Threshing machine
Encyclopedia
The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine (or simply thresher), was a machine
first invented by Scottish
mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle
for use in agriculture
. It was invented (c.1784) for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flail
s, and was very laborious and time consuming. Mechanization of this process took much of the drudgery out of farm labour.
The Swing Riots
in the UK were partly a result of the threshing machine. Following years of war, high taxes and low wages, farm labourers finally revolted in 1830. These farm labourers had faced unemployment for a number of years due to the widespread introduction of the threshing machine and the policy of enclosing
fields. No longer were thousands of men needed to tend the crops, a few would suffice. With fewer jobs, lower wages and no prospects of things improving for these workers the threshing machine was the final straw, the machine was to place them on the brink of starvation. The Swing Rioters smashed threshing machines and threatened farmers who had them.
The riots were dealt with very harshly. Nine of the rioters were hanged and a further 450 were transported
to Australia
.
. Later machines were steam-powered
, driven by a portable engine
or traction engine
.
In 1834, John Avery and Hiram Abial Pitts devised significant improvements to a machine that automatically threshes and separates grain from chaff, freeing farmers from a slow and laborious process. Avery and Pitts were granted a patent in the United States on December 29, 1837.
John Ridley
, an Anglo-Australian inventor, also developed a threshing machine in South Australia
in 1843.
The 1881 Household Cyclopedia
said of Meikle's machine:
The wheat needs to be grown, cut, stooked (shocked, bundled), hauled, threshed, and then the grain hauled
to an elevator
and the chaff baled. For many years each of these steps was an individual process, requiring teams of workers and many machines. In the steep hill wheat country of Palouse
in the Northwest of the United States, steep ground meant moving machinery around was problematic and prone to rolling. To reduce the amount of work on the sidehills, the idea arose of combining the wheat binder and thresher into one machine—a combined harvester. About 1910, horse pulled combines appeared and became a success. Later, gas and diesel engines appeared with other refinements and specifications.
) operate on the same principles and use the same components as the original threshing machines built in the 19th century. Combines also perform the reaping operation at the same time. The name combine is derived from the fact that the two steps are combined in a single machine. Also, they are self-powered, usually by a diesel engine, and self-propelled.
Today, as in the 19th century, the threshing begins with a cylinder and concave. The cylinder has sharp serrated bars, and rotates at high speed (about 500 RPM), so that the bars beat against the grain. The concave is curved to match the curve of the cylinder, and serves to hold the grain as it is beaten. The beating releases the grain from the straw and chaff.
Whilst the majority of the grain falls through the concave, the straw is carried by a set of "walkers" to the rear of the machine, allowing any grain and chaff still in the straw to fall below. Below the straw walkers, a fan blows a stream of air across the grain, removing dust and fines and blowing them away.
The grain, either coming through the concave or the walkers, meets a set of sieves mounted on an assembly called a shoe, which is shaken mechanically. The top sieve has larger openings, and serves to remove large pieces of chaff from the grain. The lower sieve separates clean grain, which falls through, from incompletely threshed pieces. The incompletely threshed grain is returned to the cylinder by means of a system of conveyors, where the process repeats.
Some threshing machines were equipped with a bagger, which invariably held two bags, one being filled, and the other being replaced with an empty. A worker called a sewer removed and replaced the bags, and sewed full bags shut with a needle and thread. Other threshing machines would discharge grain from a conveyor, for bagging by hand. Combines are equipped with a grain tank, which accumulates grain for deposit in a truck or wagon.
A large amount of chaff and straw would accumulate around a threshing machine, and several innovations, such as the air chaffer, were developed to deal with this. Combines generally chop and disperse straw as they move through the field, though the chopping is disabled when the straw is to be baled, and chaff collectors are sometimes used to prevent the dispersal of weed seed throughout a field.
The corn sheller was almost identical in design, with slight modifications to deal with the larger kernel size and presence of cobs. Modern-day combines can be adjusted to work with any grain crop, and many unusual seed crops.
Both the older and modern machines require a good deal of skill to operate. The concave clearance, cylinder speed, fan velocity, sieve sizes, and feeding rate must be adjusted for crop conditions.
From the early 20th century, gasoline or diesel-powered threshing machines, designed especially to thresh rice, the most important crop in Asia, have been developed along different lines to the modern combine.
Even after the combine was invented and became popular, a new compact-size thresher called a harvester, with wheels, still remains in use and at present it is available from a Japanese agricultural manufacturer. The compact-size machine is very convenient to handle in small terrace fields in mountain areas where a large machine, such as combine, is not usable.
People there use this harvester with a modern compact binder.
festivals and traction engine
rallies such as the Great Dorset Steam Fair
in England, and the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion
in northwest Minnesota
.
.
On the Alan Lomax collection Songs of Seduction (Rounder Select, 2000), there's a bawdy Irish folk song called "The Thrashing Machine" sung by tinker Annie O'Neil, as recorded in the early 20th Century.
