Ground Hog Thresher, circa 1830
Object Details
- Pitts, Hiram A.
- Pitts, John A.
- Description
- The Ground Hog Thresher got its name from its squat posture and from the rumbling and growling noises it made as it ground the grain. Threshing, the separation of the stalk and chaff from the grain, was a manual chore for centuries. Methods included flailing the grain-using two pieces of wood joined at a hinge-and having animals walk over it to break it from its husks. The grain was then thrown in the air or placed in the wind, saving the heavier grain and allowing the chaff to blow away.
- Early threshers attempted to replicate and mechanize these methods, but flailing machines proved ineffective. This Ground Hog used a rotating iron cylinder filled with finger-like projections to break the grain into its parts. This process combined with an endless apron of wooden slats, fixed on two chains, to carry the grain through a fanning basket. It was the first machine to combine threshing with fanning.
- The Ground Hog was patented by Hiram A. and John A. Pitts, of Winthrop, Maine, in 1837. Farm mechanization during this time was pioneered by innovators, both mechanics and progressive farmers. These risk-takers were usually not as wealthy as those who chose to play it safe by sticking to the old manual-labor methods of flailing and winnowing. Instead, they subscribed to "scientific farming" methods advanced by societies and clubs in the 1830s, including mechanization. By the Civil War, threshing had become widely mechanized.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ca 1830
- Associated Date
- Ground Hog Thresher patented
- ID Number
- AG.59A11.01
- catalog number
- 59A11.01
- accession number
- 230579
- Object Name
- Thresher, Groundhog, Ground Hog
- thresher, groundhog
- Place Made
- United States: Maine, Winthrop
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Agriculture
- Agriculture
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_857076
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-7832-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
