Late 19th to Early 20th Century Farmers Friend Two-row Riding Corn Planter

 This corn planter was made by the Farmers Friend Manufacturing Company of Dayton, Ohio. An example of mechanization in agriculture, this and the other planters nearby in this exhibit reveal the shift from manpower to horsepower that took place during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like the nearby planters, this machine saved farmers a lot of time and energy when compared to the older way of planting, which often involved using a hoe and planting the seeds by hand.
 Unlike the neighboring two-row corn planters, this planter does not have a check row attachment. Instead of allowing the knots in the check wire to trip the planting mechanism in the planter, a person sitting on the front seat activated the mechanism by hand on this planter by pulling or pushing on the two levers located next to that seat (one lever is missing). Blades, or runners, located at the front of the planter dug a trench while the concave wheels covered the planted seeds with soil.
 Incorporated in 1871, the Farmers Friend Manufacturing Company made not only corn planters, but also corn drills, grain drills, harrows, cultivators, and fertilizer. One of the patents for this corn planter may be patent 496114, issued in 1893, which you can view as a pdf here. Another possible patent for this machine, also from 1893, is patent 498954, which you can view as a pdf here.