Antique Farm Tools - Broadcasting and Winnowing

8/12/2019 Antique Farm Tools - Broadcasting and Winnowing

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/antique-farm-tools-broadcasting-and-winnowing 1/7

Introduction (home-page)

Chaff Cutters

Broadcasting and Winnowing

Breast Ploughs

Tools 1-99

Tools 100-199

Tools 200-299

Tools 300-399

Tools 400-499

Tools 500-599

Tools 600-699

Tools 700-800

Notes on tools 1-800

Other Tools

Links

Contact

BROADCAST SEED FIDDLES

Portable, hand-operated broadcast sowing machines were introduced from America from circa 1850

onwards. The most novel, if not the most popular, of these was the seed fiddle which took its name from the

fiddle-like action required to distribute the seed. The device was suspended to one side of the operator by a

shoulder strap and supported by one arm. It consisted of canvas seed bag housed in a small rectangular

box frame with an horizontally mounted finned disc which was rotated in alternating revolutions by a leather

thronged bow. As the bow was moved from one side to the other with each step the sower took, a regulated

amount of seed dropped from the bag on to the revolving disc which scattered it in a wide arc from 16 to 24

feet across according to the type of seed. The bag held at least 7 lbs or 3.18 kg of seed. Equal seed

delivery was maintained by a jigger plate actuated by an eccentric hub on the disc’s spindle. The rate of

feed, adjustable to the length of stride, was controlled by a levered slide with up to ten different settings. A

metal band behind the disc prevented seed from being thrown backwards. Discs of earlier models were

fitted with four fins but later versions had six. The fiddle was relatively simple to operate and sowing on both

sides it was claimed that two or more acres could be sown in an hour.

Used mainly for grass and clover many of them were imported but some, notably the ‘Aero’ brand were

made in Kilmarnock and distributed all over the country until recent times. In 1940 they sold for 27 shillings

and sixpence plus a shilling for carriage!

Seed Fiddle, courtesy of Roy Brigden

This site lists antique hand farm tools (used mainly in England, Wales and Scotland) collected by P. C. Dorrington between 1985 and 2001.



CYCLONE SEED SOWER

Other manually operated broadcast seeders from America appeared at roughly the same time as the SeedFiddle. Instead of a bow the horizontal seed distributing disc of the Cyclone Seed Sower was briskly turned

by hand crank and gears spreading wheat or rye seed over an area of 30 feet or more. The seed bag

rested on a simple plat form which also supported the machinery. The Chicago seeder had a similar

mechanism but was also supplied with a fiddle bow.

CAHOON’S BROADCAST SEEDER

Cahoon’s broadcast seed sower patented in the USA in 1861 was claimed to show from four to eight acres



in an hour at normal waking pace. A side mounted hand crank with high ratio gearing rotated an open

ended distributor drum mounted at the front. The drum contained four radial fins or ribs which scattered the

seed in all directions as it fell from the sack through a graduated slide opening. Another form had two

drums paced one above the other. The upper revolving in one direction received half the seed, the lower

turning in the opposite direction received the other half of seed which possibly resulted in a more even

distribution.

Although the crank operated versions produced a continuous cast compared with the fiddle type which

came to a stop at the end of each bow stroke, none of these machines were completely satisfactory. The

uniformity of the cast depended on the movement of the bow, the turn of the crank and the walking pace of

the operator. If this were not harmonised the seed was either sown too thinly or thickly. They were best

employed on small fields and in difficult areas.

A wooden green pained German model imported between the wars combined a kidney shaped seed

container with a fiddle bow mechanism which operated an under-floor rotary finned disc. It had a lid at one

end, a seed inspection window at the other and was carried by a supporting shoulder strap. The seed

regulator markings were in German. Measuring approx. 840 mm in length, 196 mm width and 235 mm high,

they were rather bulky and heavy to carry when full with seed. Only a limited number sold.

BROADCAST APRONS – SEEDLIPS

Until the 18th century when dibbers or dibbles were first used in numbers, the common method of sowing

seed in Britain was to broadcast it by hand. A sower walked behind the plough carrying the seed in an

apron or a container called a Seedlip. The apron or sowing sheet was nothing more than a linen cloth

wrapped around the shoulder and an arm or attached ot the waist. Seedlips generally contained between

four and six gallons of seed corn (1/2 to ¾ of a bushel). They were hung on the sower’s left side by neck or

should straps and supported by whichever hand was not sowing.

