{"id":6802,"date":"2020-12-07T14:52:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T19:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6802"},"modified":"2020-12-07T15:02:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T20:02:40","slug":"episode-190-stationary-new-hamberg-threshing-machine-unwelcome-anywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6802","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 190 STATIONARY NEW HAMBERG THRESHING MACHINE…UNWELCOME ANYWHERE"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 190   STATIONARY THRESHING MACHINE\u2026UNWELCOME ANYWHERE FOR SOME STRANGE REASON<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
dec.  2020<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
NOW  THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL MACHINE\u2026BUT I GUESS \u2018BEAUTY IS ONLY<\/div>\n
IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER, NAMELY ME.<\/div>\n

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My previous Episode 189 tells the story of my impulsive purchase of 4 thresing machines  at a Kitchener auction many years<\/div>\n
ago.  This is the story of the smallest of them.  It was made in New Hamberg, Ontario sometime between  1850 and 1900 and<\/div>\n
designed to sit on a barn threshing floor where the sheaves of wheat , oats or barley could be hand  fed into the threshing cylinder.<\/div>\n
Not many of these machines  have survived the change from small farms to large corporate farms.    As  a matter of  fact<\/div>\n
not many people would even know what the machine did.  IT could have had wheels at one time perhaps.<\/div>\n

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About 20  or 30 years ago I gave the thresher to the City of Mississauga and  it was kept in the small barn beside the Bradley<\/div>\n
Museum.  Nothing was done to indicate the importance of the machine.  <\/div>\n

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\u201cThat thing takes too much space\u201d, some museum manager<\/div>\n
decided\u2026with follow  up questions.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat is it  anyway?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy do we have it sitting there?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho gave it to us?\u201d \u201cIs there any paper work?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s get rid of it.\u201d<\/div>\n

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RING\u2026RING\u2026RING.<\/div>\n
\u201cHello, Alan, how would you like a small threshing machine?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat colour?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSort of a faded orange\u2026quite  old\u2026stencilled says New Hamburg Manufacturing Company.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you know where it came from?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe have no idea.  No paper work.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, let me tell you.  I gave the machine to the City of Mississauga.  It is an important artifact.<\/div>\n
\u201cIt was yours?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, we do  not want it anymore\u2026come and get it.\u201d  \u201cOr it will be disposed  of \u2026”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Now that was a double shock\u2026First, no one knew I gave it to the Bradley House museum decades ago<\/div>\n
 Second, they were dumping the machine and just by chance called  <\/div>\n
All this at my personal expense\u2026I felt badly treated  by my own city of  Mississauga.  <\/div>\n
Almost like I had backed up and dumped a load of garbage.  I still feel<\/div>\n
let down.   The \u2018come and get it now\u2019 phone  call was a real slap in the face.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Sp I asked Andy to help once again.  This time no safe place in mind until after the pick up.<\/div>\n
I sent an email to the Wellington  County Museum\u2026seemed a good fit since they have an<\/div>\n
immense historic  barn with lots  of room and  the thresher was designed for a threshing floor.<\/div>\n
No answer.  NO ANSWER!   Not just a \u2018thanks but no thanks\u201d but NO ANSWER AT ALL.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So what to do?  \u201cAndrew, we\u2019ll  take the machine to Bill  Brooks\u2026he owns a machine shop<\/div>\n
in Rockwood and has helped in the past.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And that is where it rests today\u2026two years later.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Imagine that.  Here  I have a very rare \u2018flat to the floor hand fed threshing machine \u2026 a rare machine \u2026and<\/div>\n
no one has the imagination necessary to see that it is preserved for future  generations.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
After the urgent call\u2026i.e”.Come and get it or it goes to the garbage dump\u201d\u2026my son Andrew helped immediately.  Then Bill Brooks and his brother Joe Brooks helped.<\/div>\n
They put it under cover where it sits today.  The thresher would look perfect in the Wellington County Museum. The  gigantic barn which  is near empty.  But no one will<\/div>\n
respond.   Bill Brooks  cannot keep  it forever.  And our barns  are full.  What should we do?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Museums are loss leaders.   They do  not make money.  They take up space.  They are unnecessary.  Right?  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Dec.  2020<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 190   STATIONARY THRESHING MACHINE\u2026UNWELCOME ANYWHERE FOR SOME STRANGE REASON alan skeoch dec.  2020 NOW  THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL MACHINE\u2026BUT I GUESS \u2018BEAUTY IS ONLY IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER, NAMELY ME. My previous Episode 189 tells the story of my impulsive purchase of 4 thresing machines  at a Kitchener auction many years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}