34 



OFFICIAT. Rl'.TROSPFXTTVF. FXTIIBTTION 



No. i6. 

 McCORMICK'S REAPING MACHINE. 



On October 2,3, 1847, a United States patent was granted to Cyrus 

 H. McCormick for improvement in reaping machines. In addition to 

 the description of this machine, reference is made to his patent of June 

 21, 1834, and January 31, 1845. The improvements on his old machine 

 may be understood by reference to the specification of the patent under 

 consideration : 



'"I'he reaping machines heretofore made are defective in the follow- 

 ing particulars: 'i'he driving-wheel is placed forward of the mechanism 

 that operates the vibrating sickle, and so far forward as to leave too 

 much of the weight of the machine back of the driving-wheel, and there- 

 fore tending to strain the horses as well as the frame of the machine, and 

 the gearing which communicates motion to the crank is placed back of 

 the driving-wheel, which is therefore subject to be clogged by sand, dirt, 

 straw, etc., and in consequence of the relative position of the various 

 parts the attendant is obliged to walk on the ground by the side of the 

 machine to rake the cut grain frcMii the platform as it is delivered and 

 laid thereon by the reel. 



"These defects, which have so much retarded the introduction into 

 practical and general use of reaping machines,* I have remedied by my 

 improvements, the nature of which consists in placing the driving-wheel 

 farther back than heretofore, and back of the gearing which communi- 

 cates motion to the sickle, which is placed in a line back of the axis of the 



* It is thought that the word my was unintentionally onntted before the words "reaping ma- 

 chines," for the proposed improvements were only applicable to his machine, tlie fact being that no 

 other inventor liad attempted to make a machine simple at the expense of the man reqinred to deliver 

 the gavels to the ground, thus adding the fatigue of walking to that of raking. Mr. McCormick had 

 seen the Hussey reaper repeatedly, it having been on the market since 1S34; had been in competition 

 witli it (see "American Farmer," Baltimore. October, 1847): and besides had seen the modified Wood- 

 ward reaper (see No. 9), and could not have intended to suggest that his improvements were applicable 

 to them. The McCormick and Woodward reapers had been introduced in Kendall County, Illinois, in 

 184;, where Mr. NIcCormick had seen them in operation. Hicks (History of Kendall County, Illinois, 

 published at .Aurora, Illinois, 1877), in speaking of the introduction of reapers in that vicinity in 184S, 

 says: " Before harvest, Murray & Bullard introduced the first McCormick reaper into the county, and 

 it did good work, but was hard on man and beast. It was a heavy load for four horses, and that without 

 tlie driver riding, for, with the first machines, the one who raked off was obliged to walk. About the 

 same time the Woodward reaper, pushed before the team, was introduced." 



