I have seen some pictures of a ear corn spreader that Behlen made for there cribs. I wanting to add that to mine. It looks to be a round disk with three rods bent to match the angle of the support ring for the roof. My question is would any of you take couple of measurements for me? I would like to know what the distance from where the spreader hangs to the round disk? Also what diameter did they make the round disk?
I would think that a used 18" or 20" disk blade would be close enough for the spreader plate, and the rods probably 24" to 30" long.
That being said, I remember asking my dad about those spreaders in a Behlen crib also when I was growing up (we had 2 of those cribs). He said he took them out and threw them away - they shelled too much corn off the ears when they hit that plate coming out of the elevator. Instead, he would use the first section of the downspout for his elevator to direct the ears to different parts of the crib. He would tie a rope to that section and pull it enough so the ears would be shot just inside the wall of the crib without hitting the crib, then tie the rope. Every couple of loads we would move the spout to a different part of the crib, usually staying on the south half of the crib until it would get full enough to back up the spout. Then we'd switch it to the north side until that was full, then remove the spout and fill the roof to the top. This way the shelled corn wouldn't be all piled up in the middle where it was the hardest to dry, it would be close to the south side where the sun would shine even in the winter. We very seldom had problems with spoiled corn in these cribs.
Another thing we would to to greatly reduce the amount of spoiled corn around the outside where the crib sidewall met the concrete floor is put a small "windrow" of cobs around the outside of the crib (we always saved back some cobs from when we shelled out the crib previously). That way, the cobs would absorb the moisture that is always present there instead of the ear corn.
How about hanging a round plate off the bottom ring on your elevator, by drilling 3 holes (so the plate would not tilt) above the ring where the spout would rotate?
My Dad's Behlen cribs (3 ea X 10') had the vertical air tube, but I cannot remember if he had a spreader to divert the corn. I will have to ask my cousin sometime what his Dad and our uncle used on their Behlen cribs (17 ea X 20 feet), but I seem to remember theirs not having the vertical tube.
I do know that none used a spout when filling the wire cribs.
-- Edited by Art From De Leon on Monday 30th of September 2013 04:50:27 PM
The problem I have now is that ears hit the center tube and bounce off it hard. So I hoping to maybe put something closer to the top and larger in diameter to reduce how violent the ears bounce around. After reading your reply I wounder if setting the disk blade so the dish is facing down, the corn would essentially just pile up a little and fall off around the tube.
Oh, I didn't realize you had the center tube in your crib. Then you do need something up there. Make a spreader out of some rods and a disk blade like I described, but instead of welding the rods to the blade, punch 3 holes where you want the rods to be, thread the rods, and put them thru the holes, putting a nut on the threaded rod on each side of the disk blade. This way you can reverse it (dish up or dish down) as well as adjust the tilt of it if necessary. Make the holes a bit larger than the rod so they will flex out enough to get them hooked over the lip of the roof when you use it in the "dish up" position.
All good ideas. I will have to do a little thinking and get something going. I think i will be picking very soon. Yes, i am using a center tube. I have two of these cribs. one is the smaller diameter which I dont have a tube in and the one that i do use a tube is the larger 16,8 diameter x 15 tall plus roof. I really like this one since I formed a slot all the way threw it when i poured the cement base.
We have one of those spreaders, still use it. I would say its probably about 18" in diameter. We only have one and move it from crib to crib, just put it at the top of the elevator, then put the cap on, and go to the next crib. Have to climb back up there and take the cap off the empty crib anyways. We always liked using the spreader for the fact that it didnt allow any corn that may shell to collect in one place, alot less spoilage. We also have our cribs on cement pads with a trough down the center that we put the drag elevator in, that is covered with 2x6's, pull up the 2x6's as we want more corn in the drag to feed the grinder. At the end of the trough, we have a 2ft piece of plastic tile thats perforated to act as a vent, with a cap on the top part to keep any corn out. Usually take some rope to hold the vent up the way we want it, then once we get some corn in there, climb in and move it around to where you want it, and shove corn around it.
