Rt. 1, Box 13 Steinauer, Nebraska 68441
I sense a feeling among our readers that they would like some
stories other than stories about threshers, tractors, steam
engines, and gas engines.
How many readers know that the same company that built Sandwich
gas engines also built grain elevators to use on farms?
About 1942, 1 needed a grain elevator because of my back
problems. No new elevators were available due to restrictions, but
a friend told me of one in a farm windbreak of trees that could be
bought. It turned out to be an all wood Sandwich elevator, 40 feet
long, with steel wheels and steel axles.
I looked it over and the owner offered to take $25.00 for the
whole mess. Take it all, or nothing.
I dismantled it the best I could, keeping everything for
patterns. The horse power was not known and the wagon hoist was
missing.
I took it home for tool measurements. A 1′ x 12′ fir
board just fit for the bottom with 6′ sides. So, I went to the
lumber yard with my list of materials that I needed. They had a
good stock of 20 foot 1′ x 12′ boards that I needed, with a
full stock of sizes in half inch interval lengths.
I took my material home and went to work. In a week’s time,
I had a completed elevator (and it worked)!
The chain drag was all one piece that went to the end of the
fold down hopper, no joint at the hinge up where the elevator
section, and the dump hopper joined the elevator. It is the only
elevator designed this way and was the only one I’ve ever seen.
We liked the fact that there was no spilled grain at the joint.
Now this 40 foot elevator mounted on four wheels, 2 axles, was a
lot harder to maneuver into place than a single axle, mounted
elevator. I built my own design speed jack for use with a
tractor.
Then when I was forced to quit farming, it was sold at my
auction, and the buyer was the envy of the neighborhood because he
had a 40 foot elevator and they had only a 32 foot length
elevator.
It was equipped with malleable chains and soon wore out in five
seasons. Then they were replaced with a Nico 40 steel unit.
Do any readers remember such an elevator manufactured by the
Sandwich Company? Let’s hear some early day potato digger
stories because I always hated potato digging time, as well as corn
picking time.
