INVENTION OK KKAIMNG .MACHINES. 11 



On page 231 of the Reports of Juries for the Great London Exhibi- 

 tion, and now in the Library of Congress, we find the following: 



"It seems right," says Philip Pusey, Esq., AL P., "to put on record 

 Mr. McCormick's own account of his progress, or some extracts at least, 

 from a statement written by him, at my request." — [PusEV.J 



" My father vvas a farmer in the county of Rockbridge, State of Vir- 

 ginia, United States. He made an experiment in cutting grain in the 

 year 18 16, by a number of cylinders standing perpendicularly. Another 

 experiment of the same kind was made by my father in the harvest of 

 183 1, which satisfied my father to abandon it. Thereupon my attention 

 was directed to the subject, and the same harvest I invented and put in 

 operation in cutting late oats on the farm of John Steele, adjoining my 

 father's, those parts of my present Reaper called the platform, for 

 receiving the corn, a straight blade taking effect on the corn, sup- 

 ported by stationary fingers over the edge, and a reel to gather the 

 corn; which last, however, I found had been used beTore, though not 

 in the same combination. 



" Although these parts constituted the foundation of the present 

 machine, I founil in practice innumerable difficulties, being limited 

 also to a few weeks each year, during the harvest, for experimenting, 

 so that my first patent for the Reaper was granted in June, 1834. 



" During this interval, / :cu7s oftt'n advised by my father and family to 

 abando7i it, and pursue my regular business, as likely to be more profitable, he 

 having given me a farm. [Italicised by C. H. McC] 



" No machines were sold until 1840, and I may say that they were 

 not of much practical value until the improvements of my second pat- 

 ent in 1845. 



" These improvements consist in reversing the angle of the sickle 

 teeth alternately — the improved form of the fingers to hold up the 

 corn, &c.— an iron case to preserve the sickles from clogging — and 

 a better mode of separating the standing corn to be cut. Up to this 

 period nothing but loss of time and money resulted from my efforts. 

 The sale has since steadily increased, and is now more than a thousand 

 yearly."* 



It would be just as conclusive and reasonable for the father of C. H. 

 McCormick to claim at this day priority of invention for his Reaper 

 invented in 1816, "by a number of cylinders standing perpendicularly;" 



*"The sale has since steadily increased, and is now more than a thousand 

 yearly." This was written in 1^51, and by a little calculation, we can readily esti- 

 mate the " yearly " protits. In the Circuit Court of the United States, at Albany, m 

 the suit brought by C. H. McCormick against Seymour & Morgan, in \t<hO, for an 

 alleged infringement of patent, it was proved on the oath of C). H. Dormon, his 

 partner, and also on the oath of H. A. Blakesley, their clerk, that these Reapers only 

 cost ?;iG to §37 to manufacture. By the same evidence, the sales averaged from iWQ 

 to §120 each machine; leaving a clear profit of at least $73. C. H. McCormick first 

 received ^patent fre of $30 on each machine, then three-fourths of the remainder in 

 the division of profits. It would thus appear, if these figures are corrert~and they 

 are all sworn to— that C. H. McCormick realized full fiftv thousand dollars clear 

 profit annually, with a margin of eight to ten thousand dollars for commissions and 

 bad debts in addition. 



