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‘Bratten’ Road Plough

Photograph courtesy TSA.

A two-wheel plough built to be drawn by a tractor. A patent was issued for this model on the 6 March 1939. Restored by the Highways Department Northfield Heritage Branch in the 1980s, this road plough is one of many used between the 1940s and 1970s across South Australia to create smoother roadways. Measuring 2.8 x 1.7 x 1.75 m, the plough was manufactured by E.E. Excell & Sons of Tumby Bay in the early 1940s.

This plough was named after a District Council of Tumby Bay Overseer, Robert Bratten, who in 1929 devised a method of road construction in answer to the extreme conditions of limestone rock in the area. Prior to 1927-28 all road ploughs, graders and rollers were horse drawn, but the use of tractors had begun and the need for sturdier ploughs became clear. According to Alex Excell of Tumby Bay many an operator ‘suffered horrible bruises’ when caught between the handles of his falling plough as the tractor continued on after hitting rocks.

Photograph courtesy TSA.

Tumby Bay Overseer, Robert Bratten (left) with Inspector of Roads, William Ayling.

Excell & Sons devised a method of preventing the plough falling by using steel brackets to fasten a log to the plough. This worked moderately well. However, on advice from Robert Bratten it was decided controlling the depth of ploughing would help. Another rack and lever alleviated the time consuming task of adjusting the plates. The blacksmith, using different sizes depending on the type of soil to be ripped up, would replace the cutting blade or ‘tyne’ on the plough as needed.

Dispute over an earlier patent on a road plough resulted in Excell & Sons constructing an even stronger plough with a new ‘head’ and independent wheels to compensate for the use of more powerful tractors.

Gradually better steels became available, and by the 1950s crawler tractors with mounted rippers operated by hydraulic controls quickened the pace of road making. During this period the addition of other road materials was also used to level the surfaces.

Photograph courtesy Excell Blacksmith and Engineering Museum.

The first ‘Bratten’ plough patented by E.E. Excell & Sons and A. Carr, exhibited at the Excell Blacksmith and Engineering Museum in Tumby Bay, S.A.

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