3-003-711 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Implement-yard at the Royal Society's Show at Leeds, 1861. The judges' verdict '...was unanimously in favour of Fowler's [steam-cultivator]..."It is in ploughing and digging", says a well-known authority, "that Mr. Fowler is so pre-eminent. With his Cotgreave mould-boards he throws over the soil as completely as if it was done with spade husbandry." Many an order for his £800 engine and big tackle was booked by him in the course of the fortnight; and in fact, there was a hardly a stall on the ground which did not drive a brisk trade. They had everything to show, from the four-ton steam-mole down to the poppy extirpator, and horse-hoe with revolving brushes...Tuxford's new steam-road locomotive on three wheels, the third being a propelling roller, driven by spur gear from the engine crank-shaft, and the other two wheels for steering, was one of the most remarkable new inventions in the yard, and likely to come into general used for drawing combined machines from field to field. Seven miscellaneous medals were also awarded, and amongst others, to Wilkinson, Wright, and Co. for a straw-elevator, and to R. and J. Reeves for a patent thistle-destroyer'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.