Plough
A plough opens and turns soil before planting. Its share and mouldboard developed from simple digging implements into animal-drawn and tractor-mo...
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Agriculture & Food · 25 entries
A plough opens and turns soil before planting. Its share and mouldboard developed from simple digging implements into animal-drawn and tractor-mo...
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A seed drill meters seed into regularly spaced furrows and covers it with soil. Mechanical feed and depth control made sowing more consistent tha...
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A broadcast spreader distributes seed, fertilizer or other granular material across a field. A rotating disc throws material outward, turning a s...
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A mechanical reaper cuts standing grain with a moving blade while gathering the stalks. Horse-drawn reapers reduced the hand labour of harvesting...
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A reaper-binder cuts grain and ties the stalks into bundles. Its knotting mechanism coordinated cutting, gathering and binding, making it an impo...
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A threshing machine separates grain from harvested stalks using beaters, drums and screens. Powered by animals, steam engines or tractors, it mov...
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A combine harvester cuts a crop, threshes the grain and separates it from straw in one moving machine. Its name reflects this combination of oper...
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A tractor supplies pulling power for farm implements and can also drive machinery through a belt or power take-off. The shift from steam traction...
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A steam tractor uses a boiler and reciprocating engine to move itself and pull equipment. Agricultural examples brought mobile engine power to ta...
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A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used for hauling loads, agricultural work and driving belt-powered machinery. Large flywheels...
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The Fordson Model F brought lightweight, mass-produced tractor power to many farms. Its compact engine-and-transmission structure helped make mec...
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The Model D was a long-running two-cylinder tractor in John Deere's early tractor range. Its large flywheel and simple layout became characterist...
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A disc plough uses large, concave discs to cut and turn soil. Each disc works as an individual soil-turning element, helping the implement cope w...
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A disc harrow carries gangs of angled discs that break clods and mix the soil surface. It prepares a seedbed after primary tillage and can incorp...
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A cultivator uses tines or blades to loosen surface soil and control weeds around crops. Animal-drawn and tractor-mounted versions allowed farmer...
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A cotton gin separates cotton fibres from their seeds. Roller and saw mechanisms accelerated this stage of textile production; the expansion of c...
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A mechanical cotton picker removes cotton from open bolls using moving picking elements. Successful machines had to gather fibres while limiting...
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A grain elevator combines bulk storage with machinery for raising and transferring grain. Bucket conveyors, chutes and bins made it possible to m...
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A gristmill grinds grain into meal or flour, traditionally between a fixed lower stone and a rotating upper stone. Water, wind and later engines...
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A roller mill crushes material between rotating cylinders. In flour milling, successive roller stages and sifting equipment allowed grain to be p...
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A rice huller removes the tough outer husk from harvested rice. Mechanical hullers use controlled abrasion or pressure to separate husk from grai...
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A sugar cane mill squeezes juice from cane between heavy rollers. Animal, water and steam power were used to drive mills whose operation was clos...
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A centrifugal cream separator spins milk so that components of different density move apart. It made cream separation quicker and more controllab...
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A milking machine applies alternating vacuum and release through teat cups to collect milk. Pulsators, tubing and collection vessels turned a han...
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An Archimedes' screw raises water as a helical surface rotates inside or alongside a containing trough. Used for drainage and irrigation, the pri...
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