2 Antique 1900s South Bend (IN) Steel Plow Farmer's Notebook & Frog Trade Card

Description

John Deere is generally given credit for inventing the steel plow, but it was a South Bend, Indiana, resident, James Oliver, who perfected it in 1857. Instead of assembling the plow from pieces of steel, Oliver molded his plow as a single unit and then plunged it into cold water, a technique known as tempering. By chilling his plow, it made it stronger and slipperier so that the sticky Indiana prairie sod would slip right off. Soon Deere was making his plows the same way, and Oliver became a millionaire many times over. His South Bend Iron Works eventually became the Oliver Chilled Steel Plow Co., which continued well into the 20th century.
He was not without competition in however, and not just from Deere. One of his colleagues, a T.M. Bissell, split off from Oliver in 1871 and formed the T.M. Bissell Chilled Plow Co. in South Bend, perhaps with technology "borrowed" from Oliver. The Economist Plow Co. started in South Bend in 1875, and at least one of its investors had previously worked for the Singer Sewing Machine Co., iron and steel technology not totally dissimilar from plows. Along with the South Bend Steel Plow Works, the city sported at least four plow companies in the 1890s. All were eventually merged in the early 20th century, but for a time South Bend, not Moline, IL, was the steel plow center of the universe.
Both items here are in excellent condition. The Economist Plow Co. notebook was meant for farmers to take notes about their crops and farm. This book is hand stitched and measures 5 x 2.5 inches (13 x 6.5 cm) and its 8 lined pages are clean except for a penciled price put in it by a previous antique dealer. The Bissell frog trade card (the frogs don't seem to be doing anything related to farming as far as we can tell) measures 4.5 x 3 inches (11.5 x 7.5 cm). All of the corners on the notebook are crisp and sharp, including the pages. Two corners of the frog card are folded slightly and the other two corners and slightly rounded. Perfect item for collectors of early farm implements, Oliver afectionadoes, South Bend historians, or as outstanding framed bits for country or shabby chic decor. Shipped free in the US. Look for agricultural and other collectibles at
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EF68001