A sower, using his right hand, would cast the seed with each right-footed step taken to cross the field, then

on reaching the end he would slide the seedlip round to the r ight side of his body and sow with his left hand

on the way back. Casting was always made across the body in a wide fan-like action synchronised with the

walking pace. Markers were sometimes placed at the headlands to ensure a st raight line was taken. It was

skilfully controlled work and an experienced seedsman would sow around 1 ½ acres in an hour or about 10

acres in an ordinary day. Experts could cast simultaneously to the left and right using both hands from a

container strapped in front of them but the practice was not generally encouraged in England. Small seeds

like rye grass or clover had to be pinched out between thumb and finger with a twirl of the hand.

Immediately after sowing the fields were harrowed to prevent birds from eating the grain. With the

introduction of seed drills and other more efficient devices for sowing cereal crops the use of aprons in the

south had rapidly declined by the 1850’s but seedlips were still used in decreasing numbers well into this

century, latterly for scattering artificial fertilisers and sowing clover or other small seed rather than corn.

The Saxons called them Saed-leaps (baskets for sowing seed) which later became seedlip or seed-lib.

Other names, some provincial included seedcod or cot, seedcob, an Essex basket, seedcord or seedcup,

seed mound a basket used in Suffolk, Seblet a Leics and Northants basket, seed-skip or kits, hopper,

scuttle and zellup (Devon). There were several forms consequently dimensions and capacities varied.

Some improvised with old home-made wooden boxes and later on with galvanised buckets held under thearms but the best shape were those contoured to the body.

BROADCAST SEED BOX

This unusual 19th century device was used for sowing clover, turnip and other small seeds. It comprised of

a long narrow box fitted with a single or divided hinged lid which measured 2770 mm (9 feet) in length, 66

mm wide and 60 mm in depth. The interior was divided equally into twelve separate compartments each

perforated with six equidistant holes in the bottom. These were overlaid with a piece of tin plate drilled with

a corresponding number of holes of smaller diameter which allowed a single seed to pass through. To

regulate the amount of seed falling from every compartment each hole could be closed off by a pivotal tin

shutter shaped like a finger fixed nearby. By moving a perforated wooden slide fitted underneath the box

the seed supply could be shut off. Some contained a zinc plated base with only a single aperture per

compartment while other examples were fitted with copper slides along the bottom.

The box hung from a shoulder strap and was jerked from side to side with each step the sower took. Each

sideways movement delivered a single seed from each opening. By varying the length of stride the amount

of seed discharged in any given area could be regulated. Much however depended on the attentiveness of

the operator who was also required to constantly replenish each compartment.

Improved boxes between nine and thirteen feet long were made with solid bottoms and two sliding lids

which met midway. Set in the lids were a series of perforated copper slides which could be adjusted to

release up to four seeds at a time from each compartment. To fill the container the lids were slid out from

the centre and afterwards closed again. The box was then turned upside down and operated in the same

way.

Broadcast seed boxes were already in use in the USA during the 1830’s and it is possible that some were

subsequently exported to England or that a number were made here under licence. The Rev. W L Rham

noted a similar device in 1844 made of a hollow cylinder and a Norfolkman Samuel Copland described a 12

foot example in 1866, but apart from one reported near Taunton by Thomas Hennell in 1934, the box

appears to have been mainly confined to East Anglia where its use on certain Suffolk farms around the turn

of the century was recorded. By this time however it was largely outdated.

Broadcast barrow, courtesy of Roy Brigden



WINNOWING DEVICES OR SAIL FANS

Early attempts to create an artificial wind to winnow corn instead of waiting for a natural wind to blow

through opened barn doors resulted in a device variously called a Winnowing, Winding or Sail Fan. The

simplest and probably the oldest form comprised of three or four flaps of cloth or leather nailed directly to a

hand-cranked spindle mounted horizontally on an ‘A’ shaped trestle. While one man whirled the fan around

to deliver a strong and dependable stream of air, another using a wooden shovel would toss the gain into

the draught to blow the chaff away. In other places the corn was shovelled into a sieve supported on a stickby a man who agitated it against the wind created. Some simply placed the unit over grain piled on the barn

floor and operated it in that position. Labouring in dust-filled barns was thoroughly dirty work only

sometimes relieved by using the fans in the open on suitable days.

Larger improved versions appeared, one having three or four widths of Hessian or canvas sail cloth

attached to a corresponding number of supporting frames or spars which were turned by a sturdy,

end-mounted, wooden-handled wheel c 1370 mm. The spindle of another less portable example jointed

into a pair of heavy crossed beams about five feet (1524 mm) in length. The outer ends of each beam were

capped by counter balancing blocks which provided more centrifugal force and served as a kind of

governor. A polle handle with a swivel ring joined to the end of one beam was used to rotate the fan. Others

were turned by an iron crank, sometimes detachable. Trestles supporting the mounted spindle stood just

below waist height and measured from six or seven feet (1829-2133 mm) in length with a base width of

between three to four and a half feet (914-1372 mm). Four equidistant spars up to six feet (1829 mm) long

by between one and two feet (305-610 mm) wide radiated from the central shaft or spindle. The spindles

themselves were approximately 1930 mm in length by 100 mm diameter and rested on two outer blocks at

the top of the trestle. Cloths some eighteen to twenty-four inches (457-610 mm) wide were nailed to the

outer frame ends through retaining strips of leather. Old grain sacks were often used. Construction was

mainly of wood with iron collars and spindle ends. The design of the fans appears to have been fairly

consistent over a long period.

