Book Description
Excerpt from American Agricultural Implements, Vol. 1 of 2: A Review of Invention and Development in the Agricultural Implement Industry of the United States It was a plow with a mouldboard made of old saws that John Deere, then a blacksmith, built in 1837, after he had come west and settled in Grand Detour, III. The success of the first two which he made led him to build a considerable number, for which he found a ready sale. This again inspired him to higher efforts, and he ordered from abroad the steel which could not be obtained in this country in the quantity or quality he desired, and went still further in his improvements. The first slab of plow steel ever rolled in the United States was rolled by Wm. Woods at the steel works of Jones 81 Quigg and shipped to John Deere in Moline, Ill says James M. Swank, in his History of Iron and Steel III All Ages. Mr. Deere removed to Moline from Grand Detour in 1847 and founded the business which is now carried on, perpetuating his name. His partner at Grand Detour, Major Andrus, continued at that place until later years. Wm. Parlin, another pioneer in the days when the Illinois prairies were settled and broken, worked in much the same way, beginning in 1842, and laid the foundation for what is claimed to be the oldest permanent steel plow factory in the west. Many other names could be mentioned of men, who, with the blacksmith's hammer and sledge, brought forth in limited num bers what was then the most important of all agricultural implements. But few patents have been issued affecting the form or general appear ance of the steel plow, which has always been made on simpler lines than the chilled plow. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.