A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of farm equipment that separates grain seed from the stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed, threshing was done by hand with flails: such hand threshing was very laborious and time-consuming, taking about one-quarter of agricultural labour by the 18th century. Mechanization of this process removed a substantial amount of drudgery from farm labour. The first threshing machine was invented circa 1786 by the Scottish engineer Andrew Meikle, and the subsequent adoption of such machines was one of the earlier examples of the mechanization of agriculture. During the 19th century, threshers and mechanical reapers and reaper-binders gradually became widespread and made grain production much less laborious.
The modern combine harvester, also called a combine, is a machine designed to harvest a variety of cultivated seeds. Combine harvesters are one of the most economically important labour-saving inventions, significantly reducing the fraction of the population engaged in agriculture. Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, rice, oats, rye, barley, corn (maize), sorghum, millet, soybeans, flax (linseed), sunflowers and rapeseed. The separated straw is then either chopped onto the field and ploughed back in, or laid out in rows, ready to be baled and used for bedding and cattle feed.
Threshing or thrashing is the process of loosening the edible part of grain from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain.
A swather, or windrower, is a farm implement that cuts hay or small grain crops and forms them into a windrow for drying.
New Holland is a global full-line agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in New Holland, Pennsylvania, and now based in Turin, Italy. New Holland's products include tractors, combine harvesters, balers, forage harvesters, self-propelled sprayers, haying tools, seeding equipment, hobby tractors, utility vehicles and implements, and grape harvesters. Originally formed as the New Holland Machine Company in 1895, the company is now owned by CNH Industrial N. V., a company incorporated in the Netherlands.
CLAAS is an agricultural machinery manufacturer based in Harsewinkel, Germany, in the federal state of North Rhine Westphalia. Founded in 1913 by August Claas, CLAAS is a family business and one of the market and technology leaders in harvesting technology. It is the European market leader in combine harvesters and considered as world market leader in self-propelled forage harvesters. The product range also includes tractors, balers, mowers, rakes, tedders, silage trailers, wheel loaders, telehandlers and other harvesting equipment as well as farming information technology. CLAAS employs around 11,500 employees worldwide and reported a turnover of roughly 3.9 billion euros in the 2019 financial year. About 78.5% of sales are generated outside of Germany.
The Gleaner Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of combine harvesters. Gleaner has been a popular brand of combine harvester particularly in the Midwestern United States for many decades, first as an independent firm, and later as a division of Allis-Chalmers. The Gleaner brand continues today under the ownership of AGCO.
The JCB Fastrac is a high-speed agricultural tractor series manufactured by JCB Landpower, part of the JCB group.
Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that they tow or operate. Diverse arrays of equipment are used in both organic and nonorganic farming. Especially since the advent of mechanised agriculture, agricultural machinery is an indispensable part of how the world is fed. Agricultural machinery can be regarded as part of wider agricultural automation technologies, which includes the more advanced digital equipment and robotics. While agricultural robots have the potential to automate the three key steps involved in any agricultural operation, conventional motorized machinery is used principally to automate only the performing step where diagnosis and decision-making are conducted by humans based on observations and experience.
Stripper was a type of harvesting machine common in Australia in the late 19th and early 20th century. John Ridley is now accepted as its inventor, though John Wrathall Bull argued strongly for the credit.
Claas Lexion is a series of combine harvesters, manufactured by Claas in Harsewinkel. An American version called Lexion was produced by Claas Omaha Inc. in the United States.
Case IH Axial Flow Combines are a type of combine harvester that has been manufactured by International Harvester, and later Case International, Case Corporation and CNH Global, used by farmers to harvest a wide range of grains around the world.
The Matador Gigant, initially called Matador, is a self-propelled combine harvester produced by the German agricultural company Claas in Harsewinkel. The Matador Gigant is the largest combine harvester of the Matador series, the smaller Matador Standard was introduced afterwards. Approximately 35,000 units of the Matador series combine harvester were made from 1961 to 1969.
The Fortschritt E 516 is a self-propelled combine harvester made by VEB Mähdrescherwerk Boschofswerda/Singwitz. It was developed in the late 1960s and first half of the 1970s, and after extensive testing in 1975, it was put into series production in 1977. In 1983, the E 516's second generation, the Fortschritt E 516 B was introduced. It was discontinued in 1988 in favour of its successor, the Fortschritt E 517.
The S-4 «Stalinets», is a self-propelled combine harvester, made by several different combine harvester plants in the former Soviet Union, from 1947 until 1955. In 1955, the modernised variant, called the S-4M, was introduced; it was put out of production in 1958. In total, 29,582 units were built. In former East Germany, the S-4 combine was built under licence by the IFA as the Fortschritt E 170 series, from 1954 until 1967. Unlike the original S-4, which is powered by an otto engine, the Fortschritt E 170 series combines were all powered by a diesel engine, and some of them came with a chaff waggon rather than a straw waggon.
The Fortschritt E 512 is a self-propelled combine harvester that was made by the East-German manufacturer VEB Mähdrescherwerk Bischofswerda/Singwitz, and sold under the Fortschritt brand. It is the first Fortschritt combine harvester that has been solely developed in the GDR. The E 512 succeeded the Fortschritt E 170 series. At the time of its introduction in the late 1960s, the E 512 was a modern, sought-after combine harvester that could compete well with high-performance combines made in Western countries, such as the Clayson 140 and the Claas Senator. In total, 51,412 units were made from 1968 until 1988, which makes the E 512 the East German combine harvester with the highest production figure.
The Fortschritt E 514 is a self-propelled combine harvester, that was made by the East-German manufacturer VEB Mähdrescherwerk Bischofswerda/Singwitz in Singwitz, and sold under the Fortschritt brand. It is the successor to the Fortschritt E 512, which it did not manage to replace – the E 514 was produced alongside the E 512 from 1982 until 1988.
The Fortschritt E 510 was a self-propelled combine harvester, developed in the early 1960s by the East-German Fortschritt combine. It was a heavy modification of its predecessor, the Fortschritt E 170 series. Several E 510 combines were made for testing purposes; however, the tests which were conducted in the 1963 harvesting season showed that, the E 510 was no improvement over the E 170 series. Despite having developed the E 510 to a point where it was ready to go into series production, the E 510's series production never commenced, and the E 510 was cancelled. Instead, Fortschritt developed a completely new combine harvester, the Fortschritt E 512.
The Fortschritt E 162, also known as the LBH 52 Kombinus, is a tractor-drawn combine harvester, made by the East-German manufacturer VEB Mähdrescherwerk Boschofswerda/Singwitz in Singwitz, from 1952 until 1956. In total, 54 were built. The E 162 proved to be an unreliable combine, and it was soon replaced by the Fortschritt E 170 series.
