HIS LIFE AND WORK 



The third problem was the supporting of the 

 grain while it was being cut, so that the knife 

 would not merely flatten it to the ground. Mc- 

 Cormick solved this by placing a row of "fingers 

 at the edge of the blade. These fingers pro- 

 jected a few inches, in such a way that the grain 

 was caught and held in position to be cut. The 

 shape of these fingers was afterwards much 

 improved, to prevent wet grain from clogging 

 the slit in which the knife slid back and forth. 



A fourth device was still needed to lift up and 

 straighten the grain that had fallen. This was 

 done by a simple revolving reel, such as fisher- 

 men use for the drying of their nets. Several of 

 the abortive Reapers that had been tried else- 

 where had possessed some sort of a reel; but 

 McCormick made his much larger than any 

 other, so that no grain was too low to escape it. 



The fifth factor in this assembling of a Reaper 

 was the platform, to catch the cut grain as it fell ; 

 and from which the grain was to be raked off by 

 a man who walked alongside of it. The sixth 

 was the idea of putting the shafts on the outside, 

 or stubble side, of the Reaper, making it a side- 



[33] 



