This message is a reply to an archived post by Bill from Scotland on March 02, 2010 at 13:23:32.
The original subject was "Re: Garvie Barn ThresherMill".
Good to hear the Garvie name is alive and well. The Garvie threshing mills were held in the highest esteem all over Ireland. At present any vintage show you attend where threshing is taking place you will inevitably find a Garvie. I reside in county Monaghan which is located in south Ulster. The earliest Garvie mill I am aware of was the barn thresher which varied in size from 18 inches wide to 2ft wide and varied in length from six foot to twelve foot depending on the number of shakers and cleaning fans and general complexity of the machine. The person feeding the crop into the machine stood at ground level on the smaller machines and raised of the ground by a couple of feet (standing on a box) on the larger machines. Power was usually supplied by an oil engine. The portable threshing machines began appearing here in the early 1920s pulled horses and driven by oil engines mounted on a large cart or on frames fitted with iron wheels. Some of these portable machines could have been the larger barn threshers fitted with wheels as my research tells me that they were fed from the back and not from the top. By mid 1920s larger machines pulled by tractors usually Fordson model Ns began appearing. These were fed from the top with the shaves tossed on to the extended decks, loosed by a helper and feed into the machine by the operator, who in this part of the country was usually the owner. This practice continued right up until the late 1960s with a threshing contractor moving from farm to farm during the autumn and winter months threshing each farmer’s crop, and all the neighbours coming to help. The majority of Garvies operating in this area were two foot six and three foot machines as the road and farm access was quite restricted. Further south much larger machines were used usually pulled and powered by a steam traction engine and later by large tractors. I’d be very interested to know if any research has been done on the history of the Garvie factory or the machines produced in it. I know the factory was located at Bon-Accord lane and later moved to a new site. A neighbour of mine has a mill with the name Bon-Accord on it; I think it was built in the old factory by some ex employees. Please keep me posted.
As most of your posts are quit old I am having trouble posting this message. I have loads of photo's taken over the years and some as recent as last week when a Garvie 3ft. made it's fist appearance after 45 years.I have some information also but will have to dig it out regards serial numbers etc.
The original subject was "Re: Garvie Barn ThresherMill".
Good to hear the Garvie name is alive and well. The Garvie threshing mills were held in the highest esteem all over Ireland. At present any vintage show you attend where threshing is taking place you will inevitably find a Garvie. I reside in county Monaghan which is located in south Ulster. The earliest Garvie mill I am aware of was the barn thresher which varied in size from 18 inches wide to 2ft wide and varied in length from six foot to twelve foot depending on the number of shakers and cleaning fans and general complexity of the machine. The person feeding the crop into the machine stood at ground level on the smaller machines and raised of the ground by a couple of feet (standing on a box) on the larger machines. Power was usually supplied by an oil engine. The portable threshing machines began appearing here in the early 1920s pulled horses and driven by oil engines mounted on a large cart or on frames fitted with iron wheels. Some of these portable machines could have been the larger barn threshers fitted with wheels as my research tells me that they were fed from the back and not from the top. By mid 1920s larger machines pulled by tractors usually Fordson model Ns began appearing. These were fed from the top with the shaves tossed on to the extended decks, loosed by a helper and feed into the machine by the operator, who in this part of the country was usually the owner. This practice continued right up until the late 1960s with a threshing contractor moving from farm to farm during the autumn and winter months threshing each farmer’s crop, and all the neighbours coming to help. The majority of Garvies operating in this area were two foot six and three foot machines as the road and farm access was quite restricted. Further south much larger machines were used usually pulled and powered by a steam traction engine and later by large tractors. I’d be very interested to know if any research has been done on the history of the Garvie factory or the machines produced in it. I know the factory was located at Bon-Accord lane and later moved to a new site. A neighbour of mine has a mill with the name Bon-Accord on it; I think it was built in the old factory by some ex employees. Please keep me posted.
As most of your posts are quit old I am having trouble posting this message. I have loads of photo's taken over the years and some as recent as last week when a Garvie 3ft. made it's fist appearance after 45 years.I have some information also but will have to dig it out regards serial numbers etc.
