Scottish agricultural implement makers – Page 44 – Celebrating the Scottish agricultural implement and machine makers of yesteryear

Shearer Brothers of Turriff, a well-known thrashing mill maker in north-east Scotland

A well-known thrashing mill maker in north-east Scotland was Shearer Brothers, Maybank Works, Railway Station, Turriff, later of Balmellie Street, Turriff. It undertook business from at least 1876 until 1972; on 18 July 1972 the company passed a special resolution to voluntarily wind up the company. The final winding up meeting was held on 29 August 1972.

The company undertook a number of trades and was an agricultural engineer, an agricultural implement maker, a machinery maker, a mechanical engineer, millwright and later a motor engineer. It was active in promoting its manufactures: exhibiting at the Highland Show from 1876 until 1939. It was awarded a medium silver medal for foot power thrashing machine in 1876. It also entered into the trial of machines for cleaning all sorts of grain and other seeds from weeds in 1884. It was also regular advertiser in the North British Agriculturist from 1884 onwards.

The company manufactured a range of threshing mills. In 1876 it manufactured a foot power thrashing machine which it described as a new invention. By 1881 it manufactured its “Advance” thresher for foot and hand power and the “Simplex” rotary fanner. By the following year it was also manufacturing a small hand thresher with adjustable feeder. These continued to be its main manufactures for following years. To these were added the new “Paragon” dressing and screening machine in 1887.

There are still a number of thrashing mills made by Shearer Brothers to be seen around the rally fields.

Distributing manure

One of the big names in manure distributors at the turn of the twentieth century was J. & R. Wallace Ltd, The Foundry, Castle Douglas. It had won the first prize of the ‘great Newcastle trials of the RASE’ (Royal Agricultural Society of England). This was quite an accolade as few Scottish implement and machine makers won prizes at the RASE trials.

If you wanted to purchase a manure distributor or sower you could have chosen one from a number of Scottish companies: Thomas Sherriff & Co., East Barns, James Gordon, Castle Douglas, Thomas Hunter & Sons, Maybole, John Wallace & Sons, Glasgow, Robert Wallace & Son, Whittlets, Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen, and Robert G. Garvie, Aberdeen.

In 1912 Thomas Sherriff & Co. had a range. One was for drill or broadcast at a cost of £15. Another was attachable to plough with wheel marker for £3. Ben Reid & Co., had a 10 foot wide one for artificial manures at a cost of £16, a manure distributor and land roller combined, also for £16, and a manure distributor and drill plough combined, for £16. In the north-east another maker, G. W. Murray, Banff Foundry, had a manure distributor for £22.

New designs continued. In 1922 George Henderson, Kelso, entered as a new implement at the Highland Show a “manure distributor with enclosed rustproof and self-lubricating driving gears”. It worked in the following way:

“Distribution is effected by means of a series of star-wheels, each driven by worm gearing, entirely enclosed in dustproof cases, and run continually in grease. This obviates the necessity of lubricating by hand in the usual way, the great chambers being filled with sufficient lubricant to serve for several seasons’ work. The fertilisers cannot come in contact with the driving mechanism, thus clogging and deterioration of same is thereby prevented.’

You won’t see many manure distributors around the vintage rallies. when you do, have a look at the similarities in designs over the years, but a also the improvements to give a better and more even spread.

The photographs of the J. & R. Wallace manure distributor were taken at the Strathnairn Vintage Rally, September 2014.

A famous name from Banff: G. W. Murray & Co.

If you were a farmer or agriculturist in north-east Scotland until the mid 1890s you would have been familiar with the name of G. W. Murray & Co. Banff Foundry, Banff.

The company was already in business by 1868. It undertook a range of trades as an agricultural implement maker, iron founder, engineer, mechanical engineer, iron merchant, pump manufacturer and smith.

In 1868 the company sold a wide range of manufactures. These included corn drills, turnip sowing machines, two horse ploughs, drill ploughs, horse rakes, turnip hoeing machines, rick stands, iron troughs, zig zag harrows, grubbers, chain harrows, Norwegian harrows, land rollers, turnip cutters, corn bruisers and potato diggers.

