Pedal-Powered Corn Grinder

Pedal-Powered Corn Grinder FARM HOME Miscellaneous Philip Whitmoyer of Leesport Penn turned an antique hand-operated shelled corn grinder into a pedal-powered grinder that he powers with a bicycle “I built it last winter and it actually works better than I expected ” says Whitmoyer “Friends of mine have a hobby farm and last year they shelled a good amount of corn that they asked me to grind for their grandson’s chickens I already had the hand-operated corn grinder which I only used occasionally at a local festival It does a great job but for any amount of grinding it’s really hard on my arms ” After hand cranking a couple of bushels he remembered that he had used pedal power more than 50 years ago to power his parent’s ice cream freezer “I thought the same idea might also work with the corn grinder ” says Whitmoyer He completely stripped down an old bike and replaced the fork with a length of 3/4-in black pipe with a floor flange The rear part of the frame is set on a wooden block with notches in it on both sides He set the height so the pedals just clear the floor Next he mounted a sprocket from another bike to the grinder via a 10-in dia plywood disc in a way that doesn’t permanently alter the grinder and still allows hand cranking The bike and grinder were then mounted on a 4-ft long 2 by 10 board aligning both sprockets The chain had to be lengthened using part of the chain from the second bike as well To make the contraption easy to move around he added two wheels on front and a “handle” where the bike’s rear axle used to be Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Philip Whitmoyer 236 Ziegler Road Leesport Penn 19533 ph 610 926-1014

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