For the grain farmers harvesting is very important season.The grain remains on the crops in the field until the plant reaches maturity and the grain dries out. Once its ready to harvested farmers need to take it out from the fields safely, which is also a complicated process as the grains are small like pearls and need to be harvested with utmost care. Read here about the farm equipment that makes this complicated process easy for farmers, from getting it out of the field and to preparing it all ready for the market.
The Combine Harvester
A combine or combine harvester, is the machinery for harvesting grains crops like corn, soybean, wheat, rice, pulses, barley etc. The reason it is known as a combine is simple due to its several jobs done in to a single machine. A combine cuts the crop and separate the grain from the chaff while processing and spreading the separated chaff or stalk over the field. Theinvention of a combine harvester was a major achievement in agriculture history. This modern harvester machine revolutionized the way of harvesting of grain crops.
See the Wikipedia page on the history of a combine harvester https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combine_harvester
How Do CombinesHarvest Grains?
Combine has a header at the fronts where it collects the cut crops. A farmer can change the header for a variety crops depending on the type of crop harvested, and also make adjustments to speed, space, etc. accordingly.
To understand the whole process we can take example of corn harvesting. First of all a pair of spinning rolls pull the corn stalks down through the head, where above it metal plates pop the ear off the stalk. Revolving reels push the ears to the back of the header where an auger funnels the earsto the center of the header and into the front of the combine to initiate the grain separating process.
Inside the Combine
In a few seconds it reaches it reaches the header, there will be clean, separated grain collected in the grain tank. In a very short time lots of activities happen inside the combine machine. Once the whole corn ears come in the machine they are bring in to a spinning rotor which threshes the grain. It is mechanically by the machine and also naturally threshing processas grain is flung around the rotor. Once it is done, a series of cleaning mechanisms starts automatically.
Once the corn is clean it is transported up into the grain tank through clean grain elevator, where it is stored until the tank is full. Once the grain tank is full all the material leftovers like the bits of leaves and stalks along with the corn husks and cobs exit behind the combine, which can be spread evenly over the field or to drop a baled for livestock.
Watch this video to understand more about how a combine harvester works -
