Enclosed is a picture of a stone picker.
It is the size of a large manure spreader and was originally horse drawn but we used a tractor on it. It picked up the stone on forks, working much like a potato digger, and dropped them into the wagon part, which had a double-lengthwise trap door that dropped the stones in a heap by pulling on a rope.
Of course you would pull it to an area where you planned to lay up a stone wall. A heavy iron roller on the back smoothed the ground back down after the tines pulled up the stones. I believe the back end could also be raised or lowered to dig in deeper or shallower to pick the rocks.
We used the stone picker on our farm when we had cows and planted corn and oats. I want to sell it now since I am not actively farming but I can’t find any information on it anywhere. I tried the Internet, historical societies and the U.S. Patent Office, but I have no patent numbers – it just says patents pending USA and foreign.
There is a plate on it that says “Fastpick Stonepicker Model C Serial Number 839 Coastal Machine Works Bridgeport, Conn.” It has a hand-operated hydraulic pump on the front by Blackhawk Mfg. of Milwaukee, Wis. I would like to know its value. Everyone who looks at it says, “I’ve never seen something like that.” Surely someone has. There had to be at least 838 others made and sold.
Rose Hoover
