Think of running your fingers through your hair and this is the simple idea behind the Headlie Taylor’s crop lifter. It has been claimed that this invention not only saved the bumper 1920 Australian wheat crop but secured the reputation of the Taylor Header Harvester in the process. Patented in 1917, early designs were made […]
Keyword: innovation
What’s in a Comb?
Inspiration comes from many places. Sometimes an object’s story is much bigger than simply what it is or did. Hinting at what inspired Headlie Taylor’s (1883-1957) innovative agricultural inventions, this comb also reveals the story of the dynamic Henty community the designer was a part of. This comb is known as a short comb, most […]
Dream Machine
Headlie Taylor (1883-1957) was a great designer and innovator who, by 1915, had created the machine of his dreams. He just needed a manufacturer and finance to fully realise his ambitions. In January 1916, Australia’s biggest agricultural industrialist Hugh Victor McKay couldn’t make Headlie’s initial demonstration on the Taylor farm, so a follow up visit […]
Packham’s Triumph
In the late-1890s Charles Packham (1842-1909) found notoriety after developing a new pear variety. Using this plain pruning knife, Packham successfully created the new pear by grafting together a Bell and Williams Pear – it was aptly called Packhams Triumph. The second half of the nineteenth century was a time of growing interest and experimentation […]