Cyrus McCormick essays

Cyrus McCormick essays Cyrus McCormick was born in 1809 at Willow Grove, the McCormick family farm near Steeles Tavern, Va. The farm operated a sawmill, a cider mill, a distillery, two grain mills and a smokehouse. Cyrus McCormick's father, Robert, had worked on a horse-drawn reaper off and on from 1815, but was never able to get his designs to work In 1831, Robert McCormick abandoned his efforts to perfect his reaper. Working in the farm's blacksmith shop, his 22-year-old son, Cyrus, took up the challenge of the reaper. He took his father's design as a starting point and added several new features. Within six weeks, they had built a successful demonstration model of the reaper and conducted a public trial of the machine at Walnut Grove. The reaper used a reciprocating knife, much like today's sickle bar mower, to cut the grain. Metal fingers guided the stalks into the knife and a revolving reel pushed the grain into the knife for a clean cut. A master wheel which carried most of the weight of the machine rolled on the ground and drove the knife through gears and linkages. The cut grain fell onto a platform behind the knife where it was raked off into windrows or piles. A horse pulled the machine through the field. With McCormick's reaper, two people could cut as much grain in one day as four or five men with cradles, or a dozen with After the successful trial in 1831, McCormick continued to improve his design, and applied for a patent in 1834. By 1841, he was finally satisfied with his machine, and began offering the reaper for sale. Sales were slow at first; farmers had been harvesting wheat for generations with hand-tools and were skeptical of this new-fangled invention. McCormick advertised his machine with a guarantee. If the reaper was not as strong and durable as he claimed, and would not cut 15 acres a day and save one bushel of wheat per acre, the reaper could be returned for a refund. McCormick's use ...