PREPARED BY THE DEERIXG HARVESTER COAH^ANY. 35 



driving-wlieel, the connection being formed by means of a lever and a con- 

 necting-rod, thus placing the cog-gearing which operates the crank for- 

 ward of the elriving-wheel for the purposes described, and also bringing 

 the driving-wheel sufficiently far back to balance the frame of the 

 machine with the raker on it, and make room for him to sit or stand on 

 the frame back of the driving-wheel, and with his back to the horses, so 

 that from this position and the placing of the reel farther forward than 

 heretofore and making it shorter, together with the employment of a 

 wheel-board or guide, which prevents the grain from passing under the 

 machine or into the gearing, thereby avoiding the necessity of a long 

 reel, he can rake off the grain with a sweep of his rake (having the free 

 use of his body and arms) in a curve, of which his body is the center, and 

 thus lay the grain on the ground with the heads outward at right angles 

 to the swath, which cannot be done if the raker walks on the ground by 

 the side of the machine, as heretofore, for then the sweep which he 

 makes with his rake, relative to the motion of the machine, lays the 

 grain on the ground with the heads oblique instead of at right angles 

 with the swath, as with the improved mode." 



The difficulties under which Mr. McCormick labored were great, and 

 his persistence enabled him to attain a high position as a manufacturer. 

 In charging the jury in the suit brought against Seymour & Morgan, Mr. 

 Justice Nelson said, in regard to Mr. McCormick's early efforts: "The 

 history of the improvements made by the plaintiff in reaping machines 

 has been developed by the evidence in the progress of the trial. It 

 seems that his experiments began as early as 1830 or 1831, and continued 

 from year to year down to 1834, when he first obtained a patent for his 

 machine. This machine, however, was not a successful one, and but 

 comparatively few were either manufactured or sold. It was found by 

 the farmers who tried them that they would not work successfully or 

 profitably, and this seems to have been the fate of the experiments made 

 with the machine down to 1845, when a second patent was taken out for 

 improvements upon the first one, and even then, although the machine 

 as thus improved was regarded by the farming interest as more valuable 

 than the original one, yet in consequence of the difficulties in raking the 

 cut grain from the platform the machine did not go into general or suc- 

 cessful operation until after the arrangement of the seat for the raker 

 upon it, which was patented in 1847." 



For further particulars see No. 8. 



No. 16. 

 LA MACHINE A MOISSONNER McCORMICK. 



Le 23 Octobre 1847 un brevet des Etats-Unis fut accorde a Cyrus 

 H. McCormick pour perfectionnement des machines a moissonner. 

 Outre la description de cette machine, mention est faite de son brevet 

 du 21 Juin 1834 et du 31 Janvier 1845. Les perfectionnements de son 

 ancienne machine peuvent etre compris en se referant a la specifica- 

 tion du brevet en consideration : 



"Les machines a moissonner faites jusqu'a present sont defectives 

 dans les details suivants: La roue motrice est placee a I'avant du me- 

 canisme qui opere la faucille oscillante et tellement a Tavant que trop 

 du poids de la machine reste a Tarriere de la roue motrice, ce qui tend 



