In August of 2008, I received the following message from Mel Klein in Clearwater, Minn.:

Sam,
I sure hope I haven't caught the same illness as Gene Loxtercamp, but I've come up with a piece of iron we just can't figure out. Purchased in Western Minnesota, all we know is that it’s called a Quack Grass Puller. A little information on the different components show me an IHC decal on the front trucks. The main drive gear has the following markings on it B13 11/2 22T 62. The smaller gear has B14 on it. The only other marks for parts show A27, B2, B5. The chain is heavy cast iron, and the wheels are cast as well. I've included some pictures so I hope you can help me out. Gene wants me to get it going and repainted for the Stearns County Fair.

Front view of the Minnesota quack grass digger

Mel sent along five great color photos of his unusual machine, and I spent a lot of time searching for clues. It was clear that the IHC designation on the foretruck wasn't conclusive as there's no evidence that IHC ever built such a machine. Patents were found for several different "weed exterminators" and "quack grass eradicators," but none of them remotely resembled the one in Mel's photos. I finally gave up on the thing, but kept it always in mind. At last, after more than a year, I got lucky and now believe I've identified the origin of the mysterious contraption.
I did find a clue that a fellow named Matt Smith, or maybe Matt Schmidt, from Austin, Minn., had invented a quack grass machine, but the names led me nowhere.

Quack grass, also called dog grass, couch grass, quitch grass, scutch grass, twitch grass, witch grass, wheatgrass, devil's grass, durfa grass, Dutch grass, Fin's grass, and chandler's grass, is an exceedingly noxious weed in most of the northern United States, especially through the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. A 1930 USDA bulletin said that quack grass can be "...one of the worst pests with which the farmer has to contend, taking possession of cultivated ground and crowding out valuable crops." Quack grass spreads by putting out stems or rhizomes just below the surface of the ground. Upon these underground stems are nodes about an inch apart, from each of which new roots and leaves grow. If the smallest piece of this root system is left in the ground, new growth will occur. Quack grass quickly forms a thick, dense root system than will strangle other plants.

Now, for some history. Around the turn of the 20th century a man named Mathies or Mathis Schmitt (or maybe, Schmidt, although the patents are issued in the Schmitt name) owned a bar on East Mill Street in Austin, Minn. It was a typical working class bar of that time, furnishing a free lunch to its patrons, and doing a booming business among the mill workers and "free lunch fiends" of the city. Schmitt also owned a farm just outside Austin, a farm that was overrun with quack grass, and he apparently puzzled over this problem while serving drinks at the bar.

In 1904, Mathies Schmitt applied for a patent, which was issued on July 11, 1905, for an elaborate contraption which he labeled a "weed exterminator," claiming the machine was "for destroying and exterminating noxious weeds in the soil, particularly'quack grass.'" The four-wheeled machine had "a toothed apron or belt" with heavy rollers resting upon the lower portion in order to force the teeth into the soil. The apron was made to turn "about six times as fast as the (forward) movement of the machine" by a belt from a rear-mounted steam engine, although horses were used to pull the thing. The idea was to tear the quack grass roots from the ground and leave them upon the surface where they would die.

The Austin Weekly Herald, in its March 12th, 1907 issue, printed the following news release:
"The Austin Weed Exterminating company, which was organized to manufacture the Matt Schmidt (sic) quack grass destroyer has purchased the Hall machine shops on River street and has seven mechanics at work getting out 30 of these wonderful machines which have been ordered for April delivery.


The later, ground-driven machine

"Those who saw the machine last fall at the state fair will scarcely recognize the one that is now going out to redeem the land from the destructive quack grass. It is now as trim a piece of farming machinery as one will find. There have been over 100 requests for the machine and one man, prominent in the development of railroad land insisted the experimental machine, standing on the floor be shipped to him at once. This (was) refused but he will get one of (the first 30 machines.)

"The first thirty machines will be scattered about Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas to give farmers a chance to see the excellent work the machine can do." I have an old newspaper illustration of an Austin machine based upon this second patent, but it's such a poor image that it's not fit to publish. The main difference between the patent drawing and the production machine is that the latter has a large, cleated, bull wheel on the right side, instead of a same-size wheel on each side, undoubtedly to drive the toothed digging belt, as well as a single dolly wheel supporting the front instead of two wider spaced wheels. Often production machines differed somewhat from patent drawings due to manufacturing concerns and continuing improvements made necessary by actual use. In 1915, Mathis (sic) Schmitt received a patent for a "quack grass digger." Although this 1915 patent again isn't quite identical to the machine in the photos, it's similar enough that it seems clear that Mel's quack grass machine was based upon this patent and was made by the Austin Weed Exterminating Company, probably around the time of World War I.

Top View of the patent drawing for what I believe to be the machine in question

The principle of using short levers that are keyed to the axle and ending in rollers, that alternately lift and drop the digging tines is the same in the patent and on Mel's machine, as is the way in which the fore truck is attached.
I can't explain the IHC logo on the fore truck, but maybe a previous owner substituted an IH made truck at some time, or possibly Schmitt bought fore trucks from an IH dealer or branch house.


According to a 1974 story in the Austin Daily Herald, the difficulty of obtaining steel and other materials during the war, along with the demise of many small manufacturers at that time, caused Mr. Schmitt to shut down the company. That scenario is borne out by my sparse collection of Farm Implement News Buyer's Guides; the Austin Weed Exterminating Co. is listed in the 1911 version, but is gone from the 1930 edition.
Unfortunately, no information about paint colors was found, although the 1907 article mentioned that the factory was equipped with "vast dipping vats for painting the parts before they are assembled." Machinery that was painted by dipping often had thick accumulations of paint in various nooks and crannies. A careful examination and disassembly of such a machine might reveal a trace of the old paint.

I'd never heard of a quack grass digger before Mel sent his pictures, so thanks, Mel, for making me aware of this rare and unusual contraption.

Rear view of Mel Klein's machine

Sam Moore lives in Salem, Ohio