Comments on: In the Archives: Michigan Merinos

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:26:57 +0000

When I was a kid, we used “Indian corn” specifically to refer to multi-colored “calico” corn, as opposed to the yellow sweet corn we ate (I don’t think anyone ever thought of eating “Indian corn,” though it’s theoretically edible).

By: George Hammond

George Hammond — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:53:00 +0000

“Indian corn” is maize. Before the 1800′s, “corn” was a more generic term for any kind of cereal grain: wheat, barley, maize, or rye. In the US and Canada, and later Australia, usage evolved, and corn came to mean only maize (maybe because we grew so much more of it than other grains?). In the UK “corn” may still refer to cereals generally, though I think the usage might be shifting there too. By the way, this helps explain “corned beef” — beef that was cured in very coarse-grained salt.

By: Timothy Durham

Timothy Durham — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:49:10 +0000

I cheated. Then I didn’t comment. At first glance, I thought it was a whip of some sort. Not being able to tell materials..

By: Jim Rees

Jim Rees — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:55:10 +0000

I’m not going to cheat by looking up the patent number.

I don’t think it’s a tube. It’s too flattened at the top, and there is no visible opening in the upper end.

It reminds me of the arm you attach to an ironing board to keep the cord from tangling, but that’s obviously not right.

The dimensions are somewhat important, because of the labeled diagram on the left. Fig. 3 is also significant but it’s unclear how it relates to the rest of it.

It looks like it should hold something, but you can’t hook anything over that upper part.

So I’ll have to admit to being completely stumped this time. Since you said it’s related to SE Michigan, I’ll say it’s a boat hook for pulling in loads of Prohibition rum across the Detroit River from Canada.

By: cosmonıcan

cosmonıcan — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:23:45 +0000

Nope Dave, it’s too easy. Hint: crop out the patent number next time.

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:25:20 +0000

Hmm. I wonder if the usual-suspect guessers seem are completely stumped. Laura doesn’t provide us here at The Chronicle with the description of the mystery objects in advance, I’ll go ahead and take a shot.

I think this is related in some way to maple sap tapping. The gaget at the bottom taps into the tree and the little hood type piece fits over that and leads the sap into the bucket down the flexible tube part. It was a clever ploy to orient the drawing upside down, but that didn’t fool me!