THRASHING 
tance.” <A highly improved variety of this ma- 
chine, made by Messrs. Garrett & Son, is figured 
in Plate LXII. 
Earl Ducie’s thrashing-machine has been in- 
troduced to public notice within the last six 
years; it possesses both a high degree of 
merit and a considerable amount of novelty ; 
it not only thrashes corn and winnows it, but 
sacks the grain for the market; it was pro- 
nounced by the judges at the Shrewsbury Meet- 
ing of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1845 
“a powerful machine, meriting high commen- 
dation and encouragement, although possibly 
adapted to the very large rather than to the 
moderate-sized farm ;” and declared by Mr. Ran- 
some “ excellent in the greater part of its detail, 
and the most complete of any that had fallen 
within the range of his observation.” ‘The fol- 
lowing account of it is abridged from a descrip- 
tion by Lord Ducie’s manager, John Morton, in 
Mr. Ransome’s volume: — “ This machine is 
worked by a steam-engine of six-horse power. 
The corn is brought from the stack upon wag- 
gons running along a tram-road upon an inclined 
plane, to the doors of the building, whence, sheaf 
by sheaf, it is thrown by children into the buck- 
ets of an elevator, which, in its rotation, carries 
them to the feeding board. This feeding board 
is placed at a tangent from the drum parallel 
with its top; and, as in Lee’s machine, and the 
portable machines in Suffolk and Norfolk, the 
feeding rollers are dispensed with; an endless 
web gradually carries the unthrashed straw to 
the feeding mouth, from which the revolving 
scutchers rapidly convey it to the concave. The 
drum is about 18 inches diameter, formed of 
sheet iron strained round a cast iron skeleton, 
accurately turned. Upon this the beaters, or 
rather scutchers, formed of angle iron with its 
edges planed, are so placed as to describe an 
angle with the surface of the drum, pointing 
forward in the direction of its motion; these 
project about seven-eighths of an inch. The 
screen, or concave, incloses the drum to the ex- 
tent of about one-third of its circumference, and 
consists of four or five arched pieces of grating, 
three inches wide, jointed together. It is made 
of cast iron bars, having a square section placed 
so that every one shall present an edge to the 
passage of the straw, uniting (as is not uncom- 
mon in other machines) the fluted concave of 
the Scotch machine with the wired grating of 
the English ones. The screen is supported on 
iron bolts, so that it approaches to within about 
one-eighth of an inch of the edge of the scutcher. 
Spiral springs surround these bolts, which per- 
mit the bars of the concave to yield when too 
much pressure may at any time occur between 
them and the revolving drum. ‘The grain is 
thus separated, most of it passing through the 
screen of the concave; but in order that no 
grain shall be allowed to pass away with the 
straw, it is thrown upon the shaker below. 
MACHINES. 44] 
This is a moveable harp or screen, and is made 
of spars 7 of an inch from one another, 2 inches 
deep, # of an inch wide, and 6 feet long; they are 
30 in number, and are thus arranged over a width 
of 3 feet 9 inches. ‘These spars are fixed to two 
pair of frames,—the odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, &c., 
being attached to one pair, and the even num- 
bers, 2, 4, 6, &c., to the other pair. These frames 
are supported by two iron shafts, each having 
two cranks projecting 34 inches on each side of 
them; the frames are attached to these cranks 
by arms with brasses, in which the cranks re- 
volve; the shafts are connected together by a 
rod, so that they both move at the same time. 
In the revolutions of the cranks, everything at- 
tached to them also revolves; so that each point 
of the arms, frames, and spars revolves about a 
centre belonging to itself only. At the same 
time, the regularity in the length of the crank, 
and the uniform motion of the two shafts, has 
the effect of keeping the frames always parallel; 
their position at any one point being parallel to 
their position at any other. The blows occasioned 
as each series of spars strike the straw from be- 
neath, effectually remove every particle of loose 
grain, while the shaker rapidly carries forward 
the straw, and at its termination deposits it in 
the straw-house, while the corn sifted out by its 
action falls before the blast of a fanner; and all 
the light grain and short straws thrown out by 
the first winnowing into the light corn spout is 
then taken up by another elevator, deposited 
again upon the feeding board, and passed a se- 
cond time through the drum, in order effectually 
to separate any that may remain. After pass- 
ing through another winnower, the thoroughly 
cleaned corn is taken up by a third elevator and 
dropped into a hopper, through which it passes 
into a sack, which is placed on a weighing ma- 
chine, and it is there weighed and left thoroughly 
fit for market.” 
The choice of the moving power for a large 
thrashing-machine is sometimes a subject of 
grave consideration. Wind-power is inconstant, 
and not available for work during more than 
from 6 to 8 months in the year; so that, wher- 
ever thrashing work may be wanted at all sea- 
sons, this power must be supplemented by a 
horse-mill or a steam-engine. The cost of erect- 
ing a wind-mill, of the best materials and con- 
struction, including tower, may be fairly esti- 
mated at £350, exclusive of the carriage of 
building materials. Its annual tear and wear, 
from constant exposure, is very great, and this, 
whether working or not; and it requires the 
constant attendance of a person, to watch and 
regulate its motions.—Water may be regarded 
as the best of all moving powers; and is, under 
almost all practicable circumstances, the most 
economical; but of course can be available only 
in the immediate vicinity of a stream, of suffi- 
cient volume, and with a sufficient fall. The 
expense of a substantial water-wheel, including 
ere ~- = — 
