Rock Island Argus., August 07, 1908, Page 8, Image 8

About Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920

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'THE ARGUS, FRIDAY. AUGUST 7, 1908. 'J
ONE t(DF 1 JitESIX'ITKiE" NEXT GOVERNOR OF M1NQIS
. . Two of Them1 Will Be Selected at the Primaries Tomorrow to Make the Race Against Each Other.
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HON. ADLAI E. STEVENSON (DEM).
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HON. JOHN P. M'GOORTY (DEM).
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HON. DOUGLAS. PATTISON (DEM).
COLONEL J. HAMILTON LEWIS (DEM)., ,
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GOVERNOR C. S. DENEEN (REP).
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EX-GOVERNOR RICHARD YATES (REP).
Has Wireless Corn Planter That;
Hasr Demonstrated It is a Success
? Johnny Jones, the Rock Island second-hand
dealer, thinks, he Is in on a
ood thing in a ney wireless corn
planter, which has been invented by
a Davenport man and of which a full
size tested model is now on exhibi
tion at the shop of the Davenport
Motor company, i;' 525 West Second
ktreet. Some ''reference has already
been, made by The Argus to the in
, ; entlon,'-"fcut-itVseem3 worthy, of -a
'iildr' detailed description. ' -Forfthos
wha know nothing about
the' workfD- of a corn planter it' may
be' stated 'that in the old days when
orii' was dropped by hand the ground
Was' marked out, both ways co that
the seed could be dropped in rows in
both' jdlredtions, thereby admittins of
cultivation- crosswise, This, besides
admitting of stirring the ground more
thoroughly' than ' would be possible
cultivating r but one way, also enabled
the farmer' to"' root out or 'cover up
more'' "ot the' wtfeds,1 in fact, made it
ikfeBl-Wd to do away With the hoe and
J jhesWw' tiaek'- breaking process ot
filling1 'weeds out of, ttve hills.
When" the' first : hand drop planters
were brought out jt was necessary to
nmrk the ground one way and then
plant across the marks,' a boy or
sometimes a woman, riding on the
fcrward end of the machine and doing
the dropping. Being able to drop the
corn '"straight," or to hit the mark
well, was one of the highest accom
plishments of-be average farm lad.
In time an invention was put upon
'he market that made itjpossiWe to do
away with the boy, andrthfs device,
in cne form or another, la, still Wsed.
It consists of a wire . as long- as the
field to be planted with" buttons the
same distance apart as -it is desired
to make the hills" of corn. The wire
is staked down at each end ot the
field and as the planters driven back
and forth the buttons passing .through
a slot draw b.ack ; a lever . releasing
Ihe grains of corn from the planter
box. By keeping the wire " at the
f ame tension,' of ..course moving It ; at
each turn; at the end of .the field, the
various buttons move at a riglit angle
to the length of the wire, and the
torn, . dropping lopposite the ' buttons,
the rows are straight, both ways in
fact, sometimes, in the case of a poor
driver or an unruly team, they are
s'traighter the "crooked" way than
the "straight" way.
As before stated the wire check
rower is still In use, the various wire
less devices that have been tried hav
ing all been failures, as many imple
ment manufacturers will ruefully, con
fess. The desire to do away with the
wire is due to the fact that-it is more
or less troublesome, especially in the
case of "point" rows or on hilly
ground.
For 15 years, Alonzo " M. 'Crisman,
a Davenport ' machinist, has been
studying the wireless planter and he
now. beliere6 that te has a winner,
though manufacturers, after the cost
ly experience of so many with ma
chines of that nature, are Inclined to
be-wary. , .
iOhvlouslr the principal difficulty in
making a 'wlrelesa-checkrower is to
get it to drop the tills at exactly the
same distance ' apart for he' entire
length of a field. . The first, wireless
devices-were operated with large paddle-wheels
' 6n each side, the blades
catching in t& ground and causing
them to revolve. - They "did not prove a
rticcess because' theTe was no provl
ionf for ' obmpeneatibn and Inequali
ties ' in - tho : anrtpn nf , iM in
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. time had their effect ' upon " the dhs-
KihCe apart Of the ; hills and ; before
the nd of a- long row war reached it
I was necessary to "maTce -va-read Just
n;iit to cause the machine to drop
opposite the' hills made on the last
"through."
