What-Is-It?

By Farm Collector Staff
Published on November 1, 2005
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Above: Rim tool, patented by E.T. Rushton for Hercules Products Co., St. Joseph, Mich., March 5, 1929. Patent no. 1,704,628.
Above: Rim tool, patented by E.T. Rushton for Hercules Products Co., St. Joseph, Mich., March 5, 1929. Patent no. 1,704,628.
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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 sent in by readers. Do you know what
they are?

From October:

More on the combined pencil sharpener and eraser cleaner: Dubbed
“The Combination,” the unit was produced by The Lord Manufacturing
Co., New Haven, Conn., writes Emery Prior in an e-mail to Farm
Collector
. If complete, it will have one wheel with sandpaper
and another with a brush, the latter used to clean chalkboard
erasers. Promotional material claimed that the unit would “do away
with much of the disagreeable part of cleaning erasers.” “I presume
that means keeping the dust down,” Emery writes, “but I wouldn’t
want to bet on it.”

HOW TO SEND “What-Is-It?” photos and/or
identifications to Farm Collector: Photos of submitted
items should be taken in a well-lighted area against a plain
background if possible. Due to the volume of material we receive,
we cannot guarantee when submitted material will be published. All
photos will not be returned.

Items may be sent by:

Regular mail:Farm Collector, 1503
S.W. 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 “high” or “fine.” For scanned
photos, use “300 dpi;” send “jpeg.”

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