Early 20th Century Deere & Mansur Two-row Riding Corn Planter

 This riding corn planter was made by the Deere & Mansur Company in Moline, Illinois. Like the nearby planters, this machine dug, planted, and covered corn seeds as it was pulled across the field by horses.
 Like the neighboring Avery corn planter, this Deere & Mansur planter has a check wire attachment. This attachment performed the same task as the wheels on the nearby one-row walking planter and the levers near the front seat of the nearby Farmers Friend planter. It triggered the planting mechanism near the bottom of the tubes located behind the trench-digging blades, allowing the corn seeds to fall into the trench before being covered by the concave wheels.
 This check row attachment, which you can see close up from the south walkway, was used with the check wire and stakes found with this planter. The stakes would have been placed at each end of the field, holding the check wire taut as the planter was pulled from one end to the other. As the tractor moved, the check wire passed through the check row attachment located on the side of the planter.
 As the wire passed through the attachment, each knot, or tappet, in the wire triggered the forked lever inside the attachment. The knots – located 40 to 42 inches apart, or the width of a horse – would catch the forked lever and move it back before releasing it. That movement back is what triggered the planting mechanism, dropping the seeds.
 Each knot in the wire is located the width of a horse apart so that the farmer could cross-cultivate the cornfield. The horse pulling the cultivator could walk along the same path that the horse(s) walked while pulling the planter. Since the seeds were dropped 40 to 42 inches apart, that same horse could also pull the cultivator along paths perpendicular to the paths created while planting.
 This Deere & Mansur planter has two patent dates located underneath the seed box, or hopper, lids:
November 28, 1893, corresponding to patent 509797, a patent for a combined check row and drill, which you can view as a pdf here; this patent was reissued on July 23, 1895, as Reissued Patent 11504; and
September 10, 1901, corresponding to patent 682178, a patent for a dropping mechanism for corn planters, which you can view as a pdf here.

A view of the planter with check wire placed under the seat.