HAYING MACHINERY 163 



tained combinations of the mower and the reaper, and were used 

 with a little adjustment to cut either grain or grass. A name 

 that stands out prominently in the development of mowers is 

 that of William F. Ketchum, who has sometimes been spoken 



FIG. 121 KETCHUM'S MOWER (AMERICA, 1847) 



of as the father of the mower trade, since he was the first to put 

 mowers on the market as a type of machine distinct from the 

 reaper. He took out several patents, but the one granted July 10, 

 1847. was of especial importance. The main features of this 

 patent were the unobstructed space left between the driving 

 wheel and the finger bar, with its support, and the remarkable 

 simplicity of the machine. The cutter was an endless chain of 

 knives, which never became successful, but which caused some 

 excitement at the time. Ketchum afterwarX adopted the Hussey 

 type of cutter and produced a very successful mower of the 

 rigid-bar type. It was this machine that led the way in mower 

 development and became the first really practical machine. . . . 



"The first invention showing the feature of a flexible bar was 

 that of Hazard Knowles, the machinist of the Patent Office at 

 Washington. It showed many valuable features of a reaping 

 machine also, but no patent was taken out. The patent granted 

 to Cyrenus Wheeler, December 5, 1854, marks the division be- 

 tween the two types of machines. Wheeler was a practical man, 

 and, like McCormick in the development of the reaper, sue- 



