Important Inventions

COMBINE HARVESTER

Before the combine harvester was invented farmers walked through the fields with
sickles cutting off grain as they went and other workers followed behind them
and bundling the wheat.
Soon the reaper was invented in 1831
One reaper did the work of 5 men.
In 1815, a mechanism was created that held cut grain until the right amount of cut
grain had been collected to make a sheaf.
In 1878, a twine knotter which tied the sheaves, was added to the reaper.
One reaper did the work of 40 people.
Even with the reaper, there was still lots of work to be done by hand.
The grain had to be cut from the stalk and seperated from the husk.
The threshing machine was ignored in the UK because threshing by hand gave winter employment to farmers who would otherwise had no job.
It much more popular in the United States.
If a reaper and a thresher were attachable imagine what it would be like to combine them together into one machine. The combine harvester reduced the amount the effort needed to harvest crops. Many farmer works left areas in the 1920's.
Farms in the U.S. were bigger and was not only feeding its own people but also exporting grain to other countries.
The combine harvester took agriculture from being reliant on men and animals to machines. The combine harvester can do the work of 100 men today.