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OFFICIAL RETROSPECTIVE EXlIU'.rrioX 



APPLE15V CRAIN KINDER. 



In 1S58 a rugged Western boy of eighteen years of age was earning 

 his living working out among the farmers. His employer hat! bought a 

 new reaping machine, and the boy, with the curiosity of a born mechanic, 

 stood waiting for the machine to start, it being e.xpected of him to bind 

 the grain after it. The machine started off well, and the pleased farmer 

 asked him what he thought of it. The boy replied that it worked well, 

 but that he believed he could make a binder, and was jeered by his 

 employer. It seemed to him that twine would be the best band material, 

 and before the year closed the knotter shown as number sixty-four — 

 the prototype of the Appleby knotter, that ties nine-tenths of the grain 

 grown in the civilized world — was made. Poverty prevented further 

 efforts for a time. The boy had inherited mechanical tastes, but as the 

 spirit of patriotism prevailed to such an extent that he responded to the 

 call of his country, and spent three valuable years as a volunteer soldier, 

 he lost valuable time. When his services were no longer needed by his 

 country, he commenced his l)inder anew. Several years of experiment- 

 ing followed. For a short time he was led to try wire as band material, 

 and his first grain-binder that he patented (patent taken out in 1869) was 

 a "wire binder." Progress in the development of his binder was not 

 rapid, for in the meantime bread must be earned. 



In 1874 he began what is known at the present day as the Appleby 

 binder. In 1875 it bound several acres of grain; in 1876 it did better; 

 in 1877 several machines were operated. In 1878 it was so promising 

 that Mr. William Deering, of ("hicago, foreseeing what later proved to be 

 the inevitable, took hold of it, and aided Mr. Appleby to perfect it. 

 The world now gives Mr. Appleby the credit due him, and Mr. Appleby 

 places credit in turn where it is deserved, saying: 



"In William Deering, of Chicago, Illinois, formerly of the firm of 

 Ciammon ^c Deering, I found a man farsighted enough to see the impor- 

 tance of my invention. To him belongs the credit of forcing my binder 



