Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 79

INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS
John Deere
HORSE‐DRAWN PLOW

If you have ever been to the country, you have undoubtedly either seen a hat with his name on it or been stuck driving behind one of the behemoth tractors named after him. John Deere is his name‚ and the self‐polishing cast steel plow is his invention.

John Deere was born in Rutland, Vermont‚ on February 7, 1804. He lived in Middlebury, Vermont‚ for a good portion of his life. In 1825, after serving a four‐year apprenticeship, Deere started working as a blacksmith, producing hay forks and shovels, among other implements. He was so good that he soon gained significant fame in the area for his careful workmanship and ingenuity. During the Great Depression of the 1830s, things were not good for Deere or the people of Vermont. Many people decided to move out west, and they sent back stories of “golden opportunities.” After hearing these stories, Deere decided to abandon his business in Vermont and he moved to Grand Detour, Illinois, which was settled by other natives of Vermont. He brought with him a small amount of cash and his tools, which was fortunate because the town needed a blacksmith. Two days after his arrival he had already set up a shop, built a forge, and was busy working. His family then followed him to Grand Detour.

Deere became busy working in his new shop shoeing horses and oxen, and making and repairing farm equipment. From repairing farm equipment, Deere discovered that the rich, fertile soil of the Midwest prairie would stick to the plow bottoms. Plows designed for the light, sandy New England soil could not handle cutting and turning the Midwest soil. Farming in the Midwest became a slow, labor‐intensive task, and many farmers considered moving further west or back east.

Deere thought about this problem, and decided if he made a plow that was highly polished and shaped in the right way, it would scour itself and the prairie soil would not stick to the plow. Deere, with help from his partner, Major Leonard Andrus, made a plow to these specifications in 1837. The cutting part of this plow was constructed of steel, cut from an old sawmill blade and shaped by bending the blade over a log. The moldboard, used for lifting and turning the soil, was made of wrought iron and polished on the upper surface to prevent clogging. The plows were successfully tested on a farm near Grand Detour.

His new plow was very successful‚ and Deere, instead of making them as they were ordered, would produce a supply of plows and go out into the country and sell them. This approach was completely different from previous farm implement sales methods, and word quickly spread of Deere’s “self‐polishers.”

Deere encountered a few problems, however. Living in the frontier, there were few banks, poor transportation, and a scarcity of steel. Deere’s first plows were made from any steel he could find. In 1843, Deere ordered a shipment of specially rolled steel from England. This shipment had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, go up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and go forty miles in a wagon to reach Deere’s shop in Grand Detour. In 1846, cast steel plows rolled in Pittsburgh and shipped to Moline, Illinois‚ solved this problem.

The Deere plow was so successful that by 1846, Deere and his partner were selling one thousand plows a year. Deere decided to sell his interest in the Grand Detour business to his partner, Leonard Andrus. He then organized a plow company in Moline, Illinois‚ in 1848, taking advantage of the water energy and transportation provided by the Mississippi River. He began experimenting with imported English steel, and had a cast steel plow made for him in Pittsburgh. By 1855, he was selling more than 13,000 such plows a year. He obtained his first patent for a walk‐behind, horse‐drawn plow in 1865, Patent No. 46,454.