A threshing machine is a piece of farm equipment that separates grain seed from the stalks and husks of a harvested crop by beating the plant material to make the seed fall free. The Scottish engineer Andrew Meikle built the machine around 1786. Before its invention, threshing was done by hand with flails and consumed roughly a quarter of agricultural labor through the 18th century; mechanized threshing removed much of that drudgery, though the machine's spread through the 19th century also displaced farm laborers and was a contributing cause of the 1830 Swing Riots in England.
Facts
YearSource states the machine was invented circa 1786; the exact date is not recorded. SignificanceThe machine's introduction was disruptive enough that it became a direct target of England's 1830 Swing Riots, in which displaced farm laborers destroyed threshing machines they blamed for unemployment. 1 FAQs
Did Andrew Meikle invent the threshing machine on his own?
Meikle is thought to have invented it around 1786, though some say he only improved an earlier design.
Not everyone agrees that he did. Grace's Guide records that around 1786 Andrew Meikle is thought to have invented the threshing machine, though some say he only improved on an earlier design. Either way, the same source describes the machine as one of the key developments of the British Agricultural Revolution in the late 18th century.
Connections
In Field
Source Threshing Machine (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Invented By
Source Threshing Machine (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Threshing Machine (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section
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.
Early social impacts section
The Swing Riots in the UK were partly a result of the threshing machine.
In Field: Mechanical Engineering, Categories
Agricultural machinery
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