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WHO INVENTED THE REAPER? 



AN ANSWER TO THE PROTEST STATEMENT SAID TO HAVE 

 BEEN FILED AT THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 



By R. B. Swift. 



This Protest was recently published anonymously. It undertakes 

 to prove that Hussey invented the reaper, and therefore the picture of 

 Cyrus H. McCormick should not be put on a new banknote. The Pro- 

 test, as published, was prefaced by the statement that it was prepared 

 by the representatives of the manufacturers of harvesting machines, and 

 that "The opportunity will at last be presented to settle the question 

 forever." Let any who are interested in this subject read the facts 

 herewith given and judge for themselves as to the merits of the case. 



The question is not, Who first had an idea that it would be de- 

 sirable to reap by machinery? but Who made the first machine that 

 worked successfully? A flying machine that could carry passengers to 

 Xew York in five hours would be a great invention. Many have planned 

 and built and patented flying machines, yet no one has produced a suc- 

 cessful one, and the man who will combine the devices that will make 

 a practical flying machine is truly the inventor, even though he make 

 use of levers, springs, frames and devices that others have tried and 

 with which they have failed. 



Before the year 1831 there are accounts of attempts to make a 

 reaper, and some of the machines, it is said, did a few hours work 

 when all conditions were favorable. One or two of the earlier ma- 

 chines had devices that, since being combined in a practical way with 

 other devices, have found a place in the successful reaping machine. 

 It is claimed that Ogle, in 1822, combined more of the elements neces- 

 sary for success than any other inventor, but the one machine he 

 claimed to have built lacked certain necessary features, and he did not 



