Hi again Bill!
Looking at the 2 videos again, and at the way the dirt is thrown, and especially noticing the position of the rollers keeping the belts tightened, indicates to me that the Kreiselpflug is rotating clockwise just like the Berta rotary plow. One might be in doubt looking at the videos, but I guess that is an optical illusion caused by the video camera.
The Kreiselpflug might have been ahead of its time, but it might also simply have been an "overdesigned" and complicated plow, compared to a more conventional one.
I have no hands-on experience with the Kreiselpflug myself, but having studied the information I have been able to find in German, seems to indicate that it had a few advantages and maybe even more disadvantages, making it the right tool for very few, but not for the majority of potential users.
Some advantages are:
- Plowing and tilling in one operation
- Needs lees traction from the tractor
- Seed bed ready in one pass
- Works well on light and sandy soil
Some disadvantages are:
- Less acres per hour for the invested horse power
- Needs more horse power in total than a conventional plow (min. 75 HP for the 2-furrow version)
- An uneven "tilling" that later leads to stripes in the field
- No major advantages to other PTO-driven attachments, like say tillers
- Risk of over-pulverizing the soil
- Difficulties powering the 3th drum
- Difficulties working in heavy clayey soil
- More expensive than a conventional plow
- No reversible version available
- Sensitive to rocks and stones
- Low working speed
As on a conventional plow, the Kreiselpflug has a plowshare but only a very short moldboard, just able to lift the soil, but not able to turn it over like a conventional moldboard does. After the lifted soil leaves the moldboard, it is then crumbled by the evolving drum and thrown to the right. A sort of a conventional plow combined with a vertical tiller!
You might be right, that mowing the stationary plow section forward would prevent larger stones from getting jammed, but that would probably compromise the whole idea of the plow, as the drum needs to follow close behind the moldboard to till the soil while it is lifted. I have the feeling, that the problem rather was caused by smaller stones that got trapped between the "wings" on the drum itself.
Perhaps the Kreiselpflug was simply a plow trying to answer a question never asked?
Best regards
Jens
Looking at the 2 videos again, and at the way the dirt is thrown, and especially noticing the position of the rollers keeping the belts tightened, indicates to me that the Kreiselpflug is rotating clockwise just like the Berta rotary plow. One might be in doubt looking at the videos, but I guess that is an optical illusion caused by the video camera.
The Kreiselpflug might have been ahead of its time, but it might also simply have been an "overdesigned" and complicated plow, compared to a more conventional one.
I have no hands-on experience with the Kreiselpflug myself, but having studied the information I have been able to find in German, seems to indicate that it had a few advantages and maybe even more disadvantages, making it the right tool for very few, but not for the majority of potential users.
Some advantages are:
- Plowing and tilling in one operation
- Needs lees traction from the tractor
- Seed bed ready in one pass
- Works well on light and sandy soil
Some disadvantages are:
- Less acres per hour for the invested horse power
- Needs more horse power in total than a conventional plow (min. 75 HP for the 2-furrow version)
- An uneven "tilling" that later leads to stripes in the field
- No major advantages to other PTO-driven attachments, like say tillers
- Risk of over-pulverizing the soil
- Difficulties powering the 3th drum
- Difficulties working in heavy clayey soil
- More expensive than a conventional plow
- No reversible version available
- Sensitive to rocks and stones
- Low working speed
As on a conventional plow, the Kreiselpflug has a plowshare but only a very short moldboard, just able to lift the soil, but not able to turn it over like a conventional moldboard does. After the lifted soil leaves the moldboard, it is then crumbled by the evolving drum and thrown to the right. A sort of a conventional plow combined with a vertical tiller!
You might be right, that mowing the stationary plow section forward would prevent larger stones from getting jammed, but that would probably compromise the whole idea of the plow, as the drum needs to follow close behind the moldboard to till the soil while it is lifted. I have the feeling, that the problem rather was caused by smaller stones that got trapped between the "wings" on the drum itself.
Perhaps the Kreiselpflug was simply a plow trying to answer a question never asked?
Best regards
Jens