Object No.
B2250Object Statement
Chaffcutter, No. 1382, hand powered, 2-blade, iron / steel / timber, made by E. H. Bentall & Co, Heybridge, Maldon, Essex, England, c.1900, used at Luddenham, New South Wales, AustraliaPhysical Description
Chaffcutter, No. 1382, hand powered, 2-blade, iron / steel / timber, made by E. H. Bentall & Co., Heybridge, Maldon, Essex, England, c.1900, used at Luddenham, NSW, Australia
The essential components of this chaffcutter are the two, curved knife blades fixed to the spokes of the flywheel, 3 ft 6 inches (1.1 m) in diameter, which cut the straw. The knives are attached to the flywheel with four nuts and bolts each and could easily be detached for sharpening and renewing.
Uncut straw or hay was placed in the chaffcutter's chute and was seized by two toothed rollers and then fed to the rotating knives. When the flywheel was rotated, by turning the handle, the knives slide against a stationary shear-plate. The gear on the side of the chaffcutter could be altered to change the speed of the rollers relative to the speed of the flywheel and knives. Since this changed the relative speed at which the straw or hay was fed towards the knives, it controlled the length of the pieces of cut material which made up the chaff. Horses and cattle were given chaff cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) long pieces while sheep had about a quarter of an inch (0.6 cm). The chaffcutter is mounted on a 4-legged cast-iron stand decorated with pieced brackets.Marks
Number on side of machine: 1626.