Antique Deere/Syracuse Plow ID Help (Hillside?Ditching?)

Hello! My family and I are having the HARDEST time identifying this John Deere implement. It looks like a ditching plow that throws both ways. The furrow can be widened or narrowed. It doesn't appear to function as a hillside plow but what do I know. I know that a walking plow like this is generally a horse or mule drawn implement, but considering the John Deere association, I'm hoping someone can help me. Images below.

The handle is marked, on one side, "MFD. FOR JOHN DEERE CO. SYRACUSE, NY." The other handle is stenciled, cryptically, "SHAWNEE" in quotations. There is no clear number on the beam. I believe it is a Syracuse Chilled Plow Company plow from 1911-1915, sold through John Deere dealers (my grandfather was a JD dealer in Maine) after the 1910 acquisition. It was stored in my barn with a Richardson MFG Co. steel tooth harrow nearly exactly the same size. Being essentially a Syracuse Chilled Plow design, I don't expect to find the normal beam numbers. There are other numbers though. Many parts are stamped marked with an E and three digits, like E597 or E515. There is also, on the back of the moldboard, a stenciled "SL-5715-E".

There is a good chance this is a display or demonstration model my grandfather had. He died in 1927, and the family had little to do with agriculture after he passed. We'd really like to identify the purpose of this implement, and the model number.

Don't you suppose it was built for JD by Shawnee? Whoever or whatever that was!
Looks like a hilling tool. Pulled between rows and pushes dirt up around potatoes, corn, beans, or whatever you want to hill up.
Since many things old are new again, now hills are called ridges.

Ditching plough for shallow surface drainage on flat or nearly flat land. Your plough is pristine, a bit of buffing and it's museum quality.

My guess is that those are shields, to keep leaves from getting snagged by the cultivator teeth, behind them.

Those teeth are on another implement, pictured here:



I was worried the harrow would make the photos confusing so I apologize because I knew better. 8) I think the hilling tool explanation from Bob makes the most sense because the moldboards can be extended and contracted to adjust the size of the furrow. This makes sense because, if you were going to run a plow down a row for this purpose you'd want to be able to adjust it to match the rows you wanted to hill over. Historically, beans and grain were the family crop. A lot of beans. We still have bushels of them here and there in storage.

I guess the "scalpel" behind the adjustable moldboards is to adjust the depth of the plow in order to control how much dirt you throw to the sides. It is adjustable and you'd definitely need it if you were running it over tilled soil else the plowshare dig to far in. Of course it is speculation.

I'm still interested in finding a date. And to respond to the comment about Shawnee, which was a tractor model around that time (1912ish?), I'm not sure that this has anything at all to do with those tractors although, who knows. Since this is marked Syracuse, I'm pretty sure it must be Syracuse Chilled Plow Co., who John Deere acquired for over a million dollars in 1910. Syracuse Plow made plows specific to gravelly east coast soil, where JD specialized in the mid-west. Syracuse continued making plows and other implements for John Deere in their original factory from 1910 to the later 30s/early 40s I believe.

The dates of the patents on the harrow are 1898, 1908, 1910, which fits with my thinking that this plow was constructed almost immediately after John Deere acquired Syracuse. Later models from Syracuse, that I've found, don't read "Manufactured for John Deere", but, rather, "John Deere."

I apologize for the length but it's nothing compared to the amount of time my brothers and father and I have sat around trying to solve the mystery of this strange implement.

And it is in really good shape. I haven't even dabbed the dirt of of it yet. It is still covered with nearly 100 years of dust.

Thanks for the comments and for anymore that may come in!

Bob is rite - It's not a plow = hiller for pototos and the like.
I fillowed one of those a lot when we grew a few acers if spuds.
You can take those blades or wings as we called them off to use the cultivater.

(quoted from post at 18:21:37 04/16/11) Bob is rite - It's not a plow = hiller for pototos and the like.
I fillowed one of those a lot when we grew a few acers if spuds.
You can take those blades or wings as we called them off to use the cultivater.

Click to expand...

The modern name for the implement would be a "ridging plow", I think? Is that right?

Your spike tooth cultivator looks like a nearly identical design. The lever apparently adjusts the width.

Your implements would be of interest to those reading the Ruralheritage.com website. Click on draft horse forum. Particularly to Sam Moore of Ohio who frequents the website and has lots of info on all kinds of implements such as yours.

Your implements would be of interest to those reading the Ruralheritage.com website. Click on draft horse forum. Particularly to Sam Moore of Ohio who frequents the website and has lots of info on all kinds of implements such as yours.

(quoted from post at 19:28:39 04/16/11) Your implements would be of interest to those reading the Ruralheritage.com website. Click on draft horse forum. Particularly to Sam Moore of Ohio who frequents the website and has lots of info on all kinds of implements such as yours.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice! I'm going to check it out now.

The "tooth" at the rear helps hold it in a straight line, prevent side to side movement.
The wheel at front, in combination with tug(trace) length controls the depth.
Willie

Look around and see if you do not find either 3 or 5 more shanks and shovels, Make either a 5 shovel or 7 shovel cultivator, laying around for that implement as with them the sheilds would have been taken off and the shanks put on for the first cultivation or more on any field or garden crop and after crops like potatoes or onions that need hilled up the shanks and shovels would have been taken off and those shields as called but actually hilling blades put on to hill those crops and one frame was used because it was cheaper to make that way than each unit seperate and therefore cheaper for the farmer to buy and as they had very limited barn room easier to store. Both those units would now have a very good market value in Amish area for garden use. Would have been pulled with 1 horse.

I guess you could call it that.
To me, it's still a hiller

That other cultivator in your photos is what we called a Spike-Tooth cult. The lever between the handles is to adjust the width.

Its on the same kinda frames as is my 5 schovel, AND my walking harrow. I have the same wheel with a handle going to it on my harrow, but not on my 5 schovel. The teeth on my harrow look like a regular harrow tooth not like the ones on your harrow on the upper left.