The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine
(or simply thresher), was a machine first invented by Scottish
mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was
invented (c.1784) for the separation of grain from stalks and
husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with
flails, and was very laborious and time consuming. Mechanization of
this process took much of the drudgery out of farm labour.