THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



425 



Meikle himself was indebted for his ultimate suc- 

 cess to the sight and knowledge of Sir Francis' 

 machines it is impossible to say. It is evident 

 that approaches had been made by others to the 

 principle which he was finally snccessful in carry- 

 ing out, but none can deny him the high merit of 

 being the first to construct a really serviceable 

 machine. Sir Francis' efforts might have stimu- 

 lated him ; but it is well known that for years 

 before. Mr. Meikle had made various attempts to 

 construct a thrashiui^ machine. Tliere is a letter 

 from six respectable farmers subjoined to the 2nd 

 volume of IVir/ht's State of Scottish Husbandry, 

 published in 1778, describing a trial of one made by 

 him on the principle of Mr. Menzic's machine, to 

 which I have already alluded. His family possessed 

 a hereditary right to genius and invention. It was 

 his father, James Meikle, who went to Holland in 

 1710, in consequence of an agreement with the well 

 known Fletcher of Saltou. Meikle's object there 

 was to learn the art of making pot barley, ami also 

 of erecting barley mills. He not only accomplished 

 his design in a perfect manner, but after he re- 

 turned, constructed the first fanners for winnowing 

 grain that were ever seen in Scotland. However, 

 to return to Andrew Meikle, he resolved to attempt 

 thrashing by means of a rapidly revolving cylinder, 

 with raised beaters parallel to its axis, standing out 

 from its surface. Tliis cylinder or drum was 

 covered on the top by a concave surface, at some 

 two or three inches distant from the circle described 

 by the edges of these revolving beaters. A feeding 

 board extended radially and horizontally outwards 

 from the cylinder, and when near it terminated in 

 two feeding-rollers, which revolving in towards one 

 another, not only rapidly drew the straw forward, 

 but held it from going too fast, which imder the 

 action of the beaters it would have been liable to do. 

 The beaten straw, with the chaff and grain lying 

 loose amongst it, was delivered on the floor beliind 

 the cylinder, and the operations of separation by 

 fork, riddle, and fanners, were accomplished after- 

 wards by hand. This is a description of the work- 

 ing model which he completed in 1785. It was 

 driven by water, and first tried in that year at 

 Knowe Mill, near Prestonkirk, a short distance from 

 Houston Mill. It was found to do the work admi- 

 rably, and completely ^uswered his expectations. 

 His son, George Meikle, being at Kilbegic, the resi- 

 dence of Mr. Stein, agreed to erect a machine, after 

 the above-mentioned model, for that gentleman, upon 

 condition of Mr. Stein furnishing all the materials 

 and paying him for the woi'k, "only in case the ma- 

 chine answered the desired purpose." This was 

 agreed to, and the machine was completed in 

 February 178G. It was found to work exceedingly 

 well, and the only difterence betwixt it and the 

 original model was the substitution of fluted rollers 

 for plain ones. Another was shortly thereafter 

 erected for Mr. Selby, at Middleton, Northumber- 

 land. Mr. Meikle then applied for a patent, which, 

 after some opposition, was granted in April 1788, 

 for 14 years, and for England alone. Though Mr. 

 Meikle obtained this patent he never acted on it, 

 and when 10 years of it had expired, some of his 

 friends stood forward and endeavoured to put it in 

 force } but there was then such a number of erec- 



tions by others that the design was abandoned. The 

 late Sir John Sinclair, when President of the Board 

 of Agriculture, strongly advocated Meikle's claims 

 for a public reward as the inventor of the thrashing 

 mill as then constructed. Through him and the 

 Earl of Haddington a general meeting was held on 

 29th December, ISO'J, in the county town of Had- 

 dington, at which resolutions were unanimously 

 passed, approving of Mr. Meikle's claims. A com- 

 mittee was formed, and subscriptions to the amount 

 of £1500 obtained for behoof of Mr. Meikle and his 

 family. After Meikle obtained his patent, thrashing 

 machines were rapidly erected throughout Scotland 

 and the north of England, with various improve- 

 ments, such as mill fanners and rotating rake or 

 rakes over circular frame-works for shakers. The 

 invention of this shaker was,claimed by Mr. Bailey 

 of Chillingham, Northuuibcrland. Much was done 

 in the way of adding elevators and other improve- 

 ments by a person iu Kirckudbrightshirc, but the 

 machine itself and all the apparatus connected with 

 it has continued almost until now in the same state 

 that Jlcikle left it, for he readily seized and tried 

 every alteration that occurred to himself or was 

 suggested by others. NotwithsLandiug the total 

 change of the moving power from sweating horses 

 to the untiring and unvarying stroke of the steam- 

 engine, the characteristics of a Scotch mill continue 

 now iu the same heavy drum, rotating rakes for 

 shakers, and noisy wheels and ]nuio]is for putting 

 the wdiole in motion. Dressing- fanners, in order to 

 render the grain fit for the nuu'ket, have been fre- 

 quently added fo the thrashing machine ; but from 

 the necessary irregularity in the quantity of grain 

 thrashed per minute, and the difficulty of adjusting 

 the fanners properly, complete success has been 

 rarely attained. The best dressed grain I have ever 

 seen done by machinery, and as thrashed on the 

 beater principle, was on the farm of Mr. Ilislop of 

 Prestonpans. The grain as it came from the mill 

 fanners was taken up by elevators, and then carried 

 several feet by an Archimedean screw before it 

 reached the dressing-fanners. This screw partly 

 divides the grain and tends much to the delivery of 

 a uniform quantity ; again there are fixed across the 

 hoppers of the fanners jneces of strong leather, 

 which act like springs, opening when there is an 

 additional quantity behind them, and contracting 

 when the quantity diminishes. These simple but 

 ingenious contrivances ensured, or very nearly so, 

 the fanners having a steady and regular^ supply of 

 grain at all times, and I believe it was mainly owing 

 to this that the dressing was so perfect. "When 

 examining Mr. Hislop's barn machinery, I was 

 particularly struck with the mode which he had 

 adopted for carrying off the dust, and ventilating his 

 barn. There was a large circular opening iu the 

 ridge of the roof, covered with a hood or cowl, which 

 turned with the wind, the same in form and con- 

 struction as those placed on the top of kilns for dry- 

 ing grain. The dust from the straw barn and clialf 

 ho1c°was conducted to it by means of thin boarding, 

 enclosing a gradually narrowing space as it ap- 

 proached the ai)erturc ; of course, there was a large 

 opening to it from the barn loft. It seemed to suifc- 

 admirably, as the air was quite fresh and sweet, and 

 on looking up to the hood out of doors, I was 



