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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RAY-RHU |
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REAPING (from O.E. rypan, rypan, probably allied to " ripe," mature, i.e. " fit for reaping "; the cognate forms are found in other languages) , the action of cutting ripe grain crops. Till the invention of the reaping machine, which came into practical use only about the middle of the 19th century, sickles and scythes were the sole reaping implements. Of the two the sickle is the more ancient, and indeed there is some reason to conclude that its use is coeval with the cultivation of grain crops. Among the remains of the later Stone period in Great Britain and on the European continent curved flint knives have occasionally been found, the form of which has led to the suggestion that they were used as sickles. Sickles of bronze occur quite commonly among remains of the early inhabitants of Europe. Some of these are deeply curved hooks, flat on the under side, and with a strengthening ridge
The toothed hook, which was in general use till towards the middle of the 19th century, consisted of a narrow-bladed curved hook, having on its cutting edge a series of fine close-set serratures cut like file-teeth, with their edges inclined towards the heft or handle. The curve is that known to mathematicians as the " cissoid," where tangents at any point form equal angles with lines drawn
recent
" Of the sickle there are two varieties, the Italian, which is the shorter and can be handled among brushwood, and the two-handed Gallic sickle, which makes quicker work of it when employed on their [the Gauls'] extensive domains; for there they cut their grass only in the middle, and pass over the shorter blades. The Italian mowers cut-with the right hand only " (H. N. xviii. 67). as enable the workman, with an easy stoop, to swing the scythe blade along the ground, the cutting edge being slightly elevated to keep it clear of the inequalities of the surface. The grain-reaping scythe is similar, but provided with a cradle or short gathering rake attached to the heel and following the direction of the blade for about la in. The object of this attachment is to gather the stalks as they are cut and lay them in regular swaths against the line of still- standing
hammer
It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that any attempt was made to invent a reaping machine on anything like the lines that have been adopted since. In 1826 the Rev. Patrick Bell of Carmylie in Fifeshire brought out the first successful machine. He had worked at the making of it when a young man on his father's farm, and the principle he adopted, that of a series of scissors
After many modifications, however, the present or recent
scissors
There were many modifications tried before the favourite form was ultimately adopted: thus the horses were yoked behind the truck or carriage of the machine so that they pushed it before them; a revolving web of cloth was placed behind the knives so as to deliver the cut corn in a continuous swathe at the side; revolving " sails " or " rakes " pushed the standing
In the early daysfrom about 186o to 1870machines were fitted with a tilting board behind the cutting bar which caught the corn as it fell, and it was held there until enough for a sheaf was gathered, when the load was " tilted " off by a suitable rake handled by a man who sat and worked the tilting board simultaneously with his foot and dropped the corn, to be lifted and tied into a sheaf by hand afterwards. The same machine was generally used for mowing (grass) by an interchange of parts, and the " combined " reaper and mower was in common use in the 'seventies and 'eighties. Later, various devices were adopted to do the tilting or sheafing mechanically, and the self end-delivery and self side-delivery have long been in use whereby through the adoption of revolving rakes on frames the sheaf-lots are delivered in sizes ready for tying up by hand. The subsequent tying or binding was done variously in different parts of the country. In the south of England it was customary for five men to make bands, lift the sheaf-lot, place in the band and tie, and leave the sheaf lying on the ground to be set up after-wards, the gang of five being expected to keep up on a reaper cutting round the four sides of a field. In the north and in Scotland the cutting was only done on one side at a time, the 945 1 machine riding back empty, and three boys made the bands (" straps "), three women lifted the lots and laid them on the bands, and three men bound the sheaves and set up in stooks. Thus three gangs of three each were required to keep a machine going, and only about five acres per day could be reaped in this way. The development of the modern binder to reduce all this labour has been a very gradual process. There was no great difficulty in cutting the corn and delivering the stuff, but the tying of it into sheaves was the problem to be solved. As early as 1858 Marsh in America designed and carried out an arrangement whereby the cut grain crop was caught on revolving webs of canvas and carried up on to a table, where two men stood who made bands of its own material and bound it into sheaves as it fell in front of them, dropping the sheaves off on to the ground as made, while the machine travelled along. The invention of a tying apparatus was the next advance, and in the 'seventies the American firm of Walter A. Wood & Co. brought out an arrangement for tying the sheaves up with wire. So slow and expensive had been the process of evolution, however, that it was reported at the time that the above firm had spent 20,000 in invention and experiment before they had even a wire-binder fit to put on the market. Binding with string
in different varieties of the string
While the string-binder is now in universal use in Great Britain, the British Colonies, America and all countries where farming and farm work are advanced, and hand labour is only followed where peasant-farming or small farming obtains, it must be noted that in certain regions the system of reaping or harvesting of corn crops has developed a good deal beyond this. In Australia and some of the hotter districts in the west of the United States the " stripper " is in use, an implement which carries long grooved teeth which are passed through the standing grain crop and strip off the heads, leaving the straw standing. The heads are passed backwards to a thrashing (rubbing) arrangement, which separates the corn from the chobs, chaff, &c., and the grain is sacked up straight away. The sacks are dropped off the machine as the work proceeds and are picked up by wagon for transport afterwards. It is a significant fact that strippers worked by hand, though pushed through the crop by oxen, were in use on the plains of Gaul in the first c.mixasiamaz the String-binder. century of our era, though this system seems to have been lost sight of till re-invented by the Australians. Again, in the Western states of America, where the climate is not hot and dry enough for stripping purposes, the method followed is to cut the straw as short as possiblejust below the headsand these fall on to a travelling canvas and are carried up into a thrasher and the grain separated and sacked as the work proceeds. An immense combined implement is used for this reaping and thrashing purpose, taking a width of up to 40 ft. of crop at a time, and being propelled by a 50-horse-power traction engine
In the normal and ordinary system of reaping with the string-binder in Great Britain the rule is to " open up " a field by cutting " roads " round it: that is, a headland or roadway is mowed by the scythe and tied up by hand. Then the string-binder is started to cut around and continued till a finish is made at the centre of the field. Sometimes the crop is partly lodged and can only be cut on three sides of the field, and the binder is " slipped " past the fourth side. It is customary in some parts to yoke three horses to the machine and keep these at work all day with an interval for the midday meal
The tremendous development in labour-saving in the matter of reaping the corn crops is well exemplified in a comparison of harvesting with the hand hook or sickle as compared with the string-binder. With hand-reaping six men (or women) cut the corn and laid it on the bands in sheaf-lots: one man came behind and tied the sheaves and set them up in stooks. Thus a gang of seven worked together and harvested about two acres per day. With the binder three or four men handle say twelve or fourteen acres daily : in other words, there is only one-tenth of the manual
End of Article: REAPING (from O.E. rypan, rypan, probably allied to " ripe," mature, i.e. " fit for reaping "; the cognate forms are found in other languages) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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