Country
blacksmiths made ploughs only on order and few had patterns. Such
ploughs could turn a furrow in soft ground if the oxen were
strong enough--but the friction was so great that three men and
four or six oxen were required to turn a furrow where the sod was
tough.
* "History of the United States", vol. I, p. 16.
Thomas Jefferson had worked out very elaborately the proper
curves of the moldboard, and several models had been constructed
for him. He was, however, interested in too many things ever to
follow any one to the end, and his work seems to have had little
publicity. The first real inventor of a practicable plough was
Charles Newbold, of Burlington County, New Jersey, to whom a
patent for a cast-iron plough was issued in June, 1797. But the
farmers would have none of it. They said it "poisoned the soil"
and fostered the growth of weeds. One David Peacock received a
patent in 1807, and two others later. Newbold sued Peacock for
infringement and recovered damages. Pieces of Newbold's original
plough are in the museum of the New York Agricultural Society at
Albany.
Another inventor of ploughs was Jethro Wood, a blacksmith of
Scipio, New York, who received two patents, one in 1814 and the
other in 1819. His plough was of cast iron, but in three parts,
so that a broken part might be renewed without purchasing an
entire plough.
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