21 thoughts on “We haven’t had a gadget in a while…

  1. Dru Marland

    A reaper, I suppose you’d call it. There’s a v similar one shown here more recently, in Mayo http://www.mayovintage.org/AnnualFieldDay.html

  2. DannyM8

    A horse-drawn reciprocating-blade mower.

  3. robinparkes

    Needless to say the photograph is posed and the photographer nearly got it perfect.

  4. derangedlemur
    derangedlemur says:

    A bucolic idyll, if ever I saw one.

  5. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    Ahem! No location yet?

  6. derangedlemur
    derangedlemur says:

    Round here somewhere: maps.google.ie/maps?q=malin&hl=en&ll=55.365627,-7…

    I’ll take another look later if I have time.

  7. TEXASJOHN

    Thingamabob! I like that better than gadget.

  8. swordscookie more off than on
    swordscookie more off than on says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/48236157@N02/] No John it’s called a "Thingamajig" on this side of the pond:-). Malin Head, back in the 50’s my cousin qualified as a meteorologist and he was posted to Malin Head – lovely spot but for a 20 year old not exactly the ‘in’ place to be.
    The shot is posed alright and very nice, the latest gadget/thingamajig getting an airing!!!!

  9. derangedlemur
    derangedlemur says:

    A thingumajig is a specific bit of machinery though, as evidenced by the famous line "he rapped and he tapped on the thingumajig but the thingumajig said rain!"

  10. mcginley2012

    A similar thingumajig from South Co Donegal.
    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/72163146@N08/7710419128/in/set-72157628529581127]

  11. Robinson_Luzo
    Robinson_Luzo says:

    Always love old photos of farm work. Farmers in the Malin region who had geese, and had to drive them to market in Derry, used to make them go through tar then sand to give the geese’s feet protection during the long walk.

    As to location; its seems likely to be just outside the town of Ballygorman looking west, the land from the mountains gradually slopes towards the sea (obviously not visible here).

  12. chrisper2009

    A sit down job. Surely a rarity in those days.

  13. Ray Mallon1

    a knife bar or reaper looks like a machine made by Pierce of Wexford. and a nice crop of corn is being mowed this is hand tied into sheaves the sheaves are stood in groups of four called stook,s to dry then built into stacks, later in the year the threshing machine will come and the corn will be threshed removing the seed from the straw.

  14. estenvik

    The reaper is basically a horse drawn mower with the addition of an extra seat above the right hand wheel and a board attatched to the bar, controlled by a pedal. One man was driving the horses, the other collecting oat (or other grain) straws sufficient for one sheave before dumping it by means of the combined action of lowering the bord with the pedal and using the rake. The next step was the self-binder, a much more complicated piece of machinery.

  15. oaktree_brian_1976
    oaktree_brian_1976 says:

    How are we supposed to nail down a location? It’s a field. That’s a manual thresher. Before the giant combines took over.

  16. oaktree_brian_1976
    oaktree_brian_1976 says:

    I was going to be a smarty pants and pick some Google map at random showing a field near there, but they’re all gone! Suburbia takes over…

  17. OwenMacC

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/66151649@N02] There is an small outcrop of rock/quarry on top of the small hill in the distance. This same feature is visible in this Streetview.

  18. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03] You aren’t joking! They look very similar – do you think you’ve got it right? (Just guarding against an outbreak of smarty pantsness [http://www.flickr.com/photos/66151649@N02] )

  19. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/86136754@N06] That’d be this Pierce of Wexford!

  20. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/estenvik] Thank you!

  21. OwenMacC

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland] Yes I have it right.Townland of Ballygorman. I have placed the OSI mark where I believe French took this picture.The photograph was taken looking WSW. The far outcrop and road coming out of the hollow in middle distance match this position as do the buildings with those marked on the OS. ( look at the long house behind the horses rump and that on the OSI map west of mark).
    The satellite views show that what’s left this field is still tilled or at least cut for hay/silage.
    This is what’s left of the long house behind the horse.(Note: drop in roof line is the same as above.)
    Line of Photograph.[http://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03/9595510936/in/photostream/][http://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03/9592853251/in/photostream/]

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