Editing Combine harvester (section)

==History ==
[[File:Lely-Mähdrescher.jpg|thumb|A [[Lely (company)|Lely]] open-cab combine]]
[[File:Drone video of combine harvester and tractor on a field in Jõgevamaa, Estonia (July 2022).webm|thumb|Drone video of combine harvester and tractor on a field in [[Jõgevamaa]], [[Estonia]] (August 2022)]]
In 1826 in [[Scotland]], the inventor Reverend [[Patrick Bell]] designed  a [[Reaper|reaper machine]], which used the scissors principle of plant cutting (a principle that is used to this day). The Bell machine was pushed by horses. A few Bell machines were available in the United States. In 1835, in the United States, [[Hiram Moore]] built and patented the first combine harvester, which was capable of reaping, threshing and winnowing cereal grain. Early versions were pulled by horse, mule or ox teams.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Combine harvesters|publisher=Mascus UK|url=http://www.mascus.co.uk/Agriculture/Used-Agricultural-Combine-harvesters}}</ref> In 1835, Moore built a full-scale version with a length of 5.2&nbsp;m (17&nbsp;ft) and a cut width of 4.57&nbsp;m (15&nbsp;ft); by 1839, over {{convert|50|acre|ha|abbr=on|order=flip}} of crops were harvested.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology|date=September 2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780203028292|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n--ivouMng8C&q=Hiram+Moore+and+combine+harvester&pg=PA865}}</ref> This combine harvester was pulled by 20 horses fully handled by farmhands. By 1860, combine harvesters with a cutting, or [[swathe]], width of several metres were used on American farms.<ref>{{cite web|title=The History of Combine Harvesters|publisher=Cornways|url=http://www.cornways.de/hi_combine.html}}</ref>
[[File:Old Style Harvester.jpg|thumb|A "Sunshine" harvester in the [[Henty, New South Wales|Henty, Australia]], region]]
A parallel development in Australia saw the development of the [[Stripper (agriculture)|stripper]] based on the Gallic stripper, by [[John Ridley (inventor)|John Ridley]] and others in [[South Australia]] by 1843. The stripper only gathered the heads, leaving the stems in the field.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collection.maas.museum/object/211927|title=Sunshine header-harvester, c.1935|website=collection.maas.museum}}</ref> The stripper and later headers had the advantage of fewer moving parts and only collecting heads, requiring less power to operate. Refinements by [[Hugh Victor McKay]] produced a commercially successful combine harvester in 1885, the [[Sunshine Harvester Works|Sunshine Header-Harvester]].<ref name="auto">[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/related_reports/article377318.ece Timesonline.co.uk]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, access date 31-09-2009 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511135937/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |date=2020-05-11 }}</ref>
[[File:Mules pull farm equipment (3537172980).jpg|thumb|left|[[Case Corporation|Case]] harvester, 20+ [[mule]] team]]
[[File:CaseCombineHarvester.jpg|thumb|[[Case IH axial-flow combines|Case IH Axial-Flow combine]]]]
Combines, some of them quite large, were drawn by [[mule]] or [[horse]] teams and used a [[bullwheel]] to provide power. Later, steam power was used, and George Stockton Berry integrated the combine with a [[steam engine]] using straw to heat the boiler.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historylink101.com/lessons/farm-city/combine.htm|title=History of the Combine|website=Historylink.com|access-date=August 18, 2009}}</ref>  At the turn of the twentieth century, horse-drawn combines were starting to be used on the American plains and Idaho (often pulled by teams of twenty or more horses).

In 1911, the [[Holt Manufacturing Company]] of California, US produced a self-propelled harvester.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3cJeffKoriEC&dq=oldest+self-propelled+combine+harvester&pg=PA118 The John Deere Tractor Legacy], Don McMillan, Voyageur Press, 2003, page 118 with photo</ref> In Australia in 1923, the patented [[Sunshine Auto Header]] was one of the first center-feeding self-propelled harvesters.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eiqZ7KmeLRMC&pg=PA72 Remarkable Australian Farm Machines]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Graeme R. Quick, Rosenberg Publishing, 2007, page 72.</ref> In 1923 in [[Kansas]], the Baldwin brothers and their [[Gleaner Manufacturing Company]] patented a self-propelled harvester that included several other modern improvements in grain handling.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.agcoiron.com/fileUpload/GLEANER_85Years_Brochure.pdf|title=Gleaner: 85 Years of Harvest History|website=Gleaner Agco Company|date=2008|page=8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223103732/http://www.agcoiron.com/fileUpload/GLEANER_85Years_Brochure.pdf|archive-date=December 23, 2010}}</ref> Both the Gleaner and the Sunshine used [[Fordson]] engines; early Gleaners used the entire Fordson chassis and driveline as a platform. In 1929, Alfredo Rotania of Argentina patented a self-propelled harvester.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=651079|title=La maquinaria que haría historia|website=La Nacion|date=6 Nov 2004|language=Spanish|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606010014/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=651079 |archive-date=2011-06-06}}</ref>
[[International Harvester]] started making horse-pulled combines in 1915. At the time, horse-powered binders and stand-alone [[threshing machines]] were more common. In the 1920s, [[Case Corporation]] and [[John Deere]] made combines, introducing tractor-pulled harvesters with a second engine aboard the combine to power its workings. The [[Great Depression|world economic collapse in the 1930s]] stopped farm equipment purchases, and for this reason, people largely retained the older method of harvesting. A few farms did invest and used [[Caterpillar tractors]] to move the outfits.

