Inventors

The county’s rural areas also produced inventors like farmer J. B. Fogt of Anna who directly contributed to Sidney’s industry. "Mr. J.B. Fogt, of Anna, has received a patent on a circular hay-rake which he recently invented," reported the Shelby County Democrat (SCD, Jan. 2, 1880).

The Sidney Agricultural Works, quickly grabbing Fogt’s ("Vogt") invention, "are now using eighteen hands" to manufacture the rake (SCD, June 10, 1881). "We...make the Self Dumping Sulky Hay Rake, Patented by John B. Vogt; any farmer intending to purchase a rake should call and see it before purchasing elsewhere."

Newport’s Eugene Pilliod was another rural Shelby County inventor, his creation a self-dumping wagon bed. "It is being used in hauling gravel on the streets in Sidney and is a success" (SCD, Sept. 2, 1881). "It can be used for rapidly dumping all kinds of grain, dirt, or almost anything that is hauled in a wagon bed." Pilliod had built and sold the first threshing machine built in the county in about 1844. "In 1848 he started the first steam engine attached to a sawmill in the county" (Sutton’s History of Shelby County, 1883).

Industry segment written in January, 1998 by Rich Wallace

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