reaping machine
Sign in to savethumb|Typical 20th-century reaper, a tractor-drawn Deutz-Fahr|Fahr machine
Article
10 sectionsContents
- Hand reaping
- Mechanical reaping
- Mechanical reapers in the U.S.
- Reapers in the late 19th and 20th century
- References
- General and cited references
- Further reading
- Primary sources
- External links: film
- External links
thumb|Typical 20th-century reaper, a tractor-drawn Deutz-Fahr|Fahr machine
A reaper is a farm implement that reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass, especially wheat. The first documented reaping machines were Gallic reapers that were used in Roman times in what would become modern-day France. The Gallic reaper involved a comb which collected the heads, with an operator knocking the grain into a box for later threshing.