Coulter (agriculture)
A coulter or colter is a vertically mounted component of many plows that cuts an edge about 7 inches (18 cm) deep ahead of a plowshare.[1] Its most effective depth is determined by soil conditions.[2]
Contents
History
Its earliest design consisted of a knife-like blade.[3][1] Coulters with a flat rotating disc began being used c. 1900.[4][1] Its advantage was a smoothly cut bank, and it sliced plant debris to the width of the furrow.[2]
Results
In his 1844 book, Henry Stephens used dynamometer measurements to conclude that a plow without a coulter took about the same amount of force to pull but using a coulter resulted in a much cleaner result.[1] It softens the soil, allowing the plow to undercut the furrow made by the coulter.[1]
Jointer
A rolling coulter has an optional accessory called a "jointer".[2] The jointer flips over a small part of the surface on top of the slice before the plowshare flips the main slice.[2] It ensures that all of the plant debris gets covered by the flipped slice.[2]
References
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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