The exhibition presents machines and devices used in the countryside from the end of the 19th century to the mid-20th century. The exhibits belong to the collections of the Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park in Chorzów and where gathered from the beginning of the museum’s work. Presented machines and equipment were collected on the way of purchase or donation from farmers of the regions of Upper Silesia, Dąbrowa Basin and Żywiec (the Province of Silesia). The exhibition presents selected machines and devices in such divisions as: threshing machines, winnowers, grinders, choppers and horse-drawn machines. At the exhibition we will not find all the examples of mechanization of agriculture because the place where the exhibition is held itself is relatively small. In spite of these limitations, we were able to assemble more than 20 agricultural machines and more than a dozen other tools and equipment that preceded the mechanization or integrally accompanied it at work.
Winnowers
Machines powered by hand or engine used for purifying threshed grain, separating it from chaff and other contaminants. After the threshing process, the grain has been subjected to a number of time-consuming treatments aiming at thorough cleaning of the pieces of straw, chaff, soil and weed seeds. Then the grain is sorted into three categories: premium grain is grown and sold, second category grain is consumed, while the third category grain is used as fodder. Before the invention of winnowers, the cereals were cleaned by being tossed in the light wind. The heavier grains fell faster, and the lighter chaffs were blown away by the wind. The hand-operated winnower consisted of a wooden casing forming a vent channel and a centrifugal fan housing made of several flat blades and a set of movable sieves. A crank-powered fan directed the air into the vent. Over the vent there was a box with an adjustable slot through which the threshed grain with the chaff was poured into the vent. The cleaned material when falling into the vent fell on the upper sieve and was simultaneously cleaned from chaffs by the wind generated by the fan. The upper sieves separated large impurities, whereas bottom sieves cleaned the grain from smaller impurities. Winnowers of simple construction have only one upper and one bottom sieves, while more advanced machines featured several sieves. The material was separated into at least three fractions: what remained on the upper sieve, i.e. the bigger and lighter particles than the grains, which were sometimes divided into fractions, what was sifted through the bottom sieve, i.e. the impurities smaller than the grain, what passed through the upper sieve a did not pass through the bottom sieve, that is the grain. The separated by the sieves material slipped into the chest or bags. During work, the box from which the grain spilled onto the sieve and the sieve assembly were shaken by an winnower mechanism to ensure a uniform grain spill. The upper, thicker sieves separated straw, and the chaff from the grains. Lower, denser sieves separated smaller grains and thicker weed seeds. Chaff, empty grains and some weed seeds were lifted by air. In the most commonly used construction, the cleaned material poured from the box to the upper sieve (sometimes two sieves: preliminary and main) was blown through from the bottom of the sieve and along its entire length. This sieve separated light and large material (chaff and straw, ears). Fine material sifted through this sieve fall on the bottom sieve, which sifted smaller impurities. The material blown from the upper sieve was distributed depending on the place of fall to several fractions from the heaviest ( grain), through medium ( weed seeds) to the lightest chaff and fragments of plants. In addition to the hand-operated winders, there were winnowers driven by a horse-mill or an electric motor. In the past, the winnower was most often a stand-alone machine, nowadays it is part of a threshing machine that simultaneously blows and winnows or part of a combine harvester that mows, threshes and winnows the grain. Such solution has a serious disadvantage as you lost the chaff, which are important ingredient of fodder for domestic pigs. In the old winnowers the chaff was a valuable by-product. Modern combine harvesters have a system of two upper sieves (primary and main) with air blow. Combine harvesters usually use blind sieves, which are built of parallel metal sheets of various gradient degree. In some parts of Poland, especially in Małopolska, winnowers were incorrectly called grinders. A grinder is a completely different machine. It differs from the winnowers significantly as it does not have a sieve. Furthermore, the grinder’s fan generates a much stronger air stream, separating the material only on the basis of the place of fall to three or four fractions. The main task of the winnower is to separate the grain not only on the basis of an air stream, but also on the basis of the sieves, whereas the grinder separates grain according to its weigh. It does not purify the grain in such a degree as the winnower does. The grinder was used to prepare seed – so as to sow the smallest seeds. [www.wikipedia.pl; J. Bartyś, Początki mechanizacji rolnictwa polskiego, Wrocław 1966].
