Add On Combine Header Salvages Lost Corn Ears

Add on combine header salvages lost corn ears COMBINES Headers 9-5-34 You can't buy one yet, but Chuck Billick's working on a new ear-saving machine that attaches like a header to your combine to pick up down corn and shred stalks at the same time. "More than 500 million dollars worth of corn is left in the field each year," says Billick, Monona, Iowa. "If you operate 500 acres and have a 5 bu. per acre loss you can recover more than $6,200 and at the same time reduce the volunteer corn in next year's crop. With this machine you can also chop stalks at the same time." "The operating principle of the machine is dependent on the resilient 1¢-in. dia. ball knobs mounted on the end of the 2-in. long tines," Billick explains. These knobs, spaced 2¢-in. apart (center to center) blanket the surface area of the ground picking up ears of corn that get wedged between the knobs. The knobs, and the tines they're mounted on, are attached to ground-driven steel rollerchains. Corn ears caught between the knobs move up toward a hopper and are knocked out by ejector wheels to be carried via an auger to the combine feeder house. Any stalks still attached to ears are cut away by a hydraulic-powered chopper on the way to the hopper. Billick says that any corn cob-sized rocks picked up the machine are kicked into the combine's rock trap. A rotary stalk chopper at the rear of the machine is powered by the combine and chops stalks as they lay in the field. Billick plans to have three prototypes in the field this fall. He's looking for a manufacturer to build the machine. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chuck Billick, 502 E. Iowa St., Monona, Iowa 52159 (ph 319 539-2837).

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