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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



carried by means of a shaking screen and rolling- 

 cloth or endless web to the blast of a fan, where it was 

 separated from the cliaff. Of course our space will not 

 permit us to chronicle here all the successive improve- 

 ments in thrashing machinery; but these instances 

 show how ancient is the addition of shaker, riddle, and 

 fan, which we are still labouring to improve. The 

 straw- shakers of the old Scotch machines are generally 

 known as being large drums, armed with rakes, re- 

 volving above fixed curved racks or screens, over which 

 they pass the straw; some machines having one of 

 these drums "overshot," and furnished with brushes 

 as well as rakes or iorks. The separatii.g apparatus 

 consisted of a couple of winnowini(-machines under- 

 neath, similar to those made for hand-power, catching 

 the grain and chaff' from the drum and shakers by 

 means of a large deep hopper. 



The parallel-motion shaker, so much in favour now, 

 appears to have been invented in 1840, by Mr. Morton, 

 of VVhitfiuld Example-farm, and erected as part of the 

 steam-tlirashing machinery there by Mr. Clyburn, of 

 Uley Works. It consisted of parallel spars of wood, 6 

 feet long, and three-quarters of an inch thick, with 

 three-quarter inch spaces between them ; these being 

 joined toj,^ether in two alternating sets, were jumped 

 by double cranks on two revolving shafts, as our pre- 

 sent box-shakers are. This was about the first time 

 that straw was snbjected to a real " shaking." Other 

 parts of this machinery were equally ingenious. The 

 corn fell before the blast of a fanner, then down be- 

 fore another; the light grain and short straws thrown 

 out by this fir,~t winnowing being taken up by an 

 "elevator" again to the feeding-board of the drum. 

 The winnowed corn was carried up by other eleva- 

 tors to another winnower, or rather two, one under 

 the other, with two i'ans, and was finally again ele- 

 vated to the sacks, or passed through a " barley- 

 hummeller." An endless web was tied at the mouth 

 of the drum, to carry the unthrashed straw gra- 

 dually to the beaters. Since that time, this web 

 has been abandoned ; another first winnower has been 

 added, fed by an endless web beneath the drum and 

 shaker ; and the corn after falling before the first blast 

 is sifted sideways into the hopper of the two lower 

 dressing-machines; and a horizontal cylindrical sieve 

 or " separator'' was also applied. The idea of adapting 

 winnowing apparatus to fwrtahU thrashing-machines, 

 carried into effect by the Lynn machine-maker, in 

 ] 795, was revived just half a century afterwards. Earl 

 Ducie exiiibited at the Southampton Meeting, in 1844, 

 a " recent and scarcely completed machine," the inven- 

 tion of Messrs. G. Parsons and R. Clyburn, which 

 Mr. Miles reported as being '= truly original." At 

 Shrewsbury, in 1845, this machine was driven by Dean 

 of Birmingham's portable engine, itself a great novelty, 

 and awarded a prize of £10. It thrashed, cleaned, 

 and finally sacked the grain ; and Mr. Parkes in his 

 report said, " It is a powerful machine, and possibly 

 adapted to the very large rather than to the moderate- 

 sized farm." In 1846, at Newcastle, a thrashing- 

 machme was exhibited by Cambridge, having a reci- 

 procating rake attached, for the purpose of collect- 

 mg and passing the straw from the drum without har- 

 bouring the grain ; and the lower part of the machine 

 was mclosed so as to form a box or receptacle for the 

 grain to U\\ into. But up to a year later than this 

 period we find that improved horse-power machines 

 without dressing apparatus occupied the most prominent 

 place in the catalogues of the great makers ; while 

 hand-power thrashing machines were much in request 

 as novelties. At Northampton, in 1847, Hornsby 

 sliowfd a thrashing-machine with a revolving shaker : 

 Cambridge one also with, a shaking apparatus at- 



tached; and J. Cornes, jun., of Market Drayton, a 

 thrasher with straw- shaker and elevator, the shaker 

 six feet long ; Hayes, of Elton, had a straw-shaker ; 

 and Clyburn exhibited a horizontal cylindrcal "sepa- 

 rator." Ryland and Dean, of Birmingham, however, 

 showed a complete machine for thrashing, winnowing, 

 aud bagging the grain. At York, in 1848, Hornsby 

 had his improvement of Clyburn's shaker; Summers, 

 of Wold Newton, a rotary straw-shaker; Scott, of 

 Belfast, a revolving-rake shaker; Humphries, of Per- 

 shore, a thrasher with winnowing appraatus and 

 shaker ; Garrett, a thrasher with straw-shaker and 

 jogging screen for separating the colder and refuse from 

 the grain ; while Abbey, of Dunnington, exhibited 

 a horse-power thrashing-machine with blowing-case, 

 riddles, and elevators which ff lied the sacks with corn ; 

 and Burrell. of Ihetford, gained a silver medal for his 

 portable thrashing and dressing machine with parallel- 

 bar shaker, invented by W. Palmer, of Southacre, 

 capable of thrashing five or six quarters per hour, and 

 delivering the corn, chaff, straw, and sifiings or short 

 straws in separate places. The price was only ^75, 

 yet the machine was at that time supposed to be 

 very cumbrous for ordinary farm use. At Norwich, 

 the next year, Clayton andShuttleworth produced their 

 box-shaker, three feet wide, and fourteen feet long ; 

 Crosskill, also had a shaker, '• on a new principle" ; 

 Hornsby showed a double-cranked or jumping straw- 

 shaker; and Sargison, ofWisbeach, a shaker having 

 sieves or riddles of perforated galvanized-iron, which 

 propelled the straw and pulse forward, while the grain 

 sifted through. In addition to Burrell's thrashing and 

 dressing machine, Cambridge showed one invented by 

 Humphries, for thrashing, winnowing, and weighing; 

 Holmes, of Norwich, a horse-power machine with a 

 newly-invented jog colder riddle, and a new straw- 

 shaker; Garrett, a thrasher with chaffing apparatus; 

 and Ferrabee, of Stroud, a machine with double-crank 

 shaker, and an endless band for delivering the corn and 

 chaff to and elevator which carried it to an ordinary 

 winnowing-machine. And it is noticeable that the 

 manufacturers felt it necessary to call attention to the 

 fact that their portable machines for doing all this work 

 at once did not require to be removed from the car- 

 riage-wheels on which they were mounted. In the 

 Farmer's Almanac for 1850 appeared the first en- 

 graving of a portable combined thrashing-machine, 

 viz., Garrett's ; the shaker consisting of spars with 

 spikes rotating upon cranks at the inner end and vibrating 

 on rocking-bars at the other. About the same time came 

 out Clayton and Shuttleworth's portable combined 

 machine; the shaker-boxes having a parallel motion, 

 by means of wheels and spindles connecting the 

 crank-shafts, instead of connecting-rod and cranks as 

 before ; and there was a vibrating trough extending 

 the whole length of the machine. Tuxford's table 

 shaker-off was also introduced ; at first having a 

 rotary jumping movement by means of mitre-wheels 

 and a spindle connecting two crank-shafts underneath, 

 instead of hanging on slings as at present. 



It is only six or seven years, therefore, since wc ob- 

 tained the portable thrashing-machine in its present 

 form ; that is the vital parts which are now being im- 

 proved and altered (but still generally adhered to) in 

 every possible form. We may mention as one of the 

 greatest and most extensively-adopted improvements, 

 Humphries' divided and reciprocating trough or shoe ; 

 and as variations from the common form, Ransomc's 

 revolving Brinsmead shaker, and Hornsby's worm or 

 screw for feeding the riddles. 