The company was an innovative one: in 1895 one trades directory described the company as “G. W. Murray & Co., patentees of potato planters and manufacturers of crown threshers for hand and foot power and also for pony power, Banff.” A patent from 1870 was for “improvements in means of apparatus employed in ploughing or tilling land”. Another from 1871 was for “improvements in apparatus for ploughing or tilling land”. It also entered its implements and machines fro the highly prestigious trials of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. They includes the trials of potato planters in 1883, ploughs (1883), grubbers (1883), implements for autumn cultivation of stubble (1885), and implements for spring cultivation (1885).

The company undertook significant publicity work, allowing it to reach a Scotland wide as well as an international market for its manufacturers. It exhibited at the Highland Show from 1868 until 1896, when it exhibited in all the Society’s eight show districts, giving it a reach throughout al of Scotland. It advertised in the North British Agriculturist from 1868 until 1897.

The company was highly regarded for its manufactures, winning a number of national and international awards. From the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland it received a commendation for fencing in 1868, a silver medal for a collection of ploughs in 1870, a medium silver medal for a collection in 1872. a silver medal for a chain pump in 1873, a medium silver medal for a turnip sower in 1875, a medium silver medal for a turnip sower in 1876, a silver medal for a thrashing machine in 1876, a minor silver medal for collection in 1876, and a first and second prize for a turnip lifter in 1881.

The company was one for the few Scottish companies to have received an award from the Royal Agricultural Society of England – for a double furrow plough in 1870. In 1872 it was awarded a first prize of 10L for a double furrow plough not exceeding 3.5cwt a highly commended for a double mouldboard or ridging plough not exceeding 2.5cwt. In 1874 it was awarded second prize of 5L for drill,. without manure box, for turnips and other roots on the ridge. In 1880 it received a silver medal for a two row planter.

One of the key figures in the company was George A, Duncan. In 1893 the North British Agriculturist provided a short account of him:

“Mr George A. Duncan is proprietor and manager of the well-known engineer and iron foundry business which has long been carried on in Banff under the style of G. W. Murray & Co. Mr Duncan, who is only in his thirty-third year, spent a good few of his earlier years in Australia. On his return to this country in 1886, the late Mr G. W. Murray, who formerly owned the business, appointed Mr Duncan manager of the Banff Foundry, as well as of the iron merchant’s business, which he also carried on under the name of Murray & Blake. Mr Duncan held these joint offices till June 1887, when Mr Murray died, but he had given so much satisfaction with the management of the business that he was immediately appointed to the same offices by Mr Murray’s trustees. In April 1888, Mr Duncan purchased the premises, plant, and goodwill of the Banff Foundry, and ever since he has on his own account carried on the works, as well as an iron merchant’s business, with marked success. The firm manufacture all kinds of agricultural implements-harrows, turnip sowers, turnip sowers, broadcast sowing machines, grubbers, ploughs, &c all of which have a large sale. In the end of last year the works were completely destroyed by fire, and operations have consequently been carried on at a great disadvantage since, but everything is now in a fair way to being completed, and full work resumed.

The company continued in business until 1897. An auction sale was held on 18 August of “engineers’, iron founders’, and agricultural implement makers’ plant” “owing to the proprietor giving up business.

The photographs of the Banff Foundry seed barrows were taken at New Deer Show, August 2014.

Chitting!

The introduction of tattie chitting trays brought a new line of work to local sawmills and box makers in parts of Scotland.
The boxing system of preparing potato sets was, according to John Speir, Newton Farm, Glasgow, in 1909: “introduced for the purpose of maturing the potato crop sooner than could be attained by the ordinary manner of planting. It is said to have been first introduced in jersey, where it is extensively practiced. Along the whole of the Firth of Clyde it is more or less in use on all the earlier farms, and more particularly in the neighbourhood of Girvan it has been carried to such an extent that several farmers there have upwards of a hundred acres of potatoes all planted from boxes.”