Threshing machines
Agricultural machines used for threshing, that is, to separate grain seeds from the ears. The constructor of the first threshing machine (about 1796) was a Scottish mechanical engineer, Andrew Meikle. The prototype model was dedicated to the mechanical separation of the grain seeds from the ears, the stalk and the grain scales. For thousands of years the grains were hand-threshed with the use of fails. It was hard and time-consuming work that often lasted from harvest to spring. Mechanization of this process has seriously reduced the amount of hard work on the farm. The threshing drum is the basic element of the threshing machine. It rubs on a fixed part called a threshing floor and beats the grain separating the ears. Then the shakers separate straw from smaller pieces. The first threshing machines consisted of a frame, a casing and a threshing unit. The threshing unit consisted of two rollers sending the grain to the drum. The drum was a shaft surrounded by sheets of steel and attached to it wooden frails that beaten the grain. The grain with straw was swept from under the machine with rakes. Then the seed was cleaned of the chaff with the help of a winnower. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that the threshing machine was combined with a winnower. Later, the threshing machine has been equipped with sieves, cleaners, sorters, baggers, grain pans and shakers. Threshing machines are divided into two groups – simple and cleaning. Simple threshing machines thresh the grain separating the straw from the seeds and chaff. Meanwhile, cleaning threshing machines do not only thresh the grain but also cleans the grain more accurately. The chaff and straw have separate outlet holes. The threshing unit is the main part of the threshing machine. It consists of a drum and an arch-shaped threshing floor covering the drum. Depending on the construction of the drum and the threshing floor we divide threshers into two groups: flail threshing machines and finger millet threshing machines. Flail threshing machines have their drums and threshing floors cased with boards. Meanwhile, finger millet threshers have sticks attached to the drum and threshing floor. The development of threshing machines observed in the second half of the 19th century made them more efficient. Threshing machines consume a lot of power, hence they were originally driven by horses harnessed to the horse mill, later they were powered by locomobiles, tractors and electric motors (usually with a pulley and transmission belt). In Poland, shortly after the WW II they were widely used both in peasant farms, former state farms machinery ring associations, but in the mid-sixties they began to lose their place in favor of combine harvesters. Unfortunately, these machines are rarely found at work, but they can be seen in museums and at exhibitions of historic agricultural machinery. At our exposition there are five threshing machines including one connected to the engine by means of a transmission belt.
From quems to feed grinders
Querns are one of the oldest tools used to grind cereal for flour. In their original form, they had the form of a stone slab on which the grain was crushed with the help of a smaller stone. Rotary querns began to be used in Poland in the 1st century BC. Over the centuries, as a result of subsequent modifications rotary querns developed into two stones, of which the bottom quern stone was fixed and the upper handstone was mobile. During the Middle Ages an improvement was made in the axle, trunk and handle arrangement. This was possible thanks to the principle of placing stones in wooden trunks. Rotary querns remained in fairly widespread use until the end of the 19th century, and even until World War I, especially in poorer households where they were used merely for casual purposes such as preparing fodder.
Feed grinder – an electric motorized grinder. There are different types of feed grinders:
Quern grinder – two stones (fixed bottom and rotary top stones) grind grain seeds falling between them. Usually they were hand operated tools.
Stone grinder – two stones (left and right) with adjustable separation (one fixed, the other rotating in a vertical position) with a feeder for grain – crush (grind) the grain falling between them. The degree of granularity depends on the distance between the stones. They were usually powered by a motor.
Beater – a set of metal beaters that rotate rapidly on the shaft – the beaters crush grain by beating it with high energy. The degree of granularity depends on the size of the holes of a sieve attached to the casing of the grinder. They were usually powered by a motor.
It is believed that stone grinder produce better fodder than a beating grinder. Cereal grains must be dry, otherwise they warm up during the grinding process. The input product is cereal grains, and the final – feed grain which is considered an excellent fodder for livestock [Komentarze do Polskiego Atlasu Etnograficznego, PTL Wrocław 1996; www.wikipedia.p]; The museum’s exposition presents rotary querns in a cast-iron casing, four quern grinders (one of them differs from the others due to vertical positioning of the stones), a box for flour, feed grinder and a cart.
Chaff-cutters and vegetable shredders
Chaff-cutters are machines used to cut straw, grass, corn and other fodder plants for chaff. We distinguish self-propelled, field-mounted, tractor-mounted, or stationary chaff-cutters which were powered by a crank handle, horse mill or an electric motor. They can also be a part of a combine harvester. The most efficient and time-saving are self-propelled chaff-cutters.
The chaff-cutter consists of:
Trough – usually wooden, in which materials for cutting are placed;
Feeding unit which is usually a set of metal cog wheels moving cut materials, in addition it has a lever with a weight that compresses the cut material to prevent it from tangling into the feeder’s cog wheels;
Cutting unit – usually a pair of knives cutting the raw material;
Propulsion unit – usually a hand-operated crank or a forged end attached to a horse mill;
Flywheel – this is a cast iron ring. Usually a cutting unit is mounted on it.
The length of cut hay can be adjusted, usually between 5-40 mm. [Source: www.wikipedia.pl]
Simple vegetable shredders are devices used to chop vegetables and especially cabbage. The process of making sauerkraut began with the preparation of barrels for cabbage. First it was necessary to fill the barrel (made of hardwood) with water to see if it was water-tight. Then the barrel, the tub and the cabbage beater were scrubbed with a brush and washed with warm water. On the day when cabbage was shredded the barrels were boiled with boiling water and covered with linen cloth to thoroughly decontaminate them. The cabbage was hand-cut with a knife or by means of a box shredder or a mechanical shredder to a wooden tub and sprinkled with salt. No preservatives were added to it. From the tub the cabbage went straight to the barrels. At the bottom of the barrel locals first put small, hard cabbageheads and sprinkled them with a handful of salt. Then the shredded cabbage was poured and beaten with a wooden beater. Barrels were left in the room at the heated oven for about a week. Every day, it was necessary to pierce holes in the cabbage with a stick to get rid of its bitterness. After a week the cabbage was covered with a wooden lid, ballasted with a stone and placed in the basement. The rest of the barrels with cabbage were kept in the river. The cabbage was stored in the river even up to summer. During the whole process of maturation the cabbage was edible. Cabbage heads were considered the biggest delicacy. They were eaten with no additives taken straight out of the barrel, cut into large pieces and eaten right away. The cabbage was a delicacy of the children.
