DRILLIN’ DOWN - THE ROTARY SNOW PLOW
Considering this year’s harsh winter in the U.S., readers will find the March Machine of the Month exceptionally relevant. Meet the rotary snow plow: vanquisher of snow banks, enemy of ski slopes, able to wipe out Iceland in a single bound!
In truth, the rotary snow plow as we know it today is a machine used to remove snow from railroad tracks. J.W Elliot, a Toronto dentist, designed the first rotary plow in 1869. Take one look, and there’s no surprise that a dentist would imagine such an ominously dangerous looking piece of equipment.
Elliot’s design inspired another Canadian, Orange Jull, to improve on the idea. “It was either this or keep trying to sell my frothy orange drink to ice cream stores,” he once said. Jull created the blueprints for the first successful construction of a rotary snow plow, built by the Leslie Brothers, in 1884.
The Leslie Brothers bought the rights to manufacture the rotary plow and opened up a business selling “Leslie type” rotaries. This is the type of plow most people think of when you say “rotary.” (As opposed to Rotary Club, which many people think is a man’s excuse to get plowed with his buddies.) It is comprised of a large circular plow blade which rotates on a rod parallel to the railroad tracks.
The rotary wheel is powered by a steam engine that enables the snow clearing device to reach 60 RPM. It boasts multiple shovel devices that scoop up snow as the wheel spins and uses centrifugal force to shoot the snow off to both sides of the track, clearing the rails. The engine that powers the wheel does not propel it forward, and locomotive engines must be used to drive the rotary plow through the embankments and along the track.
Curiously, though the rotary snow plow was conceived, designed, and manufactured in Canada, it was primarily used in America, as Canadians found no practical applications for a large snow removal machine. This is evident by the sale of all 64 Leslie Brothers plows to the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1903.
The 64 rotary plows were dispatched to various snow-prone areas in the American Northwest where they were able to clear supply paths in mountain ranges including the Cascades in Washington State and the Colorado Rockies. These innovative machines enabled outfits like the Union Pacific Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to deliver crucial supplies that aided in the development of the West. Year-round train service also ensured that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had enough money to gamble all winter long.
There were several inventors who wanted to get in on the lucrative snow-plow-attached-to-a-train business. Good ol’ Orange Jull, obviously feeling he missed the boat the first time, stole another idea from a dentist and developed a giant drill/screw device to compete with the Leslies. Just 11 Jull Centrifugal Snow Excavators were produced – but were a major flop. Two other companies also decided to manufacture and sell their own snow screws. Those also failed. Part of the problem for these newcomers was the fact that the rotary snow plow worked, and there are only so many mountainous railroads in the U.S. that need to be plowed.
Perhaps the most famous rotary snow plow was employed at the White Pass/ Yukon Railroad in Alaska. Not only was this rotary plow a whiz at clearing snow, it is an American hero as well. During World War II, the rotary snow plow was responsible for clearing the path for munitions and arms supplies to reach Alaska. These secret missions were a great help to the American effort in the war, and it was rumored that the rotary plow had the capability to scoop 60 Germans per minute and propel them to either side of the track. Unfortunately, the plow never got the chance to see action, but some say the fear of going up against a rotary snow plow curtailed any German ambitions to invade Alaska.
Upon learning of the success of the rotary plow and its ability to clear massive amounts of snow, President Obama recently formed an exploratory committee to see if the plow could be attached to metro trains in Washington, D.C. To ensure that infrastructure budget isn’t spent rashly on a freak occurrence, Michelle Obama has pledged to convert the plow in the spring and use it to till the soil in the White House garden. Well, either that or a root canal.