Old plow?

The Monk

Jr. Member
Oct 24, 2008
42
2
West Virginia
This is more of a 'when is it' than a what is it. I'm pretty sure these are parts from an old plow but I'm not sure of the age. Next to the plow I found a glass bottle from the mid 19th century. This was found in an wooded area I've been exploring for the last few years. I was hoping that maybe someone could help determine the age of the plow.
 

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Looks like what is left of a drill (planter)

The thing that is to the side is for raising and lowering it. Cant tell if is was for horses or a tractor........ Does it have a tongue of any kind?
 

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Thanks. I didn't manage to get a pic of it but there was a wheel with curved spokes. There were also two pieces that looked like this http://www.manufacturer.com/cimages/buyLeads/www.alibaba.com/0801/a/Plough_part_.jpg only a bit more primitive and rusty. About 100 feet away was the same plow part but the tip had broken off. My knowledge of farm equipment is extremely limited so I don't know what part the tongue would be.
 

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Not to worry. I was raised on a farm, and would have traded many days.........

Know more than I ever wanted!!!!!!
 

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I don't think it is a plow. Plows don't have gears and rotating shafts and you mentioned ans "S" wheel. Those were usually large pulleys. I think you have something much rarer than a common plow. It looks like the mechanical works from a very early reaper/binder. Tony
 

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I looked at the gears, too. planters had those, too. kept the seeds flowing evenly.
would like to see more pics, too. Not sure it was horse drawn.
 

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Here's a few more pics I took yesterday. Weather turned out to be nice enough to hike. There are pieces of this thing scattered over a twenty foot area.
 

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Might be a hay rake... Used to turn over hay, so it can dry on both sides........ Just looking at the curved tines for that clue
 

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I wonder if there's actually several pieces of equipment and this was the site of an old barn. This thing doesn't look like it fits the big reaper or planter or whatever it is.
 

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One more guess....... baler.... \But, that should have sheet metal around.

I agree. we are looking at multiple equipment.......

How far apart are the pieces?
 

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Some of the pieces are buried in the ground and I found them using my MPX but even those were no more than fifteen to twenty feet away. Another reason I think it might be a barn is that when I was leaving the site last evening I discovered what might be the remnants of a homestead about 50 feet from the machinery. There are bits of ceramic and glass on the ground and more than a few bricks. I looked at two topo maps of the area, one from 1932 and another from 1906 and neither of them show a homestead on the property. If I could figure out the approximate age of the farm equipment then I'd know a bit of what I could expect to pull from the ground.
 

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I've been pondering this one for a few days.

I kinda fall into the 'better not say anything and let people think you are a fool, rather than opening my mouth and confirming it" category.

First things first, it is not a plow. If it is, it will be the first plow of this type that I've ever seen.

I think the wheel with curved spokes in the last picture is not a regular ground wheel, but a flywheel from the side of this equipment. Take a look at the width of the wheel. This could have been a free motion flywheel to keep the machine going, or a drive belt wheel so that the equipment could be powered by belt from a tractor or other type of engine.

My gut instinct is that this is a type of harvesting equipment.

Could it be a husker-shredder?

A husker shredder would have had planetary gears as shown in pic #2.

A husker shredder would have had an adjustable depth mechanism as shown in picture #3.

A husker shredder would have had rotating cutting blades shown in picture #7, that is, if those belong to the equipment you are asking about.

What I can't figure, though, is the set of gears pictured in #4. Are those gears made to trip another mechanism, as in timing gears?

At any rate, lots of parts have been salvaged off of this equipment. As a side note, you could be looking at the last example of this brand and type of farm equipment anywhere in the world! (That doesn't mean that it is valuable.)
 

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FWIW, at first glance, all the bolts and nuts appear to be square headed.

I'm not sure when square head nuts and bolts fell out of use, in favor of today's hex headed nuts and bolts, but it should help you narrow down an age range of the equipment.
 

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