Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1910-12-03
A PATENT PINE CONE sHHLLER

| EDITOR CHRoSICLE:-
Since the establishment of Forest Re
serves in this country, the squirrel has
become an important individual. A,
first regarded with suspicion as the prox'
innate cause Of the destruction Of the
forests through his fondness for wood
peckers eggs, he was the object of mer,
ciless war Of determination, but in spite
Of that he managed to survive in con.
siderable numbers, and later, when the
authorities sought to enlarge the forests
by planting pine trees, he rendered good
service by collecting pine cones for them
much more readily than they could
have done it for themselves. or course
the squirrels were not collecting cones
for the benefit of the foresters, but for
their own domestic use, but whatever
the object, the squirrel rendered valua-
BILE aid when it came to collecting pine
cones, and it seems that he will now
render further assistance in the separa-
ton of the seed from the cones.
The problem of separating seed from
the cones proved in practice to be a
more difficult one than was anticipated.
The squirrels had this part of the work
down pat, and it was through observa-
ton of their methods that a plan was
evolved which promises a satisfactory
solution of the difficulty. 1t was while
watching squirrel extract the seed from
cone that Steve Ainslie, of this town,
invented plan which will overcome
all difficulties in the operation. Steve
has made separator on a small scale
which works perfectly, and is now
working on the plans for a pine seed
separator for commercial use.
In his first experiments be employed
a small cage in which was a squirrel and
a supply of pine cones; the bottom of
the cage consisted of a grating suffi-
ciently coarse to allow of the shelled
seeds passing through. The squirrel
would get busy on a cone and proceed
to shell out the seeds; after he had got
the cone seeded, he would stop to eat
the seeds he had sheled out, but of
course the seeds had dropped through
the grating and the poor squirrel would
look for the result of his labor with
something like the air of defeated can
didate reading the election returns.
Then he would start in on another cone,
with the same result, and finally would
give the job up in disgust In order to
induce him to continue at work Steve
found it was necessary to allow few
seeds to remain on the screen for the
squirrel to eat, and then he did not seem
to realize that he was short on results,
but would continue to shell out seeds.
The present plans contemplate the
erection in Custer of l00-squirrel-power
shelter, in which the seeds as they are
detached from the cones fall through a
grating onto a conveyor belt and are
carried to machine which separates the
hulls from the seeds by a winnowing
process; the seeds being winged, are
easily separated from the husks in this
manner. In order to furnish the squir-
rels with the needed enthusiasm to
continue their work, the conveyor is
arranged to stop at definite intervals for
short time to allow the squirrels to eat
few of the seeds. OF course there is a
small loss in this, but it does not amount
to over fraction of one per cent of the
seed, and it is more than counterbal-
anced by the efficiency with which the
squirrels do their work.
There will soon be demand for live,
active squirrels and the boys will be
able to make some money catching
squirrels for the seed plant. The for
esters will probably offer to take live
squirrels at price that will make their
capture profitable to the squirrel hunt
ers.
1t has been found that the cobs of the
pine cones make good kindling for fires,
and Mr.. Ainslie is now working on a
plan to utilize the husks for new vari-
ETY. of breakfast food. Application for
patent has been recently made, covering
the process and machinery, and the
squirrels.
HARRY WAY.