Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- One of our plaques is missing: A surprising conclusion to an old controversy about the invention of the mechanical grain harvester
- In
- Transactions of the 5th South Australian Engineering Heritage Conference, Adelaide, 13 May 2016
- Imprint
- Engineers Australia, South Australia Division, Adelaide, 2016, pp. 59-96
- Abstract
During an audit of Engineering Heritage Markers in South Australia, the Marker at Roseworthy Agricultural College which recognised the invention of the first mechanical grain harvester (the "Stripper") was found to be missing. Further enquiries revealed that the Marker had not been stolen for its metal value but removed by someone who objected to what it said - namely, that it shared the credit between John Ridley, the builder of the first machines, and John Bull, who claimed to have invented the principle. The first machine was built by Ridley and successfully trialled in 1843: Bull made his first claim to its invention just over a year later.
Ridley insisted that his inspiration was an illustration showing an ancient Roman harvesting method, repeating this statement just before his death in 1886. The claims and counterclaims continue to this day with the most recent article being published in 2007. The story of the Stripper was revisited in preparing a replacement for the missing Marker which was unveiled in 2014. With access to a greater range of documents, some firsthand accounts of the machine's construction were found which included a casual reference to the existence of another possible and surprising source of Ridley's inspiration.
Related Published resources
isPartOf
- Transactions of the 5th South Australian Engineering Heritage Conference, Adelaide, 13 May 2016 edited by Venus, Richard (Adelaide: Engineers Australia, South Australia Division, 2016), 98 pp. Details