside-bar k, which tends to cause the plow to run in a straight line
and resists the sidewise draft of the disk or its tendency to run to land.
In plowing soil of a sticky or plastic nature a scraper L may be employed to
keep the surface of the disk clear and bright, said scraper being arranged to bear
yieldingly upon the concave face of the disk, rearward of the axis thereof, and

page_text: secured to the pendent end of a. spring bar or arin M, having its opposite end
secured to the casting A¹.
The operation of the invention will be readily understood from the foregoing
description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. As is well
understood, the tendency of the disk is to run in the direction of the angle at which
it is set, or diagonally to the line of draft, and to cut and turn a furrow of the
required uniform width it must be moved in a straight line, giving it a revolving
scraping cut. The wedge-shaped point or shoe is peculiarly adapted to penetrate
and loosen the ground to the required depth permitted, under limitations imposed
by the adjustment of the supporting-wheels, and the full draft of the team, less
the power required to draw the light sulky frame over the ground, is expended in
this direction, while the suction of the wedge or shoe is exerted in drawing or
"pulling" the disk into the ground already partially broken or loosened by the
wedge, the land and stagger wheel serving to gage the depth of penetration and
prevent the disk from running too far to land.
The cutting angle of the edge of the disk tends to wear it to a sharp edge on
the under side, while the shedding of the soil from its opposite face wears the
reverse inner edge of the disk and preserves a sharp cutting-edge at all times.
About one-quarter of the circle described by the disk does the cutting and another
quarter the turning, and by the combined action of the disk and subsoil device the
soil is effectually pulverized and left in such condition as to permit of absorption
of moisture to afford food nourishment to the plants and to prevent loss of fertile
soil by washing and erosion. The disk also serves as a corn-stalk cutter and
dispenses with the use of that implement.
The usual method of subsoiling is to follow the ordinary turning-plow with a
subsoil-plow, which loosens up the ground below the depth of cut of the preceding
plow; but with my improved combination of rotary disk and wedge-point, the
latter to insure penetration of the disk in the hardest ground both operations are
performed at one and the same time, the disk cutting and turning over the top
furrow and being held to its work by the subsoil device, which penetrates to a
greater depth, crumbling the furrow bottom and comminuting it so as to serve as
porous foundation for the mold or soil which is turned upon it by the disk in its
next furrow.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. In a disk-plow, the combination of the revolving disk adapted to inde-
pendently cut and turn a furrow, with the subsoil device arranged to penetrate and
loosen up the soil below the depth of cut of the disk, and adapted to draw the disk
into the soil and hold it down to its work, substantially as described.
2nd. lu a disk plow, the combination of the plow-beam, the rotary disk
arranged to revolve diagonally to the line of draft, and to independently cut and
turn a furrow, and the wedge-shaped shoe supported below the cutting edge of the
disk and having its toe extended under the disk, so as to loosen up the soil below
the depth of cut of the disk and to draw and hold the disk down to its work,
substantially as described.
3rd. A subsoil plow comprising a suitable beam, an independent revolving
furrow-cutting and turning disk arranged at an angle to said beam, and a wedge-
shaped subsoil device arranged below the cutting edge of the disk and adapted to
draw and hold the disk down to its work, substantially as described.
4th. A combined turn-plow and subsoiler comprising a suitable beam, a revolving
disk journaled in bearings at an angle to the line of draft, and adapted to inde-
pendently cut and turn a furrow, and a wedge-shaped shoe arranged below the
plane of the disk and having its toe extended underneath the disk; said shoe being
adapted to penetrate and loosen the soil below the depth of cut of the disk and at

page_text: GO TW and hold the aisk down to its work, substantially as
described.
6th. A combined turn-plow and subsoiler comprising a suitable beam, a revolving
disk journaled in bearings at an angle to the line of draft, and a vertically adjustable
wedge-shaped shoe arranged below the plane of the disk and having its toe extended
underneath the disk beyond its forward cutting edge; said shoe being adapted to
penetrate and loosen the soil below the depth of cut of the disk and at the same
time to draw and hold the disk down to its work, substantially as described.
6th. A combined turn-plow and subsoiler comprising a suitable beam, a revolving
disk carried by said beam so as to revolve at an angle to the line of draft, a
standard depending from said beam directly in rear of the revolving disk, and a
wedge-shaped shoe at the foot of said standard having its point extended under-
neath and below the disk beyond its forward cutting edge; said shoe being adapted
to hold the disk to its work and to loosen the soil below the depth of cut of the
disk, substantially as described.
7th. A disk-plow and subsoiler combined, comprising a sulky frame, a revolving
disk carried by said frame, and means for raising and lowering the disk so as to
gage the depth of penetration thereof, together with a wedge-shaped shoe depending
from the plow-beam or frame. in the rear of the disk and extending to a point
underneath the disk beyond its forward cutting edge; said shoe being adapted to
penetrate the earth and loosen up the soil below the depth of cut of the disk, and
to draw and hold the disk down to its work, substantially as described.
8th. In combination with the plow frame, or beam, the revolving disk journaled
in suitable bearings so as to revolve at an angle to the line of draft; said beam
carrying at its rear end a subsoil attachment consisting of a wedge-shaped shoe the
toe of which extends underneath and below the cutting edge of the disk; said shoe
being provided with a landside bar which extends rearwardly of the disk, whereby
the soil is loosened up below the depth of penetration of the disk and the disk held
down to its work while the plow is held parallel to the line of draft, substantially
as described..
9th. In combination with the arched plow-beam and the revolving disk carried
thereby underneath the arch, the subsoil device consisting of a wedge-shaped shoe
secured to the foot of a vertically adjustable standard arranged in rear of the disk
and having a landside portion to hold the plow in line and an elongated toe or point
extending underneath the disk so as to draw the latter down and hold it to its work,
substantially as described.
10th. A combined disk-plow and subsoiler comprising a suitable frame, a disk
journaled in bearings carried by said frame and arranged to revolve at an angle to
the line of draft, a standard secured to the plow-frame directly in the rear of the
disk, and a wedge-shaped shoe secured to the foot of said standard and having its
point extended forward of the axial line of the disk and below the lower edge
thereof; said shoe being provided with a land-side portion extending rearward of
the disk, whereby the disk is drawn down and held to its work and also held in the
line of draft, while the soil is loosened below the depth of cut of the disk,
substantially as described.
11th. In a disk-plow the plow-frame or beam proper and the disk-supporting
castings secured thereto, consisting of a pair of bowed or. arched pieces secured
together at both ends, one of said pieces having the arch thereof arranged in a
vertical plane parallel with the draft beam proper and the other in a horizontal
plane substantially at right angles to the vertical portion, and a revolving disk
journaled underneath the upper arch diagonally to the line of draft so that its
upper portion may revolve in the clearance provided by the bowed portions of the
castings, substantially as described.
12th. In combination with a plow-beam or frame proper, the disk-supporting
castings consisting of two arched or bowed portions secured together at their ends.
and having their united front ends secured to.said frame or draft beam proper; the

page_text: bow of one portion being horizontally arranged and the bow of the other portion
vertically arranged substantially at right angles to the horizontal portion, the latter
portion having a lateral perforated plate or flange projecting from its outer convex
surface, for the attachment thereto of the wheeled frame or beam, and the vertical
portion having at its rear end a recess for the attachment of the upright or standard
of a subsoil device; said castings being adapted to afford support for a disk adapted
to revolve with its upper portion arranged in the clearance provided by the bows
of the castings, substantially as described.
Dated this Eleventh day of December A.D. 1895.
STALEY DANE POOLE.
W. Lloyd Wise,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.