US2129218A - Husking hook - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 6, 1938. H, J. KELLY 2,129,218

HUSKING HOOK Filed June 22, 1937 Patented Sept. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

My invention relates to husking hooks used in husking corn.

More particularly it is my object to provide a husking hook of very simple, durable and inexpensive construction which has what I may for convenience call a two-way hook with a hook projecting upwardly in the direction of the; arm (which is of regular and ordinary construction), which hook also has a hook projecting across the palm of the hand and away from the thumb (when the hook is installed).

Another object is to provide a hook of the kind under consideration mounted so as to be located just above the base of the ball of the thumb-When 1n use.

The advantages of this two-Way hook will appear below.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my husking hook, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a hook embodying my invention; and

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the same.

In the drawing herewith I have shown at IIJ a leather wrist band intended to t over the front of the wrist and upper part of the hand and thumb. For convenience I have shown the hand in dotted lines indicated at II in Figure 1.

Secured to the upper part of the wrist band IIl, at the top thereof, is a strap I3 and a buckle I4 for fastening the upper part of the wrist band snugly around the wrist.

My hook is formed preferably integrally as a part of a metal plate I5. The plate is riveted to the front of the wrist band I and has a curved nger I6 extending away to where it will be slightly beyond the second knuckle of the thumb when in use. At the extreme end of the linger I6 is a strap slot I'I.

At the lower part of the plate I5, at what would be substantially the base of the thumb, a hook member I8 is formed by bending the material of the plate away from the portion which fits against the hand and then upwardly toward the wrist portion, as indicated in Figure l. This is, broadly speaking, a general structure, although it is located closer to the thumb than are most husking hooks.

My hook, however, has a second hook member or pointed portion I9 projecting from the main hook I8, substantially parallel with the plate I5,

and in a direction to be away from the thumb when the hook is on the hand.

Thus when the hook is on the hand for use, the hook I8 will be pointed in the general direction of the wrist, and the hook member I9 will be pointed generally away from the thumb, as shown in Figure 1.

Secured to the plate I5, at the place that will be over the center of the palm when the device is in use, is a second strap intended to extend 1o around the thumb of the hand and which is then threaded through the slot I1 and extended around the back of the wrist and fastened to a buckle 2| on the plate I0.

In Figure 1 the hook is shown placed on the l5 hand in position for use. For convenience I call it a two-Way husking hook.

My two-Way husking hook is superior to other husking hooks in use, because it makes it possible to more conveniently and quickly make 20 openings through the husks on small ears of corn (and ears located in certain positions).

I believe the use and advantages of my twoway husking hook will be clear after I refer briefly to the ordinary method of husking. Q5

For husking by a right handed person, my hook can, of course, be used in the ordinary way.

In the ordinary husking process, the ear is caught by the left hand approximately in the center, with the thumb toward the small or silk end of the ear. Almost all huskers wear cotton work gloves.

The two-way husking hook is strapped on the right hand, and the next operation involves drawing the hook I8 across the opposite side of the ear, loosening the husk and removing them on that side.

Third, the left hand, with the original hold it had on the ear, gathers the remaining loosened husks and holds them While the right hand breaks the ear from the stalk.

This is known as the one-two-three motion and is the procedure used with great speed by champions, who husk as many as thirty to forty ears per minute.

This procedure works satisfactorily for large and medium size ears located so they can be properly grasped by the left hand in the manner suggested.

But for small ears and nubbins, or for ears lying on the ground, or for ears hanging in the wrong position on the stalk, I have found that my hook I9 can be used with great convenience.

With the ordinary one-way husking hook it is almost impossible to make the opening through the husk on small ears or nubbins, and it is very inconvenient to husk ears that lie in certain positions with relation to the husker. In ordinary husking of small ears, the hook catches in the left hand mitten near the nger tips as the ear is so small that it is hard to grasp it in the left hand and insert the hook in the husk without catching the material of the mitten.

My two-way. husking hook will loosen the husk on the ears of any size and on ears` in any posi tion without eXtra effort on the part of the husker, and without the necessity for using any other device. Many huskers use a husking peg in addition to the husking hook in order to take care of small ears.

Where the ear is too small to conveniently use the hook I8, the method employed is. asfollows:

Instead of grasping the small ear with the left hand in the ordinary way as above explained, it-is caught between the thumb and ngers of the left hand, nextto the smallend, and then the-right hand is shoved across the ear away fromthe husker, using the hook I9 above the thumb of the left hand. The motion of the right hand is away from the left hand mitten instead of toward it, and the husk can be loosened without Vinterference with the mitten -on the left hand. Then the left hand removesl and holds the husks in the same manner as has been heretofore ex .plained,` while the ear is being broken from the stalk bythe right hand. This mode of operation: cannot be fol-lowed with other husking hooks.

Sometimes also ears hang on the stalk so as to be pointing directly toward the person doing the husking. In thatcase, instead of rather awkwardly turning-the hand to catch the ear in the standard fashion, this ear may be caught by the left hand with the thumb toward the butt of the ear. The right hand is then shoved A'down on the opposite side from'the left hand,

using the hook I9 to loosenV the husk, after which the regular procedure is followedto nish the husking of thatrear.

Also there are always some ears lying on the ground. They do not have to be caught in the standard fashion because they are loose from the stalk. The husker picks them up in the easiest way and uses which ever one of the hooks I8 or I9 is most convenient. After the ear is grasped in the ordinary way, it is husked in the manner rst above explained. If the ear should be grasped with the thumb toward the butt, then the hook I9 is used as heretofore explained.

It is probably a fact that the advantages which have been mentioned here are hard to appreciate without actually using the two-way hook in the eld.

i of thethumb of the wearer, said hook member .having a second sharpened hook member in substantially the same plane as the rst hook memberprojecting at a right angle to the rst hook member and away from the thumb of the wearer substantially parallel Ywiththe plate, and a holding strap connected to the plate and adapted to be extended under the thumb.

2. In a device of the class described, a plate, means for holding the plate adjacent the ball of the thumb of a wearer, said plate having a hooklike portion formed from the material of the plate bent away from the plate and thence parallel therewith, so that it will point toward the wrist of the wearer when installed, said hooklike portion having a sharpened pointed projec tion in the same plane as the hook-like portion extending at a right angle to the hooklike portion so as to 4be parallel withV the palm of the `hand and point away from the thumb when the device is in use. Y

HAROLD J. KELLY.

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