Threshing machine built by R.G. Garvie and Son, Aberdeen, c. 1929

Threshing machines were very widely used to separate grain for milling into flour from the straw to which it is attached while growing. They supplemented and replaced the labour-intensive and laborious process of threshing by hand. The first threshing machine was developed by Scottish engineer Andrew Meikle in c.1786, and Scottish companies remained prominent in their development and manufacture into the twentieth century. R.G. Garvie & Sons, who built this machine, continued to make them until after 1970, though they have been largely replaced by combine harvesters which incorporate all four harvesting operations, including threshing, into a single process. This particular machine is covered by graffiti presumably written by those who worked with it, giving an intriguing glimpse in to the farming workforce who toiled alongside the machine.