John Speir goes on to describe the boxes used at that time:
“The boxes may be of any convenient size or shape, provided they are not too deep, the size in most common use being about 2 feet long, 18 inches broad, and from 3 to 4 inches deep. Each box generally holds from 3 to 4 stones of potatoes, the former being about the average. The boxes are made of ½ inch deal, and have pins 1 inch square and 6 inches high nailed in each corner. The top of these pins therefore projects from 2 to 3 inches above the edge of the box. These pins are strengthened in their position by having another bar, 1 inch square, nailed across the ends, and reaching from the top of the one corner pin to the top of the other. These cross-bars also serve as handles for carrying the boxes, besides being in other ways useful. In jersey, and in many districts of Britain and Ireland, boxes about one-third smaller than above are preferred. These smaller boxes are much lighter to carry about, and the sets are planted direct from them.

Potatoes were boxed for seed between the end of July and the New Year. Filled boxes were placed in tiers in buildings that could be protected from frost over the winter months.

Local sawmills had their own patterns, making them to a specific size or to meet the needs of their customers. In later years plastic chitting trays became available. They were also put to a wide range of other uses on farms.

The photographs of the hitting trays were taken at the Scottish National Tractor Show, Lanark.

Sowing the Banff way

One of the makers of sowing machines in north-east Scotland was George W. Murray & Co., Banff Foundry, Banff.
In 1868 the company exhibited a one horse corn drill and a two horse corn drill at the Highland Show. In 1870 its sowing machines included a small sized corn drill, a medium sized corn drill, a combined land roller and grass seed sower as well as a turnip sowing machine. A few years later in 1877 they included a turnip and mangold sower, hand seed drill, and a broadcast sowing machine.

The company also made a range of other implements and machines, for which it was well-renowned and won a number of medals from the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. In 1870 they included double furrow ploughs, double furrow ploughs with combined subsoilers, drill ploughs, horse rakes, a turnip cutter on wheels, zig zag harrows, corn bruisers and an oil cake breaker. The company was also one of the few Scottish implement and machine makers to exhibit its manufacturers internationally, doing so at the Vienna International Exhibition of 1873.

When G. W. Murray gave up his business in 1897, the Banff Foundry was taken over by Watson Brothers, which called themselves “Watson Brothers (successors to G. W. Murray & Co), Banff Foundry”. Like George W. Murray, it also continued to make a range of agricultural implements and machines including reapers, turnip drills, field rollers and harrows. William Watson, one of the brothers, died in 1924, after which the Foundry changed ownership to become Banff Foundry & Engineering Co. Ltd. It continued in business until 1951 when a new company was proposed Banff Foundry & Engineering Co. (1951), Ltd which continued until 1954.
A letterhead from 1951 sheds some light on the earlier history of the company. It states “Banff Foundry & Engineering Co., Ltd, agricultural implement makers and engineers, incorporating G. W. Murray & Watson Bros. est. 1820.”

There are still a few implements and machines from the Banff Foundry that can be seen around the vintage rallies today. When you look at them, you are reminded of a long-established and well-renowned Scottish business with an international reputation.

The seed barrows made by the Banff Foundry, were seen at the New Deer Show, July 2014.

The Hunter Hoe

In the days of horse power one of the most well-known implements in Scottish agriculture was the Hunter hoe fro cleaning drills, manufactured by Thomas Hunter & Sons, Maybole.

Thomas Hunter & Sons, Maybole, was one of the celebrated and well-renowned Scottish agricultural implement makers. In 1861 Thomas Hunter was a smith at Maybole. His business developed and flourished and by 1883 his address was given as the “Implement Works, Maybole”. He was joined in business by his sons by 1895. In 1905 the business was located in Alloway Road: the “Alloway Road Implement Works”. The business became a limited company by guarantee in 1920: Thomas Hunter & Sons Ltd. That company was short-lived, becoming Thomas Hunter & Sons (Maybole) Ltd in 1924; it was wound up in late 1927. By 1924 the proprietors were Alex Jack & Sons Ltd, a rival firm, and also another well-known implement and machine maker.

