The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-01-09
GATHERS GRAIN


Topeka, Kan, Jan. IA hansan Is
the inventor of a successful machine
for threshing wheat as ii stands in the
fields, delivering the ..threshed and
cleaned grain to a packer and leaving
the straw standing in the field. This
will eliminate the very considerable
amount of labor required in hauling
and stacking wheat and then pitching
the wheat and straw into the thresher.
The wheat farmers wives will be re-
lieved of the painful necessity Of cook
ing for the threshers, and the harvest
ing crew will be smaller than it is
under the present system of heading
and stacking wheat. All this will be
accomplished il the machine is a sue
cess, and IL has successfully under
gone some very through tests.
The inventor Of this revolutionary
thresher Of standing grain is Charles
G. Baldwin OF Nickerson, who has
built a working model Of his machine,
thoroughly tried it out aud has orders
for as MANY as he car manufacture for
delivery next season.
A machine such as Baldwin has
invented has been one of the desires
of wheat farmers aud implement man
ufacturers for years. The problem of
getting enough labor 10 care for
wheat al the time it is ripe for cutting
has been one of the annual problems in
Kansas fol- a number of years. This
new machine should help solve the
labor question and. if a success. will
eliminate the loss of wheat in the
stack because of wet weather and the
waste caused by threshing out of over
ripe grain during the process of cutting
and handling. 1t should also prove a
factor in the onser walton of the
soil.
while our machine Is a new de-
paiture. we use the ancient principle
for removing the grain from the head;
that is. we beat it out. as have old
threshers from the fail up" said MIR.
Baldwin.
"We do this. however. without cut.
ting the straw. thus dispensing with
the separator and the additional cost
of handling the straw. which is quite
an item in most localities. And, after
giving the old methods of harvesting
and threshine a little thought, one can
hardly class them as appropriate to the
time, as it is such an indirect route
from the field to the granary. There
is, first the work and expense of hand
ling tho straw at the thresher. and
last the expense of handling the straw
back to the land where he started with
ii. All this is done to have the grain
removed from the head, which is done
with n simple operation at the
cylinder.
II figure that ii is hest to take the
cylinder to the field. rather than to
bring the field to the cylinder.
"Tests have shown that straw is
worth more back in the soil than for
any other purpose; and the idea that
grain should stand In head OF
straw for a time before it will keep in
the grapary is merely a hobby-as tests
have also proven that grain pat directly
into a ventilated granary will dry AS
we'll and have a better color tn n
when left in the straw. The sun and
weather have no chance to lower its
quality or bleach the berry.
81 have made a study of the harvest.
ing and threshing proposition, and
there is nc question that the stand
ing grain thresher is a step forward
in progress along that line. / have
worked on the standing grain thresher
fer several years, have had it in the
field this season. though tests in the
field last season were very satisfactory, |
proving that our machine would elm
mate considerable of the work incident |
to handling the straw several times. |
We made an accurate test with a
bi der and ordinary thresher."
The thresher weighs about $500
pounds, and is drawn BY four horses.
The machinery is driven with a 25
horse power gasoline engine. In place
of a sickle a 9-inch cylinder with A..
inch teeth is used. The grain lie held
against this cylinder by a strong blast
of air, and the cylinder. turning away
from the grain. threshes it and throws
it into q cavity behind the cylinder.
TAa .~~~a,>A - Il