Harvester and Reaper Combined, California

Categories

Special Collections > Keystone Slides

Type

tiff scanned file from original glass slide

Description

Here is one of the agricultural implements that has been made to meet peculiar conditions. In no other country would you see a scene such as this. This machine cuts the wheat, carries it to the separator, threshes it, and sacks it, as it moves along. The operation of this great machine is simple enough. As you see, a steam engine furnishes the motive force. The engine is a tractor and travels along at the same time that it runs the machinery. Just behind the engine is the threshing-machine which separates the grain from the straw. To the right of it is the cutting part of the machinery. A sickle the full length of the platform runs back and forth between small iron guards, like fingers. As the engine moves along, these guards feel their way through the grain, separating it in small bunches. A sickle cuts off the heads of the grain as the large reel pushes the straw firmly against the blades. See the reel just ahead of the platform. It carries 4 sets of 8 arms each. Each of these sets are connected by a long strip. As the machine moves forward, these strips flap in the sun like the arms of a Dutch windmill. The grain falls on a cloth platform which conveys it to the cylinder of the thresher. On the opposite side of the machine the cleaned grain pours into sacks. These are set off into wagons, which also move along in company with the thresher. At the trail of the machine, as you see, the straw falls out in bunches. Such machines as this can be used only where the ground is very level and the fields are large. Their use is confined to California, Washington, and Oregon. In most of the wheat-growing states the horse-drawn self binder or header is used. Keystone ID: 20215 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.

Rights

Copyright by the Keystone View Company. The original slides are housed in McConnell Library's Special Collections.