Amazing Book Documents Corn Picker History
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Illinois farmer and rural letter carrier Bob Johnson is a corn picker aficionado, having collected more than 25 “ageless iron” pickers since the early 1990’s. Those efforts encouraged he and his wife Phyllis to research, compile and publish a book on corn picker history that’s more than 800 pages long.
“I caught the fever when I bought a Deere 200 one-row picker that I think was my dad’s,” Johnson says. “It was the model he owned, and it had a sticker from Huntley farm store, the dealer he bought it from, so I think it’s the same picker.”
Johnson has also collected reams of corn picker literature and print ads. His passion for corn pickers eventually led Phyllis to suggest putting all the information together in book form. The result was their book “Corn Pickers, And The Inventors Who Dreamed Them Up,” with more than 1,500 photos and illustrations.
“We believe the book features every corn picker ever made, and Phyllis and I were able to dig out lots of details on each machine, which is included in the descriptions and sidebar stories,” Bob says. Phyllis says an excellent source of information turned out to be geneology websites, where she uncovered backgrounds on inventors and names of descendents who could fill in more details.
The book has now sold more than 600 copies and the 4th edition is being printed in 2 volumes. That’s due to reader feedback that said the original book, which weighed 6 1/2 lbs., was simply too big and cumbersome to read comfortably. The 4th edition is available for $135, plus $15 for USPS Priority Mail shipping.
The Johnsons point out that the boom years for corn picker manufacturing were 1930 to 1970, but some of the designs date as far back as the mid-1800s. “There were a lot of corn picker patents applied for between 1850 and 1890, but factories simply didn’t have the raw materials to make strong enough machines to stand up to the rigors of harvesting corn,” Phyllis says. “It took another 40 years before mechanical corn picking really kicked into high gear.”
Bob says most of the 25 one-row pull-type pickers in his collection still run and he has several additional machines he uses for parts. His most unusual pickers are two Great American machines, which were designed to be safer for farmers since the inventor had lost some fingers in a corn picker accident. The Great American design features “stalkwalker fingers” that pulled the stalks into the machine.
“We are stunned that there has been so much interest in old corn pickers, and humbled by all the interest in our book,” Bob says. Thanks to the enthusiastic response, the Johnsons are now researching their next book, “Corn Cribs: Every Farm Had One.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bob Johnson, www.CornPickerBook.com, P.O. Box 525, Sycamore, Ill. 60178 (ph 815 761-3709).
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Amazing Book Documents Corn Picker History COMBINES Corn Pickers 13 Illinois farmer and rural letter carrier Bob Johnson is a corn picker aficionado having collected more than 25 “ageless iron” pickers since the early 1990’s Those efforts encouraged he and his wife Phyllis to research compile and publish a book on corn picker history that’s more than 800 pages long “I caught the fever when I bought a Deere 200 one-row picker that I think was my dad’s ” Johnson says “It was the model he owned and it had a sticker from Huntley farm store the dealer he bought it from so I think it’s the same picker ” Johnson has also collected reams of corn picker literature and print ads His passion for corn pickers eventually led Phyllis to suggest putting all the information together in book form The result was their book “Corn Pickers And The Inventors Who Dreamed Them Up ” with more than 1 500 photos and illustrations “We believe the book features every corn picker ever made and Phyllis and I were able to dig out lots of details on each machine which is included in the descriptions and sidebar stories ” Bob says Phyllis says an excellent source of information turned out to be geneology websites where she uncovered backgrounds on inventors and names of descendents who could fill in more details The book has now sold more than 600 copies and the 4th edition is being printed in 2 volumes That’s due to reader feedback that said the original book which weighed 6 1/2 lbs was simply too big and cumbersome to read comfortably The 4th edition is available for $135 plus $15 for USPS Priority Mail shipping The Johnsons point out that the boom years for corn picker manufacturing were 1930 to 1970 but some of the designs date as far back as the mid-1800s “There were a lot of corn picker patents applied for between 1850 and 1890 but factories simply didn’t have the raw materials to make strong enough machines to stand up to the rigors of harvesting corn ” Phyllis says “It took another 40 years before mechanical corn picking really kicked into high gear ” Bob says most of the 25 one-row pull-type pickers in his collection still run and he has several additional machines he uses for parts His most unusual pickers are two Great American machines which were designed to be safer for farmers since the inventor had lost some fingers in a corn picker accident The Great American design features “stalkwalker fingers” that pulled the stalks into the machine “We are stunned that there has been so much interest in old corn pickers and humbled by all the interest in our book ” Bob says Thanks to the enthusiastic response the Johnsons are now researching their next book “Corn Cribs: Every Farm Had One ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Bob Johnson www CornPickerBook com P O Box 525 Sycamore Ill 60178 ph 815 761-3709
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