Asahel Huntington Patch 1825-1909/ Patch Foundry 1898-1955

A. H. Patch, born Nov 18, 1825, spent his early years on a rugged Massachusetts farm. Shelling by hand the flinty corn that grew in that area prompted the boy to dream of inventing a small sheller that every farmer could afford. His dream came true in 1855, when Patch, as a “white-haired old man” in Clarksville, sat down at his kitchen table and whittled out a wooden model. In 1898, he established Patch Foundry on Drane Street, behind his Home Avenue home. Patch Foundry made and shipped worldwide an estimated one million award-winning Black Hawk corn shellers. His 1886 patent won the First Industrial Award at Chicago's 1893 World Fair. The 1903 Model won the 1904 St. Louis Exposition Bronze Medal. The only complaint ever received was “It don't pick rotten grains and dealers say it never wears out”. His four children married Southerners and are buried in Greenwood Cemetery as are Patch and wife, Sarah. After a full day's work at the foundry. A. H. Patch died at age 84 "after eating a whole mincemeat pie" for supper. The Patch plant continued to manufacture the corn shellers until 1955.