Omaha daily bee., 1886-07-01
HARVESTING IN CALIFORNIA.
Immense Machines That Out, Thras h,
and Bag the Grain All ut Once.

| Immense MuCntneS Ihat Out, InraS n,
and Bag the Grain All ut Once.
The constantly changing manner of
harvesting grain in the past quarter of n
century is worth recording, writes an
Oakland Ca. correspondent of the New
York Sun. While the east has been max
ing great strides in improvements, the
far west has not been behind in modes
adapted to its wants. In the past three
or four years class of monster harvest
ing machines has appeared. They cut,
thrash, and sack the grain as they move
upon the ground, the grain being cleaned
ready for market. The real origin Of
these great labor saving machines has
bean known to very few. Even the
| present manufacturers are most of them
III the dark on the subject
In recent extended tour over Oregon,
Washington territory and Idaho have
devoted considerable time and expense to
| gathering IA Is, and can now locate the
| first invention i'll Oregon. AS long ago as
1853 one Luper, residing near Lebanon,
| Ore, built and used n machine which
| pushed ahead of the horses and ran the
cut grain off in a swath on the ground ut
the left of the machine, leaving it to be
| gathered and carried to the stack or
| thresher. From this sprang the header
and elevator now so well known on the
Pacific coast. 1t is substantially 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.
While the Luper machine was in oper.
alton, Aledders Nanderpool, a. lso rcsid--
| ing near Lebanon, conceived the idea OF
| attaching some sort Of thrasher to it.
| He built combined machine in 1855,
| using it through one harvest 1t was
run almost entirely by belt, and thrash.
ing was done by friction, the thrashed
| grain falling into box and being win
moved afterward. The machine did fair
work, but was not durable. 1t gave out
| after cutting seven or eight hundred
acres of grain. n1S60 Mr.. Vanderpool
made improvements. In 1868 and 1861
| he went back to very near his first in
vention. Having obtained patents he
| constructed another machine At the
| age of 81 he takes great pleasure in eXhib-
lting the model at his farm house near
| good horses or mules and three men to
operate it,. When properly handled it
would cut from twelve to eighteen acres
| of grain per day. Nothing was ever
done with it in u business way. II ran
three or four years, cutting large acre
age, when it was thrown aside. But it
attracted attention, and others began to
experiment in search of a good COM
| bined harvester and thrasher.
The first to go to work in earnest and
| expend money were w. G. and l.. Il.
| Davis of McMinnville, Ore. They began
| work isr,i1sS6 .yand obtained patents In
| in 1867. These patents are in part The
| machines of this class. The Davis broth
ers first made two machines. These were
used one five years and the other six
years. They cut many thousand of acres
| of grain in the great Willamette valley.
AT the farm residence of J.. 7. Davis l
saw an old photograph of the machine.
few facts relating to the enterprise
| may InteseSt your readers,
Ten animals and three men were used
to run these machines. The average cut
was eighteen acres of grain per day.
| The contrivance was n pull-and-push
machine, Three animals were on the
right of the separator, and four in the
lead The operator stood on the left OF
| the separator in the rear, the sacker plat
form being on the right. The thrasher
was an ordinary belt machine, and the
patents covered the peculiar and novel
connections between it and the cutting
apparatus.
The trials, troubles and losses of the
Davis boys would make good-sizcd vol
ume. The worst of it is that they could
not shape matters to carry on the bust
| ness and retrieve their losses. In 1867
they went to Portland. Under contract
the owners of the Portland iron works
began to construct five machines, for
which the Davises held farmers con
tracts. just as the machines were ready
to be run out of the works u fire de-
stroyed all the buildings machines and
patterns. As they were not insured the
Davis boys were left without means to go
on with the enterprise. The castings at
that time cost twenty-five cents pei
| pound and other work in proportion.
About this time w. fl. Parish had been
limited success, as had also j. III. Rob
bins & Brother, all residing near the
scene of the first invention. The Davis
bows, being unable to go on sold their
patents to Mr.. Parish and one j. c. Akin,
who again sold to California parties at
Stockton. Since then several different
kinds of the machines have been built