Mr. Crisman's device differs from
the old ones in that it is operated by
a small paddle-wheel following the
shoe and the wheel cf the planter and
therefore avoiding clods and many of
the irregularities of the surface, and,
moic important still, it has a compen
sating arrangement working automati
cally and on scientific principles,
which,: in theory trips the planter at
exactly the Fame, distance as though
it were running on a perfectly smooth
arid level surface.
' The paddle-wheel is attached to a
fhank which is fastened to the frame
of the planter in such a manner that
it has free play up and down. Each
movement in a "perpendicular direc
tion retards the tripping device in
exact proportion to the distance moved
up and down, this being figured out
geometrically by the process used in
deterraining.a leg of a' right triangle,
the other leg and the hypotenuse be
ing knowa. The blades operate the
drop by means of an endless chain
with but a few 'pemnds added to the
draught of the planter, the same being
no greater than the pullbf a wire but
ton through the ordinary lever. ;
By , means of a scale of incftea on
the , wheel. xwhich trips the drop on
each revolution and another similar
scale on sliding bars at each side ot
the planter It is possible to instantly
ascertain just where the last hill was
dropped at any point and to adjust
the mechanism so that the next hill
will be planted at any desired dis
tance. Having reached the end of
ire row the operator can turn about
art with no delay start the next row,
dropping exactly opposite the first. In
time Mr. Crisman is confident the de
vice can be so perfected that the oper
ator will not have to alight at the
end of a row.
. Mr. Crisman's machine Is made to
clasp upon any modern planter, near
ly all the mechanism being placed
compactly upon the forward part in
full view of the driver and where it
cannot get out of order. There is
nothing cumbersome about it and
there is nothing, once it is perfectly
adjusted, to cause ' the operator any
trouble. Running slowly It will wear
for years. The Inventor is confident
it will outlast the : ordinary planter
to which it is attached several times
over. It is light, weighing but 85
pounds all told, and Mr? Crisman says
it can' safely be made 20 ' pounds
lighter. -being but a fraction of the
weight of the old wireless devices and
considerably lighter than the ordinary
wire oheckrower with wire and reel.
Mr. Crisman saya his device can be
put upon the market at a handsome
profit for the same price at a wire
checkrower attachment now .costs.
Mr. Cri?man's invention has been
tesled. He had the first working
uodel ready at corn planting time last
spring and with it planted several
fields on the. farm of Amos Lage, five
miles northeast of Davenport on the
Utica Ridge road. While doing the
actual planting the adjustments were
mrde and approximate perfection at
tained . Mr. Lage cultivated the corn
successfully the "crooked" way and
it may be seen at any time by doubt
ers, living proof . that a wireless
planter has been made which will
do the work for which it was de
s:gned. As before stated, Mr. Jones has pur
chased an interest in the invention
and manufacturers are now being in
terested with the object of placing
the attachment on the market before
tfre next corn planting season rolls
around. .
Special Excursion Fares Via Grand
Trunk Railway System'
Summer 1908
Chicago to'
Montreal and return. . . $20.0A
Quebec and return.............. 24.00
Temagaral and return..... 21.60
Portland and return........ 27.3f
Old Orchard and return., 27.7.r
Uoston and return.. 2a. 35
Corresponding' fares to over 100
other places in Canada and New Eng
land: Tickets good 30 days. Liberal
stopover arrangements. St. Lawrence
river and rapids included at slightly,
higher faresy Timetables, descriptive
literature, etc., can' he obtained by
mail ' from George W. Vaux, A. G. P.
& T. 'A., 135 Adams street, Chicago.
All the news all the time The Argus.
Eczema.
For the good of those suffering with
eczema or other such trouble, I wish
to say, my wife had something of that
kind, and after using the doctors' rem
edies for some time; concluded to try
Chamberlain's Salve, and It proved. to
be better than anything she had tried.
For sale'hy all druggists.
SAINT' KATHARINE'S
SCHOOL FOR GIRLS,
' EPISCOPAL.
. Primary, Preparatory and Col
legiate Grades. Certificates ac-
cepted by Leading Colleges. Ex- ' v
ceptional Advantages, in Music.
Art, Gymnasium, and Domestic
Science. Native French andGer
, man Teachers. '
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