MEIKLE, Andrew

During most of his life Meikle was a millwright at Houston Mill. In 1778 he constructed his first threshing machine, probably basing its design on a device patented in 1734 by Michael Menzies. He also devised a method for rapidly furling the sails of windmills to prevent damage from storms. Andrew Meikle designed and made the first successful threshing machine in 1786 and he began making threshing…