Threshing Machine, circa 1845

Farm families raised most of their own food during the early 1800s. The more grain they raised for themselves and for market, the more they sought machines to reduce labor. This thresher beat the kernels from grain heads, thus replacing a laborer with a flail, but farmers needed a treadmill and oxen or horses to generate power to thresh grain. After threshing, farmers used a fanning mill to clean grain and bag it for market.