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The Winnower is located in the corner of the Stone Floor,
beneath where the Aspirator is located
in the Garner. Made in about 1880 by the Gloucester based firm of
S. A. & H. Kell, it still retains the original Wedgwood Blue
and Salmon Pink paintwork. It would have been used to separate
grain from the broken straw, whole or broken ears, chaff and weed
seeds after threshing using flails, long before the invention of
combines or even threshing machines. They invaribly have handles
at both ends to enable two men to move the machine around the barn
as required.
It is operated by the handle at the side of the machine, this
being geared to turn a large wooden 'fan' to produce a strong
current of air. The partially cleaned grain from the Aspirator
feeds from a storage bin into the hopper on the top of the
winnower before flowing through the machine at a controlled rate.
As it falls through the air current, chaff and other light
material are blown from the rear of the machine, and the grain
drops onto a series of wire sieves. These are shaken as the handle
is turned, the first two removing larger items, such as unthreshed
wheat ears, pieces of straw, or poppy heads, but allow the grain
through. The third, with a smaller mesh, removes any small grain
or weed seeds but retains the larger grain. The cleaned grain is
discharged from hatches on the sides of the machine before being
transferred to either the Millstones
for milling to wholemeal flour or to the Combined
Milling Machine for kibbling for animal feed.
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