HARVESTING MACHINERY 14! 



wires which acted for the fingers or guards of Hussey's machine. 

 The machine was of about 4^ feet cut and was drawn by one 

 horse. The grain fell upon a platform and was raked to one side 

 with a hand rake by a man walking. 



Of the two machines, perhaps Hussey's had the more valuable 

 improvement and it was nearer the device which proved to be 

 successful later. Friends of both these men claim for them the 

 honors for the first successful reaper. Hussey did not have the 

 energy and the perseverance, and hence lost in the struggle for 



FIG. 108 M'CORMICK REAPING MACHINE (AMERICA, 1834) 



supremacy which followed. At first the honors were evenly 

 divided. In 1878 McCormick was elected a corresponding mem- 

 ber of the French Academy of Sciences upon the ground of his 

 "having done more for the cause of agriculture than any other 

 living man." 



Palmer and Williams, July i. 1851, obtained a patent for a 

 sweep rake which swept the platform at regular intervals, leav- 

 ing the grain in bunches to be bound. 



The next invention of importance was that of C. W. and 



