Thrashing

Thrashing, The thrashing-machine was invented by Andrew Meikle, a millwright settled near Dunbar, about 1786. Various improvements have since been introduced, but in all essential features it remains the same. In Meikle's machine the sheaves are pushed forwards with the ears foremost from a slanting feeding-board, and caught between two revolving rollers with parallel grooves. As they emerge from this position they come into contact with a cylinder or "drum" furnished with four projecting ribs parallel to its axle, called "beaters," which strike their heads so as to separate the grain from the straw. After being carried together over the drum, the loose grain and chaff remaining in the straw are removed by two successive "shakers" or "rakes" supplied with several spikes, the whole of the grain passing through wirework below, and thence to a winnowing-machine, where it is separated from the chaff.