Legaré “Keystone American Champion” Thresher

Current Location:

Collection Storage Facility

Provenance:

Donation from Parks Canada in 1971

History:

This thresher was produced by P. T. Legaré, a prominent Quebec manufacturer of agricultural equipment. Founded in 1879 by Pierre-Théophile Legaré, the company manufactured a range of equipment, including threshers, seeders, and cultivators. It was well-known in French-speaking agricultural districts throughout Quebec, eastern Ontario, and northern New Brunswick.

Technical History:

Threshing machines separate grain from the harvested plant, which is reduced to straw and chaff. The first threshing machines were stationary: powered by hand or treadmill, they increased the amount of grain a farmer could separate in a day. Wheeled threshing machines began to replace stationary threshers in the 1860s and further mechanized grain harvesting. Threshers were initially built of wood and powered by horse-powered windlasses; they were later built of steel and powered by steam traction engines and gas tractors. Threshers were in turn replaced through the twentieth century by combine harvesters, which merged harvesting and threshing operations in one machine.

This hand-fed thresher is equipped with a fanning mill and apron conveyor, technology first introduced in the 1860s. Powered by horse power or treadmill, this machine was designed for and marketed to smaller eastern Canadian farms that could not afford the larger wheeled threshers that were then on the market.