Home Page → Engines → Types of Traction Engine → Ploughing Engines
Cable ploughing engines were developed by John Fowler in the 1850's, Fowler went on to dominated ploughing engine production with over 95% English ploughing engines built by this one company.
Cable engines worked as a pair using rotating drums of wire rope under their boiler to pull and implement to and fro between them in a field. Direct ploughing was rarely used in the UK but was more common in North and South America. Ploughing engine were the largest type engines produced in quantity, weighing somewhere between 15 and 30 tons.
Ploughing engine production peaked before the start of the 20th century but enjoyed something of a revival with Government back food production programs during the First World War and a good number of these engines have survived into preservation.
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