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FARM MACHINERY 



281. Early Scotch and English machines. About the year 1750 

 a Scotchman named Michael Menzies devised a machine which 

 seems to have been nothing more nor less than several flails 

 operated by water power. This machine was not practical, but 

 in 1758 a Mr. Lechie, of Stirlingshire, England, invented a 

 machine with arms attached to a shaft and inclosed in a case. 

 Lechie's machine gave the idea for the more successful machines 

 which came later. 



A Mr. Atkinson, of Yorkshire, devised a machine (the date is 



FIG. 154 A THRESHING MACHINE IN OPERATION. THE GRAIN IS SUPPLIED 



TO THE MACHINE FROM ONE SIDE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A 



BETTER VIEW OF THE MACHINE 



not known) having a cylinder with teeth, or a peg drum, as it 

 was called, and these teeth ran across other rows of teeth, which 

 acted as concaves. 



282. American development. The Pitts brothers have figured 

 more prominently than any two other men in the early develop- 

 ment of threshing machines in America. Others were granted 

 patents, but to these men credit should be given for inventing 

 and manufacturing the first practical machine. These brothers 