Horse machines
1. Horse-drawn Excavator, produced in 1972 by the Agricultural Equipment Factory “Pionier” in Strzelce Opolskie, Dimensions: 190 cm long (+ drawbar 382 cm), width 130 cm, height 112 cm. The excavator was found at the farmstead of the Białas family in Chorzów Stary. Originally, potatoes were excavated with hand-operated excavators.
Horse-drawn Excavator – a tool for mechanical excavation of potatoes. Horse Excavators (locally known as “kartoflarka”) could be used on soils cleared of stones. Potatoes were planted with the use of a planter (in Silesia potatoes were called “kartofle”). The working element of the excavator was usually the 8-spoke star, less often the set of forks mounted on the shoulders of the star. The first practical attempts to apply the planting machinery and potato excavator were introduced in the 1870s. In the early 20th century more than half of horse-drawn excavators in Silesia were owned by peasants, but nevertheless the number of such devices used in farmsteads was not great. It was not until the World War II when due to low pricing the potato excavators became more widespread, especially in larger farms. [ source text: Elżbieta Oficjalska – Muzeum Wsi Opolskiej pt. „Dryle, plejdry, dreśmasziny. Mechanizacja rolnictwa na wsi śląskiej”, 2006 r.]. The rationality of the use of the horse-drawn excavators was primarily the ability to shorten the period of excavation by average from 2 to 2.5 times, depending on local resources and ways of organizing work: the number of people needed for picking up the potatoes dug by the excavator amounts to 18 people, dependently on the density of the wagons and the people working on the field. [1927] The later machines for excavating potatoes are elevator digging machines and finally potato harvesters. The harvester performs a function of the excavator – it digs the tubers separating them from the tails.
2. Mower-reaper produced in 1965 in the factory: Wyroby Metalowe Skarżysko. The agricultural machine has two seats: one for the coachman, the other for the helper, who took out the grain when mown with a wooden pole. Dimensions: overall length 500 cm, width 160 cm, height 95 cm. The mower was used to mow grass or cereal. The mower was originally located at the farmstead of the Białas family in Chorzów Stary. Grass and cereal can be cut using either a hand-operated sickle and scythe, or by machines like a mower, reaper or reaper-binder. The prototype of the cutter unit found in all the reapers bases on the concept introduced in 1833. Mowers significantly improved the cutting of grasses and cereals. One machine could replace the work of 8 people. The mower pulled by horses cut blades of grass with lancet-like knives moving horizontally. The metal forks placed beneath them separated cereal into bundles that were cut by knife blades. The machine, equipped with an additional element of a wooden ladder, collected harvested grain into bundles that could be bind together. Lawn mowers were also used for mowing grass and clover, however newer types of these machines were only adapted to mowing cereals. On farms, lawnmowers began to be used in the 1870s. Due to increased production they began to gain on popularity at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially at the beginning of the 20th century [source text: Elżbieta Oficjalska – Muzeum Wsi Opolskiej pt. „Dryle, plejdry, dreśmasziny. Mechanizacja rolnictwa na wsi śląskiej”, 2006 r.]
The reaper consists of a cutting tool, a table, a rake and a gear unit. The knife bar was connected with a crank disc by means of a pitman arm. In many machines, the knife bar was ended with a knob that included two hemispheres attached to the pitman arm, connected together by means of a spring. The levers in the mower were used to put the cutter bar into motion or to turn it off when obstacles were encountered [Podręcznik Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego, 1927]. Knives were sharpened with a special stone blade with a suitable profile.
Propulsion machinery
Horse mills were known from ancient times and used in mining. Since the eighteenth century, they have been used for propelling many farm machines like threshing machines and chaff-cutters. In the nineteenth century, the lower horse mill were set on the ground. Most of the working parts were made of iron. Horses walking in the horse mill multiplied the rotation of the cog wheels in the mill mechanism. The rotations were transferred directly to the machine with the use of iron joins so-called “Cardan shafts”.
In the 1860s, there appeared locomotives powered by steam that worked similarly to horse mills putting in motion farm machines or replaced horses in pulling farm tools. The use of locomotive as a motor contributed to the development of the transmission belt. The emergence of agricultural tractors powered by a combustion engine in the twentieth century introduced profound changes in agriculture which further contributed to the elimination of horses in the countryside. The use of electric motors caused a “revolution” in the propulsion mechanisms of agricultural machinery and equipment. More and more stationary machines began to use electric propulsion.
