How Your Combine Harvester Works

During the fall harvest season, combine harvesters are extremely common pieces of farm equipment on agricultural operations throughout the United States. But have you ever wondered how these massive machines work or why they were developed?

High Plains Equipment is your North Dakota combine harvester dealer, with locations in Harvey and Devils Lake. Below, we’ve assembled a little historical information about combine harvesters as well as a brief breakdown of the parts of a harvester and how they function.

History of the Combine Harvester

The first combine harvester was constructed by American inventor Hiram Moore in 1835. Prior to this development, over 90% of American citizens labored on farms; the combine harvester significantly lowered this number to only 50% by 1870. The machine gets its name from its combination of the harvesting and separating of grain crops, which took up a great deal of hand labor previously. That saved labor could then be transferred to other farm tasks and harvesting no longer required weeks of work to accomplish.

How Combine Harvesters Function

A combine harvester cuts a crop such as wheat or barley at its base, feeds the plant into a threshing drum which separates the grains from stalks before sweeping the chaff to the back of the machine. The separated grains are then shifted to a grain tank. The grain tank may be emptied using an elevator that then shoots the grain out of an unloader into a waiting cart. 

Refuse from the combine harvester may be utilized for animal bedding, baled into straw or spread out across the land to provide nourishment to the soil. 

Combine Harvester Anatomy

There are several parts of the combine harvester that work together to complete the once-laborious process of harvesting and separating out grain:

• Header: cuts the plant near the ground.
• Spinning auger: moves the cut crops up a conveyor.
• Threshing segment: threshes cut crops in order to separate out the grains from their stalks.
• Grain tank: holds the separated grains.
• Conveyors: various moving belts that transport the chaff or the grain through the machine.
• Elevator: lifts harvested grain out of the tank.
• Unloader: a side pipe through which grain is deposited into a cart or other receptacle.
• Straw chopper: optional attachment at the rear of the machine which chops up the chaff (crop residue) before spreading it on the field behind the moving machine.

We hope this helps to explain how combine harvesters function so that you can better understand your equipment. Searching for farm equipment? Stop by one of our dealerships in Devils Lake or Harvey, ND, to view our wide stock of new and used farm equipment for sale, including combine harvesters. You can also discuss financing options with our friendly sales team. High Plains Equipment proudly serves all of our customers in the cities of Grand Forks and Minot, ND.