In his film score for "Of Mice and Men
" (1939) and consequently in his collection "Music for the Movies" (1942), American composer Aaron Copland
titled a section of the score "Threshing Machines," to suit a scene in the Lewis Milestone film where Curley is threatening Slim over giving May a puppy, when many of the itinerant worker men are standing around or working on threshers.
Northampton, MA-based indie rock
band
Winterpills
have a song on their 2005 debut album Winterpills
called Threshing Machine. It is not about agricultural machinery.
Machine
A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...
first invented by Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle
Andrew Meikle
Andrew Meikle was an early mechanical engineer credited with inventing the threshing machine, a device used to remove the outer husks from grains of wheat. This was regarded as one of the key developments of the British Agricultural Revolution in the late 18th century...
for use in agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. It was invented (c.1784) for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flail
Flail
A flail is an agricultural implement for threshing.Several tools operate similarly to the agricultural implement and are also called flails:...
s, and was very laborious and time consuming. Mechanization of this process took much of the drudgery out of farm labour.
Early social impacts
Swing Riots
The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising by agricultural workers; it began with the destruction of threshing machines in the Elham Valley area of East Kent in the summer of 1830, and by early December had spread throughout the whole of southern England and East Anglia.As well as the attacks on...
in the UK were partly a result of the threshing machine. Following years of war, high taxes and low wages, farm labourers finally revolted in 1830. These farm labourers had faced unemployment for a number of years due to the widespread introduction of the threshing machine and the policy of enclosing
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
fields. No longer were thousands of men needed to tend the crops, a few would suffice. With fewer jobs, lower wages and no prospects of things improving for these workers the threshing machine was the final straw, the machine was to place them on the brink of starvation. The Swing Rioters smashed threshing machines and threatened farmers who had them.
The riots were dealt with very harshly. Nine of the rioters were hanged and a further 450 were transported
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Later adoption
Early threshing machines were hand-fed and horse-powered. They were small by today's standards and were about the size of an upright pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. Later machines were steam-powered
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, driven by a portable engine
Portable engine
A portable engine is a small steam engine, mounted on wheels or skids, which is used for driving machinery using a belt from its flywheel. It is not self-propelled and is towed to the work site by horses or bullocks, or even a traction engine. Portable engines were used mainly for driving...
or traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
.
In 1834, John Avery and Hiram Abial Pitts devised significant improvements to a machine that automatically threshes and separates grain from chaff, freeing farmers from a slow and laborious process. Avery and Pitts were granted a patent in the United States on December 29, 1837.
John Ridley
John Ridley (inventor)
John Ridley was an English-born miller, inventor, landowner, investor, farming machinery manufacturer, farmer and preacher who lived in Australia between 1839 and 1853. He is best known for the development, manufacture and invention of "Ridley's Stripper", a machine that both reaped and threshed...
, an Anglo-Australian inventor, also developed a threshing machine in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
in 1843.
The 1881 Household Cyclopedia
Household Cyclopedia
The Household Cyclopedia was an American guide to housekeeping published in 1881.- External links :**...
said of Meikle's machine:
- "Since the invention of this machine, Mr. Meikle and others have progressively introduced a variety of improvements, all tending to simplify the labour, and to augment the quantity of the work performed. When first erected, though the grain was equally well separated from the straw, yet as the whole of the straw, chaff, and grain, was indiscriminately thrown into a confused heap, the work could only with propriety be considered as half executed. By the addition of rakes, or shakers, and two pairs of fanners, all driven by the same machinery, the different processes of thrashing, shaking, and winnowing are now all at once performed, and the grain immediately prepared for the public market. When it is added, that the quantity of grain gained from the superior powers of the machine is fully equal to a twentieth part of the crop, and that, in some cases, the expense of thrashing and cleaning the grain is considerably less than what was formerly paid for cleaning it alone, the immense saving arising from the invention will at once be seen.
- "The expense of horse labour, from the increased value of the animal and the charge of his keeping, being an object of great importance, it is recommended that, upon all sizable farms, that is to say, where two hundred acres [800,000 m²], or upwards, of grain are sown, the machine should be worked by wind, unless where local circumstances afford the conveniency of water. Where coals are plenty and cheap, steam may be advantageously used for working the machine."
Farming process
Threshing is just one process in getting cereals to the grinding mill and customer.The wheat needs to be grown, cut, stooked (shocked, bundled), hauled, threshed, and then the grain hauled
to an elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
and the chaff baled. For many years each of these steps was an individual process, requiring teams of workers and many machines. In the steep hill wheat country of Palouse
Palouse
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...
in the Northwest of the United States, steep ground meant moving machinery around was problematic and prone to rolling. To reduce the amount of work on the sidehills, the idea arose of combining the wheat binder and thresher into one machine—a combined harvester. About 1910, horse pulled combines appeared and became a success. Later, gas and diesel engines appeared with other refinements and specifications.
In Europe and Americas
Modern day combine harvesters (or simply combinesCombine harvester
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 ,...
