American Agriculturist, August 9, 1924 
85 
Farm Machinery Our Fathers Used 
The Beginnings of Modern Agriculture—Equipment Used Before 1860 
A FEW issues ago we ran a page about old- 
fashioned farm machinery which created 
so much interest that we went back to 
study the old volumes of American 
Agriculturist from 1842, when the paper was 
started, to 1860, at the outbreak of the Civil War, 
to get interesting pictures and descriptions of the 
machinery with which our fathers of those days 
did their work. If these pictures and descriptions 
Probably in the great American Agriculturist 
family there are a good many readers who have 
seen and perhaps actually used some of the ma¬ 
chinery and devices pictured on the page. If so, 
a letter from you about it will be very interesting. 
No doubt farm machinery has been more re¬ 
sponsible for the change in civilization which has 
taken place in the world in the last hundred years 
than any other one factor. Without it, the 
modern cities would be absolutely impossible, for 
the majority of the people would have to live in the 
country and raise their own food. This would 
change or make unnecessary all of our great trans¬ 
portation systems, all of our various marketing 
plans and devices, and would perhaps make com¬ 
petition on the land so severe, if the population 
kept increasing, that in time our standard of life 
would become as low as it is among some of the 
countries of Asia where great hordes work from 
dawn to dusk to keep body and soul together. 
Hussey’s Reaping-Machine 
I N the issue of 1843 Abed Hussey wrote as 
follows about what he called his “reaping ma¬ 
chine.” His own description of it reads as follows: 
“When it is in operation in the field, the horses travel on the 
stubble, and near the standing grain, drawing the machine 
behind them. That part which cuts the grain is a wide plat¬ 
form, and extends six feet to the right hand into the grain, 
and is capable of being adjusted as high or as low as'grain is 
usually cut; say from five to fifteen inches from the ground. 
Along the forward edge of the platform where the grain is cut, 
is a row of strong iron spikes about the size of small harrow 
teeth. These spikes are formed of two pieces of iron, one above 
and one below, leaving a horizontal slit id each spike for the 
cutting-blades to play in. These blades are formed like 
lancet-points, being sharp on both edges, and several inches 
long. They are fastened side by side on an iron rod, as many 
blades as there are spikes on the platform; the iron rod with the 
blades upon it extends through all the spikes, and is collected 
to a crank, immediately behind the horses. This crank is 
turned by cog¬ 
wheels, connected 
with the main 
axle, and is 
moved fast or 
slow according to 
the speed of the 
horses, giving a 
horizontal, vibra¬ 
tory motion to 
the blades, caus¬ 
ing them to move 
out of one spike 
into another, 
backward and 
forward, there being as many blades as spikes. As the machine 
is drawn ahead in the grain, the stalks or straw is received 
between the spikes, while the vibrating blades cut it off as it 
enters; the straw being held by the spike both above and 
below the edge of the blade, while the blade passes into the 
spike— thus the cutting is made sure. 
As the grain is cut, it falls back on to the platform. When 
the wheat is tangled, this falling back is aided by an instru¬ 
ment in the hands of a man who rides on the machine, whose 
business is to push off the grain in heaps as it accumulates on 
the platform. He is able to do this with great accuracy and 
neatness, leaving the heaps distinct from each other, and in 
nne order for the binders. 
“One machine will cut twenty acres per day with ease, if 
Pennock’s Seed and Grain Planter 
ordinary diligence is used. The blades need no sharpening 
from beginning to end of harvest. Standing and tangled 
grain is cut perfectly clean; indeed, lodged wheat is cut better 
with the machine, than it is usually cut by the cradle, and if the 
lodged wheat be very heavy, it will be cut very clean, and 
nearly as fast as if standing.” 
* * * 
Pennock’s Seed and Grain Planter 
A LONG about 1846 machines to replace hand 
L methods got further consideration when 
Pennock’s seed and grain planter was announced. 
The description of the machine in the American 
Agriculturist of that year read as follows: 
“This machine will plant wheat, rye, Indian corn, oats, 
peas, beans, rutabagas, and turnips; and can be regulated to 
drop any required quantity on an acre. The drills can be 
thrown in or out of gear separately, so as to plant a field of any 
shape without seeding any part twice. They are so arranged 
as to operate equally well on all kinds of land—hilly and rough, 
as well as level and smooth.” 
