The genius of pioneer inventors can confound us. Countless contraptions that revolutionized farming in the 19th and early 20th centuries have become contemporary curiosities, or even mysteries. Here are three found last month at Pioneer Park Days in Zolfo Springs, Fla. Do you know what they are?
Last month’s mystery tools
A. Identified as a Shear Sharpener. Owner is James F. Brown of Crozet, Va. The shear blade is clamped down and as the crank is rotated, the blade oscillates back and forth on the disc and is sharpened against an abrasive surface.- Identifications from Virgil Cassill of Drakesville, Iowa, and Wally Harris of Americus, Kan.
B. & C. A Sharpies cream separator and a wire winder. Owner is James M. Monroe of Culpeper, Va. Tom Sharpies of Junction City, Ore., identified the separator. His father, P.M. Sharpies, founded and owned Sharpies Separator Co., West Chester, Pa. This tubular separator was manufactured in about 1928. Arlan Beyer of Lamberton, Minn., and Carl Bellows of Newell, Iowa, identified the wire winder or reel, used for rolling up barbed wire. It mounts on the side of a tractor and runs with a belt from the tractor pulley.
HOW TO SEND
‘What-is-it? ‘photos and/or identifications to Farm Collector:
Regular mail: Farm Collector, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609;
E-mail: editor@farmcollector.com. For digital photos, adjust ‘image size’ to ‘full,’ ‘3:2’ or ‘UXGA.’ Adjust ‘image quality’ to ‘hi’ or ‘fine.’ For scanned photos, use ‘300 dpi’; send ‘jpeg.’
