Name/TitlePhotograph
About this objectBlack and white photograph of Ford tractor filling Ransome's sugar beet harvester 1976 at Tattingstone. Prototype 333.
Ransomes, Sims & Jeffries was a major British manufacturer who specialised in producing engineering goods, with a focus on agricultural products, located in Ipswich, Suffolk. Ransomes, Sims & Jeffries was in production from 1884 to 1998.
A beet harvester is a machine that was invented, c.1972, to harvest root crops. The machine removes the top of the beet and lifts them out of the ground with lifting shares. The beet is then separated from the adhering soil through cleaning rollers or the discharge elevators, which is then loaded into the hopper or goes directly into a trailer. As the photograph displays, this beet harvester was pulled by a tractor, meaning it was an early-model beet harvester. These harvesters were appealing due to the low draft, which meant even a 50 horsepower utility tractor could pull one efficiently. The early models were only capable of harvesting one line on the field, compared to the modern day 6 lines. Despite only being able to do 1 line, the introduction of a mechanised beet harvester meant that the days of using a beet hook were soon to end.
Harvesting beet by hand was particularly laborious. It required the beet to be previously pulled from the ground, then the beet needed to be topped and tailed using a beet hook. The beet harvester combined these roles, and could do them much faster.
The tractor within the photo is a Ford 4000, a 3 cylinder tractor built between 1962-1975. The 3 cylinder engine was likely preferred due to the size, lighter-weight and fuel efficiency. This model in the photograph has a cab, a luxury that is now taken for granted, which was not popularised on tractors until the 1950s. Another significant improvement to a beet harvester's quality of life, providing more comfort and protection from the weather.
Date Made1976
Place MadeTattingstone
MeasurementsHeight: 168mm
Width: 210mm
Object numberSTMEA:2010-63
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial (cc)