Thomas Hunter making its turnip drills, ploughs, harrows, mowers, reapers, turnip thinners in 1883. By 1890 his manufactures included turnip drill and thinners, ploughs, harrows, mowers and reapers. They were summed up as “drills and cultivating tools” in 1909.
Thomas was an award-winning implement maker from an early date. in 1873 he won a silver medal at the Highland Show for two patent turnip thinners and in 1875 a minor silver medal for his collection. At the Royal Agricultural Society of England meeting in 1870 he was awarded a highly commended for Dickson’s patent double drill turnip cleaner.

Thomas was a regular exhibitor at the Highland Show from 1864 onwards, quickly establishing a name for himself throughout the country as he visited all of the eight show districts. In 1903 he exhibited a wide range of implements including an improved self-acting double drill revolving turnip thinner (£12), improved self-acting single drill turnip thinning machine for hilly land (£6), an improved combined scarifier and turnip thinner, double drill (£9), a drill scarifier for cleaning all kinds of green crop. a turnip topping and tailing machine, double drill (£9), a combined mangold and turnip drill (£6 10s), improved drill plough with marker (£4 15s), consolidating land roller, with lubricating grease boxes (£11 10s), improved tennant grubber, on wheels (£7 10s), large field grubber, improved leverage (£8 10s), set Dickson’s patent double drill root cleaners, heavy (£3 10s), set saddle drill harrows (£2 5s), set zigzag harrows, 9 1/2 feet light (£3 5s), improved drill grubber, with ridging body, light (£3 15s).
Hunter – a name first and foremost for cultivating implements!

The photographs of the Hunter hoe were taken at the Scottish National Tractor Show, Lanark, September 2015.

Implements and machines used in Ross-shire in 1810

The Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement undertook an important survey of agriculture and rural improvement in Britain from 1793 to 1817. Each survey generally focused on a county or a small number of counties.

The accounts contained detailed accounts of the implements and machines used in each county, together with the changes that were being made to them.

The account for Ross-shire written by Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, provides insights into the character and state of implements used in that county. The short account is worth quoting at length:

“The plough which is used by the common people, is an extremely awkward imitation of the improved implement used by the best farmers. But it is so ill-calculated to turn up the ground, that the person who holds it experiences more fatigue in twisting and turning, and pushing and pulling it, than the horses and other cattle employed in the draught. The plough commonly used by the better sort of farmers, is that constructed after the well-known model of Small’s plough. It is made as light as possible, consistent with the strength required, and performs its work very neatly when tolerably well managed. Two horses are employed by our best farmers to draw a plough; but the country people employ cows, oxen, and horses, often in the same team, to the number of six or eight. Harrows are made after the models approved of in the best farming districts of Scotland.
Rollers are commonly made of wood, generally solid. On stiff land spiked rollers have been found very useful for breaking own the clods.
Drill machines are used by some farmers from East Lothian, who settled in East Ross some years ago.
Double sowing and rolling turnip drills are getting into general use This implement is the most convenient and useful one employed in husbandry: it performs its work to perfection.
Scufflers, and horse-hoes, for cleaning out turnip drills, are in use everywhere.
Thrashing-mills have been erected on almost every considerable farm, and many of them are turned by water. There is nothing new in the construction of our mills.
Single horse carts are beginning to be used on farms where the ground is level; but double horse coup-carts are in general use.
As all the implements by our best farmers are made from the most approved models, which have been often described to the Board, it is unnecessary to enter into any more particular detail.”

A short account by an eminent agricultural writer! Note the influences from other counties of Scotland, and the importance of new implements and machines from farmers and farm servants from other districts moving around the country.

The photographs were taken at the Easter Ross ploughing match in November 2016 and 2017.

Steam power on the farm

Steam power played an important role in mechanising Scottish agriculture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the national agricultural society, recognised the importance of steam power for the farmer and agriculturist, and encouraged its use and development though a range of means, including premiums, competitions and special committee investigations.
It was at the Highland Show that farmers and agriculturists got to see the latest developments in steam power for the farm. The first steam powered exhibit at the show was at the Glasgow Highland Show of 1850. In the “extra implement” class Clayton, Shuttleworth and Co., Lincoln, exhibited a seven horse power portable steam engine for thrashing and other purposes. This would set the purchaser back £209, and if they wanted it felted and cased they would pay a further £8 extra. Richard garrett and Son, Saxmundham, also exhibited a portable steam engine for agricultural purposes for £205.