* * * 
Power Driven Separator of 1847 
I N the issue of 1847 we begin to find the mention 
of threshing machines. The application of 
horse power in the form of a tread mill was one 
of the big influences in the development of machin¬ 
ery to replace the old flail. Th6 description of a 
Power Driven Separator of 1847 
power-driven thresher of 1847 pictured on this 
page, reads in that volume: 
“The simple contrivance called the ‘shaker,’ or ‘separator,’ 
which is attached to the thrasher, saves much labor in winnow¬ 
ing the grain, besides leaving it without waste, entirely free 
from straw. This horse-power is easily applied to various 
labor-saving machines, and is the kind mostly used at the 
New England railroad stations for sawing wood.” 
* * * 
Washing Machines Before the Civil War 
AS early as 1849 the back-breaking task of 
XI. washing clothes called upon inventive genius 
for a device to spare the housewife its drudgery. In 
1849 Sabin’s machine was announced as “a truly 
useful machine to 
wash perfectly clean 
clothes, fine linen, 
etc. in three ihinutes 
time without the 
slightest damage.” 
Above — The Metropoli¬ 
tan Washer of 1859 and 
on Right—the Washing 
Machine of ten years be¬ 
fore, 1849 
In 1859 the Metropolitan washing machine, 
manufactured by David Lyman of Middlefield, 
Conn., came on the market. This machine, how¬ 
ever, was considered, according to the manu¬ 
facturer, “ admirably adapted to the wants of the 
South.” 
T 
Allen’s Patent Mower 
HE history of the mowing machine goes back 
before 1843 and those old machines were 
very, very crude. However, in 1855 Allen’s 
Patent Mower came on the market and apparently 
gave much satisfaction. Its outstanding features 
were said to be as follows: 
“1. In perfectly cutting any kind of grass, whether fine or 
coarse, lodged or standing, and salt meadows as well as upland. 
“2. Owing to the form of the knife and its rasp patent, it 
does not clog even in the finest grass. 
“3. The gearing being hung on horizontal shafts and justly 
balanced, enables the mower to run perfectly true in a straight 
dr curved line and with one-third less draught than any other 
yet made. It also runs with much less noise, and with no 
jerking motion, in consequence of the knife being operated by 
a wheel instead of a crank. The knife can be taken off or put 
on in a moment, without the necessity of passing it through the 
Allen’s Patent Mower 
arms of the driving-wheel. This is a very great convenience, 
and obviates a serious objection to mowing machines. 
4. The superior gearing enables the knife to play with suffi¬ 
cient rapidity to do its work well, at a speed of not over two and 
a half to three miles per hour. Most other mowers require the 
team to walk at the rate of four miles per hour, which is very 
distressing to the horses. 
“5. A smaller wheel is attached to this mower, by a spring 
axle, which runs parallel with the driving-wheel. This enables 
the machine when thrown out of gear, to be driven over the field 
or along the road as readily as if hung on a pair of wagon-wheels. 
“6. A reaping-board can be attached when required, thus 
making it a reaper or mower, as desired.” 
* * * 
The Buckeye Rotating Harrow 
M ANY a farm boy has had the terribly painful 
experience of having his shins skinned dodg¬ 
ing around a harrow. Just imagine, if you can, 
this same boy dodging around the old Buckeye 
Rotating harrow of 1858. As you will see by the 
illustration, a heavy weight was adjusted to one 
side so that the teeth on that side were pressed 
down deeper into the soil. As the draw bar was 
attached t o 
the center or 
pivot point, 
the deepset 
teeth held fast 
allowing the 
teeth on the 
opposite side 
to rotate 
around. Ac¬ 
cording to the 
editor of 
American Agriculturist in 1858 the advan¬ 
tage of his harrow was that it did not clog up 
with grass or clay and furrowing was avoided. 
The zigazg motion of the teeth was said to have 
pulverized the soil better than the smooth forward 
motion of the well-known spike-tooth drag. 
The Buckeye Rotating Harrow 
. . . requiring only the attendance of one man 
The saving of Time and Labor and the excellent 
work it does, are the principal features of the 
plough, which, compared with the single plough, 
makes it one of the GREATEST IMPROVE- 
MENTSDF THE AGE.” 
Joseph Sutter’s Patent Gang Plough 
I N 1859 Joseph Sutter announced his improved 
gang plough (observe the spelling in those 
days), the forerunner of the modern tractor gang 
plow, “made with from 2 to 6 or more shares, 
Joseph Sutter’s Patent Gang Plow 
