21 



to draw the gavels to one side, even though in 1841 he adopted the 

 McCormick plan of mounting his machine upon two wheels. 



It is submitted, on this point, that McCormick's machine had 

 greatly the advantage of Hussey's. 



(6) The Cutting Apparatus. Whoever compiled the Protest for 

 the rival manufacturers was adroit in trying to narrow the successful 

 elements of a reaping machine down to the cutting apparatus. Es- 

 pecially is this so when they select Hussey as their hero, whose only 

 invention was an improvement in the cutting apparatus. 



The Protest says : 



" Twenty or 30 reaping machines had been invented before Hus- 

 sey's, but all were failures because they would not cut well. When 

 Hussey invented his successful cutting apparatus, he did what Howe 

 did for the sewing machine." 



It is not my wish to detract from the honor justly due the many 

 who made improvements on the reaping machine; it is,however,neces- 

 sary in this case to show what the cutting apparatus was which Hussey 

 invented and used in 1833, and what was McCormick's of 1831. 



To show that writers do not agree that reapers " were failures 

 because they could not cut well," I quote from the Genesee Farmer, 

 vol. iv, 1834, p. 154: 



" Mr. Boyer made an ingenious apparatus to imitate the motion 

 and do the work of the bowed scythe. Even though it cut well, yet 

 it made wretched waste." 



There could be many devices for merely severing the stalks were 

 is not necessary to handle the grain gently and preserve it. There 

 is more required of a reaper than to merely cut the stalks. Grain is 

 reaped solely that it may be saved, and the divider, reel and side- 

 delivery platform are more essential in the saving than would be a 

 cutting device which might have the many niceties of construction 

 found in the 500 or more patented improvements made since 1831. 

 Hussey's 1833 cutting apparatus is claimed as follows: 



(a) "The straight horizontal saw with teeth sharp on their two 

 sides for cutting grain." 



(b) "The guards forming double bearings above and below the 

 saw whereby the cutting is made sure, whether with sharp or dull edge, 

 the guards at the same time protecting the saw from rocks or sticks or 

 other large substances it may meet with." 



