Name/TitleBoby Dresser

About this objectOnly six of this type were made, of which the Museum now possesses two (see A.17). It evidently proved a failure and was succeeded by an improved model in the same year. Oddly enough, A.1991, although almost identical with A.17, and with a similar wooden drum, bears the plate of "Boby's No.1 Dresser", and the certification as 1872 prize-winner as does A.914, which has no drum and is quite different in type. This dresser was used by the donor, or his predecessors, for screening barley and other grain, at Cotton Hall Farm.

Richard Hall, Research Volunteer:
“R. B. with the greatest confidence recommends this machine to all who are interested in obtaining a faultless sample of corn” boasts a catalogue from 1862. It is a hand driven, automated riddle and was used by farmers to separate the good grains of wheat and barley from undersized grains and grit picked up during the harvest. This process was known as “Dressing”.

The machine is operated by turning the handle and takes grain, from a hopper, blows in air from the front drum to separate the grains, which then drop onto a riddle screen, to remove the smallest grains and grit; leaving just the finest quality grains for milling or malting.

Robert Boby (1814 - 1886) was born in Norfolk and moved to Bury St Edmunds in 1827, when he was 13, taking up work as an assistant Ironmonger to Mr Groom in the Marketplace. Robert was evidently an enterprising man and soon became a partner in the Ironmongery Business. By 1843, he had bought Mr Grooms share of the business and set out on his own account, trading in the town’s marketplace.

In 1852, Thomas Cooper Bridgman, a Bury St Edmunds Chemist, had been granted a patent for the construction of screens, riddles, or sieves and in the same year, Robert, by time well versed in the needs of farmers and maltsters, joined with him in a patent in respect of the invention of "improvements in corn dressing and winnowing machines."

Robert Boby, certainly didn’t just confine himself to making grain dressers. In fact, he made a vast range of equipment for farming and malting. As the business and demand for his products grew, Robert needed more space to build up his business and so he bought up a redundant maltings in 1860, where the company remained.

During the First World War, the factory made shell cases and was employed on war work again in the Second World War, by which time the business had been bought by Vickers Engineering. The works finally closed in 1971.

MakerRobert Boby

Maker RoleManufacturer

Date Made1872

Place MadeSt. Andrews Works, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk

MeasurementsHeight (without stand): 2 feet 8 inches
Hopper: 2 feet 6 inches x 1 foot 9 inches
Screen: 4 feet 2 inches x 2 feet 2 1/2 inches
Frame: 4 feet 10 inches x 2 feet 4 inches
Drum (diameter):2 feet 1 inch x 1 foot 9 inches

Stand -
Height: 3 feet 4 inches
Length: 5 feet
Width: 2 feet 10 inches

Object numberSTMEA:A.1991

Copyright LicenceAttribution - Non-commercial (cc)