THEATRICAL EXPERIMENT. 323 



1812, which, with some improvements, worked success- 

 fully, though it had only a local reputation till 1835, 

 when it was used befoi-e the Highland and Agricultural 

 Society. The next model was produced by Dobbs, on 

 the stage of the Birmingham theatre, in 1814. The hand- 

 bills posted in the streets stated that the performance 

 was for the " Benefit of Mr. Dobbs." — " J. Dobbs re- 

 spectfully informs his friends and the public that, hav- 

 ing invented a machine to expedite the reaping of grain, 

 (fee, and having been unable to obtain a patent until too 

 late to give it a general inspection in the field with 

 safety, he is induced to take advantage of his theatrical 

 profession, and make it known to his friends, who have 

 been anxious to see it, through that medium. Part of 

 the stage will be planted with wheat that the machine 

 has cut and gathered where it grew, and the machine 

 worked exactly as in the field." The Birmingham 

 Gazette, shortly after, said the " first experiment was 

 completely successful." 



In 1822 another machine was brought before the 

 public, and several of the successful reapers of a later 

 date were modelled after it. Bell, of Scotland, obtained 

 a prize for a reaper as earlj' as 1829. This machine 

 remained in comparative obscurity till the World's Fair, 

 in 1851, when the success of the American machines 

 again stimulated the inventor to come forward as a 

 competitor. Previous to 1851 Bell's machine had 

 never been in general use, though used to a limited 

 extent in the neighborhood of the inventor. Its great 

 weight, and other defects, made it difficult to use for 

 reaping in the field. 



In the mean time, Schuebley, of Maryland, invented 

 a machine thirty years ago, on which a patent was 

 granted in 1833, the same year in which Obed Hussey, 

 of Baltimore, obtained a patent on a reaper, which haa. 



