What is a Winnower?

The stripped heads go in the hopper at the top.

The handle cranks the machine, which includes the fan system as seen inside

The grain is beaten from the heads by the drum and separated from the chaff by wind from the fan, through the moving sieves/riddles shown above.

Clean grain is carried upwards by the elevator cups shown above and dropped into the hopper shown below and bagged off through the two chutes

A lever ensures the grain only comes out one chute at a time

Terry and his winnower

​Winnowers were used in the late 1800s and early 1900s to separate the wheat from the chaff.  Australian company J.S. Bagshaw is said to have constructed the first winnower in Australia in its factory in South Australia around 1838.  A separate machine called a stripper would cut and thresh the grain, following which it would be dumped into piles ready to go into the winnower.  Some years later these two machines would be combined into what became known as a “combine harvester” or more recently a header. 
Terry Page from Pingelly, explains that “it took 4 men and a horse to harvest, clean and bag a few tonnes of grain per day.  Modern headers and one man can now harvest and clean 200 to 300 tonnes per day.  The grain cleaning process is still performed with the same idea used in a winnower, of a fan and a set of riddles.”    
Terry Page has a passion for historic agricultural machinery and has travelled the country visiting agricultural machinery museums.  He was particularly impressed with the one in Balaklava, South Australia.  Whilst at this museum he took photos of a Bagshaw Winnower which would later help him immensely with his own restoration project.
After deciding that he wanted a restoration project to keep him busy, he headed off with some mates on a long trip to Walkaway to collect a winnower from someone who had responded to a wanted advertisement.  When he got there, he discovered that all the timbers were rotten and many pieces were missing.  Not deterred, the men very carefully hoisted the machine onto a trailer, strapped it down and headed home.  Such was the dilapidated state of the machine that they had to stop several times on the trip home to tie down the machine, as it compressed during the trip making the straps loose.  Once home they discovered two handfuls of nuts and bolts had also made their way out of the machine onto the bottom of the trailer.
He commenced the restoration project, soon realising that he would need to source replacements for the many missing parts.  He happened by chance to discuss his quandary one day with another local Pingelly man, Keith McBurney, who said “we’ve got a Bagshaw winnower at our place that you can have”.  This winnower was built in 1901 and had been in a shed for 80 years.  The shed had recently blown down, exposing the machine to the elements.  The country currency of a carton of beer was exchanged and Terry took himself home another winnower.
He started to remove the pieces from the second winnower to replace those missing on the first one.  However, he soon discovered that the second winnower was in far better condition than the first and hence proceeded to put the missing pieces back onto the second winnower.  Having been under cover for many years, very little of the wooden framework needed replacing on the second winnower and the screens were in good condition.  Terry said he “had to manufacture some new elevator cups out of tin as some of the old ones were completely rusted”.  He said the hardest part of the project was replacing the chain.  “The chain is very different to modern chain and had to be a specific size and I needed 100 links.  So I spent every spare moment looking in scrap heaps and going to clearing sales to try and find some”.  Another local man found a few links for Terry and at the end of the project he had one link spare.

Terry completed the restoration of both winnowers over a period of about two years.  The first from Walkaway was converted into an engine driven seed cleaner by the previous owners and remains as such.  The second Winnower is operated by the crank handle and whilst fully restored and operational, Terry has not attempted to put any material through it due to the age and fragility of the machine. 

Terry will be exhibiting this winnower at the Brookton Old Time Motor Show on the 19th March 2016 and hopes one day for Pingelly to have a community display area, where locally restored historical agricultural machinery such as his winnowers can be displayed for all members of the public to enjoy.