Combine harvester
A machine that harvests grain crops by cutting plants, threshing grain from stalks, and separating grain from chaff in one operation.
Header (agricultural machinery): The front attachment of a combine harvester that gathers and cuts a crop. It cuts the standing crop and feeds it into the combine.
Cereal: A grass cultivated for its edible grain, such as wheat, rice, or barley. Cereals are the main crops harvested by combines.
Andrew Meikle: A Scottish millwright credited with inventing a practical threshing machine in the eighteenth century. Mechanical threshing supplied a key function later integrated into combines.
Wheat: A cereal grass cultivated for its grain, which is milled into flour and other products. Wheat is a major crop harvested with conventional combine headers and threshing settings.
Mechanization of agriculture: The replacement or supplementation of human and animal labor with machines in farming. The combine is a major example of this transformation in crop production.
Threshing: The process of separating grain from harvested stalks and other plant material. The threshing system releases grain from the crop after it enters the machine.
Grain: The edible seed of a cereal crop, harvested for food, feed, or processing. The combine’s central task is to collect grain while leaving much crop residue behind.
Cyrus McCormick: An American inventor and manufacturer associated with the commercial mechanical reaper. The reaper mechanized crop cutting, one of the combine’s core operations.
Rice: A cereal crop whose edible seeds are commonly grown in flooded or irrigated fields. Rice harvesting often requires settings and equipment suited to wet fields and delicate grain.
Agricultural labor: Work performed in producing crops and livestock, including planting, tending, and harvesting. Combines greatly reduce the labor needed to harvest grain fields.