DOI Artikel:
Thompson, Allan G.: The origins of a harvesting revolution: the development of the combine harvester in Australia, Canada and U.S.A.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49000#0073
THE ORIGINS OF A HARVESTING
REVOLUTION:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMBINE HARVESTER
IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA AND U.S.A."'
By
Allan Thompson
The Combine harvester is sometimes credited
to U.S. inventors Moore & Hascall (Agri.
Engineering 1931,427; Rasmussen 299;
Nyeberg), others credit it to the Australian H.
V. McKay. This reflects a somewhat naive
view of the process of development. The his-
tory of Combine development is highly com-
plicated - as one might expect with such a
complex implement. It is also an interesting
illustration both of Rosenberg’s argument
favouring an emphasis on “the importance of
secondary inventions and design modifica-
tions on the diffusion process” (Olmstead),
and of the part played by the interactions be-
tween farming conditions, farmers and the
innovative engineers, as well as the more
commonly recognized influences of compara-
tive labour costs etc.
This paper, in discussing the origins of the
modern Combine harvester, argues that Aus-
tralian designers played a major part; almost
certainly their contribution was more signifi-
cant than that of inventors from other coun-
tries. The interaction between commercial re-
quirements and inventive endeavour is of cru-
cial importance to the historical development
of the Combine. The part played by Austra-
* This is a revised version of a paper delivered to the
Fourth International Congress of Agricultural Museums,
Reading, England, April 1976.
lian designers was, to an important extent, the
product of a pioneering role of the Australian
wheat industry in moving into dry-land culti-
vation.
Wheat production in the major export pro-
ducers of the New World is now heavily con-
centrated onto land where the climate is much
drier than was common in the nineteenth cen-
tury. Australia was the first of the major ex-
port producers to move into the drier areas.
Only in California and other parts of West-
coast USA was there a parallel movement, and
these areas did not remain major wheat pro-
ducers (Rogin 119 ff).
The Australian migration of the wheat belt
can perhaps be dated from the 1850s in the
colony of South Australia and the 1860s in
Victoria. In both colonies the migration, in-
cluding the decline of wheat production in
wetter areas, can be said to be complete by
1890. In these areas the modern Australian
wheat belt was already well defined by that
date (Dunsdorfs ch. 4 & Appendix). The
movement into the drier, modern wheat belt
in other New World wheat areas is delayed
until later - mostly beginning after the Aus-
tralian migration was complete.
Illustrations are reproduced with the kind permission of
the Science Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
REVOLUTION:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMBINE HARVESTER
IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA AND U.S.A."'
By
Allan Thompson
The Combine harvester is sometimes credited
to U.S. inventors Moore & Hascall (Agri.
Engineering 1931,427; Rasmussen 299;
Nyeberg), others credit it to the Australian H.
V. McKay. This reflects a somewhat naive
view of the process of development. The his-
tory of Combine development is highly com-
plicated - as one might expect with such a
complex implement. It is also an interesting
illustration both of Rosenberg’s argument
favouring an emphasis on “the importance of
secondary inventions and design modifica-
tions on the diffusion process” (Olmstead),
and of the part played by the interactions be-
tween farming conditions, farmers and the
innovative engineers, as well as the more
commonly recognized influences of compara-
tive labour costs etc.
This paper, in discussing the origins of the
modern Combine harvester, argues that Aus-
tralian designers played a major part; almost
certainly their contribution was more signifi-
cant than that of inventors from other coun-
tries. The interaction between commercial re-
quirements and inventive endeavour is of cru-
cial importance to the historical development
of the Combine. The part played by Austra-
* This is a revised version of a paper delivered to the
Fourth International Congress of Agricultural Museums,
Reading, England, April 1976.
lian designers was, to an important extent, the
product of a pioneering role of the Australian
wheat industry in moving into dry-land culti-
vation.
Wheat production in the major export pro-
ducers of the New World is now heavily con-
centrated onto land where the climate is much
drier than was common in the nineteenth cen-
tury. Australia was the first of the major ex-
port producers to move into the drier areas.
Only in California and other parts of West-
coast USA was there a parallel movement, and
these areas did not remain major wheat pro-
ducers (Rogin 119 ff).
The Australian migration of the wheat belt
can perhaps be dated from the 1850s in the
colony of South Australia and the 1860s in
Victoria. In both colonies the migration, in-
cluding the decline of wheat production in
wetter areas, can be said to be complete by
1890. In these areas the modern Australian
wheat belt was already well defined by that
date (Dunsdorfs ch. 4 & Appendix). The
movement into the drier, modern wheat belt
in other New World wheat areas is delayed
until later - mostly beginning after the Aus-
tralian migration was complete.
Illustrations are reproduced with the kind permission of
the Science Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.