) operate on the same principles and use the same components as the original threshing machines built in the 19th century. Combines also perform the reaping operation at the same time. The name combine is derived from the fact that the two steps are combined in a single machine. Also, they are self-powered, usually by a diesel engine, and self-propelled.
Today, as in the 19th century, the threshing begins with a cylinder and concave. The cylinder has sharp serrated bars, and rotates at high speed (about 500 RPM), so that the bars beat against the grain. The concave is curved to match the curve of the cylinder, and serves to hold the grain as it is beaten. The beating releases the grain from the straw and chaff.
Whilst the majority of the grain falls through the concave, the straw is carried by a set of "walkers" to the rear of the machine, allowing any grain and chaff still in the straw to fall below. Below the straw walkers, a fan blows a stream of air across the grain, removing dust and fines and blowing them away.
The grain, either coming through the concave or the walkers, meets a set of sieves mounted on an assembly called a shoe, which is shaken mechanically. The top sieve has larger openings, and serves to remove large pieces of chaff from the grain. The lower sieve separates clean grain, which falls through, from incompletely threshed pieces. The incompletely threshed grain is returned to the cylinder by means of a system of conveyors, where the process repeats.
Some threshing machines were equipped with a bagger, which invariably held two bags, one being filled, and the other being replaced with an empty. A worker called a sewer removed and replaced the bags, and sewed full bags shut with a needle and thread. Other threshing machines would discharge grain from a conveyor, for bagging by hand. Combines are equipped with a grain tank, which accumulates grain for deposit in a truck or wagon.
A large amount of chaff and straw would accumulate around a threshing machine, and several innovations, such as the air chaffer, were developed to deal with this. Combines generally chop and disperse straw as they move through the field, though the chopping is disabled when the straw is to be baled, and chaff collectors are sometimes used to prevent the dispersal of weed seed throughout a field.
The corn sheller was almost identical in design, with slight modifications to deal with the larger kernel size and presence of cobs. Modern-day combines can be adjusted to work with any grain crop, and many unusual seed crops.
Both the older and modern machines require a good deal of skill to operate. The concave clearance, cylinder speed, fan velocity, sieve sizes, and feeding rate must be adjusted for crop conditions.
Another development in Asia
Even after the combine was invented and became popular, a new compact-size thresher called a harvester, with wheels, still remains in use and at present it is available from a Japanese agricultural manufacturer. The compact-size machine is very convenient to handle in small terrace fields in mountain areas where a large machine, such as combine, is not usable.
People there use this harvester with a modern compact binder.
Preservation
A number of older threshing machines have survived into preservation. They are often to be seen in operation at live steamLive steam
Live steam is steam under pressure, obtained by heating water in a boiler. The steam is used to operate stationary or moving equipment.A live steam machine or device is one powered by steam, but the term is usually reserved for those that are replicas, scale models, toys, or otherwise used for...
festivals and traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
rallies such as the Great Dorset Steam Fair
Great Dorset Steam Fair
The Great Dorset Steam Fair is an annual show featuring steam-powered vehicles and machinery. It now covers and runs for five days from the Wednesday after the UK August bank holiday...
in England, and the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion
WMSTR
WMSTR, or the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion, is an annual, non-profit "steam meet" held in the small town of Rollag, Minnesota...
in northwest Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
.
Musical references
Irish songwriter John Duggan immortalized the threshing machine in a song The Old Thrashing Mill. The song has been recorded by Foster and Allen and Brendan ShineBrendan Shine
Brendan Shine is an Irish folk singer and accordion player from Athlone, best known for his songs about everyday Irish life such as "Do you Want your Old Lobby Washed Down" and "Spuds"....
.
On the Alan Lomax collection Songs of Seduction (Rounder Select, 2000), there's a bawdy Irish folk song called "The Thrashing Machine" sung by tinker Annie O'Neil, as recorded in the early 20th Century.
In his film score for "Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....
" (1939) and consequently in his collection "Music for the Movies" (1942), American composer Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
titled a section of the score "Threshing Machines," to suit a scene in the Lewis Milestone film where Curley is threatening Slim over giving May a puppy, when many of the itinerant worker men are standing around or working on threshers.
Northampton, MA-based indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
Winterpills
Winterpills
Winterpills are an indie rock band from Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. Its members are Philip Price, Flora Reed, Dave Hower, Dennis Crommett and Brian Akey. They are also joined on tour sometimes by José Ayerve and Henning Ohlenbusch...
have a song on their 2005 debut album Winterpills
Winterpills (album)
Winterpills is the eponymous first studio album by the indie rock band Winterpills, released on November 8, 2005.-Track listing:# A Benediction# Laughing# Cranky# Threshing Machine# Want The Want# Pills For Sara# Found Weekend# Portrait...
called Threshing Machine. It is not about agricultural machinery.
External links
- Video – Victorian agricultural engine, in steam, driving a threshing machine.
- History of Threshing Machines at the Canada Agriculture MuseumCanada Agriculture MuseumThe Canada Agriculture Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, houses a modern working farm. Its purpose is to illustrate how advances in farming science and technology have transformed the lives of Canadians...
- Model of threshing machine