Coulter

A coulter is a blade used in plowing or seedbed preparation. It is mounted in front of the plowshare and is designed to cut through soil, crop residue, and weeds before the main cutting edge engages. This front cut helps reduce soil clogging, improves penetration, and produces a cleaner furrow. Coulters are common in various plowing systems, including row crops and conservation tillage, and may be rigid or spring-loaded to match soil conditions.

Coulter is also a surname. Notable people include Ann Coulter, an American conservative commentator and author, and Wallace H. Coulter, an American engineer who invented the Coulter counter, a device for counting and sizing microscopic particles in fluids by electrical impedance. The Coulter counter revolutionized hematology and led to the formation of Coulter Corporation, later merged into Beckman Coulter, a major provider of laboratory instrumentation. The name appears in other contexts such as company names and products derived from the original inventor's work.