OFFICIAL RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION 



N... I. 

 15KLI/S REAPINC. MACHINE. 



In 1S26 a rcapinj; machine was invented l)y the Rev. Patrick P.ell. 

 of Scotland, and useil in the field in iiSj;. An account of this machine 

 is found in a paper reail by the inventor at the annual meelinjf of the 

 British Association for the Promotion of Science in 1867. The machine, 

 he stated, had been in successful operation every year since. 



The above illustration shows the machine in one of its latest forms, 

 and model No. 81 shows it in one of its earliest forms. The model above 

 illustrateil was made from a jihotoi^raph of a Bell machine taken by 

 James Todd, now of Edinburjj^h, Scotlaiul, while tlie machine was under- 

 going repairs on his farm in 1S64. 



The machine came into almost exclusive use on a number of farms 

 in northern England and Scotland. 



In tins machine were embodied many inventions of great imjior- 

 tance. In order that full credit may be given Bell for what he acccjin- 

 plished, it is not im|)r<)per to say that an effort was matle to belittle his 

 success by an attempt to show that his machine was not an operative one. 

 It may be consitlered that this matter was fully settled by the United 

 States Supreme Court, in the decision in the suit brought by C. H. 

 McCormick under his 1845 patent, against Seymour iV Morgan. Tiie 

 Supreme (^ourt said : 



"What the defense was of the use of Bell's machine will be fcnincl in 

 Loudon's 'Encyclopedia of Agriculture,' |)p. 437 to 442, and from the 

 testimony of Obed Hussey. 



"We think that on this evidence (that the machine used in l%nglantl 

 was that describeil by Loutlon) it was proper to submit to the jury the 

 ([uestion as to its operation, and not to place it uniier ban as an entire 

 failure, which seems to be the effect of the charge as it was given. If 

 it operated well in 1829 and 1853, which is clearly proved, and is 

 assumed by the jiulge, it must certainly have been capable of operating 

 well at any intermediate time. Whether actually useil or not is wholly 

 immaterial. 



"And if the machine as a whole operated well, then the ilivider, reel, 

 and reel-bearer each operated well, and the reel was supjiorted by a 

 practically successful contrivance, which formed no impediment in the 

 way of the divider or of the division and separation of the grain, and on 

 which no straws could clog, as the entire space beneath the reel shaft is, 



