Patrick Bell (12 May 1799 – 22 April 1869) was a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

minister and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

Biography

Born in the rural parish of Auchterhouse in

Angus, Scotland Angus ( sco, Angus; gd, Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agr ...

, into a farming family, Bell chose to study divinity at the University of St Andrews. He was Carmyllie parish minister from 1843 until his death.

The Reaping Machine

Bell invented the

reaping machine A reaper is a farm implement or person that reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass. The first documented reaping machines were Gallic reapers that were used in R ...

while working on his father's farm. His interest in mechanics led him to work on a horse powered mechanical

reaper A reaper is a agricultural machinery, farm implement or person that wikt:reap#Verb, reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass. The first documented reaping machines were ...

for speeding up the harvest. In 1828 his machine was used with success on his father's farm and others in the district. This reaping machine used a revolving 12 vane reel to pull the crop over the cutting knife, that was made from triangular reciprocating blades over fixed triangular blades. A canvas conveyor moved the grain and stalks to the side in a windrow. This machine was pushed by livestock and ran on 2 wheels. Bell never sought a patent for his reaping machine. Being a man of God, he believed his invention should benefit all mankind. Therefore he never made any financial gain from its success throughout the world. On May 3, 1831, a patent was issued in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to William Manning for the reaper of essentially the same design. On December 31, 1833, a similar cutter patent was issued to

Obed Hussey Obed Hussey (1792–1860) was an American inventor. His most notable invention was a reaping machine, patented in 1833, that was a rival of a similar machine, patented in 1834, produced by Cyrus McCormick. Hussey also invented a steam pl ...

. A vibrating cutter was patented by

Cyrus McCormick Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Originally from the ...

on June 21, 1834. McCormick with his brothers mass-produced the machines and developed what became the

International Harvester Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

References

External links

*http://www.auchterhouse.com/history/pbell.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20081006144523/http://www.angus.gov.uk/history/features/people/patrickbell.htm *http://www.cornways.de/hi_combine.html *http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?scache=5cryr2dbs0&searchdb=scran&usi=000-100-044-206-C {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Patrick 1799 births 1869 deaths 19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Scottish inventors