Hand-held Corn-planter

My sister treated mom and me to dinner last night at a place called Bandana’s BBQ. The food was delicious, but the decor impressed me, as well. Browsing the walls, I noticed an old farm implement hanging on the wall above the booth. I brought it to mom’s attention, and she immediately identified the object as a corn-planter. She remembered seeing her parents (Noah and Susie Hedrick) use the tool as a little girl on their farm during the 1930s and early 1940s located in Dent County, Missouri. Before she could tell us how the corn-planter worked, dinner arrived, and thoughts of the farm implement disappeared.

Today while browsing the Internet I found a corn-planter much like the one we saw at the restaurant. According to the, United States Trade and Patent Office, George Lambert, applied for a patent on an improvement he made to a hand-held corn-planter of that era, 1876. He describes the planter as having a container attached to the staff of the tool. The reservoir or box held the corn. Lambert’s invention allows the corn to fall into a tube on the back of the staff to the bottom of the planter. Upon pushing the bottom of the planter into the ground, a trigger releases a rod that pushes the corn into the ground. The hand-held corn-picker allowed farmers to stand upright without bending to plant corn. Information concerning Patent No. 178,166 May 30, 1876. is located on the United States Patent and Trademark Office site.