Cotton cultivatorIn 1874, an “Improvement in Cotton-Cultivators” was issued a U.S. patent for its black American inventor, Edward H. Sutton, of Edenton, north Carolina (No. 149,543). A horizontal beam, mounted on wheels, had a harness coupling at the front, and carried three blades. Teeth on the forward blade were intended to loosen and pulverise the soil, followed by two blades to cut weeds. The middle of the three blades was arranged to “be rotated in such a manner as to cut the weeds or thin out the growing cotton which is beyond the reach of the stationary blade” at the back. Adjustment of the middle blade was made using a spring-loaded lever attached from to one of the operator's handles behind the plough. The short patent application was made on 10 Feb 1874, and issued less than two months later.«[Image: detail from patent drawing, showing blades.] |
