In Britain, till within these twenty years, the flail may be said to have been the only instrument em ployed for thrashing corn. But, previous to that period, several attempts were made to construct machines for performing that laborious work. The first attempt was made by an ingenious gentleman of the county of East Lothian, Mr Michael Menzies, who invented a machine, that was to go by water, upon the principle of driving a number of flails by a water-wheel ; but, from the force with which they wrought, the flails were soon broken to pieces, and consequently the invention did not succeed.
Another thrashing machine was invented about 1758, by Mr Michael Stirling, a farmer in the parish of Dum blain, Perthshire. This machine was nearly the same as the common mill for dressing flax, being a vertical shaft with four cross-arms, enclosed in a cylindrical case, three feet and a half high, and eight feet diameter. Within this case, the shaft with its arms were turned with considerable velocity by a water-wheel, and the sheaves of corn being let down gradually through an opening for the purpose on the top of the box, the grain was beat off by the arms, and pressed with the straw through an opening in the floor, from which it was separated by riddles shaken by the mill, and then clear ed by fanners, also turned by it. The great defect of this machine was, that it broke off the ears of barley or wheat, instead of beating out the grain, and was only fit for oats, Several other machines were afterwards invented by different persons, for accomplishing this important opera tion ; but none of them answered the purpose, till one was constructed at Houston Mill, near Haddington, Scotland, by Mr Andrew Meikle, whose family possess a kind of hereditary right to genius and invention. Air Meikle, who for several years had been attempting to bring these machines to perfection, ascertained, after much investigation, that they had all been constructed upon wrong principles, and that beating must be had recourse to, instead of rubbing, otherwise the work could not be performed in a sufficient manner. Ile therefore, in 1785, made a working model, turned by water, in which the grain was brat out by the drum, after passing through two rollers, used for feeding or drawing the grain into the machine. Mr George Made, son of the former, being at Kilbegic, t he residence of Mr Stein, agreed to erect a machine of this nature for that gentle man, upon condition of Mr Stein furnishing all the ma terials, and paying him for the work only in case the machine answered the desired putpose. This was agreed
to, and the machine was completed in February 1786, being the first of the kind ever made. It was found to work exceedingly well ; and the only alteration made from the above mentioned model was, that, instead of plain rollers, fluted ones were substituted. In conse quence of this successful attempt, a patent for the in vention was applied for, which, after a considerable op position from a person no ways concerned in the inven tion, was obtained in April 1788.
Since the erection of this machine, Mr Meikle has progressively introduced a variety of improvements, all tending to simplify the labour, and to augment the quan tity of the work performed. When first erected, though the corn was equally well separated from the straw, yet as the whole of the straw, chaff, and corn, were indis criminately thrown into a confused heap, the work could only, with propriety, be considered as half execu ted. By the addition of rakes, or shakers, and two pair of fanners, all driven by the same machinery, the different processes of thrashing, shaking, and winnow ing, arc now all at once performed, and the corn im mediately prepared for the public market. NVhen it is added, that the quantity of corn gained from the supe rior powers of the machine is fully equal to a twentieth part of the crop, and that, in some cases, the expense of thrashing and cleaning the corn is considerably less than what was formerly paid for cleaning it alone, the immense savings arising from the invention will at once be seen.
Where farms are of a small size, it would be impro per to recommend the erection of large machines, as the interest of the original purchase would be a heavy drawback from the advantages ; but, under contrary circumstances, we are decidedly of opinon, that a ma chine of great powers, provided with two rakes, or sha kers, and two pair of fanners, is the most profitable one for the possessor. By a machine of this kind, when wrought by horses, the grain is completely thrashed and cleaned at little more expense than is paid for clean ing it alone, when thrashed by the flail, independent of the additional quantity of corn produced by the powers of the machine ; and, when wind or water is substituted instead of horses, the saving is considerably increased.