Massey-Harris “Clipper” Combine Harvester

Current Location:

Collection Storage Facility

Provenance:

Purchase

Technical History:

The combine harvester, also known earlier as the reaper-thresher, combines in one machine all the operations associated with cereal-grain harvesting: reaping, threshing, and winnowing. First conceived in the late nineteenth century, combine harvesters were more widely produced in the twentieth century as grain farming expanded, particularly in western North America. Combine harvesters came in towed and self-propelled models, with self-propelled models dominating production after the 1940s.

The “Clipper” was a pull-type combine, developed during the 1930s to introduce combine harvesters to farmers with smaller operations. The Clipper received power through a Power Take-Off (or PTO) that connected the combine to the tractor’s engine. The pull-type Clipper was followed by a self-propelled Clipper, introduced in 1946.

History:

Massey-Harris was founded in Brantford, Ontario, in 1891, the result of the merger of the Daniel Massey company and A. Harris, Son & Co. Massey-Harris became a globally important manufacturer of agricultural implements. The Clipper pull-type combine was manufactured from 1938 to 1958, and was one of the most popular pull-type combines that Massey-Harris produced.