The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-08-04
NOW HARVESTED BY MACHINERY
One of the Hardest Features Of Corn Rais-
ing Eliminated by New Machinery.

One of the Hardest Features of Corn Rails
ing Eliminated by New Machinery.
A perfected type of corn harvesting
machine which does the work of from
fourteen to over twenty men is now on
the Owosso market and is daily proving
it's value. 1t was the privilege of a
representative of The TIMES in COM
pany with a few others to witness the
work of one of these new machines
Monday in heavy green corn, seven to
nine feet in height. The machine is the
Mccormick vertical corn binder, and
the one observed Monday is the first
one put out this season, sold by Grove
& Payne to Mr.. Mason Getman for use
on the farm owned by Mrs. L. A.
Partridge, commonly called the Get
man farm, north of the city.
Some fifteen acres of drilled corn in
rows about two feet apart are now be-
ing cut, ton or two at time, and
taken to the barn where it is run
through feed cutter and dropped into
the basement below to be used to sup
plement the pasture in feeding the
thirty-eight COWS now being MIXED on
the farm. Through these circumstan-
ces which make considerable work
necessary in cutting corn for feed,
Grove & Payne have been most fortu-
nate in getting one of the improved Nc
Cormick upright corn harvesters into
practical operation fully month be-
fore the regular corn harvest begins.
In general appearance the machine is
considerably smaller than reaper and
binder, and seems to be remarkably
compact and strong The width is
scarcely greater than that of mower
without the cutting bar, and the knives
are between the lines of the wheels.
The team and machine is driven on the
left of the row of corn to be cut, the off
horse brushing against the row and
the right wheel of the machine, passing
between the row of stumps just cut
some two feet ahead of it, and the
standing row of corn to the right.
However, there is. no side draft from
this arrangement since the left wheel
alone is the driving wheel, doing all the
work of running the machine, and
hence shifting the draft practically in
line with itself and directly behind the
horses in the line in which they are 60
ing. The driver sits at the left and in
front of the large wheel.
One of the principal features of the
machine is the two long elevator
prongs running up from near the
ground at the front at an angle of about
forty-five degrees to a height OF six or
seven feet in the back. The points OF
these prongs pass on either side of the
row of corn to be cut and are capable
of being raised or lowered instantly to
accommodate the machine to the con
dition of the corn. At the lowest point
it will pick up any corn no matter how
badly lodged. An endless chain with
long teeth, on either prong keep the
stalks standing in an upright position
until they reach the knives, two '
haped stationary knives with single
cutting knife plying between them
Just as they get to the knives the stalks
are seized by the teeth of four more
chains, two above and the others below
the longest ones, and the six carry
them back parallel to each other and in
perpendicular, position along the
trough to the floor on which they stanc
to be tied into bundles, after being
firmly pressed together by the packing
fingers.
The floor on which the stalks stant
and the trough leading to it have 8
patented device which adds wonder
fully to the usefulness of the machine
as by lever within easy reach of the
driver it is instantly elevated or de-
pressed to accommodate itself to high
or very low corn, the latter of which
could not be bound securely but for this
arrangement. After being bound the
bundle falls into carrier which holds
three bundles and is then tripped by q
lever operated by the foot of the driver
Another great advantage of the floor
and the upright position of stalks il
that by this method the butts of the
stalks are all even when tied up and the
bundle thereby is made easy to handle
and easy to stand up.
The amount of corn that can be cut
varies with circumstances, Of course
but seven acres for a man with team
of two horses is a low estimate, which
under favorable conditions, should be
raised to ten or more acres. ANY
farmer who knows the average amour,
of land gotten over by the ordinary
farm hand can easily see where he car
save largely on his corn harvest beside.
getting it cut early enough to draw in to
his barnyard before the fall rains make
his fields almost impossible.
To say that the above machine now
/ Il, oparation IN tho Gatuap farm, ;o m ,