When Delbert Miller learned that his wife’s great-grandfather had built a scale model working threshing machine, he was intrigued, but the well-preserved relic changed hands several times before Delbert was able to bring it back into the family fold.
“It’s believed to have been patterned after a traditional grain-threshing machine but in half-scale,” he says. “I was finally able to acquire the thresher, along with the scale model Rumely OilPull tractor that powered it, at a local auction in 2005.”
Mose Raber built the threshing machine in 1931 in his woodworking shop in Farmerstown, Ohio. The thresher is predominantly constructed of wood. The pulleys (and even the gears) are made of wood and there are grease cups to lubricate the bearings. “The wheels are steel, no doubt because the piece was made by an Amish builder,” Delbert says. “And rubber tires may have been difficult to locate for the machine in the early 1930s.”
After Mose completed the threshing machine, he threshed seeds for some Farmerstown women. Apparently, they produced onion seeds for their own use and some for resale.
The thresher was used only for a few years after it was built.
Expertise in woodworking
Delbert grew up in Becks Mills, Ohio, with limited farm experience. “Although I did not grow up on a farm, I helped make hay on my sister’s farm,” he says. “As a hired lad, I also husked corn by hand for a neighboring farmer.”
Several of his family members collect and restore antique tractors and stationary gas engines. Delbert enjoyed tinkering with Maytag engines and a 9hp Case steam engine. His dad’s collection includes a Huber and Rumely OilPull tractors. “I helped my son restore a Huber steam engine,” he says. “Another son brought a John Deere Model B back to life and I helped with that.”
After completing his Amish education, Delbert was a woodworker, initially in a shop for a couple years and then a sawmill where he worked for 15 years. In 2014, Delbert and his wife, Miriam, established a community store on their home property near Sugarcreek, Ohio. The store is patronized primarily by the Amish community within a 5-mile radius. The store offers shoes, household items like kitchenware, laundry soap and limited groceries, including bulk foods.
Bringing a pair of heirlooms home
Delbert readily admits to having only limited hands-on experience with threshing machines. “I don’t have any background experience with grain threshers,” he says. “For demonstration purposes at the annual Doughty Valley Steam Days near Charm, Ohio, I provided a steam engine to power a threshing machine. But it was run by experienced operators.”
When Delbert learned about the onion threshing machine and Rumely tractor being offered through a local auction, he seized the opportunity. “After Mose Raber built the thresher, it was used for a few years,” he says. “It then changed ownership several times outside the family.” The pair sold at auction for $5,000. “It was a reasonable price to get it back into the family,” he says.
The thresher had been well cared for, so restoration was not necessary. “The 12-by-21-inch-cylinder thresher has good detail, considering it’s all wood,” he says. “There’s a main reel for the drive belt. The feed table is hinged and folds back for transport. And there’s even a wood tool box with a hinged cover.”
Delbert was anxious to demonstrate the scale model thresher at the Doughty Valley Steam Days. He followed the basic steps to produce onion seeds. When the onions were mature, he cut and hung them to dry and then replanted them the next year. “The second year, they grew those white puffball heads (or umbels) that contained the seeds,” he says. “I dried those tops and displayed them by the thresher during Steam Days to show people what the machine is designed to thresh.”
Building a Rumely for the thresher
The scale model Rumely tractor was built by David Raber, Mose’s son, in 1976. It is powered by a 1-1/2hp International Harvester engine. David bought the onion thresher through an auction before building the tractor.
“When I bought the tractor, it was in running condition,” Delbert says, “but it needed a facelift. I cleaned it up, repainted it and added new decals. Without regular operation, it’s not running as it should. With a little time, I hope to have it running at its fullest potential.”
Surrounded by family members with farm-related collectables, Delbert had no choice but to become a collector himself. “I’ve gathered a few items, some of which have been restored,” he says. “It’s become an enjoyable hobby, especially since agriculture history is being preserved. Hopefully, I’ll find time to do more in the future.”
Raising onion seeds is a complex process
There are fewer than 1,000 onion farmers in the U.S. Roughly half of all onions grown in the U.S. are produced in California and Oregon. Onion seed production requires cool winters and hot, dry summers. The weather in central Oregon is considered ideal. Onions are a cool-season biennial typically requiring two growing seasons to complete their lifecycle.
Home gardeners growing onions generally use bulb sets or plants. Onion seeds are rarely, if ever, used in the home garden. In commercial production, seeds are planted from late July through September.
In the right conditions, an onion plant will form one or more flower inflorescences (a cluster of flowers on a branch) terminating in an umbel containing several hundred seeds. The process of forming the inflorescences is called “bolting” and is undesirable for onions grown for bulbs but essential when producing onion seeds. For bolting to occur, the plant must go through a period of chilling (45-55 degrees F) for one month or longer, depending on the variety.
Onion seeds must be pollinated by flying insects, generally honeybees. Consequently, onion seed fields require separation by a minimum of 1-1/2 miles to prevent cross-pollination. Seed maturity is reached by mid-June to August of the following year when the seed is harvested.
The umbel is usually harvested by hand, with about 6 inches of the stalk remaining.
They are transported out of the field and dried on tarps for two to three weeks. After drying, the umbels are threshed. Mechanization of umbel threshing is imperative to maintain seed quality. Following threshing, seeds are taken to a seed company for cleaning.
Today’s onion threshing machines are more streamlined and mechanically efficient than the old bulky type the scale model was patterned on. Growers who produce small amounts of seed often use a water bath to separate the seed from the umbel. Onion seed dried to 6.5 percent moisture and stored under favorable conditions (40-60 degrees F) will last one to two years. Properly dried seed stored in a freezer will keep indefinitely.
For more information: Contact Delbert Miller at VM Phone: (330) 852-0705 or email: millersfootwear@ibyfax.com.
Freelance writer Fred Hendricks of Mansfield, Ohio, covers a vast array of subjects relating to agriculture. Email Fred at fwhendricks@gmail.com.
