The Rural Voice, 2004-10, Page 31Unfortunately, the owners, W. C. and
Ed Merideth of Spicer Farm
Equipment in Chatham, weren't
ready to sell their prized machine,
yet.
Fred said, after a couple of years,
Merideth agreed to sell, so long as
Ken could restore it.
In the winter of 2002, between both
Fred and Ken, they sanded down,
painted and restored the antique
machine.
"Everyone collects tractors. We
were looking for different equipment
that isn't in existence. We were
happy when we found it, but even
more when we bought it," said Fred.
The Phillips's fascination for corn
pickers seems to be inherited, since
their father and two uncles had one.
Although some restoration had to
be done, Phillips said the corn picker
was in relatively good condition
when it was purchased.
One of the unique aspects of this
machine is that it's a uni-system
meaning the corn picker comes off
and can be replaced with a combine
or a hay baler, making it convenient
for farmers.
Phillips said the machine runs and
can be put into gear, but they haven't
taken it to a cornfield yet.
He said the corn picker's engine is
another unique part of the machine.
When the machine was being built,
engineers realized that there wasn't
enough room inside the machine for
the engine, so instead of making
room for it, they made it into a V4
type, which Phillips said must have
Machine picked
300 acres of corn
a gear until 1990
cost the company a lot of money at
that time.
The machine runs on a 20 -
horsepower engine and picked 300
acres a year until 1990. It has a 20 -
gallon gas tank that would last about
a day.
It picks two rows at once, takes the
cob off the stock, husks it, puts it
onto a conveyor belt that drops it into
the wagon behind.
He said it would probably have
picked about 10 acres a day at about
20,000 stalks an acre.
When the time comes to change the
corn picker, the machine simply tips
forward, slowly backs away and then
is hooked up to the preferred
equipment. For example, a swather
or a combine.
Phillips said he subscribes to a corn
picker magazine to better understand
the creation of these machines and
how they work.
According to one of the magazines,
at the National Corn Picker contest in
Sioux Falls, SD in 1957, a machine
very similar to the Phillips' one, won
first place by picking 2,715 lbs of
corn in 16.85 minutes. Another took
second place by picking 2,635 lbs in
19 minutes and it also took third
place with 2,570 lbs picked in 19.5
minutes.
"It must have been some serious
business back then," Phillips
laughed.
Although the Phillips brothers
couldn't take Threshers' visitors into
a cornfield with them to give a proper
demonstration of how a corn picker
works, Fred said they still gave a full
demonstration at the Reunion, with
the exception of the field.0
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OCTOBER 2004 27