Richard Bowyer Smith
{{short description|Australian engineer}}
{{More footnotes|date=October 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Richard Bowyer Smith
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1837|09|02}}
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1919|02|04|1837|09|02}}
| death_place = Subiaco, Western Australia
| nationality = Australian
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| parents = Smith Owen Smith (1807–1890) and Mary Ann Smith (nee Lee)
| spouse = Margaret Hunter Smith (nee Smith) (1843–1915)
| resting_place = Karrakatta Cemetery"Australia Deaths and Burials, 1816–1980", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTHV-VZC : 12 December 2014), Richard Boyer Smith in entry for Margaret Hunter Smith, 5 Feb 1915; citing reference I12 P7; FHL microfilm 1,669,302.
}}
Richard Bowyer Smith (2 September 1837 in London, England – 4 February 1919 in Subiaco, Western Australia) was an Australian inventor.
Career
Smith migrated from London to South Australia with his parents Owen and Mary Ann Smith (née Lee), arriving on 15 May 1838.
He is reported to have served an apprenticeship as a wheelwright with J. G. Ramsay & Co. of Strathalbyn, South Australia.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47541212 |title=Stump-Jumping Plough |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=5 March 1934 |accessdate=22 June 2015 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Under Smith's direction, his brother Clarence Herbert Smith created the first stump-jump plough, entitled the Vixen, in 1876. The South Australian government had offered a reward of £200 to anyone who could develop an effective mechanical stump puller, due to the difficulties farmers encountered on newly cleared land.
The plough consisted of a number (originally three) of hinged shares: when any blade encountered an underground obstacle, it would rise out of the ground. Attached weights forced the blade back into the ground after the root was passed, allowing as much of the ground to be furrowed as possible. Although a little unorthodox, it proved remarkably effective, and was dubbed the "stump-jump" plough.
Smith took out a patent in 1877 for the design, but allowed it to lapse, though one report has him selling the patent rights to Mellor Brothers.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59636007 |title=Concerning People |newspaper=The Register |volume=LXXXI |issue=21,631 |location=Adelaide |date=8 March 1916 |accessdate=29 September 2017 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} R. B. Smith was later credited as the inventor of the design by the Parliament of South Australia in 1882, despite controversy over the claim, and was awarded £500. He relocated to Western Australia in 1884, where he demonstrated and marketed the plough with little sales success and minimal profits. His brother made parts for the plough in South Australia.
R. B., dubbed "Stump Jump" Smith, was manager of the Freemasons Hotel{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201862473 |title=The Frank Lodge Journal |newspaper=The Beverley Times |volume=57 |issue=36 |location=Western Australia |date=7 September 1962 |access-date=2 January 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} in Beverley, Western Australia from 1893 to 1895, and the Railway Refreshment Rooms between 1895 and 1899. He then leased {{convert|181.5|acre|km2}} of farmland at Beverley, where he resumed his passion for creating agricultural tools. He opened a workshop in the Perth suburb of Highgate in 1912, having relinquished his lease of the land.
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{cite book
|last = D. W.
|first = Meinig
|title = On the Margins of the Good Earth
|year = 1972
|publisher = Rigby
|location = Adelaide, South Australia
|isbn = 0-85179-046-1
}}
- {{cite book
|last = Neumann
|first = Beryl
|title = The Smith brothers and the stump jump plough
|year = 1986
|publisher = National Trust of South Australia
|location = Maitland, South Australia
}}
- {{cite web
|url = http://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au:1083/record=1001633
|title = State Library of South Australia Archival database
|accessdate = 28 August 2007
|publisher = State Library of South Australia
}}
- {{cite web
|url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/AS10443b.htm
|title = Smith, Richard Bowyer (1837 - 1919)
|accessdate = 28 August 2007
|author = André, Roger
|publisher = Australian Dictionary of Biography
}}
- {{cite web
|url = http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/smith.htm
|title = The Smith Brothers
|accessdate = 28 August 2007
|publisher = Flinders Ranges Research
}}
- {{cite web
|url = http://apc-online.com/twa/history2.html
|title = Tomorrow's World, the Australian Initiative: Early Innovations in Agriculture
|accessdate = 28 August 2007
|publisher = Associated Publishing Corporation
}}
- {{cite web
|url = http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/exhibitions/treasures/plough.htm
|title = Treasures of the State Library: Stump Jump Plough
|accessdate = 28 August 2007
|publisher = State Library of South Australia
}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Richard Bowyer}}
Category:19th-century Australian inventors