Part 15

Machinery shortages were a problem for everyone, farmers no exception. Parts for most farm equipment were simply no longer available. I was raking hay on 200 acres and found myself with only one rake to windrow the crop after it had been cut. I only had one good rake because I'd used parts from two others to keep it running.

At the end of the season it was clear these old rakes could no longer keep up. I had in mind to build a rake that would last as many years as it was asked to work. It would cost at least three times as much as a new International or John Deere rake, neither of which was available for purchase. I received an OK from Western Farm Management to spend the money necessary to build the new rake I had in mind, so I enlisted a friend who had a welding shop to help me turn my idea into a real machine.

In various ways the final design of our new hay rake was in response to problems that arose during the actual construction of the piece of equipment. Word got around about the new side delivery hay rake we were building, and critics came everyday to view our progress or lack thereof. Some were absolutely convinced the machine would never work.

Our first field trial was in the spring of the year. People came from near and far to watch as we raked hay with our new machine. The Arizona Farmer, a popular journal that kept the farming community informed and in touch, as well as local newspapers had run stories about our project. As a consequence there was a great deal of interest in what we had or had not accomplished.

Just as we had designed our new machine worked perfectly. It was so ruggedly built that our original is still kept by Joe Shelly on the Tolleson farm. Joe purchased that acreage some time later when the French owner decided to sell.

Our new rake design turned the entire farm machinery industry towards better engineered equipment of all kinds. Although modified by each company who built them, the new rake became the standard for what ultimately would become millions of such machines turning hay into windrows world wide.

My partner in building that original side delivery rake went on to design and build the first ever slip form for pouring concrete lined ditches in place. That design also became a standard that's still in use world wide. Neither of us made any money from the ideas and designs we came up with. Johnnie Morgan, my friend and partner in designing and building the rake, died before we could make anything commercial of our effort.

Afterward the big companies simply copied our ideas, modified them as needed, and sold them as their own. We made no attempt to fight them for they were too big and well funded for us to contend with. That our ideas and the effort we put into making them reality helped increase farm production world wide has to be gratification enough.