http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palouse
Palouse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Palouse is a region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of southeastern Washington, north central Idaho and, in some definitions, extending south into northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primarily producing wheat and legumes.
Geography and History
The origin of the name "Palouse" is unclear. One theory is that the name of the Palus tribe (spelled in early accounts variously Palus, Palloatpallah, Pelusha, et cetera) was converted by French-Canadian fur traders to the more familiar French word pelouse, meaning "land with short and thick grass" or "lawn." Over time, the spelling changed to Palouse. Another theory is that the name was in the first place a French word, describing the area which was then applied to the indigenous people inhabiting it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palouse,_Washington
Palouse, Washington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Palouse is a city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 998 at the 2010 census. Palouse is named for the region of farmland in which it is situated, and was incorporated in 1888.
Notable natives and residents
Entrepreneur and inventor Raymond Alvah Hanson (born 1923 in Spokane, Washington) grew up in Palouse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Alvah_Hanson
Raymond Alvah Hanson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Raymond Alvah Hanson (December 10, 1923 – February 18, 2009), was an entrepreneur, inventor and engineer who lived in Spokane, Washington. Hanson held over 100 patents. He created and produced equipment that was used on the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, on canals in over 50 countries (including the California Aqueduct System) and the self-leveling control for hillside Combine Harvesters.
Background
Hanson was born in Potlatch, Idaho in 1923, the son of Ray & Orda (Hensley) Hanson. The family later moved to Palouse, Washington. Hanson grew up around the iconic rolling hills of the Palouse region, which would play into his first invention,the self leveling control for Combine Harvesters. Hanson attended the University of Idaho, majoring in electrical engineering. At the age of 19 while farming in Palouse, Washington he applied his engineering and farming knowledge to finding a better way to harvest the fertile but often steep slopes found in that area.
In 1941 Hanson conceived of the self-leveling control for hillside combines, and by 1945 the first self leveling mechanisms were built.
Hanson founded the RAHCO Company to build self-leveling mechanisms and since then, RAHCO of Spokane, Washington has grown into a world leader in the design and production of custom commercial machinery systems. RAHCO estimates that automatic leveling has saved at least three percent of grain harvested on lands where combine leveling is needed, which is worth millions of dollars each year.
After the self-leveling control for hillside combines, Hanson began adapting the ideas and principles he had developed into a wide variety of construction machines used for canal, highway, dam, and airport construction. He went on to found a company that became a world leader in the design and production of custom commercial machinery, including the largest canal finishing machinery in the world for the California aqueduct, the world's largest 2,000 ton gantry crane used in the Grand Coulee Dam power plant project, and creating equipment that has been used on the Alaska pipeline project.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_trimmer
String trimmer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A string trimmer, also known as a strimmer, line trimmer, weed whacker, weed whip, weed eater, weedy, or whipper snipper, is a powered handheld device that uses a flexible monofilament line instead of a blade for cutting grass and other plants near objects. It consists of a cutting head at the end of a long shaft with a handle or handles and sometimes a shoulder strap. String trimmers powered by an internal combustion engine have the engine on the opposite end of the shaft from the cutting head while electric string trimmers typically have an electric motor in the cutting head.
History
The string trimmer was invented in the early 1970s by George Ballas of Houston, Texas, who conceived the idea while watching the revolving action of the cleaning brushes in an automatic car wash. His first trimmer was made by attaching pieces of heavy-duty fishing line to a popcorn can bolted to an edger. Ballas developed this into what he called the "Weed Eater", since it chewed up the grass and weeds around trees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combine_harvester
Combine harvester
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine that harvests grain crops. The name derives from the fact that it combines three separate operations, reaping, threshing, and winnowing, into a single process. Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn (maize), soybeans and flax (linseed). The waste straw left behind on the field is the remaining dried stems and leaves of the crop with limited nutrients which is either chopped and spread on the field or baled for feed and bedding for livestock.
Combine harvesters are one of the most economically important labor saving inventions, enabling a small fraction of the population to be engaged in agriculture.
Hillside leveling
In the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest of the United States the combine is retrofitted with a hydraulic hillside leveling system. This allows the combine to harvest the steep but fertile soil in the region. Hillsides can be as steep as a 50% slope. Gleaner, IH and Case IH, John Deere, and others all have made combines with this hillside leveling system, and local machine shops have fabricated them as an aftermarket add-on.
The first leveling technology was developed by Holt Co., a California firm, in 1891. Modern leveling came into being with the invention and patent of a level sensitive mercury switch system invented by Raymond Alvah Hanson in 1946.
- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 03:22 AM Pacific Time USA Tuesday 29 May 2012
