EPISODE 153 GRAN FARMERS MUST HAVE HATED DOCKING MACNINES

EPISODE 153   GRAIN  FARMERS MUST HAVVE HATED DOCKING MACHINES


alan skeoch
Oc.t 2020



“Take a seat, Alan…rain trying to sleet outside…good time to think…to remember”

HEADING:  DOCKING MACHINES MUST HAVE  BEEN HATED

Cold rain…almost sleet…falling today.  Good time  to try and sort through our collection of weird and wonderful machines
in the main barn.   It has been years since I have  done so.  Seems like a treasure hunt … includes a chair for contemplation.

Contemplation?  Yep, I sat down and stared at two machines that were uncovered once the flower pots and threshing machine
moulds were set  aside.   Two antique DOCKING MACHINES.  Probably the only such machines left in North America.  How
did  I know that?  I combed the internet under various titles like ANTIQUE  GRAN DOCKING MACHINES and  other word
combinations.   No luck.  You might do better but let me get on with the story.

The same year, perhaps 1980,  we visited those hidden ICBM  SILOS in North Dakota we also  stopped at a grain silo near the Canadian
border.  A  huge wooden structure that, unlike the ICBM sites,  stood out against the flat horizon. 

“Hi, hope we  are not intruding but could I take a couple of pictures of your grain silo?”
“Do what you want.  We don’t get many  visitors…matter  of fact we  don’t get any except for
the trucks loaded with grain.”
(I noticed two dust covered mini fanning mills in a forgotten  corner)’
“What are those machines?”
“Old Docking machines…they go a long way back.”
“Docking machines?”
“Yep, we take  a sample of every load of  grain, dump it in the docker and then
calculate how much to dock the farmers’ load.”
“Weed seeds and rat dung as a percentage  of  total load.”
“Not so much rat dung but weed seeds for sure and other waste”
“Farmers must hate these machines.”
“They do…cuts into profits.”
“Still using those dockers?”
“No…they’re obsolete.  New dockers are  better.”
“What are  you going to do with the old ones?”
“Nothing…we’ll get rid of them when we have time.”
“Would you sell them to us?”
“Sure…sell them cheap, how  about $20 each?”
“I’ll give you $25 each.”
“Sold.  Let’s get them in your truck…Not much room.”



This is the older  of the two…perhaps once  it was hand cranked.   Both Docking machines run by electric motors so they are likely vintage 1920 or 1930 or 1940.




CONCLUSION

And so  we  loaded both docking machines…packed tight in our  van.  Two kids, two dogs, four sleeping bags, Coleman stove, coolers, dog food, human food, one giant tractor tube (our idea of a boat),
then Marjorie and  me  and  now TWO DOCKING MACHINES.   And a case of Coors beer for our visit with Wick at Lake of the Woods.  Behind the van we hauled a pop up trailer.  We  must have looked  like
a modern version of Steinbeck’s Grapes of  Wrath.   

I sat in the barn today thinking about that trip.  Good memories.  One mistake somewhere along the way when the tractor tube broke loose and rolled like an immense do-nut into the ditch.  We should
have deflated it rather than tie it to the truck roof.  But how would we re-inflate it at a lakeside camp ground?  I think we gave it away.

I hadn’t seen those  Docking Machines for two decades.  I knew they were  safely tucked away in the barn though.   This was a good time to give them the 
exposure they deserved.  So here they are…yours to admire.

alan skeoch
Oct. 2020

P.S.  Just in case you wonder why I had trouble finding the Dockers, here’s a picture of things that blocked
my view.  Each of these things is  another story.  The great wood  drive pulleys were rescued when the
Massey Ferguson factory was demolished around  1990.  


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