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Cyrus H. McCormick
Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, he and many members of the McCormick family became prominent residents of Chicago. McCormick always claimed credit as the single inventor of the mechanical reaper. He was, however, one of several designing engineers who produced working models in the 1830s. His efforts built on more than two decades of work by his father Robert McCormick Jr., with the aid of Jo Anderson, an enslaved African-American man held by the family. He also successfully developed a modern company, with manufacturing, marketing, and a sales force to market his products. Early life and career Cyrus Hall McCormick was born on February 15, 1809, in Raphine, Virginia. He was the eldest of eight children born to inventor Robert McCormick J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raphine, Virginia
Raphine is an unincorporated community in Rockbridge County in the Shenandoah Valley in the U.S. state of Virginia. History The name "Raphine" was chosen in honor of James Edward Allen Gibbs (1829-1902), a local farmer who patented a novel single-thread chain-stitch sewing machine on June 2, 1857. Gibbs had named his home in the area ("Raphine Hall"), and the new railroad station ("Raphine"), after the ancient Greek word "rhaphis", meaning "needle". In partnership with James Willcox, Gibbs formed the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company. Willcox & Gibbs commercial sewing machines are still made and used in the 21st century. Nearby, the McCormick plantation Walnut Grove, was the home of Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884)'s family, including parents and brothers. His father owned more than 500 acres. McCormick became famous as the inventor of the mechanical reaper in 1831. He moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1847, and was the founder, with his brother Leander, of the McCormick Harvestin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reaper
A reaper is a farm implement that reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass, especially wheat. The first documented reaping machines were Gallic reapers that were used in Roman times in what would become modern-day France. The Gallic reaper involved a comb which collected the heads, with an operator knocking the grain into a box for later threshing. Most modern mechanical reapers cut grass; most also gather it, either by windrowing or picking it up. Modern machines that not only cut and gather the grass but also thresh its seeds (the grain), winnow the grain, and deliver it to a truck or wagon, are called combine harvesters or simply combines, and are the engineering descendants of earlier reapers. Hay is harvested somewhat differently from grain; in modern haymaking, the machine that cuts the grass is called a hay mower or, if integrated with a conditioner, a mower-conditioner. As a manual tas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obed Hussey
Obed Hussey (1792–1860) was an American inventor. His most notable invention was a reaper, 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 plow, a machine for grinding out hooks and eyes, a mill for grinding corn and cobs, a husking machine, a machine for crushing sugar cane, a machine for making artificial ice, a candle-making machine, and other devices.Greeno, p. 5.Canine, p. 30. However, he devoted the prime of his life to perfecting his reaping machine. Although the Hussey reaper was ultimately surpassed in the marketplace by the reaping machines of Cyrus McCormick, Hussey was the first person to make, patent, and sell such a machine in the United States.Canine, p. 29. His machine was first in that it was first to be patented and had been worked in at least eight states before McCormick's machine had left the valley of Virginia. Moreover, Hussey's cutting mechanism, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
