This book tells the complete story of one of the most significant
agricultural inventions of all time - the combine harvester. Starting
with the early straw walkers and rotary models, author Jonathan Whitlam
charts the chronological evolution of these complex machines which soon
became indispensable to the cereal farmer. The author shows how the
combine developed into the huge modern machine, capable of processing
hundreds of acres of wheat in a day. The story of the combine harvester
is meshed with the cereal harvest, starting with the first mechanisation
of the harvest with the sail reaper, moving through to the binder and
then the threshing drum. The book describes the early arrival of the
combine harvester in the shape of the reaper-thresher in the USA and
then smaller, more compact trailed versions that were also used in
Europe. The self-propelled combine arrived in the 1940s, which is when
the idea really began to take off. The book looks at the various
different makes of combine harvester such as those produced by Case, New
Holland, International Harvester, John Deere and Massey Ferguson and
discusses what the future holds for the combine harvester, including
advanced designs and driverless drones. Accompanied by a wide variety of
new colour photographs, this book will appeal to farm machinery
enthusiasts and those interested in the development of modern industrial
machinery.
