Having had a number of tools recently donated to the gardening team, one in particular has caused great interest. An unusual looking tool, but what is it? Its use was uncovered by Ady, a hand cultivator, the bladed wheels are pushed through the soil in a back and forth motion, breaking up the soil and pulling up weeds as it rotates. Looking closer at the tool, an imprint on the shaft shows it is actually called a Spintiller Cultivator, patent New Zealand. The Spintiller was invented by John Michael McCoomb in the 1970's and from the patent info it states:
"A cultivating implement having freely rotatable tine members mounted on axles set at an angle other than normal to the direction of travel of the implement over the ground, the tine members comprising a plurality of forwardly arcuately curved tines having chisel shaped tips which produce sideways cutting action through the soil as the implement is moved over the ground"
An interesting tool that has caused great interest and has quickly become a favourite among the team.
I have a couple of these - a two-row, as in your picture, and a four-row version. The are, unusually for a "garden gadget", quite efficient devices. I bought mine in the UK in the late 1980s.
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone is interested, my company has just re-introduced the Original Spintiller back into the market. You can visit our website at www.spintiller.com. We will be offering shipping to the UK in the coming months.
ReplyDeletewonderful little tool.....lomg handle which enasbles the user to reach out of the way places
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