Agricultural Engineer. According to his tombstone, Meikle
was 'descended from a line of ingenious mechanics' and his father had
invented a winnowing machine (1710), although this had not been well
received at a time when mechanical contraptions were regarded with great
suspicion.
Meikle was the inventor of the threshing machine (1789),
which proved rather more successful. He worked as a millwright at Houston
Mill, on the family estate of John Rennie (1761 - 1821) at Phantassie, East
Lothian. Rennie collaborated with Meikle installing his machinery in other
mills.