[[Tractor]]-drawn combines (also called pull-type combines) became common after [[World War II]] as many farms began to use tractors. An example was the [[All-Crop Harvester]] series. These combines used a shaker to separate the grain from the chaff and straw-walkers (grates with small teeth on an eccentric shaft) to eject the straw while retaining the grain. Early tractor-drawn combines were usually powered by a separate gasoline engine, while later models were [[Power take-off|PTO]]-powered, via a shaft transferring tractor engine power to operate the combine. These machines either put the harvested crop into bags that were then loaded onto a wagon or truck, or had a small bin that stored the grain until it was transferred via a chute.

In the U.S., [[Allis-Chalmers]], [[Massey-Harris]], [[International Harvester]], [[Gleaner Manufacturing Company]], [[John Deere]], and [[Minneapolis Moline]] are past or present major combine producers.
In 1937, the Australian-born Thomas Carroll, working for [[Massey-Harris]] in Canada, perfected a self-propelled model and in 1940, a lighter-weight model began to be marketed widely by the company.<ref>[http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/AS10082b.htm "Carroll, Thomas (Tom) (1888–1968)"], ''Australian Dictionary of Biography''</ref> [[Lyle Yost]] invented an auger that would lift grain out of a combine in 1947, making unloading grain much easier and further from the combine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kansas.com/2012/04/06/2286965/lyle-yost-founder-of-hesston-industries.html|website=[[Wichita Eagle]]|first=Dan|last=Voorhis|title=Lyle Yost, founder of Hesston Industries, dies at age 99|access-date=September 12, 2012|date=April 6, 2012|archive-date=August 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810092401/http://www.kansas.com/2012/04/06/2286965/lyle-yost-founder-of-hesston-industries.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1952 [[Claeys (company)|Claeys]] launched the first self-propelled combine harvester in Europe;<ref>CARROL J.: The World Encyclopedia of Tractors & Farm Machinery, 1999 Annes Publishing Ltd, p. 127</ref> in 1953, the European manufacturer [[Claas]] developed a self-propelled combine harvester named '[[Claas Selbstfahrer|Hercules]]', it could harvest up to 5 tons of wheat a day.<ref name="auto"/> This newer kind of combine is still in use and is powered by [[Diesel engine|diesel]] or [[gasoline]] engines. Until the self-cleaning rotary screen was invented in the mid-1960s combine engines suffered from overheating as the chaff spewed out when harvesting small grains would clog radiators, blocking the airflow needed for cooling.

A significant advance in the design of combines was the rotary design. The grain is initially stripped from the stalk by passing along a helical rotor, instead of passing between rasp bars on the outside of a cylinder and a concave. Rotary combines were first introduced by [[New Holland Agriculture|Sperry-New Holland]] in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://farmindustrynews.com/mag/farming_euro_yellow_combine_2/ |title=Euro yellow combine|website=Farmindustrynews.com |access-date=2009-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023192941/http://farmindustrynews.com/mag/farming_euro_yellow_combine_2/ |archive-date=2008-10-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Around the 1980s, on-board electronics were introduced to measure threshing efficiency. This new instrumentation allowed operators to get better grain yields by optimizing ground speed and other operating parameters.

The largest [[Combine harvester#Combine size classification|"class 10-plus"]] combines, which emerged in the early 2020's, have nearly 800 engine [[horsepower]] (600&nbsp;kW)<ref>{{Cite web |title=5 biggest harvesters |url=https://interestingengineering.com/ie-originals/giant-machines/season-1/ep-8-5-biggest-harvesters |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=Interesting Engineering |language=en-US}}</ref> and are fitted with headers up to {{convert|60|ft|m|0}} wide.

{|style="margin: 0 auto; float:center;"
|[[File:Kombajn New Holland TX68 seče pole mezi Slatinkami a Lípami, okres Prostějov (04).jpg|thumb|left|A [[New Holland TX68]] with grain platform attached]]
|[[File:Combine-harvesting-corn.jpg|thumb|left|A [[John Deere Titan]] series combine unloading corn]]
|}