Grasshopper Death Machine Fights Farmers’ Insect Menace (May, 1935)
Filed under: General — @ 11:28 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1935
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1935
| Buy on Ebay
Grasshopper Death Machine Fights Farmers’ Insect Menace
FOR seven years Joseph Dillman, wheat farmer of Strasberg, N. D., stood by helplessly and watched huge swarms of grasshoppers descend upon his grain fields and lay waste to his crops. Then this practical-minded person set about to devise a death machine which would put an end to the destructive insect plagues.
He built a three-wheeled device, screened on all sides except the front. Inside of the box he mounted a propeller, which not only drives the machine forward but sucks the grasshoppers into the trap. The force of the air is claimed to be so great that it will pulverize the bugs, sifting them through the 3/4-inch mesh.
If only more of today’s products had “Death Machine” in their name…
Comment by Kryten007 — February 2, 2007 @ 3:31 pm
unfortunately, a swarm of grasshoppers would contain millions of bugs. This thing would kill a few hundred thousand maybe but unless the intake is 100m wide it just won’t work.
And I think Karl Rove has copyrighted the name ‘Death Machine’
Comment by Stannous — February 2, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
Grasshopper Death Machine, the name of my new rock band…
Comment by Jeffery Wright — October 23, 2007 @ 9:36 am
This is my Great Granfather! Honest!
Comment by Joseph Dillman — July 13, 2009 @ 9:45 am