While the early Highland Shows in the 180s generally had a small number of steam exhibits, their numbers increased significantly as steam power became more widely adopted on Scottish farms.
At the 1875 Highland Show held in Glasgow, there were eighteen exhibitors of steam powered engines and machinery. They included some of the major English makers whose names came to dominate the making of traction engines and portable steam engines – William Foster & Co., Wellington Foundry, Lincoln, John Fowler & Co., Steam Plough Works, Leeds and Edinburgh, Richard Hornsby & Sons, Spittlegate Iron Works, Grantham, Marshall, Sons & Co. Ltd, Britannia Iron Works, Gainsborough, and Robey & Co., Lincoln.

But there were also Scottish makers and exhibitors, some of whom were well-known at that time for their steam manufactures. One of them was Alexander Chaplin & Co., Cranstonhill Engine Works, Glasgow, with a portable winding engine. D. Gordon & Co., Newton Works, Ayr, had an eight horse power vertical engine and boiler combined, built on a strong cast-iron foundation, as well as a light two-horse thrashing machine and horse gear. Another from Ayrshire, J. & T. Young, Vulcan Foundry, Ayr, exhibited a five horse power improved horizontal tank steam engine and independent vertical boiler with cross tuber in fire box as well as a patent stone dressing machine. William Young, engineer, Ardrosssan, had a three horse power (nominal) vertical engine and boiler combined suitable for driving, thrashing, churning and other machinery.

Steam power continued to be an important feature of the showyard (especially the “machinery in motion” section) of the Highland Show for a number of following engines. However, from the 1880s steam power had to compete with new forms of power, including gas power, diesel power paraffin power, and electric power, and their increasing use on Scottish farms.

Traction engines continued to be exhibited at the Highland Show until the early 1930s. The last traction engine that John Fowler & Co. (Leeds) Ltd, Leeds, world-famed for its steam ploughing and cultivating engines and tackle, exhibited at the Show was in 1933. This was a 10hp (nominal) traction engine, single cylinder, on rubber-tyres wheels and fitted with front tank and Pickering governors, with a rotary plough, its gyro tiller, of 170hp. By this time a number of the traction engine makers were making diesel powered engines.

A number of traction engines for agricultural use can be seen around the rally fields today. The photographs from the Bon Accord Steam Fair, 2015, Fife Vintage Rally, 2015, and B. A. Country Fair, 2016, illustrate aspects of agricultural steam from the past.

A new tenant at the Banff Foundry: Watson Brothers

Farmers and other agriculturists in north-east Scotland would have been well-aware of the renowned firm of G. W. Murray & Co., of the Banff Foundry, until it gave up business in 1897.

The Banff Foundry was not to remain empty for any length of time after G. W, Murray gave up business. By 1898 Watson Brothers had started business in it. In its first year of business it advertised itself as “Watson Brothers (successors to G. W. Murray & Co.) Banff Foundry.”

The company had a number of trades: an agricultural implement maker, iron founder, iron merchant, marine engineer, mechanical engineer, and pump maker. Its main lines of manufacturers were reapers, turnip drills, field rollers and harrows. It extended its manufacture of corn bruisers in 1904 after purchasing the entire stock of corn bruiser patterns from Dalgetty Brothers, Aberdeen.