In 1669 “Dictionarium Resticum” defined a ‘fann’ as “an instrument that by its motion artificially causeth

winde, useful in the Winnowing of Corn”. Seven years later, Robert Plot in the “National History of

Oxfordshire” related that corn could be cleaned either in a “good wind abroad, or with the Fan at home. I

mean the leaved Fan; for the knee Fan (winnowing basket) and casting the corn the length of the Barn, are

not in use amongst them”. Those with only a small quantity of corn could create a draught using a partially

rolled sheet. “But the Wheel Fan saves a man’s labour, makes a better wind and does it with much more

Expedition”.

Due to their whirling action some were provisionally called Gigs or Ginning machines, names that were also

given to machinery designed to teazle cloth. Other names included Fan or Van which additionally referred

to Winnowing baskets. The origin of these implements and their modest development is uncertain.

Certainly they were used quite extensively in central and Southern parts of England and Wales during the

17th, 18th and early 19th centuries before being gradually replaced by the internal fan bladed winnowing

machine. As an agricultural implement it was not confined to Britain since other European examples existed

at the same time particularly in Spain and Italy.

Only a few Sail Fans have survived two good examples being held by the Science Museum at Wroughton

and the Lackham Garden Museum near Chippenham.

Winnowing Machine courtesy of Roy Bridgen





chiefly used in granaries to free corn from weevils, while in 1933 Hennell noted that millers in Kent knew it

as a Scry. Those in Sussex and Surrey however called it a Scroy but elsewhere its earlier similarity to the

musical instrument caused it to be known as the Corn Harp.

BARLEY HUMMELLERS

Handheld hummellers were used to remove the awns or beards from barley after it had been threshed by

flail or the early threshing machines. Many were made of iron by local blacksmiths or implement makers to

order resulting in variation of size and shape. Some lighter steel versions were manufactured by such

companies as Ransomes of Ipswich.

The hummeller had a short ‘T’ handled wooden shaft which was mounted vertically over a rectangular,

round or squared shaped frame by two or four curving supports which extended up to a central socket and

shank. Each frame contained a number of end-on parallel bars (typically 5 to 7) up to 2 inches (51 mm)

wide. 2-4 mm in thickness and set between 1 and 3 inches (25 mm – 76 mm) apart. Overall length ranged

from approximately 9 inches (228 mm) to 16 inches (406 mm)) across. Some frames were hinged or

contained pivotal blades so that they could be used from the side or on a sloping pile of barley. Round

frames were uncommon. To increase the number of cutting edges others were made with both horizontal

and vertical bars which formed a grid of intersecting blades.

The tool was brought down in a stamping motion upon the barley, laid thinly on a wooden floor or heaped

against a wall until all the awns had been broken off. It was then collected up with a wooden shovel and

tossed up into a draft of air or put through a Winnowing machine to separate the several awns from the

barley. The work was very demanding.

A heavier roller type, the rotary hummeller appeared in the late 18th/early 19th century which comprised of

a circular drum of varying length and diameter containing up to twenty or so horizontal blades slotted

around the periphery. The drum revolved around an axle held within an iron handled frame. Relying on its

weight to cut the awns it was drawn back and forth over the barley. Although more expensive it required

less physical exertion and proved popular in many parts of eastern England. Longitudinal blades were

added forming a latticed cutting edge in much the same way as the upright version. An identical implement

was used in Wales for curd cutting.

Awns were referred to as ails, avils, avels, hails, hiles or isles, etc., which were probably derived from the

French word ailes meaning wings. As a consequence hummellers acquired many other provincial names

including ailers (Herts) alers (Beds) awner or awning iron, aveller or haveller (Suffolk-Norfolk) clumper,

piler, topper, fothering iron (Yorks) stumping iron and colier or haearn dyludo (Wales). The word hummeller

is of northern or Scottish descent. The tool’s history prior to the 18th century is obscure.

Except where the need was small, many were displaced during the late 1800’s with the arrival of reliable

semi-mechanical devices and threshing machines adapted for this work. A number remained in use until

the 1950’s.

P.C.Dorrington, Dec. 95 - amended Oct. 1998.



© Antique Farm Tools | created at www.mrsite.com

Documents

Antique Farm Tools - Broadcasting and Winnowing