What is it???

[ovrszd]

When I was a little kid, mid 1950s, my Dad picked corn with an 8N Ford tractor and a pull type, one row Woods Brothers corn picker. I loved to ride in the wagon. As the load got full I would push the eared corn into the corners to get the most on. We were not rich. Our equipment was second hand and mostly worn out when Dad bought it. Constantly breaking down. So a tool box with all the field repair parts was a necessity. The Woods Brothers picker didn't have much of a space for parts. So Dad scrounged this item, bolted it to a board, bolted the board to the picker and increased his parts availability.

My Brother recently dragged the ole worn out picker from the fence row and is going to sell it for scrap iron. I was cutting wood yesterday and drove by the site where the picker was parked since the early 60s and saw the old parts box laying on the ground. Flooded me with memories.

Here's some pictures. Can someone tell me what the original intent was for this item. it's obviously taken from some piece of machinery. I have no clue as to what. But would sure like to know.

 

[ovrszd]

Any Farmer worth his weight in salt knew how to do their own repairs. Nothing was taken to town to fix unless it was technically above Dad's knowledge or needed machine work he wasn't equipped to do.

So the parts box was full of everything you might need plus a few items thrown in for good measure. Dad travelled around the community picking corn for hire. Usually didn't have any transportation with him other than the tractor or the farmer he was working for.

I've attached pictures of the contents of this parts box. One item in particular was the Calumet Baking Powder tin can. It held the sacred items that were too small to just throw in the box.

When we'd break down Dad would stop the tractor. It was the rule that I didn't leave the wagon until the picker was shut down. Soon as he'd kick off the PTO I was out of the wagon to see what revival miracle my Dad was gonna do. After investigating and a few choice swear words Dad would say "Rich run and get the can". I knew exactly what he wanted. I always ran. I'd get the Calumet can and it always held the intricate piece he needed. Very fond memories. A blessing that this box and it's contents, especially the Calumet can are still intact after sitting in the fencerow for fifty plus years

Check out the individual items he had stuffed in the can. Every little item is included, chain links, cotter keys, special sized bolts, square key stock, half moon keys and a nail, ya never know when a nail will come in handy. One item in particular is a set of ignition points for the Ford tractor. Not a new set, but a set that could be used in a pinch to finish the day's work. I'd be curious how many viewers don't know what those are and can't pick them out of the pile???

Been a long time since these items have saw daylight. I'm also sure Dad's touch was the last touch until today. I'm very blessed this didn't end up in the scrap yard.

 

[MF1652]

Good post. I have many tools, machinery on the property where my father or grand father last used them. And they haven't been touched since. That stuff always brings back memories.

We have a tack room in the old barn that is like a time capsule. It still looks as if my grandfather last untacked his draft horses for the final time and never went back. I love spending time in that room. Full of saddles, harnesses and shoeing equipment.

 

[ovrszd]

Good post. I have many tools, machinery on the property where my father or grand father last used them. And they haven't been touched since. That stuff always brings back memories.

We have a tack room in the old barn that is like a time capsule. It still looks as if my grandfather last untacked his draft horses for the final time and never went back. I love spending time in that room. Full of saddles, harnesses and shoeing equipment.

I know what you mean, I had several artifacts from my Dad's old tool shed in my shop when it burned. Insurance can't replace that.

My area of Missouri is poor farmland. We are surrounded by the Missouri River valley South and West, Mississippi River valley East and good fertile Iowa plains to the North. Farmsteads here rarely had much for equipment and/or accessories. Now factor in that the farms are being bought up by urban investors and the first thing they do is set a match or doze it all down, and you don't have much history left. That's why the current trend to sell everything of metal to the scrap yards bothers me so much. A lot of agricultural heritage going to China to make cheap hammers.

 

[MF1652]

Yup. It's sad to see antique equipment go to scrap. Every now and then I wander the various barns at our families farm just checking the tools and equipment out. There's so much history in every corner of that place.

 

[Willl]

Can someone tell me what the original intent was for this item.

Mailbox.

 

[TripleR]

Your post sure brought back memories of the many hours spent riding in a trailer kicking corn down and "tromping cotton".

As there were no corn dryers, we picked pretty late in the year and the fields would be too muddy in places for the picker, so all of this had to be picked by hand.

We still have a lot of dad's old tools as well as the Ford 600 he bought new in 1955.

 

[MikeD74T]

Mailbox.

3rd from right? National Postal Museum.

Can relate to doing whatever it takes to finish the day. Hand tied one side of over 400 bales once when the knotter decided not to work. That was walking beside the baler to boot. You don't often see bales with a square knot. MikeD74T

 

[ovrszd]

Mailbox.

Mike suggested a Mailbox too. I don't think so. Look closely at the pics again. This box has cast iron ends with pins, pegs and swivels cast into them. Also has a peg sticking out one end of the top. It has held something and has been designed to mechanically swivel and dump.


I'm totally open to being proved wrong though. I tried Googling "Century Post Company" and got nothing. It's got a patent date of Aug 6 1901 cast into one end.

 

[ovrszd]

Your post sure brought back memories of the many hours spent riding in a trailer kicking corn down and "tromping cotton".

As there were no corn dryers, we picked pretty late in the year and the fields would be too muddy in places for the picker, so all of this had to be picked by hand.

We still have a lot of dad's old tools as well as the Ford 600 he bought new in 1955.

Dad used flare box wagons with added wooden flare boards to get more volume. You had to kick the corn to the back corners of the wagon to get a full load.

