CHAPTER VII 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE REAPER 



all the varieties of difficulties that con- 

 fronted Cyrus H. McCormick during his 

 strenuous life, the most baffling and disconcert- 

 ing difficulty was when his Reaper began to 

 grow. For fifteen years from 1845 to 1860 

 it had remained unchanged except that seats 

 had been added for the raker and the driver. 

 It did no more than cut the grain and leave it 

 on the ground in loose bundles. It had abol- 

 ished the sickler and the cradler; but there yet 

 remained the raker and the binder. Might it 

 not be possible, thought the restless American 

 brain, to abolish these also and leave no one but 

 the driver ? 



This at once became a most popular and 

 fascinating problem for inventors. There was 

 by this time everything to gain and nothing to 

 lose by improving the Reaper. There was no 

 opposition and no ridicule. To cut grain by 

 horse-power had become, of course, the only 



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