18 



end of the termination of the platform upon the cutter, and when 

 separated lands them on -the platform." 



In the claim of the patent is the following : 



" And also the method of dividing and keeping separate the grain 

 to be cut from that to be left standing." 



In the newspaper article published in the Lexington Union in 

 September of 1833 is the following description of the divider: 



" Alongside the apron, by the point of the knife, and extending 

 some distance before the knife, is raised a partition of cloth for the 

 purpose of dividing and keeping separate the cut grain from that 

 which is left standing.'' 



The pictures of Hussey's machine will show that it had no divider. 

 Later, after Hussey had abandoned his two-wheeled cart and adopted 

 McCormick's construction of mounting the machine upon a main and 

 grain-wheel (Fig. 3), he stood a narrow board edgewise at the end of 

 his platform to protect the top of the grain-wheel from becoming 

 wound with grain and vines, but at no time during the life of the Mc- 

 Cormick patent of 1834 did he have upon his machine a divider pro- 

 jecting in front of the cutting apparatus to separate the grain to be 

 cut from that to be left standing. Practical men know that without a 

 reel or a divider Hussey's machine could not be a successful reaper. 



The combined action of McCormick's divider and reel is essential 

 in reaping machines. The divider projected ahead of the finger-bar 

 and separated the swath to be cut from the grain to be left standing. 

 It threw the part to be cut inwardly so it could be acted upon by the 

 reel, and thus be separated before it was severed, and while its roots 

 held it to the ground. Judge Nelson stated in the case of McCormick 

 vs. Seymour & Morgan : 



" That the plaintiff was seeking to obtain a divider, that would 

 not only divide the standing grain, but one that could be successfully 

 used for dividing grain, whether standing, or tangled, or lodged, or 

 broken. ... It seems from the testimony of all the witnesses 

 that there is no great difficulty in dividing the grain in the operation 

 of reaping when it stands erect. They say that the reel is of no great 

 utility where the grain is not tangled or leaning; that the operation 

 of Hussey's machine without the reel is as successful as that of any other 

 in cutting standing grain; that the difficulty commences in tangled 

 grain; and that, as great portions of the grain during the harvest, 

 portions, perhaps, of every field, are in that condition, a machine would 