We stored most of our eared corn in cribs built from rolls of slat cribbing. make a circle and fill it using an elevator. Then get up on top of the corn pile and add another slat ring, then fill it, then add another and fill it. Usually three rings were as high as we could go because the elevator wasn't long enough to reach the center of the circle any higher.

Can't you still smell the fresh shucked corn in that wagon????

Talking about picking by hand. With a one row picker you had to open the field by hand. We hand shucked two rows all the way around the field, four rows on the ends. Then hand shucked a two rows thru the middle or maybe did that a couple times if the field was wide. Throwed these ears in piles as far apart as you could accurately throw them. Then hooked a two wheeled trailer on the front hitch of the 8N and pushed it down those two rows, stopping and hand loading the piles into the trailer. When the trailer was full you went to the crib and kicked it out into the elevator. A small field would take longer to manually open it than it would to pick it with the one row. If we got behind Dad would sometimes just run it down with the tractor, then turn the hogs loose in the field after picking and let them clean up what he tromped down.

Dad bought a new 641 in '59. We don't have it anymore. I have sharp memories of seeing that implement dealer drive in with that shiny new red tractor on his single axle tilt bed truck. Once it was unloaded I was in the seat touching everything while they did the paperwork. I pulled an Oliver square baler and wagon with Dad stacking over many, many, many acres with that tractor. Really sucked not having live power, but I was extremely proud.

 

[ovrszd]

Yup. It's sad to see antique equipment go to scrap. Every now and then I wander the various barns at our families farm just checking the tools and equipment out. There's so much history in every corner of that place.

You are very Blessed to have that, but you already knew that.

 

[Willl]

Mike suggested a Mailbox too. I don't think so. Look closely at the pics again. This box has cast iron ends with pins, pegs and swivels cast into them. Also has a peg sticking out one end of the top. It has held something and has been designed to mechanically swivel and dump.


I'm totally open to being proved wrong though. I tried Googling "Century Post Company" and got nothing. It's got a patent date of Aug 6 1901 cast into one end.

G100 Century Post Co Mailbox Early 1900's - Listing # 4713 - Online Auction

 

[MikeD74T]

Mike suggested a Mailbox too. I don't think so. Look closely at the pics again. This box has cast iron ends with pins, pegs and swivels cast into them. Also has a peg sticking out one end of the top. It has held something and has been designed to mechanically swivel and dump.


I'm totally open to being proved wrong though. I tried Googling "Century Post Company" and got nothing. It's got a patent date of Aug 6 1901 cast into one end.

National Postal Museum pic source. MikeD74T

 

[Baby Grand]

<snip>
Can someone tell me what the original intent was for this item.
<snip>

Time travel.

 

[ovrszd]

G100 Century Post Co Mailbox Early 1900's - Listing # 4713 - Online Auction

Okay Will and Mike, you convinced me. I still don't understand all the peg work on the ends?? Maybe there was an ornate bracket that held the box?? why the pegs on the lid??

I don't know, but since we haven't gotten any other explanations, I'm going with these guys.

I wonder if my Mailman would drop mail in it if I put it up?? :thumbsup:

Oh, one other interesting note. Look closely at the name casting on the end of mine, it's stamped "CENTURY POS TCO". They put the space between the s and t in the word post, rather than between the t and c. The one pictured in Will's post is spaced properly. Kinda like finding a two headed coin or something....

 

[ovrszd]

Time travel.

It was definitely a Time Travel for me!!!

 

[smiley]

ovrszd,
I don't know if you caught my reply over in the build it yourself forum but here it is again.

Quote:Originally Posted by ovrszd View Post
I started a Thread in owner/operator section about an item I was trying to identify. Will and Mike have convinced me it's a Mailbox. Now I'm looking for one that is complete so I can reproduce the flag and mounting brackets. Anyone got one of these that's complete???]QUOTE

WOW, I think this may be the type of mailbox I was talking about in my earlier post (below) that they cranked up the hill. As soon as I saw your photo I remembered the boxes rode up on 2 cables, one on each side and those nubs sticking out of yours may be how they attached in some kind of framework.

QUOTE SMILEY["Years ago 3 families lived on a dead end dirt road near me, on top of a steep hill that was closed when it iced up or snow got too deep. They usually parked a car at the bottom and took a tractor down if someone had to get out. One even had a garage down there. Their mail was delivered at the bottom of the hill on a different parallel road, in sideways boxes attached to a cable set up like a clothes line trolley at least 300 ft long. They had handwheels at the top and would crank the boxes up. To avoid cranking it up if there was no mail, they just had small spring loaded rods with a flag on the end that was released when the mailman (or little p-pots) opened it and then would reset the flag before sending the box back down.
They finally got regular service in the early 60's when the steep grade was flattened and road paved.]QUOTE

As I think about it, I think those nubs on the side were used to adjust the angle to the slope of the hill so the box stay level on the ride up and down. The next time I see a friend who lived in one of the houses I mentioned, I'll ask him about it.

I checked the boxes shown in the national postal museum photo's and the one similar to yours, without the nubs, were what we used in the winter time so we didn't have to shovel out the mailbox in the days before snowblowers and small tractors. We just mounted them on a post about 2-3 ft long and stuck it in the snowbank where the mailman could get at it. Then you hoped you got to it before the plow threw it behind the snowbank. If I remember correctly ours had a pretty secure latch on it so the mail didn't go flying all over when the plow hit it.