![]() William Manning of Plainfield, New Jersey had also received a patent for his reaper in May 1831, but at the time, Manning was evidently not defending his patent. McCormick claimed he had really invented his machine in 1831, but the renewal was denied. Patent Office noted that a similar machine had already been patented by Obed Hussey a few months earlier. When McCormick tried to renew his patent in 1848, the U.S. Chicago had no paved streets at the time, but the city had the best water transportation from the east over the Great Lakes for his raw materials, as well as railroad connections to the farther west where his customers would be. Louis, Missouri and Milwaukee, Wisconsin were more established and prosperous. At the time, other cities in the midwestern United States, such as Cleveland, Ohio St. In 1847, after their father's death, Cyrus and his brother Leander (1819–1900) moved to Chicago, where they established a factory to build their machines. He also licensed several others across the country to build the reaper, but their quality often proved poor, which hurt the product's reputation. to get his 1845 patent, he heard about a factory in Brockport, New York, where he contracted to have the machines mass-produced. He received a second patent for reaper improvements on January 31, 1845.Īs word spread about the reaper, McCormick noticed orders arriving from farther west, where farms tended to be larger and the land flatter. They were all built manually in the family farm shop. He finally sold seven reapers in 1842, 29 in 1843, and 50 in 1844. Using the endorsement of his father's first customer for a machine built by McPhetrich, Cyrus continually attempted to improve the design. He did sell one in 1840, but none for 1841. In 1839 McCormick started doing more public demonstrations of the reaper, but local farmers still thought the machine was unreliable. He also successfully developed a modern company, with manufacturing, marketing, and a sales force to market his products. His efforts built on more than two decades of work by his father Robert McCormick Jr., with the aid of Jo Anderson, who was enslaved by the family. He was, however, one of several designing engineers who produced successful models in the 1830s. McCormick has been simplistically credited as the single inventor of the mechanical reaper. ![]() Originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, he and many members of the McCormick family became prominent residents of Chicago. Cyrus Hall McCormick (Febru– May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Those of us looking to put a little less physical effort into our gardening can get electric mowers and trimmers from companies such as Troy-Bilt, Leonard, Ames True Temper, and Smith & Hawken, a division of Other important agricultural tools include the shovel, the hoe, the sickle, the cradle, the machete, the pitchfork.Ĭorporate Connections: Indiana-based Seymour Manufacturing has been making scythes since the late 1800s, and a wide variety of other hand-powered horticultural tools come from companies like A.M. But they still find use in less developed countries, and there are even scythe enthusiasts and competitions throughout Europe and North America. In the 20th century, scythes were replaced almost completely by machines, including the mower and combine. In 1831, an Irish American farmer and inventor named Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical reaper, which was drawn by a horse and made it possible to harvest as much grain in a day as a dozen men with scythes. ![]() In the 1500s, it became more commonly used for harvesting crops and remained the most popular tool for centuries. They took the form of small curved blades, held in the hand, and only allowed the user to harvest small patches of land each day.īy the 12th century, farmers in Europe had developed the longer, more ergonomic sickle, and used it to cut grass or weeds. The scythe's smaller cousin, the sickle, dates back more than 5,000 years, and was initially made out of rock or baked clay. The blade is sharp on the inside of the curve, allowing the user to swing it through crops, cutting and gathering them at the same time. The scythe consists of a long wooden shaft, with handles on the end and in the middle, and a long curved blade on the other end. And in peasant rebellions, scythes were often important weapons. It was essential for cereal agriculture, allowing a single worker to harvest several acres a day. But this device was once one of the most important tools in the world, used to cut grass for hay and harvest crops from fields. To modern eyes, the scythe may be best known from images of the Grim Reaper and Father Time-or as a weapon used by Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
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