Hazard A Guess: Week of April 11, 2002

Hello from Hazard!

The mailbag overfloweth with responses to Item No. 645, which we featured in last week’s column.

But first let’s take care of leftover business from previous Hazards. Going back to Item No. 643, the mail brought another correct guess, this one from William Craig of Harmony, Pa.

Two additional readers also correctly identified Item No. 644, the conical-shaped fire bucket. Dave Schumacher of Clinton, Pa., knew what it was, as did Dan Becker of Dover, Ohio, who adds that some of these buckets were made at the Reeves Steel and Manufacturing Co. in Dover where he worked for 36 years.

Now, on to Item No. 645.

“Anyone who has put up hay the hard way remembers the harpoon fork,” declares Don DeVolld of Belle Valley, Ohio. And indeed our Item No. 645 was put to hard work in the days when hay was harvested and stored loose, and not in bales.

Loose hay was “harpooned” with the pointed end of the fork and hoisted by pulleys into the mow. A rope, which fed through the eye of the trip lever, was pulled to release the lock on the point and when the lock released, the hay was dropped into place in the hay mow. Our example is a single point harpoon.

Many, many thanks to the following readers for writing us: Sam E. Hershberger, Apple Creek, Ohio; Robert Breyley, Spencer, Ohio; Reuben Altman, Shippenville, Pa.; Dwain Hall of Senecaville, Ohio; Jerry Teagarden, Claysville, Eighty Four, Pa.; L. Howell, Beach City, Ohio; Ray Borland, Carrollton, Ohio; Robert Smith, Southington, Ohio; William Logsdon, Salem, Ohio; Stanley Carpenter, Lewisville, Ohio; Robert Gabler, Lucinda, Pa.; Hugh Coffman, Marietta, Ohio; Terry Ann Schaner, Georgetown, Pa.; Jay Haines, Lowell, Ohio; and Frank Barrett, Sebring, Ohio.

I’m sure we’ll hear from many more in the gap between Monday and when Farm and Dairy reaches your home. Our thanks to all the readers who responded and to Carl Stokes from Jefferson, Ohio, who shared the item with Hazard.

On to our next puzzler, item No. 646. Do you think you know what it is? Send us your ideas: Hazard a Guess, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460 or via e-mail to: editorial@farmanddairy.com.