The machine that separates grain from stalk and husk, replacing the winter's flail work in a day. Invented by the Scottish engineer Andrew Meikle around 1786, it also carries one of mechanization's darkest social records: by 1830 it had taken enough winter employment from English farm laborers that the Swing Riots broke out to smash the machines, and the response was nine men hanged and around 450 transported to Australia. The machine and the riots belong to the same story, and the combine harvester later absorbed its work entirely. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Introduced YearCirca; Andrew Meikle's invention is dated about 1786. OriginInvented by the Scottish millwright Andrew Meikle around 1786, mechanizing the winter flail work that had separated grain from stalk and husk by hand for millennia. 2 Connections
Associated With
the mechanical threshing machine displaced hand flailing for the same task, grain separation from the stalk
Source Swing Riots (Wikipedia)
Developed By
Source Andrew Meikle (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Threshing machine
WikipediaLead section; Swing Riots passageQuote, Lead section; Swing Riots passage
A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of farm equipment that separates grain seed from the stalks and husks.
2. Andrew Meikle (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationMain biographical content
credited with inventing the threshing machine, a device used to remove the outer husks from grains of wheat
- Developed By: Andrew Meikle
View the Source Swing Riots (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: Swing Riots, Industrialisation sectionQuote, Associated With: Swing Riots, Industrialisation section
In the late 18th century, the threshing machine was invented and spread swiftly among the farming community, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farm-workers.
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