Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-07-14
MONSTER HARVESTERS.
ORIGIN OF THE GREAT LABOR
SAVING MACHINES OF THE WEST.

SAVING MACHINES OF THE WEST.
How Grain IL Harvested on the Pacific
Coast-Iron Titans Which Wade
Through Grain Fields. Cutting,
Thrashing and BaRging all at Once.
The constantly changing manner Of har-
vesting grain in the last quarter Of a century
Is worth recording While the east has been
making great strides in improvements the far
west has not bes'n behind in m"i,> adapted 10
its wants In the last thre, or four years a
class Of monster harvesting machines has
appeared. They cut thrash and sack the
grain as they move over the field. dropping
the filed sacks upon the ground, the grain
being cleaned ready for market The real
origin Of these great lsbor-saving machines
has been known to very few. Even the pres
ent manufacturers are most of them in the
dark on the subject.
In a reaent extended tour over Oregon,
Washington territory and Idaho have de
voted considerable time and expense to
gathering facts. and can now locate the first
invention in Oregon As long ago as 1853
one LupeT, residing near Lebanon, Ore,
built and used machine which pushed ahead
of the horses and ran the cut grain of in a
Swath on the ground at the left of the
machine, leaving it to be gathered and car
ried TO the stack or tlraSher From this
sprang the header and elevator now so well
known ON the Pacific coast 1t is suhstanti-
ally the same machine, but with "A spout that
carries the grain to large header beds ON
wagons by which it is Transported to the
stack.
CONFINED HEADER AND THRASHER.
While the Luper machine was in operation
Medders Nanderpoel. also residing near Ieha-
non, conceived the idea of attaching some
sort of a thrasher 20 il He built combined
machine in 1876, using it through one harvest.
II was run almost entirely by belt, and the
thrashing was done by friction. the thrashed
grain falling into box and being winnuwed
afterward. The machine did fair work, hut
was not durable. 1t gave out after cutting
200 or so acres Of grain In 1850 Mr.. Van
derpoel made improvements and changed the
manner of handling the grain After a Sea-
sons run, however, he was not pleased with
his improvements. IN 1868 and lSI4 he went
back to very nearly his first invention Hav-
ing obtained patents he constructed another
machine At the age of 81 years he takes
great litstSult III the HltNlt'l ut us
farmhouse near Lebanon. The machine re-
quired ten good horses or mules and three
men to operate it. When properly handled
it would cut from twelve TO eighteen aCrps of
grain per day. Nothing was ever done with
it in a business way. II ran three or four
years, cutting a large acreage when it was
thrown aside. But it attracted attention, and
others began to experiment in search Of IA
good combined harvester and thrasher.
The first 10 50 TO work i'll earnest and ex-
pend money Were W. e. and l. T. Davis. of
MCMinnyille, Ore. They began work i'll 1876
and obtained patents in 1867. These patents
are in part the basis Of the present numerous
successful machines of this class. The Davis
brothers first made two machines. These
We're used one five years and the other six
Years. They cut many thousands of acres of
grain in the great Willamette valley. At the
farm residence Of L. T. Davis | saw an old
photograph of the machine. A few facts re-
lating to the enterprise may interest your
readers.
CUTTING BROAD swATH.
Ten animals and three men were us.d to
run these machines. The average cut was
eighteen acres Of grain per day. The con-
trivance WAS pull-and-push machine. Three
ahIiiiais were On 'he ieit anu thiee on the
Ilsh' Oh the separator ana Tour III the lead
Inc operator Sto"d on the lett oi the separa-
tor in the rear, the sacker platform being on
the right Inc 'hrasher was an ordinary belt
machine, and the patents covered the peCu-
lar ana mover connexions between IL and the
cutting apparatus.
Inc 'riais' troubles ana losses OF the DAVIS
"oys "ouiu MAKE q goon-siItu volume. lhe
"orst oi II Is sliat tney could not shape mat
ters 10 carry the business and retrieve
their losses. About TINS tline William II.
Faflsh hah pteh operating Win similar
Liacniiie WIN iAiiiI'eu suCteNS' as had also >.
ID. hoOolns pro, all residing near the
scene Oh the nrst ul'eh'oh- Ihe DAVIS
boys, oeihg unable 10 go on sold Their pat
ems 10 MI. rarlsh anu one j. l. Akin, VINO
again sofa 10 Cahiorhla parties AT Stucktor-
since theh several dliiereht KINGS OF The ma
chimes nave peeh Dulit there, as well as one