A horse drawn threshing machine?

[Patbretagne]

Ten days ago I had a phone call from our local agricultural garage owner to say that he had heard of a horse threshing machine that needed saving.

First and foremost I have never ever heard of anyone threshing horses, it is more usual to thresh wheat, still there you go!

He put me in touch with a Madame from Goezec who then put me in touch with a Monsieur from Châteaulin. He phoned me back the following day saying that he works for our largest employer in the area DOUX who process chickens for sale throughout the world.

The firm have just sold one on their older plants nearby and in one of the buildings they have found an old threshing machine that they think ought to be saved, am I interested?

Well the answer has to be yes, even if only to be able to go and have a look. So we made a time in the afternoon to visit. A massive complex of buildings down by the canal which all have to come down for redevelopement, we weaved our way through building after building till we got into a courtyard with a Tin Shed painted orange, we had difficulty getting the door open, fortunately as the vandals hadn't got in there, and inside this shed was stacked tons and tons of old junk, but up in one corner was a wood and iron box on wheels about 3.5 m long and 2m wide, iron wheels and a bit of woodworm. One pulley wheel (cast iron) broken but apart from that in good order. Impossible to photo as it is just too covered in junk to get a shot.

This little gem is a little out of the ordinary. Most threshing drums for wheat have the actual drum about 1 metre in width, this one has a 1.5 metre drum, fairly light in construction, so what is it.

I have done a bit of research and come up with Linseed or Hemp as both grow to over 1 metre. The maker is UNION (french) who still make the complicated machinery for the culture of Linseed in Normandy.

Tomorrow thursday I have arranged to clear the rubbish to one side and try to extract the thresher and drag it home behind our Lanz 5506 tractor, it is about 15km away, some 10 miles so the wheel marks will lead all the way to Kostalan we hope.

As soon as I have extracted it and taken some photos I will post them up on the board.

Best wishes Pat

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

It amazes me how you come up with all these items. Another great find.

[Bill E Bob]

It amazes me how you come up with all these items. Another great find.

At this point, the items are finding him

[beaconlight]

Good find Pat. I hope you grease the axles before you try to move it.
Good to see you posting again.

[Bob McCarty]

Pat, I wonder what other treasures might be hiding in that shed!! We'll be eager to see pictures.

Bob

[BILL PASTOR]

WHAT WAS THE -- JUNK -- YOU HAD TO MOVE ????

[VinceD]

First and foremost I have never ever heard of anyone threshing horses, it is more usual to thresh wheat,

Love it

[George Willer]

3 or 4 years ago the Dotson brothers and I attended an auction (Charlie Keller) where a horse powered thresher was sold. I'm sure the horse power and thresher weren't necessarily intended to be together as a unit. I was paying closer attention to a small IH PTO combine nearby that would have been a nice load for Scruffy. Storage/money/good sense prevailed.

[Patbretagne]

3 or 4 years ago the Dotson brothers and I attended an auction (Charlie Keller) where a horse powered thresher was sold. I'm sure the horse power and thresher weren't necessarily intended to be together as a unit. I was paying closer attention to a small IH PTO combine nearby that would have been a nice load for Scruffy. Storage/money/good sense prevailed.

Good to hear from you George, happy new year to you.

Thanks for reminding me, I am happy to share a couple of photos of what her is called a Menage à Cheval, in effect a centre boss with several radiating poles which turn a set of bevel gears which turns a horizontal shaft on the ground.
This shaft in turn gives the power up to a machine of some sort or another, in this case a little threshing machine.
This particular menage is for 5 horses, more normal 3 for the little farms around here.

On the side of the threshing box, there is a reducing gear that makes sure that the slow rotating shaft gives enough speed in the drum to thresh the ears of wheat.

Jean Jacques in our vilage has a "Menage" in his chicken run, I must speak to him at some time to see if he would like to donate it to a good cause as we have a little drum such as is shown in the photos that were taken at St Caradec "Chevalliers de la Terre" exhibition in 2006.
Pat

[xt477]

My video of horse powered threshing at Slate Run Living Historical farm here in Ohio...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWRORNLyLNc