average spatial: 118 in x 104 in x 366 in; 299.72 cm x 264.16 cm x 929.64 cm
overall: 130 in x 101 in x 360 in; 330.2 cm x 256.54 cm x 914.4 cm
Object Name:
threshing machine
Place made:
United States: Indiana, LaPorte
Date made:
1923
Description:
Ronald Miller of Geneseo, Illinois, donated this threshing machine to the Museum in 1988. The bright red paint that covered the machine when new had faded, but wood and internal parts were in excellent shape, a testament to the care that farmers lavish upon their machines.
Smithsonian conservators decided to accept the threshing machine without restoration, and this separator threshed oats at the 1991 Smithsonian Folk Festival, pulled by a Rumely Oil Pull 20-40 tractor.
The 32 x 52 designation refers to a 32-inch cylinder and the 52-inch-wide threshing shoe. The 7-ton machine was designed to have four men pitching bundles of grain into the feeder; it could thresh over 2,500 bushels a day.
