CHAPTER VII 

 HARVESTING MACHINERY 



Agricultural machinery has done much for the agri- 

 culturist in enabling him to accomplish more in a given 

 time, and to do it with less effort, than before its intro- 

 duction. Although this is true of all agricultural ma- 

 chinery, it is especially true of harvesting machinery. 

 By its use it has been estimated that the amount of labor 

 required to produce a bushel of wheat has been reduced 

 from 3 hours and 3 minutes to 10 minutes. 



In this brief discussion harvesting 

 machinery will be considered in its 

 broadest sense and will include reap- 

 ers, self-binders, headers, combined 

 harvesters, and corn-harvesting ma- 

 chinery. 



184. Development of hand tools. From 

 the oldest records that remain we find that 



FIG. I03-THE SICKLE, ^ P e P 1C f ** ^ I/ *?* ***' 



AN EARLY HAND- vided with crude hand tools for the reap- 



REAPING TOOL ing of grain. These primitive sickles, or 



reaping hooks, were made of flint and 



bronze, and are found among the remains left by the older 

 nations. Upon the tombs at Thebes, in Egypt, are found 

 pictures of slaves reaping. These pictures were made 1400 

 or 1500 B.C. The form of the Egyptian sickles varied some- 

 what, but consisted generally of a curved blade with a straight 

 handle. 



The scythe is a development from the sickle and differs from 

 it in that the operator can use both hands instead of one. The 

 Flemish people developed a tool known as the Hainault scythe. 

 It has a wide blade 2 feet long, having a handle about I foot in 



