thresher, farm machine for separating wheat, peas, soybeans, and other small grain and seed crops from their chaff and straw. Primitive threshing methods involved beating by hand with a flail or trampling by animal hooves.

Is thresher used for harvesting?

Most grain and seed crops are now harvested with combined harvester-threshers, commonly known as combines. ... Although the greatest application of combines is in harvesting the small grains, corn and soybeans, these machines are also used for a wide variety of small-acreage or specialty crops.

How did the thresher change the world?

Threshing machines are designed to separate grain from stalks and husks. Along with the seed drill, first invented by Jethro Tull in 1701, and the reaping machine, the development and improvement of the threshing machine led the way in the mechanization and eventual industrialization of agriculture.