In 1909 the brothers were reported in the local Aberdeen Daily Journal to have “had a rather busy spring, and the demand fro their standard implements, such as broadcast grain sowers, rollers, turnip drills, and horse hoes has been well maintained. In regard to harvest machinery the demand for the Milwaukee blunders was in excess of all previous years, while the Victory, which has been fitted with an improved cutting bar, has given an excellent account of itself. The export department has been particularly busy, the shipments to Rhodesia and Africa generally having been almost double those of the previous year. The iron punching and shearing machines for the use of small engineers have been going off in quite large numbers. During the year six new drifters were fitted out with engines, and although there has been a lull in this department, a good few orders have been booked, the work to be carried out during the forthcoming spring. The firm’s moulding shop has been reproofed, and the fitting shop has been extended to the full extent of the available ground, which will permit of traction engines being taken under cover. A travelling crane is another of the improvements which is to be carried out at the works, and will enable heavy castings to be moved about with ease.” (30 December 1909)

As well as making its own implements, it also acted as an agent. In 1908 they included Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies of Ipswich and in 1911 International Harvester Co. of Great Britain Ltd, London.

Its main area of business was in the north-east. Indeed, at the Highland Show it only exhibited at largely the Aberdeen and Inverness shows. It attended the 1898 show at Kelso, its first year of business.

Watson Brothers continued to occupy the Banff Foundry until 1924 when William Watson died.

Watson Brothers – an eminent name in reapers, turnip drills, field rollers and harrows!

The photographs of the chaff cutter were taken at the Highland Folk Museum, Newtonmore, May 2016 and the seed barrow at New Deer Show, 2014.

A well known East Kilbride name: William Dickie & Sons

William Dickie & Sons, Victoria Implement Works, East Kilbride was one of the well-known Scottish agricultural implement makers. The company was already established as William Dickie, agricultural engineer,in East Kilbride by 1888. Vy 1897 the company was of a sufficient size that it could call its premises the Victorial Agricultural Implement Works (sometimes also the Victoria Works or the Victoria Implement Works). By 1904 William was joined by his sons, thus establishing the name of William Dickie & Sons. Further change was brought about in 1948 when the company became incorporated to become William Dickie & Sons Ltd.

The company recognised the need for it to have a greater presence in the west of Scotland, allowing it to expand its business further. In 1905 it also set up in the Gallowgate, Glasgow, along with other implement makers. However, it was to retain its basis, and association with East Kilbride.

Its business focus was as an agricultural implement maker, mechanical engineer and millwright. These trades and were carried out over many decades. Its manufactures, however, changed with the times, responding to changes in agriculture and agricultural needs.

In 1897 the company was a maker of fireclay churns, wooden churns, land rollers, horse rakes, rick lifters (“the Handy”), combined mower and reapers, horse rakes, a self-regulating steel windmill (“the Victor”), and a range of miscellaneous items such as garden seats and sack barrows. Some of these implements and machines were to be staple products for the company over many decades.

In 1909 the company manufacured the “Victor” self regulating steel windmill, a range of threshing machines, horse gear, patent rick lifters, hay tenders, the “Victoria” reaper and mower, horse rakes, grindstones, liquid manure carts, water carts and farm carts. It also acted as an agent for “Noxton” mowers and binders. In 1914 there were windmills and toes, rick lifters, hay tenders, straw bakers, and liquid manure carts. All these are implements and machines associated with a dairying district.

The company was renowned for a number of its manufactures. By 1905 it entered one of its hay turners for the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’s trial of swathe turners.
In 1934 it entered for the New Implement Award at the Highland Show a combined general purpose coup cart and rick lifter, cited with Dunlop Pneumatic land wheels. In 1938 it entered its new parent expanding swathe turner for that award. This was followed by its mechanical byre cleaner in 1939 and the Dickie-Campbell rick lifter and utility transporter in 1950, a mechanical byre-mucking machine in 1951 and the Dickie “swath-tedder” in 1958. It was Dickie’s swathe turner that made the company famous. Indeed, it could be said that the company was synonymous with its swathe tedder.

The company stopped trading in 1969 and was dissolved in August 1973. But it left a significant legacy in the hayfields, and of course around the vintage agricultural rallies today. You will likely see its swathe turners. If you see any others, remember that Dickie was an inventive engineer who developed a range of inventive implements and machines that had a significant impact on Scottish agriculture.

The photographs were taken at Ayr Vintage Rally, July 2016, the Scottish National Tractor Show, September 2015 and the Fife Vintage Machinery Show, June 2014.