Object Record
Images
Additional Images [14]
Metadata
Collection |
Waterloo Region Museum |
Object ID |
2002.924.001 |
Object Name |
Thresher |
Description |
New Hamburg Manufacturing Company Perfection threshing machine. The threshing machine has "modernizing" add-ons at either end. One add-on is "The Farmer's Friend Stacker" (straw blower/stacker) at the end farthest from the tongue (with patent dates ca. 190.. illeg.). At the tongue end is an add-on feeder mechanism with a canvas feeder/elevator platform and above that, a band cutter (cuts bands on sheaves). This type of feeder was designed to take double sheaves. A third add-on is a grain thrower on the LP side. Painted under the framework at the feeder end: 33 inch / cylinder / 45 inch / body. (A 33 inch cylinder is a relatively large one; smaller ones were 24 and 27 inches.) Crudely painted in large script on either side of the feeder unit (looks like): Larry / Riehl's. Painted on a side elevator shaft: PERFECTION. (This side shaft lifts some of the runoff grain mixed with chaff, to be run through the separator again.) Painted on the straw blower (at rest across the top of the main framework): THE ROBT BELL ENGINE & THRESHER CO. ... (Straw blower is galvanized metal, with three cast iron crank wheels.) Other painted designs on the main framework are (RP side): an alligator and a snake. And on the LP side, a lion and a clump of flowers. Main body of the threshing machine is green with contrasting striping and lettering. Add-on components are more or less painted red. Other components: various grips and footholds for climbing on the body of the thresher, a cast iron belt reel and guide (LP), a chaff chute (RP), a collection of eight pipes (some of which are used for the grain blower on the LP side), and three coils of belts. There are various pencil notations and calculations on the sides of the thresher. On the RP side, of note: Adam Sutter. This threshing machine was probably powered by a gasoline engine and later (1920s onward) by tractor. |
Date |
1897 |
Date |
1902 |
Dimensions |
H-300 W-230 L-720 cm |
History |
In 1891, Henry Brodrecht (1841-1926) entered into partnership with Simpson Merner (1848-1920) and John R. Feick (1858-1949) to form S. Merner & Company, an agricultural implement manufacturer. The company's name and assets were acquired in 1893 by Henry, and he formed the Hamburg Manufacturing Company in September of 1894. The Hamburg Manufacturing Company was absorbed in April 1897 by the New Hamburg Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Henry and John were directors of the new company. Production shifted to threshing machines and traction engines, mostly manufactured for the western Canadian market. The factory suffered a major fire in 1902 and the company acquired a lot of debt in order to recover. By late 1914, the firm was in receivership and, in January 1915, the factory building and contents were sold. |
Search Terms |
New Hamburg Manufacturing Company Limited Indiana Manufacturing Company Robert Bell Engine & Thresher Company |
People |
Merner, Simpson Brodrecht, Henry Sutter, Adam Riehl, Larry |


