Book IV. 



THRESHING MACHINES. 



43.5 



_ i 



the carriage may he increased, the projectile or forward force heing increased in aid 



of it. Tugs, 



which are 

 the greatest 

 cause of the 

 restiveness of 

 horses, are 

 prevented by 

 these springs, 

 and jolts are 

 very much 

 lessened; and 

 carriages and 



horses will not be so soon worn out ; and the motion of carriages will be much easier." 

 When several beasts are employed to draw any carriage, each should be attached by one 



of these springs. The advantage is said to be obtained by the 

 spring being squeezed together, in some degree, before the 

 carriage can be set in motion ; and the exertion of the spring 

 to expand itself pulls the carriage with so much force, which 

 is added to the force exerted by the beast. Sir Alexander 

 Gordon, the inventor, is said to have employed carriages of 

 this sort himself, but they have never come into general use. 

 Messrs. Morton of Leith Walk perfectly understand their 

 construction, and their details are recorded in the Farmers 

 Magazine, vols. xvii. and xx. 



2772. Light waggons draivn by one horse are recommended 

 for general use where roads are hard and smooth, and not 

 hilly. Mr. Stuart Menteath uses them at Closeburn in 

 Dumfriesshire, and frequently draws from a ton and a half to 

 two tons in a waggon weighing not more than nine cwt. 

 drawn by one horse. 



Sect. VIII. Machines for threshing and otherwise preparing 

 Corn for Market. 



* 2773. Threshing and jjreparatory machines include threshing 

 - and winnowing machines, and awn and smut machines. 

 ■J- * +4 Threshing machines are common in every part of Scotland, on 



farms where the extent of tillage-land requires two or more ploughs ; and they are every 

 year spreading more extensively in England and Ireland. They are worked by horses, 

 water, wind, and, of late, by steam ; and their powers and dimensions are adapted to the 

 various sizes of farms. Water is by far the best power ; but, as a supply cannot be 

 obtained in many situations, and as wind and steam require too much expense for most 

 farms, horses are employed more generally than any other. Where windmills are 

 erected, it is found necessary to add such machinery as may allow them to be worked by 

 horses, occasionally, in very calm weather; and the use of steam must be confined, for 

 the most part, to the coal districts. 



277+. The operation of separating the grain from the straw was long performed by the flail, to the 

 manifest injury of both the farmer and the community ; for though in some cases the work was tolerably 

 well performed, yet in a great majority of instances it was otherwise. A quantity, perhaps equal to the 

 average of the seed sown, was lost even in thebest cases: but, where the allowance to the thresher was either 

 a proportion of the produce, known by the name of lot, generally a twenty-fifth part; or, when he was 

 paid in money, at so much per boll ; the temptation to do the work in a slovenly manner was so great, that 

 a quantity, perhaps double what was required for seed, was lost upon many farms; — an evil that did not 

 escape the notice of intelligent men, bv several of whom attempts were made to invent something that 

 would do the work more perfectly ; this, therefore, seems to have led to the construction and use of this 

 valuable machine. 



2775. The first threshing-machine, as before observed (795.), was invented by Menzies, brother to the 

 then sheriff-depute of East Lothian ; the machinery was driven by a water-wheel, which put in motion a 

 number of flails, of the same kind with those used in threshing by the hand. Trials made with these 

 machines were so far satisfactory, that a great deal of work was done in a given time ; but, owing to the 

 velocity required to do the work perfectly, they soon broke, and the invention fell into disgrace. 



277(i. Another attempt, some time in the year 1758, was marie by a farmer in the parish of Dumblane 

 in Perthshire. His machine was constructed upon principles similar to the flax-mill, having an upright 

 shaft with four arms enclosed in a cylinder, three and a half feet in height and eight in diameter, within 

 which the shaft and its arms were turned with considerable velocity by a water-wheel. The sheaves, 

 being presented by the hand, were let down from the top upon the arms, by which the grain was beat out, 

 and, together with the straw, descended through an opening in the floor, where they were separated by 

 riddles and fanners, also turned by the water-wheel. 



2777. A third attempt, about twenty years after, was made by Elderton, near Alnwick, and Smart, at 

 Wark, both nearly about the same time. Their machine was so constructed as to act by rubbing, in place 

 of beating out the grain. The sheaves were carried between an indented drum, about six feet in 

 diameter, and a number of rollers of the same description ranged around it, towards which they were 

 pressed by springs, in such a'way as to rub out the grain when the drum was turned round. Upon trial, 

 this machine was also found ineffectual, as along with its doing very little work in a given time, it bruised 

 the grain, and so materially hurt its appearance as to lessen its value considerably in the market 



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